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• Balance leadership and group processes
  • The risks of overdoing participation
  • "Facilitative" leadership still means leading!
  • Optimal roles for leaders and groups
  • The balance of leadership and group process rests on two big assumptions.
  
  
  
• Balance competing values
  • Good groups and effective individuals balance trade-offs.
  
  
  
• Create the rules of engagement
  • In complex risk environments, boards are usually served by policy discussions that have a clear starting point.
  • Put draft proposals-"working propositions" -in front of the board.
  • Operationalize fairness by creating the rules of engagement and working assumptions.
  • Positioning statements that manage expectations
  • Conducting discussions
  • Three key values to guide the day
  • Consultant's role
  • A discussion path for each working proposition
  • Informal polling
  
  
  
• Organize the group around outcomes
  • Don't front load your process with complex data and analyses
  • Be forceful in pushing the value of a different kind of data
  • An exercise to identify outcomes
  • Clarifying with questions
  • Moving discussion from personal advocacy to collective thinking
  
  
  
• Use leadership to drive the merger inquiry
  • A merger process is driven by leadership.
  • Don't expect too much from data and research.
  • Rely on experience.
  
  
  
• Lock down the merger's decision-making process
  • First and foremost, be mission-driven.
  • Assume good faith and trust.
  • Adopt working assumptions.
  • Agree to simple structures and practices.
  • Avoid costly stakeholder processes.
  • Understand and commit to the required resources to accomplish the task.
  • Agree to needed internal administrative support.
  • Define roles of the executive director and president, and plan for new leadership.
  • Define staff roles.
  • Making the case: Launch the due diligence
  
  
  
• Merger Samples and Tools
  1. Bring both boards together to discuss and sanction the merger process
  2. Board chairs kick off due diligence
  3. Identifying due diligence questions
  4. After due diligence, bringing boards together
  5. The report executive summary
  
  
  
• Assume leadership in grantmaking
  • The role of outsiders in helping low income and culturally diverse people
  • How activist can the foundation representative be?
  • Foundations should tap their own values.
  • Constructs that transcend culture
  • The asset model of John McKnight
  • The assets model as the powerful importing of ideology
  • All parties should influence each other in the best sense
  • One of your assets is your sense of personal responsibility.
  • Can the "system" be a force for good?
  
  
  
• 17 Key lessons for leaders
  
  
• Nicaragua article and slideshow    
  
  
• Ecuador article and slideshow    
  
  
• Nepal article and slideshow    
  
  
• Letter From The Philippines
  
  
• Bolivia Article
  
  
• Pasayten Article
  
  
• 15 years of travel
  
  
• Consulting Services and Client List
  
  
• Links