THE THREE E’s OF LEADERSHIP
As the 87th President, with a Masters in Physical Therapy, of the United States Junior Chamber, a 40,000 base member organization, with over 40 state organization and 1000 plus local community organization, I am often questioned what type of business are these organizations in. Many may think and express that we are in a community service organization, however, on the contrary, we are in a Non profit industry, developing LEADERSHIP skills for people in these organizations to provide our communities better leaders. The United States Junior Chamber, State Junior Chambers, and Local Community Junior Chambers are business organizations and should be lead as major corporations such as Motorola, IBM, and Microsoft.
Leadership defined by Webster’s Dictionary states: the office or position of a leader; capacity to lead; the act or an instance of leading.
So, a question that may come to mind, is, how do we start implementing leadership to make successful, National, State, and Local organizations? My answer is to that particular question would be, by Changing our mentality and using the Three E’s of leadership (Engage, Educate, & Empower) and becoming an “on-demand” organization. Meaning every level of this organization process is exquisitely calibrated to respond instantly to whatever gets thrown at us. If leadership is trapped in the past and our organizations have not Changed, we have a problem!
THE STRATEGY. Demand a new breed of leaders – leaders who are sensitive to changes in their environment.
THE PLAN. To pick out the top people and place them under a microscope; define how they think about the organization and their position, how they interact with others, how they set their goals, and how they go about meeting them. In short, extract the best practices from the leaders and try to see if it can be duplicated. During the process surveys are needed to supplement from the people they interact with. The surveys need to be combed through the stories and accompanying data, searching for characteristics and qualities that distinguish these high performers.
Next, we have to no longer think of our people as members but more as clients. THE DIFFERENCE? A member is transactional – A client is somebody whom you have a longstanding relationship and a personal investment. It is no longer enough to sell a member a service – we should become focused on becoming a long term trusted partner.
Leadership is a personal journey for each person. Leadership skills in The United States Junior Chamber should be evaluated on three areas, innovation that matters for your Local Chapters and State, dedication to every members success, and trust and personal responsibilities in all relationships.
Innovation that matters for your Local Chapters and State should require thinking horizontally. First, this leverages the State/Chapters capabilities to address members or market opportunities in new ways. Second, it allows for informed judgment, which synthesizes disparate source of information to make an informed judgment regarding a strategic decision with both intermediate and long-term implications. Third, strategic risk taking. Strategic risk taking innovates to create exponential growth using multiple resources from around the Jaycees.
Dedication to every members success, one, builds member partnerships, which builds ongoing collegial relationships with key clients based on mutual strategic interests. Two, collaborative influence, creates interdependence, building genuine commitment across State/Local Chapter boundaries to a common purpose. Third, embracing challenge, productively builds in others the belief that they can innovate and grow the State/Chapter.
Trust and personal responsibilities in all relationships means earning trust by doing what is right for the long term good of relationships inside and out of the Jaycees. It enables growth by changing systems or process that impede growth and performance. Passion for the State/Local Chapters future gets others energized to realize the Jaycees unique potential. Developing Jaycee people and communities take accountability for investing in the future leadership of the United States Junior Chamber.