Leadership Frequently Asked Questions
Question: What is leadership development and why is it important to rural health and rural communities?
Answer: The basis for leadership development is the understanding that leadership comes from “nurture” as much as “nature.” Leadership is the capacity that can be learned, to help transform into reality a vision of the future. As important as good management is to an organization, leadership is typically understood as requiring something different—the ability to drive change. An organization or community without leadership working towards a vision for a better future will not succeed.
Question: What leadership challenges do rural communities face?
Answer: Throughout our organizations and communities we have and need individuals who may not be formally designated or recognized as leaders yet who can and do exercise leadership. There are a multitude of leadership institutes, programs and courses throughout America. But as stated in a 2005 resolution by the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Service, the challenge for rural health is to identify “emerging leaders from and for rural communities and provides them with the training and resources to play a lead role in ensuring access to quality health care access in their states and communities.”
Question: What is collaborative leadership and how is it more beneficial to rural communities?
Answer: Robert Greenleaf, researcher, philosopher and consultant, talks about “the servant-leader as servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” Collaborative leadership flows out of the servant leadership. Ronald Heifitz, lecturer and consultant, and his colleagues at the Stanford Graduate School of Business say it well: collaborative leadership is needed when “problems require innovation and learning among the interested parties and, even when a solution is discovered, no single entity has the authority to impose it on the others.” That is the reality of communities.
Question: What are some approaches to planning and problem solving?
Answer: There are many management resources that focus on diverse approaches to planning and problem solving. But leadership needs to go beyond management. John Gardner in his book On Leadership, notes six key characteristics of leadership: (1) thinks longer term, (2) considers relationship to conditions external to the organization, (3) influences constituents beyond their immediate responsibility, (4) emphasizes the intangibles of vision, values, and motivation, (5) exercises political skills to cope with the conflicting requirements of multiple constituents and expectations and (6) thinks in terms of renewal and an ever changing reality.
Question: Where can I find tools or training on leadership?
Answer: There are many resources available that a search engine will quickly uncover. But don’t restrict your search just to those resources and programs that focus on the rural and non-profit sectors. While many rural and non-profit challenges are unique, leadership skills are not sector specific. A few outstanding resources are as follows: CDC funds the National Public Health Leadership Institute to convene the new leaders and new partners who together will confront the new challenges in public health. Many states have rural leadership programs started with assistance of W. K. Kellogg Foundation as well state level public health leadership institutes. A directory of existing and developing state and regional leadership institutes and programs can be accessed from the National Public Health Leadership Development Network. The Heartland Center for Leadership Development in Nebraska is an independent, nonprofit organization that focuses on leadership training, citizen participation, community planning, facilitation, evaluation, and curriculum development. The National MultiCultural Institute provides seminars and online training promoting leadership development and diversity in the workplace.
Credits
Thank you for the contributions from Tim Size, Executive Director, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative.
Last revised 05/21/2009
