Servant Leadership

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D. with Diane Olson, Ph.D.

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Only in hindsight were Chuck's warnings apparent -- a persistent headache and soreness in his legs. He got up from his conference table and began to walk toward the couch. Suddenly, he put his hand to his head and slumped to the floor.

Co-workers rushed to his side and administered CPR. Paramedics took Chuck to the emergency room. We knew his condition was serious. One by one we went to the hospital and stood by our unconscious friend. Some talked to him, some prayed quietly, others wept. Chuck never regained consciousness and died of an aneurysm the next day.

Developing a Leadership Style
Chuck had worked at the large Midwestern newspaper for over forty years. People liked being around him, and he had a good personal relationship with scores of employees. Peers, bosses, and subordinates made a constant stream in and out of his office.

Working for a Real Leader
Chuck was my boss for eight of the 18 years I worked at the newspaper. They were my happiest and most productive years. I sensed Chuck's leadership qualities right away. He was secure and comfortable with himself. He was not threatened by the success of others as so many are in organizations.

Instead, Chuck felt happy to help others succeed. He treated people with respect and dignity and it was easy to see why people loved him. His relationships with people demonstrated that we learn, grow, and develop as leaders through relationship with others. Chuck was testimony that leaders can be healthy, humble, and human.

He wasn't perfect, and his "niceness" caused some problems. Chuck was patient and took a long time to confront people and to put real issues on the table for discussion. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He could have used his substantial influence more often than he did to change circumstances that needed changing. In the finest sense of the word, he was paternalistic.

Acceptance as a Leadership Trait
Chuck accepted others as they were. When I was angry, he let me be angry and didn't become defensive. I could tell him the truth about the organization, and he wouldn't hold my honesty against me.

When I was out of line, he forgave me. I can remember only two occasions in eight years when Chuck lost his temper and yelled, "Tom, we are not going to do that!" A half-hour later, we had patched things up and were laughing. He didn't like to criticize people, but he would when necessary. When he did, people listened.

Creating Opportunities
He gave me opportunities to grow. When I felt bored and wanted new challenges, Chuck created opportunities for me. On several occasions, he even let me write my own job description.

He would read my draft carefully and hand it back to me saying, "add more responsibilities." I smile when I think of how we were opposites. He was detail oriented and wanted the fine points, and I focused on the big picture and wanted the bottom line. We respected our differences, talked about them, and worked on them. We grew together.

Our offices were next to each other, and our paths crossed several times a day. We both worked hard and walked fast as we went from meeting to meeting. We would smile as we approached one another. I could see the twinkle in his eyes, and he would shake his head in amazement at something someone had done that he wanted to tell me about.

Ethics and Leadership
I learned many things about leadership from Chuck. We went to seminars to learn how to coach, mentor, cooperate, and facilitate. On the tests we took, Chuck didn't score high as a leader; he was a pure manager. The tests were wrong.

Chuck was a decent and ethical man and good leaders are first good people. Maturity, judgment, collaboration, and a systemic awareness and understanding of the organization were his hallmarks. Chuck was a good listener, was committed to the truth, and did not play games. He kept us hopeful.

Chuck did not need to read about leadership or attend seminars. He became a whole person by learning how to live life. He then brought his wisdom to the workplace. With a leader like Chuck, I was content to be a follower.

Role Modeling and Leadership
Chuck is a role-model in death as much as he was in life. We converted Chuck's office to a conference room and named it after him. We hung his picture and a plaque in the room so future employees would know who he was and that he stood for decency, integrity, commitment, compassion, and love for his fellow man.

As his proteges mature, we have moments of insight and become aware of the wisdom Chuck possessed that we had not been mindful of when he was with us. After six years, Chuck's memory endures and his stature grows with the passage of time.

Servant Leadership
How do we know who the servant-leader is in a world of cynicism, deception, and slick self-promotion? There is no sure way to know. Many people believe their "leaders" lie and manipulate them for personal gain. They are right. Many in positions of power undermine others and the organization to meet their own selfish needs. This betrayal is why cynicism is so pervasive in organizations. These "leaders" are not leaders or servants; they are villains and predators.

The servant leader consciously and courageously chooses service over selfishness because he or she cares. Servant leaders are compassionate; they understand that one has to love people to lead them. Every action of the servant is congruent with the purpose and values of the whole--even at personal cost. Instead of being out for themselves only, the servant seeks to satisfy higher needs in themselves and in followers.

The search for wholeness is shared by leader and follower. The servant and those served form a symbiotic relationship and are transformed. We must observe the impacts people have on others to determine the true servant-leader. Like Chuck, true leaders help others be the best they can be--all the time. You should trust your heart. If what you hear from those with power conflicts with your heart, reject their words.

Spirit at Work Part III

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D.

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While each of us is responsible for the spirit in our lives, as leaders of organizations and institutions we have the positional power to create conditions that will give others greater opportunity to expand their possibilities and sense of spirit at work. Instead of demanding conformity and compliance (mediocrity and non-being), we can assume a new role for ourselves: we can confront and support others with their freedom, responsibility, and accountability. How much easier it is to be spirited at work if the organization supports us in our efforts. We can grow, create, and contribute without having to fight every step of the way or without going underground to find limited aliveness.

We create these conditions because bringing forth potential is the right thing to do for ourselves and others and it also has huge positive impact on the results of the organization. We create these conditions because we want to contribute to the larger evolution of humanity necessary for a sustainable world. We create these conditions because we care.

Caring is, I believe, the fundamental aspect of our humanity necessary to create and lead a spirited organization. In his book, “On Caring,” Milton Mayeroff defined caring: “To care for another person, in the most significant sense, is to help him grow and actualize himself.” Caring is the antithesis of simply using a person to satisfy our own needs -- so much the norm in organizations.

Leaders who care see others as real people -- not as machines, job descriptions, expense categories, or slots on an organizational chart. Committed to everyone in the organization -- in good times and in bad times--such leaders carry out their obligations as actions they want to take, not as burdens. They respond to the needs of others and enable and trust others to grow in their own time and own way.

Caring leaders encourage people to be themselves, let them make their own decisions, and help others achieve what they want. Leaders who care put the purpose, values, and vision of the organization before personal gain. They help others grow in their freedom, responsibility, and accountability. How do they do this?

They loosen boundaries, encourage dialogue, free anxiety, and use it to give life to the organization. They share information -- including bad news. They talk about loss, failure, and disappointment and learn from these little deaths. They quit using bribes and threats in futile efforts to control and motivate employees.

They expect leadership at all levels. They see employee development as an opportunity for self-determination. They stop fixing others. They allow people to design their work in ways that stimulate them. They hold people accountable for developing their own capabilities for feeling stimulated by their work. They confront mediocrity. And they disconnect pay from stock prices as there is no link between compensation methods and sustainability. In other words, they get real, take on real issues, and treat others as real, mature, and responsible human beings. Do such leaders really exist? Yes, they do. I wrote about one in Pamphlet 11, “The Servant Leader.”

The change effort I wrote of in Pamphlets 59 and 60 had a pattern of caring that ran through all aspects of the work. One story exemplifies the spirit that ran through the organization. Six months after the formation of each self-managed team, we tested the teams on their group process and problem solving skills.

When they were successful they were given a financial award. The only condition was that they use the money on a team activity. One team went to northern Minnesota on a fishing trip. Another went to dinner and a casino. A team went to the horse races. One team had a Saturday night outing planned with a limousine, night clubs, and dinner reservations. The team was located near my office, and I saw and felt their excitement.

The week before their night out a team member’s brother died. He lived in California. The team member could not afford a plane ticket to go to his brother’s funeral. The team, on their own and without fanfare, cancelled their plans and purchased an airline ticket for their teammate. He went to his brother’s funeral in California.

I am not surprised at the recent corporate scandals. I saw seeds of it in the newspaper industry where I worked. I saw dishonesty. I saw corruption. I saw laziness and greed. I did not participate in it. I rebelled against the organization’s shadow every day for 18 years. Therefore I know that each of us can choose our path. We are not powerless or helpless.

Those who understand organizational life and see the patterns readily observable in corporate life are not surprised by these scandals. Robert Greenleaf wouldn’t be surprised. He wrote in 1976: “By default, far too much of the inevitable leadership is in the hands of the gross, the self-seeking, and the corrupt.” These corporate assaults on integrity emerge as natural outgrowths of a worldview that no longer solves the problems of life that matter. Unwilling to give up the mechanistic worldview that made them rich (or promises to make them rich) people with power push old methods harder and harder. And when working harder no longer works, they choose to cheat instead of change -- cheating is easier.

These villains didn’t care about anything greater than their own greed -- the outcome when there is no shared vision. They lacked spirit, caring, character, and competence. These people represent the extreme end of deeper patterns in the shadows of our organizational psyche: greed, elitism, entitlement, intellectual laziness, and the desire for easy quick-fixes. They lied, broke the rules, grabbed the money, and ran. They violated the sacred trust that connects leader and follower. They had power, but they were not leaders.

Many of us colluded with the mentality that led to this spiritual rotting even as we are repulsed by the extent of this wanton behavior. Who hired these people? Who glorified them? Who did their bidding? Who looked the other way? Who wanted to get rich--quick and easy? How many countless and characterless decisions, at all levels of enterprises, preceded their actions?

These corporate criminals behaved so unlike the nine men in the Quecreek Mine near Somerset, Pennsylvania recently. The miners were trapped 240 feet underground for three days. They wrote goodbye notes to their families and sealed them in a bucket. They tied themselves together so they would either live or die as a group. They huddled together to keep warm. They lifted spirits that sagged. The men never quit on one another, and no one lost hope because they knew those above cared for them and would not abandon them.

September 11, 2001 woke us to a reconsideration of what defines heroes and heroines. On that day when terrorists flew jetliners outside the boundaries of humanity and into the Pentagon and the towers of the World Trade Center everything changed.

As most of us sat transfixed in front of our television sets, we saw new heroes and heroines emerge: the women and men of New York City’s fire department, police department, and the emergency medical technicians. We learned of heroic passengers on United Airlines flight 93 who fought their highjackers and probably saved the United States Capitol from destruction as they themselves died. These heroes and heroines believed in something greater than themselves. They cared. Though afraid, they found the courage to act and made us swell with pride. Their courage asked us to be courageous.

These everyday heroes, unlike the cowardly gangsters of the corporate world, were real servants who cared and who gave of themselves for others -- often paying the ultimate in personal cost. They demonstrate the new models for our leaders -- true servants of humanity -- everyday people of honor and integrity who connect with the spirits of all and face difficult challenges with courage.

Suddenly many of those we looked up to as our saviors in the corporate world don’t look so heroic to us. Their outer gloss suffers in contrast to the inner character of the new heroes. We see the villains with clarity, we see ourselves with clarity, and we see more clearly the possibilities for all of us. Our humanity calls to us. Do we hear it?

I wrote in Pamphlet 23, “Leading in Chaos,” that many leaders in organizations are the wrong people to lead in the times in which we live (Pamphlet 17). They lack the maturity and the heart to lead in creative times that call for organizational artists -- not mechanics (see Pamphlet 24).

Mature leaders do not run and hide from themselves or frantically conceal symptoms of systemic problems with cosmetic solutions. They face their anxiety with courage and honesty and transform the dangers they sense to opportunities. They are noble visionaries who also see brutal reality as it is. Their artistry is shown in their ability to move from reality to vision with people who choose to follow.

They confront squarely the genuine problems enterprises face today: incongruent thought processes, problems of vision and values, the management of change, issues of mediocrity and organizational potential, questions of sustainability, the truth of leadership capability, and matters of freedom, responsibility, and accountability. Guided by the heart, caring and mature leaders have great integrity.

Robert Greenleaf wrote that caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the rock upon which a good society is built. Our society is unraveling and has been for some time. The actions we saw on September 11, 2001 and at the Quecreek Mine more recently shined a light on the best that we can be. Calls for caring, creativity, compassion, and moral courage, September 11, 2001 and Quecreek contrast so vividly with the darkness we see all around us.

It would be easy to not care about the corporate world. I vowed many times to abandon it. But care we must if we want to have a good society. Caring is difficult. It requires hard work, self-sacrifice, and tough-mindedness. Caring requires tough-love that is often misunderstood along with wisdom and discipline.

I believe that more of us are like the heroes and heroines of September 11, 2001 and the miners at the Quecreek Mine than the shamed corporate executives at Enron, Qwest, WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, and others.

I hope that we will take our organizations and institutions and make them things of beauty that we are proud to be a part of. To destroy and then create our organizations, we must first care and make our caring count for something great. We can rise from mediocrity and do battle with our collective shadow. We must settle for nothing less than leaders who care and exude character and maturity as they rebel against the beliefs and models that no longer work. We must support them as they lead. Then we might achieve Spirit at Work.

Spirit at Work Part II

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D.

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Freedom, the mother of all values, is necessary for spirit—the breath of life. Freedom is our ability to pause in the midst of conflicting choices, to ponder, to reflect, to reconsider, to ask questions, and to choose our response to the stimuli before us.

Freedom is our choice to be ourselves and gives us dignity. Authentic choices and actions bring forth spirit: the energy that gives courage, passion, vitality, intensity, and aliveness to our existence. Spirit inspires the never-ending struggle for greater freedom in the ongoing evolution of human possibility. Authentic people who take action are free and spirited.

Our freedom is inherent—we have free will—free choice to do battle with the forces within and outside of us that would limit our full humanity. We do not always rejoice in our personal freedom. Freedom means choices and that means anxiety because we may make the wrong or even evil choices.

Choices also mean guilt because our choices may diminish ourselves or break someone’s external rules. Our conformity is our effort to escape the anxiety of freedom but we then feel the guilt of an inauthentic life.

To face the anxiety and guilt that accompanies freedom is better than denying what is real (freedom and choice) and creating more pain for ourselves. Mature and authentic people know they must choose for avoiding choice is not possible. Not choosing is a choice. Will I choose spirit or will I choose to deny spirit?

Our responsibility for the quality of our lives is innate. It is the natural way. Responsibility is the acceptance that my choices are mine alone, and I do not blame others for my choices and actions. Blame is a defense against responsibility. We know we are the source of improvement of our circumstances.

At work we can stay or leave, we can conform or rebel, we can be authentic or inauthentic. We can act on our awareness or we can do nothing. We can live our values or seek acceptance at whatever the cost to our self-respect. We can choose the type of person we want to be. These are our choices and no one else’s, and they each come with anxiety and guilt.

I went to work at the newspaper in 1976. Appalled at the behavior I observed, I wanted to quit after two weeks. But I had a family to support and needed the job. I decided to stay and to live my values every day and do what I could to make this a better workplace. And that is what I did for 18 years. After I left a colleague wrote me, “It is right for you to leave.

It is right for me to stay and work hard to not let the dysfunction affect me and to protect the people who work for me from it.” Each choice was responsible and authentic. I admire my colleague Ray who has found a way to preserve his integrity and be authentic within the workplace. Not all of us feel we can leave. Not all of us can lead or participate in large change efforts. But each of us can find our own way to assert our freedom and live with spirit even in the most diseased organizations.

Accountability is our choice and acceptance of our freedom and responsibility. We are most deeply accountable when we see reality like it is, accept the evil our anxieties reveal, and compose a life to fight and conquer the evil before us. We are accountable when we see how we collude in the leadership and organizations we criticize and accept that we are the ones to fix the problems. We are accountable when we accept the consequences of our free choices. Accountability chosen freely results in authenticity and noble choices; accountability imposed results in inauthenticity and compliance.

In the change effort I described in Pamphlet 59 to define Spirit at Work, a vice president and another executive created the crisis that resulted in a union organizing effort and the need to save millions of dollars. But they were not responsible or accountable. They blamed 5 women managers who lost their jobs. The men retreated to their offices and gave me the assignment of cleaning up their mess.

The crisis, combined with their retreat, provided an opening for expanded possibilities in the organization. The range of our freedom was enlarged. Our possibilities were limitless. The door was open and we exploded through it and never looked back. We seized the opportunity to act from our freedom, take responsibility, and to be held accountable. We invited others to join us. Some did and others chose not to. The aliveness we felt came from those decisions.

Below are some examples of how we instituted freedom, responsibility, and accountability into our change effort (mostly unwittingly).

We adopted a rule of “no secrets,” initiated an open door policy, promised not to “shoot the messenger,” and invited others into the process. Slowly people came forward and took risks. Trust grew when people were heard and treated with respect. At first much anger surfaced. It felt overwhelming at times. So much had been repressed for so long and the anger needed to be expressed before people could move on.

We wanted to treat people like adults and committed to telling what we knew when we knew it on issues of concern. I remember meeting with a team to tell them they would downsize six positions as a result of their plan to redesign their work. They knew they would be going down in positions but not how many.

I recall how anxious I felt about telling them this decision. I feared this group, composed of leaders of the earlier organizing effort, would start the union action again. I blurted it out. They responded by asking thoughtful and responsible questions. They designed the process that would determine who went to other jobs and who stayed. They then made the changes. This lesson was powerful -- for me and my paternalism: when we treat others like adults they tend to respond in kind.

We tried to make people happy. We learned quickly that we could not make anyone happy. We decided we were not in the happiness business. Efforts to make everyone happy would only deepen the sense of entitlement (an attack on accountability) that pervades corporate America -- especially at the top. We would strive to create conditions where people could make the choice to be authentic, to participate, and to be their best each day.

We made all our own decisions on how to lead the change effort, what resources to use, when and how to eliminate staff (all downsizing was voluntary). Every Thursday night the leadership team met at a restaurant to catch up with each other. This was a time for us to pause, reflect on our choices and to ask if our decisions and actions were in alignment with our values and vision.

Often they were not, and we changed what we were doing to better “walk the talk.” It was also the time to look forward in awe and dread as we wondered how we would ever accomplish our vision. We felt the anxiety of freedom but we were in it and the only way out was to go through it. We learned that we could learn as we proceeded and adapt accordingly. These dinners exhilarated us as we were free, real, and creative together.

We involved people in the redesign of work and the establishment of teams. Consultants provided facilitation and methods and employees provided wisdom and expertise. Employees designed their own skill-based pay system. Employees designed the implementation plans and put them in place. Most participated and felt valued, involved, and informed. Leaders learned to not make decisions for employees when they tried to delegate decisions upward and to help people solve their own problems.

We accepted accountability as a positive. As leaders we learned to admit our mistakes and to say, “I don’t know” when we didn’t know something. We learned to apologize when we made mistakes as we understood that mutual trust grows when “I screw up and you know I didn’t do it on purpose.” It was scary to say we didn’t know all the answers and to admit mistakes and apologize. People respected us for doing what was real and right.

We created change process groups made up of employees critical of management. Many were the leaders of the union organizing effort. They gathered feedback from co-workers and shared it with managers. The goal was for every employee to feel valued, involved, and informed.

Teams began to set their own goals -- always more challenging than I established for them, and we eliminated traditional performance appraisals. Employees began to hire team members, scheduled their own days and hours, manage team budgets, and give each another feedback.

Several team members came to their team leader. They wanted to confront another team member who was a member of a minority group making the situation more sensitive in their eyes. They did not want the team leader to handle the conflict. They wanted her to coach them on how to handle themselves. They met with the co-worker. Later, in a team presentation to the union and management, the team member who was confronted spoke openly of how his team had handled him with dignity and respect.

Teams and employees participated in the design of training programs. We assigned each employee to a learning group on a topic important to the business. Each group established a learning goal for themselves. For example, they could hire a speaker, do a site visit, or read a book together. They then set a business objective to demonstrate their learning.

When finished the team did a presentation for the managers, union leaders, and other teams. The presentations inspired us. I chuckled when a young part-time secretary described her group’s vision and then asked the CEO what his vision was for the corporation, and he stammered and stuttered a weak response. It soon became apparent that people had tremendous learning abilities and they often embarrassed senior executives with their questions and knowledge.

We found freedom to be elusive. As soon as we took responsibility for one area of our work life, another possibility presented itself. And the new had to be adapted to others and to other dynamics. I realized that in life we would always be in a struggle for ever expanded freedom to be all we can be. We were rebels against all that is anti-human in organizations.

We fought for dignity and spirit and stretched for greater maturity and character. I knew we were in danger. The villains would eventually come out of their offices and try to again lead from the rear. But we had a blast while it lasted, and we experienced the spirit that is possible for everyone. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in a process that impacted me deeply.

Spirit at Work is not a bold enough vision. To talk of Spirit at Work is to fragment (a method of the mechanistic model) the human spirit that is born to be free, alive, whole, and healthy in all aspects of life -- not just at work. We need greater foresight and need to conceptualize grander aspirations for ourselves for the human spirit is sadly in need of revitalization everywhere: in our schools, churches, families, and on the streets of our communities.

I believe those of us who want to transform organizations should talk of The Renewal of Spirit and learn, by doing our own inner work and taking our own courageous life actions first, to live, love, work, and lead in spirit -- purposeful, authentic, courageous, and interconnected with all of life--in all we do. We need to be the models for others, not the “doers” or experts for others.

A spirited life requires that we make a conscious choice to live a free, responsible, and accountable life. As free people we choose a life of spirit for ourselves and then take it with us wherever we go -- even to spiritless places. We are responsible. No one can or will awaken our spirits for us.

As leaders with power over resources and the actions of others, we can create anti-human organizations that reflect our own dearth of spirit, but we cannot diminish people’s freedom, their personal responsibility, or their sense of accountability without their acquiescence. As leaders we can create conditions that support and encourage people to act like free, responsible, and accountable people at work, but we cannot force them to have SPIRIT or to choose freedom, accountability, or responsibility. That is always their choice.

We do not create Spirit at Work. Instead each of us chooses to be alive and to live a life of spirit, regardless of external circumstances. We choose freedom, responsibility, and accountability for our lives. Authentic people create authentic organizations. Mother Teresa said, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”

I know, from my life experience, how scary it is to acknowledge my freedom, to take responsibility for my choices, to feel the anxiety and guilt of freedom, the uncertainty of life, and to be accountable for my decisions. Fear is not a bad place to begin a spiritual journey.

No one knows what lies beyond this pale. But if there is anything other than extinction, we can be sure that the best preparation for it, in this brief interval when the bird of time is still on the wing, is to live out our lives and our creativity as fully as we can, experiencing and contributing what we can.

Spirit at Work Part I

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D

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That February night in 1991 was cold, dark, and windy. I dined at Water’s -- a trendy restaurant on north Washington Avenue in the warehouse district of downtown Minneapolis. My dinner companion, Diane Olson, Ph.D., was my friend and consultant. We sat in a booth at the back of the restaurant. In awe of my learnings from a leadership experience I was involved in, I discussed my insights with her.

I was the leader of a 4,500 employee business unit at the Star Tribune newspaper, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This business unit was in the midst of a transformational change process. I glanced around secretively, leaned over the table that separated us, and whispered to Diane, “You know, this transformational change is spiritual -- it’s what free and authentic people do naturally.” Diane smiled and nodded; she already knew and understood.

I am not an outwardly religious person, and I usually keep my spiritual beliefs to myself. I feared saying the word spiritual out loud. I was convinced that had I described the change process as a spiritual journey, the mechanistic organization would have rejected me quickly. On the other hand, linking the change effort to materialism (reduced costs and increased revenues) provided heroic status -- at least for a time.

Spirit at Work is one of the endless themes of the fragmented efforts to move organizations to a holistic and organic worldview -- fragmentation contrary to a holistic and organic worldview. And, like the other well-intended and theoretically sound initiatives, Spirit at Work is in danger of being rejected as a fad because many people think of Spirit at Work as an easy fix to complex problems.

Spirit at Work is serious business about life and the human condition--difficult inner work followed by courageous actions. Not feel good and everything will be all right talk. That is not real; Spirit at Work, a challenge in its own right, has a powerful and destructive shadow side.

Today more than 11 years after that dinner conversation, I reflect on what I meant when I said, “…this transformational change is spiritual….” Just what does Spirit at Work mean?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines spirit as:
The animating or vital principle in man (and animals); that which gives life to the physical organism, in contrast to its purely material elements; the breath of life.

Work is:
Action of a particular kind....

In 1997 I wrote a description of our change effort:
Change began in 1990 with the need to save millions of dollars and to respond to a union organizing effort. In addition, demographic and market changes that demanded new ways of doing things were on the horizon.

The traditional way to defeat an organizing effort was to spend a lot of money on a political campaign. This approach could not be used when the leaders had to save millions of dollars at the same time. Nor would that traditional approach transform the enterprise into a more flexible and creative organization positioned to meet new marketplace challenges. The leaders of the business unit had to search for new ways to achieve their objectives. We felt a sense of urgency and excitement.

A period of exploration and study about ideas new to organizational life began. A few business unit leaders embarked on a journey of discovery. We read books, attended conferences, visited other organizations, and talked about ideas. We were free. Those who had caused the crisis had retreated to the safety of their offices. We began to feel the end of the old ways, the confusion of chaos, (which we embraced), and the uncertainty of new approaches. The group chose an approach to change that would involve and empower all employees. We felt challenged and capable.

Leaders discussed the need for dramatic change with employees in groups of 8-10 people. Energy was unleashed. We wrote a definition of Value Driven Leadership -- the core principles that bounded our authenticity. As possibilities emerged a vision document was drafted. The details became clearer and the approach more refined. Our commitment to fundamental change that would evolve all of us grew.

Leaders used the ideas of the entire organization to fine-tune the vision that evolved continuously. The achievement of our objectives required immediate action. We knew that to succeed we had to make dramatic changes in how we led the organization. People ventured into the unknown and could not know every issue, detail, and obstacle they would encounter. We were pioneers -- guided on the journey by our values, our vision for the future, our faith in the dynamic processes of life, and our collective ability to learn and change.

People responded to the challenge. The worries and frustrations of day-to-day life receded from awareness. A powerful sense of purpose became real. Supervisors stepped aside and allowed those close to the work to manage the work. The rule books went out the door.

Finding what worked was what was important. Barriers were eliminated. Anyone could talk to anyone. Those with the needed skills or information led, regardless of rank, and all who wanted participated in the creative process. People learned and adapted as they proceeded. We were engaged with life.

People worked hard. The changes were stressful. Pain and fear were talked about openly. Despite the difficulty, people did not want to retreat to the old ways. I know because I asked them frequently. They could see a better future and would sacrifice to achieve it.

Employees were involved in the redesign of their work. Consultants provided facilitation and methods. Managers created change process teams made up of informal leaders. Their role was to be sure the employees felt valued, involved, and informed during this change effort.

Everyone got to be someone. Trust and credibility grew, and the union organizing effort went away. Employee leaders of the organizing effort became leaders in the effort to transform the business unit. The energy level was incredible. We were alive in the moment instead of toiling for an obscure future. Personal and team growth was rapid and improved performance came quickly.

We established the first self-managed team. We would experiment with one self-managed team for a year. We would learn from the experiment and then decide where to go from there. Decisions on design were made as the team proceeded. The team and managers developed unique training programs.

Meanwhile, leaders continued to seek out opportunities to learn what others had done. They began to adapt ideas to their unique reality. More people participated and excitement grew. Operating procedures were written down. We clarified our values and intentions. When the team completed its training, we celebrated.

Pressure to integrate and extend the learnings from the first self-managed team was intense. We forgot about the year-long experiment. Soon fifteen teams were up and running. The consultant and internal trainers conducted training programs daily. They adapted the methods weekly. Within fifteen months, thirty self-managed teams were operational, a skill based pay system was in place, a partnership with a union had begun, supervision was reduced significantly, and unique training programs had been developed for teams, team leaders, and managers.

Meanwhile employees continued to learn and to document the new processes and learnings. Leaders became more reflective as they struggled to “walk the talk.” Leaders began to become aware and mindful of deeper processes and shadow side dynamics in their relationships and in the organizational culture. We had struggles, and we enjoyed them.

Operational results were phenomenal. Now when employees went to conferences they were presenters as well as observers. People began to visit to learn from the business unit. Consultants began to write about this work.

For a moment we were more of our natural selves: braver, smarter, and more creative than during more orderly times. We worked harder, cared for one another more, and accepted our differences. We were filled with hope for the possibilities we saw for us as people and for the life we lived at work. For a moment we were more of our best selves -- always the deeper purpose of our efforts--the organization provided the container.

The aliveness I felt came from the expression of my deepest authenticity. The aliveness came from living my purpose and my values in service of an ever-expanding vision that inspired me. My direction comes from within -- not from external sources -- and that direction guides my external actions (all done imperfectly, of course).

The change effort continued, and its meaning became clear to me. I realized how our leadership brings forth mediocre organizations and dispirited people. I came to understand the powerful energy generated by a shared vision. I saw the courage summoned when people create together what they want most for their lives. I felt the inspiration born when people live by their deepest values.

In August 1991 business unit leaders were asked to tell the company’s senior staff about their work. This staff of seventy or eighty managers met monthly. These meetings were mostly “show and tell,” and the managers who attended them were generally cynical about what they heard there.

After some introductory remarks Betty, a stately black woman, got up to speak. A year before she was a leader in the effort to unionize her department. She and I were wary of one another initially. I got to know Betty that year. She had a loud voice and a great sense of humor. Betty was down to earth and asked tough questions. She cared about people and was not intimidated by me. Soon my first negative impressions of Betty changed; I liked her (see Pamphlet 16: Betty)

Betty addressed the group:
My name is Betty, and I’m from Field Services and I’m nervous. I’m really proud that you all got dressed up because I was told by a team member that you wouldn’t have clothes on.

The room rocked with laughter. Betty owned the audience. Betty spoke from the heart, and you could hear the dignity in her voice as she described how her team redesigned their work, reduced their staff from eighteen to eleven, and trained in group process skills. She described how difficult, frightening, and challenging this change had been. I looked at the audience. Many of the cynical managers had tears in their eyes.

Mary then talked about how her role as a team leader had changed. Employees had labeled one of her teams the Team from Hell. With great pride, Mary described how she had made T-shirts with the logo Team from Hell on them and gave them to the team members during their training. They discussed the painful perception of their team, and they made some commitments to one another. Six months later the Team from Hell received an award for achieving the most improvement in customer service measures.

Mike was a middle-aged union leader and a member of a self-managed team. He talked enthusiastically about how much this change meant to him and other front-line employees and about how good he felt coming to work each day. He saw opportunities for the company and the unions by working together to serve customers. No union leader had ever stood before the senior management of the company and said that before, and none has done it since.

When the presentation ended, David Cox, the CEO of Cowles Media Company, stood and, with a tear in his eye and a frog in his throat, said, “People often ask me what living out the values in our charter will look like. You have just seen it.” Cox told me: “This presentation will change the company forever.”

This describes Spirit at Work. Spirit is not the move to teams, the quality efforts, the job redesign, and all the other tools we use to change organizations. Spirit is the deeper energy, the creativity, and the commitment that emerges when free people live their highest and most authentic potential. Spirit shows itself as pride, courage, excitement, and enthusiasm in the face of uncertainty and danger.

For me (today):
Spirit at Work represents the expression of our deepest authenticity as, inspired by our sense of purpose and guided by our values, we step into the unknown and move courageously together toward a bold vision feeling the aliveness of life experienced completely and humanity realized more fully.

Historically Spirit at Work was effectively destroyed by industrialization when work was redesigned to make money for others. Our Spirit at Work at the newspaper was eventually destroyed by people who, afraid to look within, projected their fear, pain, and limitations outward and destroyed our creation.

Why is spirit important? Because, simply, we are spirited beings, and our spirituality makes us human, connects us to all of life, and elevates us to our potential as caring people. If we ignore our spirits, we lose our humanity. The uncertainty of the times, the suffering all around us, our need to help others, and the grandeur and mystery of life focus our attention on spirit at this difficult time in our history.

PTSD in the Workplace

by Thomas Harpley, Ph.D.

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

When most people think of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), they think of combat veterans running for cover during thunderstorms. In reality, combat veterans only account for a fraction of those who experience PTSD. The American Psychiatric Association estimates that as much as 14% of the general population may experience PTSD during their lifetime.

Do you think PTSD is irrelevant in your workplace?

The U.S. Dept. of Justice just revealed that one out of six violent crimes occurs in the workplace.

Approximately twenty four million workers, or nearly one out of every four U.S. employees, were threatened, harassed, or attacked on the job, during 1992.

Homicide is the second leading cause of death in the workplace, and the number one cause of death on the job for women.

The essential feature of PTSD is distress or impairment after experiencing a traumatic stressor. Such a stressor might include a person experiencing, witnessing, or confronting an event that involves: a threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others the actual serious injury or death of others.

As people, we are all made up of three primary psychological components: the cognitive - what we think; the emotional - what we feel; and, the behavioral - what we do.

Most people's jobs involve thoughts and actions, and relatively speaking, little feelings or emotions.But when a trauma or crisis occurs, our feelings are thrust to the forefront, and our thoughts and actions become impaired. Common posttraumatic stress reactions include impairment of attention, concentration, and memory.

Trauma victims, for example, may have great difficulty paying attention or concentrating on even the most familiar or simple of tasks. For this reason, they may be at risk operating machinery, or driving an automobile, for a period of time after a traumatic event. They may also be unable to remember information which previously had been "second nature" to them.

Trauma victims may also feel a sense of detachment or estrangement from others, especially those "who were not there, and can't know what it was like". This sense of detachment may translate into lessened interest or participation in significant activities, personally or vocationally.

A word of caution to loved ones of trauma victims: be careful about inflicting "secondary injury" on the trauma victim. "Secondary injury", like the name implies, is an additional injury, after-the-fact, most often caused unintentionally and unknowingly, by insensitive or critical comments from others, who "were not there and (who) cannot know what it was really like".

What to do about PTSD? Two responses, one on an individual level, the other on a corporate level. First, realize that posttraumatic stress reactions are NORMAL reactions to abnormal events, it is not the person who is abnormal. Second, research has shown that people who talk about traumas tend to recover more quickly and completely, than do others who do not talk. So, talking to friends or family, or especially to professional counselors who are trained to help people process feelings, can be most beneficial.

On a corporate level, it is important for employers or organizations have a trauma response plan intact beforehand, rather than trying to respond, perhaps literally, "amidst the smoke and ashes". Research has shown that a prompt and efficient response to trauma can mitigate the employees' emotional distress, work interruption, and possible corporate liability.

New leaders: People of Character

by Tom Heuerman, Ph.D.

Job Vacancies, Employment, Employment Jobs

New Leaders Serve

The leader consciously chooses humble service to a great purpose over greed and selfishness. The servant.s every action is congruent with the purpose and highest values of the whole -- even at personal cost. Making a difference matters -- not making a buck or a false impression.

Society teaches us to compete and to gain advantage over others for personal gain. Cynicism pervades our enterprises because many in organizations will do anything to gain that advantage: lie, cheat, steal, denigrate others, and manipulate without guilt or shame. These people do not serve or lead. The time is past for such self-absorbed villains.

Those who choose service and sacrifice over selfishness make this courageous choice because they care about things outside of themselves. Instead of thinking of themselves only, the servant-leader seeks to satisfy higher needs in themselves and in followers.

Leader and follower share the search for meaning, the quest for a legacy, and the desire to make a worthy contribution to life. The servant and those served form a symbiotic relationship and grow together to fulfill their potential. Servant-leaders are compassionate and understand that one has to love people to lead them.

The servant leader understands that it.s people, not machines, who meet competitive challenges and that the business exists to provide meaningful work and opportunities to learn and grow for employees as well as to provide a product or service for customers and financial returns for investors.

How do we know the real servant-leader in a world of cynicism, deception, and slick self-promotion? No sure way to know exists. We must observe the impacts people have on others over time to determine the true servant-leaders. True leaders help others be the best they can be. Trust your heart. If what you hear from those with power conflicts with your heart, reject their words.

New Leaders Teach.

In times of rapid change we all must learn, and all are teachers and learners. The leader knows that re-education must come before sustainable change and teaches what he or she needs to learn. The teacher translates the vision, values, and purpose of the organization to everyday operations and demonstrates a model for the leadership behavior desired in the particular enterprise. In the process of teaching, the teacher learns.

Everyone always learns. In a fearful, mediocre, and addictive organization (a mechanistic organization) people, unfortunately, learn to blame, comply, conform, and to keep their heads down. People learn to be busy, helpless, and powerless. They learn to be defensive, confused, and cynical. They learn to be irresponsible victims. They learn to be abusive, inauthentic, and cowardly. We created this organizational culture, and we can change it.

This adaptive behavior changes when leaders commit to change how they lead the organization and then take determined action. Resilient people will risk again if they have hope for a more authentic and value-driven workplace to which they can contribute their gifts.

To become a "learning organization" is not a mechanical quick fix. Becoming a learning organization is an organic, self-transcending, transformation of the essence of the enterprise. The teacher understands the prevalence of mediocre organizations and sets high standards, is a tough grader, and stresses personal accountability for learning. Time, rewards, and resources are allocated for self-directed learning aligned with the vision and strategy of the enterprise.

In tough economic times we need to get smarter, more creative, and try new things. We need to learn new skills and develop new talents. Economic recession provides a catalyst for higher levels of learning and performance -- not for cutting the training budget.

Economic recession also presents an opportunity to eliminate high-level management positions (overhead) and to invest in the self-management of front-line workers who know what is wrong with the organization and know how to fix it, if given the opportunity.

Those lowest in the organization have the most to lose by learning. As organizations "open up" and people participate freely, some of those at higher levels on the organizational chart feel threatened and embarrassed by the knowledge and intelligence of those at lower levels on the organizational chart and may punish them -- just like bullies in grade school. The teacher watches for this and sends those executives to the principal.s office.

The love of learning has been driven from many people by our institutions, beginning with our schools. Many people don.t believe in themselves as learners. The teacher within the leader ignites the intense desire to learn in others through the leader.s own authenticity as a learner and as a teacher. Great leaders are great learners and great teachers.

New Leaders Facilitate Others.

The leader guides people through emotional transitions and helps potential and possibility emerge across organizational boundaries. The leader creates conditions where people share information, form trusting relationships, and take time to think. The leader nurtures this process of self-organization.

A good facilitator gets "within" the group or organization and guides it where the group wants to go congruent with the vision, values, and purpose of the enterprise. The leader asks the question, "what wants to emerge here?" and "what am I trying to do here?"

The leader understands that the process of change is much more than the surface physical change that takes place: the move of the office, the new boss, the reorganization. The leader realizes that the most important dynamic is the underlying emotional transition of identity that accompanies change. The leader understands the grieving process and helps others express their loss of identity, and the loss of the familiar. The leader knows this loss is expressed differently by diverse people, but the loss must be expressed if identity is to change.

The leader realizes that a time of confusion and wandering is necessary and great creativity is possible if people feel and move through the emotions of transition. This is a frightening time for people, and the leader understands that the lack of clear rules in this space allows creative thoughts to emerge. From this creative place, the leader helps the group test out new beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors. This is an ongoing process and, in time, the group incorporates new skills and guides their own process.

The leader is comfortable with emotions -- hers and the group.s. The facilitator can confront, empathize, challenge, and acknowledge. She receives feedback without defensiveness and provides feedback without alienating others. Leaders share their mistakes, shortcomings, and experiences and suspend and hold assumptions out for others to reflect on.

The facilitator keeps minority views alive, avoids premature consensus, and prevents the paralysis often caused by the desire for consensus. The leader functions as a colleague, and she models skills for the group so all can become facilitators of change.

The leader understands that conflict at boundaries is a rich source of creativity. Instead of suppressing the conflict, the leader helps the conflict to surface and assists in the exploration of its potential. The leader gives permission for new thoughts to emerge. As we struggle to learn to think in new ways, the leader pays attention and helps when we get lost, stuck, or slip back to old habits.

The facilitator manages the tension between the vision and the reality of the organization. The leader realizes she must hold the vision when the tension level increases. Instead of lowering the vision, leaders help people manage the tension. Great facilitators guide the process and the emotional life of the enterprise.

The leader seeks wisdom and fundamental truth. The leader has no need to control but rather is content to observe, to let things unfold, to introspect, and to ponder the meaning of something in a mindful way. The goal is to see the whole, to understand, and to influence right action.

The leader brings forth the great "wisdom in the system" and seeks to learn from the people in the most humble positions. She is a continuous learner and eternal traveler into the world of higher knowledge and shares her knowledge with others freely. Leaders understand the importance of meeting the highest needs of people in leading an organization.

The leader -- the poet in residence and the organizational storyteller -- always realizes that we reflect our identities in the stories we tell. Aware of the metaphors of the enterprise, the leader matches metaphors to the situation. Wise leaders inspire, open eyes, provide hope, and embody the spiritual, mystical parts of our lives; they create meaning -- for everyone.

The leader listens, questions, and seeks to be jolted, taught, and guided by others without feeling threatened, needs others but is not overly dependent, judges other persons with affection and discrimination, and possesses the autonomy to be creative without rejecting the external influences that make growth and relevance possible.

George Fox founded the Religious Society of Friends in England in the seventeenth century. Early in his ministry, Fox had an insight that led to his decision to depend almost wholly on his own reading of scripture and what God revealed to him directly rather than on the views of contemporary authorities: civil, military, scholarly, or ecclesiastical.

Knowledge gained experimentally guided Fox for the next forty years. Fox.s extraordinary leadership was credited to the gift of knowing experimentally. This ability in Fox allowed new meaning and a superior wisdom to emerge. We need to coach and nurture this capability of knowing experimentally in today's leaders.

Robert Greenleaf, author of Servant Leadership, wrote that we do not need more technical knowledge today but strong ethical leaders who will raise moral standards in a time when much of leadership is corrupt and incompetent. These leaders will "know experimentally" what is right and will have the courage to follow that course through the chaos of the age.

The meaning, direction, and inspiration of true leaders come from their powerful vision, deep ethical foundation, and profound sense of purpose. They identify with life itself and understand life.s natural creative process. These leaders form a symbiotic relationship with others and evolve together to a higher consciousness and wisdom. They know experimentally what to do and have the courage to follow that course daily--regardless of what others do, say, or think.

We live in a time of decline and rebirth. The world-view and leadership model that got us here will not take us to our future. We know this is true. The adventuresome leaders for the times in which we live take the inner journey necessary to bring forth a new world. They take this journey with courage and authenticity.

New leaders stand and fight for integrity. Creative artists, these leaders work with the chaos of the times to bring forth new organizational forms. As learners and teachers they translate new insights to operational practices. As facilitators they guide others through transitions. And as philosophers they create vision, purpose, and meaning.

Finally they utilize themselves: their maturity, their judgment, their authenticity, and their courage to lead others to a new future. These men and women possess a glimpse of our potential and move toward it intentionally. The leaders for the times in which we live understand that great leaders emerge from great people -- aware, responsible, and self-evolving. The hope we want for our future lies within each of us. The challenge is for each of us to be all that we can be.

Bioinformatics Careers

By John Edwards

Jobs Vacancy, Employment, Employment Jobs

"Bioinformatics is a science that brings together biology, computer science, and information technology to study crucial knowledge gaps in the life sciences," explains Reinhard Laubenbacher, a mathematics professor and deputy director of education and outreach at Virginia Tech's Virginia Bioinformatics Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia. Only a decade or so ago, bioinformatics was a relatively new discipline. Today, bioinformatics specialists are an integral part of the life sciences landscape, making key contributions to bioengineering and biomedical research in both the academic and private sectors.

In general terms, bioinformatics describes any use of computers to handle biological information. "What almost all bioinformatics has in common is the processing of large amounts of biologically-derived information, whether DNA sequences or breast X-rays," says Vincent Grasso, an adjunct professor of chemistry and chemical biology at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. "The bioinformatics-enabled protein biomarker discovery, for example, will enable the development of safer and more effective drugs, targeted therapies, and molecular diagnostics."

Exciting Times

According to a 2008 study by London based research firm Business Insights, the bioinformatics market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23%, reaching $4.5 billion by 2011 (compared with $1.6 billion in 2006).

Jean Peccoud, an assistant molecular biology and bioinformatics professor at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, says that despite the terrible global economy, this is an exciting time to launch a bioinformatics career. "Biology is moving at such a pace that promising new research areas and disciplines continue to form and be shaped," Peccoud says.

Synthetic biology, an attempt to adapt engineering methods to the development of biological systems meeting user-defined specifications, is one of many bioinformatics disciplines showing signifi cant promise. "Gene synthesis makes it possible to fabricate any genome we can dream of," Peccoud says. "This is just one example of some of the more recent opportunities for students and researchers looking to work across different disciplines."

Laubenbacher notes that the demand for bioinformatics experts is currently strong and will continue growing. "The needs for a quantitative approach to biology are burgeoning, which means a signifi cant increase in opportunities for students and researchers with the right training," he says. "To take one example, new technologies for genome analysis, such as next-generation highthroughput sequencing methods, are creating ever-new challenges for the bioinformatics research community due to the large amounts of high quality biological data that can be produced rapidly." He adds that along with continuing rapid advances in biological and medical technology, there will be continued demand for bioinformaticians, especially those with strong training and experience in biology.

Planning a Career

The first step in planning a bioinformatics career is earning the necessary academic credentials. "Bioinformatics is offered as a graduate degree," says Attiula Attygalle, a research professor of chemistry at Stevens. "If you want to go in that direction you should have a good background in statistics and mathematics and some basic knowledge of biology and chemistry," Attygalle suggests.

"Bioinformatics is a science that brings together biology, computer science, and information technology to study crucial knowledge gaps in the life sciences," explains Reinhard Laubenbacher, a mathematics professor and deputy director of education and outreach at Virginia Tech's Virginia Bioinformatics Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia.

A solid mix of elective courses in computer science, as well as advanced topics in biology, chemistry, and statistics are also required in order to obtain an advanced degree, such as an M.S. or Ph.D. "As the discipline of bioinformatics becomes more technically orientated, those profi cient within the realm of computer science have the best chance to excel," Gallo says.

"Over the past several years, many universities have launched full degree programs in bioinformatics," says Linda Kirsch, owner of Kirsch Executive Search, a consulting and career coaching company located in San Carlos, California. "These programs offer a strong mix of computer science and molecular biology," she says. "There are also a number of certificate programs that prepare students in many of the methods used by bioinformatics [employers]," Kirsch adds.

Graduates with bioninformatics degrees, or who have received certifi cation in the fi eld, can expect to find employment in a variety of different health-related areas. Attygale notes that employment opportunities are available in the pharmaceutical industry and, to a lesser extent, in agriculture. "One can also...find employment in hospitals to analyze data on how people should be treated, or to gather statistical data," Attygalle says.

Laubenbacher notes that grads interested in teaching and basic research can also find a niche in bioinformatics. "Job opportunities range from positions at academic research institutions to medical schools and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries," he says.

Future Directions

Tech grads planning a bioinformatics career need to be aware of potential competition that's now approaching the field from the scientific and medical communities. "Many selftaught bioinformatics experts are biophysicists—scientists that became computer experts or computer scientists that became interested in biology," says Kirsch. She notes that these individuals are "an interesting breed," spanning the gap separating computer science and biological research. "They live between the fields in a space of their own," she says.

Bioinformatics is a demanding and rapidly evolving market that requires its participants to stay on top of a never-ending string of complex new developments. "Probably the most important trend in modern biology is the increasing availability of high-throughput (HT) data," Gallo says. The earliest forms of HT were genome sequences and, to a lesser degree, protein sequences. Now, however, many different forms of biological HT data are available via automated or semi-automated experimental systems. "This data includes gene expression data, protein expression, metabolomics, mass spec data, imaging of all sorts, protein structures, and the results of mutagenesis and screening experiments conducted in parallel," Gallo says. To gain biological meaning from an increasing quantity of diverse data will require legions of new bioinformatics experts. Ultimately, bioinformatics requires all who enter the field to expect the unexpected and to ride an information wave that promises to benefit the entire world. "There are many directions we can go with these [bioinformatics] techniques," says Kirsch. "We will sequence more genomes faster then ever before, generating more data than ever imagined and at prices that will become affordable enough to be considered on a personalized medical basis.