We are excited to be hosting Dr. Kent Keith of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership at our annual Donor & Partner Appreciation Night on Monday, May 7th! The event begins at 5:00 p.m. and Dr. Keith will give a 30-minute keynote address at 6:00 p.m. You don’t want to miss it!
We hope the boards and staff (non-profit, government, and for-profit) are equally excited that Dr. Keith is staying over to teach a three-hour workshop on Tuesday, May 8th!
The topic of both events is “Servant Leadership,” a philosophy begun by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, and a philosophy which lives on through the work of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, where Dr. Keith is the CEO. “Servant Leadership” is the belief that one serves on a board because s/he truly wants to serve and, if you always strive to serve others (clients, customers, staff, and board) rather than yourself, the leadership will naturally follow because others will naturally follow you. Those who get onto boards for power and ego are not leaders – just being in charge doesn’t make you a leader.
In preparation for our events, we have been reading and handing out some of Robert Greenleaf’s and Dr. Keith’s books and essays. The most appropriate book that we have been using is Dr. Keith’s “Servant Leadership in the Boardroom,” which is appropriate for all types of organizations who have governing boards, including not-for-profits, for-profits, units of local government, homeowners associations, churches, and networks – anywhere where groups of (usually) volunteers come together to form the basis of an organization, whether formally or informally.
As part of the message from Dr. Keith’s books, here is a re-print of “Key Reminders for Servant-Leaders in the Boardroom:”
- Your corporation exists to serve others – staff or employees inside the corporation, and customers, clients, patients, members, students, or citizens outside the corporation;
- Your corporation, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, was created by the government for the public good;
- You and the other members of your board hold the charter of public trust for your corporation;
- You and other members of your board hold the legal authority to manage your corporation;
- To be a servant-leader in the boardroom, you must be strongly committed to the mission and values of your organization, and care deeply about the ways in which your organization serves all the people it touches. You must be willing to devote a significant amount of time to board service;
- Your board should truly lead, not simply approve staff recommendations;
- Your board’s judgments should add their own unique value to the corporation;
- To be effective, your board must give priority to issues that truly matter;
- Your board should govern on three levels: fiduciary, strategic, and generative;
- Your board should be a council of equals, a team that invites and draws out the best in each board member. Your chair should serve the board as “first among equals;”
- No individual board member has authority. Only the full board has authority.
- Your board should determine policies, and the administration should implement the policies.
- You and the other members of your board should be mostly open to change, while the administration should mostly be dogmatic; you should be mostly critical, while the administration should be mostly believing.
- The quality of the relationship between the board and the CEO is an important factor in your corporation’s success.
- No individual board member supervises the CEO. Only the full board instructs the CEO.
- The chair should not supervise the CEO, and the CEO should not dominate the board. The chair and the CEO should be partners. The chair should be servant-leader to the board, and the CEO should be servant-leader to the staff.
- You and your fellow board members should ask questions, listen, and learn all that you can about the needs of the corporation’s employees and customers, clients, patients, members, students, or citizens that you all serve.
- You should build your board by seeking out and cultivating servant-leaders who are diverse in ethnicity, gender, age, background, skill, insight, and expertise. Invite into board membership those who are respectful, but willing to speak the truth as they see it.
- You should create a dream that is consistent with the corporation’s mission and inspires and unifies the board.
- Every day, you should remember that no matter how difficult it may become, you and the other members of your board can find meaning and satisfaction in making a difference in the lives of your corporation’s staff and the people that you have joined together to serve.
Box
What: Donor & Partner Appreciation Night of the Community Foundation of Grundy County
Light supper and cocktails
Where : Morris Country Club
When: Monday, May 7th
5:00-8:00 p.m.
Cost: Free
What: “Servant Leadership” workshop for boards and staff with Dr. Kent Keith
Where: First Christian Church, Morris
When: Tuesday, May 8th
9:00 a.m. to noon
8:30 a.m. coffee
Cost: Free
RSVP for both events: 815-941-0852 or [email protected]