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Charis Around the World
Tidbits from
Ebony
Sunset in Ebony
Dear Charis Family,
Greetings from Candybar! My favorite place to be. It has been an
awesome trip this time and I have been astounded at the opportunities to
become re-aquainted with people I knew years ago. I ran into one
midwife I had interviewed SEVEN years ago who was slaving away in the local
hospital here, barely seeing any dent in maternal health care problems which
plague this country. I also ran into a dear lady who previously worked
for me. She was a tailor on a handicraft small business project, but
now she is a health assistant benefiting internally displaced people.
He has a way of leaving the aroma of Jesus in very tangible ways for people.
These interactions have helped me feel encouraged to ask for the places I am
setting my feet this week. I encourage YOU to “walk the map” and set
your feet spiritually around the globe, asking for those people to know Him.
It feels like such a mess these days, doesn’t it???
I wanted to share with you a bit I wrote this week about leadership and
influence. I led a discussion amongst my co-workers here where we
analyzed who is influential within the team and why. I then reflected
on that a bit for my own role and context. The book I was reading,
which I cite in the piece, is really excellent and current. I highly
recommend it.
How are YOU structuring the groups or organizational units you work within?
Who are you influencing and how? Is it the most effective way to
influence someone? Does it leave lasting impact? Who are you being
challenged to receive influence from? What can you share with them
about your own values that will help them influence you in more helpful
ways?
Enjoy reading a bit about my team of Pushpin people that I work with!!
Until next time,
Elizabeth Carmichael
چي دستار تړي هزار دي
د دستار سړي په شمار دي
Those who tie a turban are in thousands.
Those who understand its responsibility are only a few.
This week I am with a team I admire and learn so much from, in terms of what
type of group dynamics and Kingdom values are possible among non-believing
(yet!) people from one of the most conservative, violent cultural traditions
and largest tribal society (from one ethno-linguistic group) that exists in
our generation. This is the team of people/the project I do all my
work for and advise from far away in the capital. Usually, I spend
time with them face to face once a month, but this year, because of security
constraints, I have not been able to see them since February, before the
presidential election process started. I am so thankful to be here
this week and to have the opportunity to initiate this discussion among
them.
During a project evaluation last year, the evaluator took some time to study
the organizational chart on the wall of our office here in Candybar.
Since the massive chart, with many boxes and lines, depicts only the
relationship of upper management and HQ key positions, he exclaimed, “Oh
great! A huge chart on the wall to remind this entire office that their jobs
are not important enough to be on the chart!” He is exactly right.
Within the organization as a whole, this project is mostly significant
because of the high profile location of our work. No staff member here
holds any position of hierarchical significance at a national level,
including me, except for the fact that I am an expat advisor. Even
though the power distance between this project and our HQ is so great, the
staff here (18 in all) insist upon functioning by consensus and
collaboration. They have been working on this dynamic for nine years
and it actually astounds me every time I come face to face with it.
Through my discussion with them, I learned more about this phenomenon.
The project manager kept saying, “Distance is bad.” He spoke about
choices they make as a team to close the gap between themselves and their
beneficiaries as well as his personal views on associating with staff
members who are in the “lowest” positions: “Why I should not sit with the
doorkeeper? Why he should not tell me his idea?” This reminded
me of something I read recently: “While followers by definition lack
authority, at least in relation to their superiors, they do not by
definition lack power and influence” (Kellerman, 2008).
As you can imagine, this manager’s subordinates noted his influence on the
organization as one of those who is most open to being influenced by anyone
who buys into the vision and core values of the group. Everyone in the
room named about two or three people who also have a positive impact on
their work. They spent time encouraging each other with their words.
But, what stood out to me the most were the following issues:
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Some were credited with having the most influence, overall, on
the team/project are people who are no longer with the project
because they either died or have moved out of the organization.
(It is very common in this culture to speak most highly of
someone when they are no longer in one’s everyday life, so this
point did not surprise me.)
Some were credited with influence, but the real and
deeper aspects of their influence were only mentioned in
private. (When the team leader went to the bathroom, one of the
women said to me, “There is really no one in the world like him.
When I was all alone in my problem, he helped me find a
solution.” Likewise, when other people were out of the
room, the leader would praise them more than he would in front
of them.)
The conversation eventually turned to those who have
had a negative influence on the team and how their gradual
departure from team culture became unbearable for them as
individuals and for the team. They had both become more
conservative and aligned themselves with armed opposition
groups, desiring to bring an element of oppression and an
ideology to the office that the team would not accept. One
of them resigned (high position, high salary) and the other was
let go (low position, low salary).
The discussion never turned to those whose influence is
positive, yet not obvious. Several team members really
“get it” (understand and embrace the team values and culture)
and their contribution is self-sacrificial, yet these people
were not mentioned as having key influence. One reason
could be that no one in the room for our discussion experienced
a personal benefit from the people I have in mind.
However, I am not sure that is a fair assumption to make about
the reason they were not mentioned.
Since I’ve been working on the budget for the past
week, I couldn’t help but reflect on the salary grade of the
people named as “influential” verses those who were not.
The highest paid person and all women were not mentioned as
influential. Two mid-grade people and the lowest paid people
were mentioned as influential for various reasons. |
In terms of the type of help the leader found most meaningful, he is
currently most helped by staff members who benefit him in a personal way.
This is not to say his willingness to be helped or influenced is all for
personal gain, but, rather, that he is impacted at a heart level. I am
sure this has something to do with a personal crisis he has been dealing
with for a number of months, which has left him somewhat traumatized and
distracted as he seeks to resolve the issue. During our discussion, I
realized that he has received some significant personal, outside-of-work,
help recently from his staff and this has meant the world to him. But,
he has also started to view nearly all of their contributions as personal in
nature, which has made him both notice their contributions more and express
gratitude for those contributions. He has had a place of need recently
and they have filled that need without judgment or expectation of
reciprocity. Therefore, he is more able to see when people are rising
above their own challenges and acting for the collective good of the team or
the project. I was honored today to hear him articulate this in their
presence.
True followership “does not mean changing the rank of followers but changing
their response to their rank, their response to their superiors and to the
situation at hand” (Kellerman, 2008). This team has some excellent
followership, in my opinion, and these are some points I will take away as a
positional leader in service to them:
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Since developing good followers is as important as developing
good leaders, I have realized I need to advocate for the example
this group is and encourage “followership” standards as an
equally high priority for community development indicators as
establishment and training of leaders.
Because, as Kellerman points out, rank ordering does
really have an impact on well being, I believe the women of our
organization are not being influenced as positively as they
could be nor vice versa (2008). The team is weaker for the
segregation of the female staff, but culture is such a powerful
dictator even when there are opportunities to “try on” something
else. This needs to be an ongoing discussion amongst this
team and I need to seize the chance to speak up a bit more,
challenging them to go deeper in their value of inclusion.
According to Kellerman, it might be helpful for the
women of the team (since they can not change their rank and, in
many ways, can not change their role in society right now—this
is so complicated right now in Pashtun culture…I am not going to
go into it here) they should have growing demands and higher
expectations. As a team, we need to spend more energy and
focus on developing follower ideas and standards for the
organization, as well as giving ear to their voice in decision
making (2008). |
Kellerman, B.
(2008). Followership: How Followers are Creating Change and Changing
Leaders. Harvard Business Press.
Our International Charis
Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your
safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!
'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them
from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child and The one who labors with child, together,
A
great throng shall return there...And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14
~~~
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October 2014
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