Working Across Generations E-Book

Frances Kunreuther

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2008

Beschreibung

The authors provide a range of ideas on how to approach generational shifts in leadership so that the contributions of long-time leaders are valued, new and younger leaders' talent is recognized, and groups are better prepared to work across generational divides. Giving context to these differences, they explore the current assumptions about the upcoming transition between generations in the social sector; introduce new ideas or frames for thinking about generational leadership change; and examine how this change poses individual, organizational, and systemic challenges for those in the social sector. In addition, they provide numerous examples and practical exercises to show how to address these issues. The book concludes with critical advice on how to communicate across generations and key recommendations for future research and action.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Additional Titles from Chardon Press

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

The Nonprofit Sector and Social Change

What Is a Generation?

What Is Different in This Transition?

Our Information

What’s Ahead

Part One - GENERATIONS OF LEADERS

Chapter 1 - WHICH CRISIS?

What Is the Crisis?

Redefining the Problem

What Do We Do Next?

Chapter 2 - MEET THE GENERATIONS

Older Generations at a Crossroads

The Newer Generations: After the Boom

Leading After the Boom: Admiration and Awe

What We Want from Each Other

Chapter 3 - ROLES AND VALUES Laying the Groundwork

Different Generations, Different Roles

What Bonds Us Across Generations: The Role of Values

Part Two - SHIFTS HAPPEN: MOVING FORWARD

Chapter 4 - THE BOOMERS ARE LEAVING?

Retirement or Retrenchment?

Challenges in Moving Forward

Looking Ahead

What to Do Next: Making a Contribution

Approaching Change

Chapter 5 - SOLVING THE CRISIS A New Generation of Leaders

Welcoming Organizations—Not!

Questioning Organizations

To Lead or Not to Lead

What’s in the Form?

Chapter 6 - LEADING ACROSS GENERATIONS

Roles of Each Generation

Values and Trust

Conversations: Talk Is Cheap and Necessary

Recommendations for Moving Forward

Up Next

Selected Resources

About the Authors

Index

More Praise forWorking Across Generations

“Paralyzed by reports and data, the field continues to be perplexed by the so-called generational crisis and how it should respond. Kunreuther, Kim, and Rodriguez offer a sober critique of work thus far, reframing the discussion as an opportunity, and move the reader to practical approaches that will likely transform the field.”

—Patrick Corvington, senior associate, The Annie E. Casey Foundation

“Headlines, research, and polls tell us that Gen Xers and millennials are influencing politics and the work of policy reform across the country. Now, thanks to authors Kunreuther, Kim, and Rodriguez, we see how they’re working for positive change in their communities—often under the radar screen. By providing a comprehensive examination of this work, the authors show how transformation can be sustainable when different generations realize they can learn from each other and work together to create lasting change.”

—Tamara Draut, director, Economic Opportunity Program at Demos and author, Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead

“Finally! A breakdown of some of the most pressing leadership challenges we face today. Working Across Generations serves as a primer for nonprofits needing to transform structure, culture, and practices so that we are not only more effective, but also able to involve and sustain more people in this sector.”

—Jane Sung E Bai, political education coordinator, Social Justice Leadership

“If you are a long-term leader of a nonprofit organization or a new-comer to the field, you must read this book because it has useful insights and practical information about how to deal with leadership transition issues in both your own organization and the nonprofit sector as a whole.”

—Frank J. Omowale Satterwhite, founder and senior advisor, National Community Development Institute

“The generational shift in nonprofit leadership is full of drama, confusion, and exciting possibilities. Working Across Generations maps the trends and guides us toward solutions.”

—Linda Burnham, cofounder and former executive director, Women of Color Resource Center

Select tables and exercises identified with a Web icon in the book Working Across Generations: Defining the Future ofNonprofit Leadership are available free online. If you would like to download and print out a copy of these materials, please visit:

www.josseybass.com/go/FrancesKunreuther

Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership, by Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, and Robby Rodriguez.

Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

This free permission is limited to the reproduction of material for educational/training events. Systematic or large-scale reproduction or distribution (more than one hundred copies per year)—or inclusion of items in publications for sale—may be done only with prior written permission. Also, reproduction on computer disk or by any other electronic means requires prior permission. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kunreuther, Frances. Working across generations : defining the future of nonprofit leadership / Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, Robby Rodriguez. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-0-470-44937-0

THE CHARDON PRESS SERIES

Fundamental social change happens when people come together to organize, advocate, and create solutions to injustice. Chardon Press recognizes that communities working for social justice need tools to create and sustain healthy organizations. In an effort to support these organizations, Chardon Press produces materials on fundraising, community organizing, and organizational development. These resources are specifically designed to meet the needs of grassroots nonprofits—organizations that face the unique challenge of promoting change with limited staff, funding, and other resources. We at Chardon Press have adopted traditional techniques to the circumstances of grassroots nonprofits. Chardon Press and Jossey-Bass hope these works help people committed to social justice to build mission-driven organizations that are strong, financially secure, and effective.

Kim Klein, Series Editor

Additional Titles from Chardon Press

Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community, Joan Minieri, Paul Gatsos

Level Best: How Small and Grassroots Nonprofits Can Tackle Evaluation and Talk Results, Marcia Festen, Marianne Philbin

Fundraising for Social Change, 5th Edition, Kim Klein

The Accidental Fundraiser: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Money for Your Cause, Stephanie Roth, Mimi Ho

Grassroots Grants: An Activist’s Guide to Grantseeking, 2nd Edition, Andy Robinson

Fundraising in Times of Crisis, Kim Klein

The Nonprofit Membership Toolkit, Ellis M.M. Robinson

Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing and Advocacy, Rinku Sen

Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan, 3rd Edition, Tracey Gary

Selling Social Change (Without Selling Out): Earned Income Strategies for Nonprofits, Andy Robinson

Raise More Money: The Best of the Grassroots Fundraising Journal,

Kim Klein, Stephanie Roth, Editors

Fundraising for the Long Haul, Kim Klein

Select tables and exercises from Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership are available free online. If you would like to download and print out a copy of these materials, please visit:

www.josseybass.com/go/FrancesKunreuther

Foreword

We need more leadership in this country and around the rest of the world, and while we have shelves full of books on leadership from the business press, there are few from the nonprofit world. There are even fewer by authors who are grounded in the conviction that no enduring change can take place from the top down.

It is at the community and grassroots level where those most affected by social policies take the lead in forging the kind of world they want for themselves and their children; this is where the action is. Since we may elect a community organizer—and a post-baby boomer, to boot—as the next president of the United States, this is a good time for Working Across Generations to appear and for it to be widely read.

Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, and Robby Rodriguez take a topic about which many platitudes are offered—the looming leadership crisis in the nonprofit world—and give a fresh perspective on it, with creative thinking too rarely seen on this subject. They understand the complexities and force us to think outside the boxes on organizational charts.

They understand that it is not possible to deal with leadership in a vacuum without considering the changing nature of the workplace—indeed, the way work is structured. Corporations, operating as they do in more rigorous markets than most nonprofits, realized this a long time ago, which is why many businesses have family-sensitive work policies and innovative staffing and management arrangements, while ostensibly values-driven nonprofits, even (and sometimes especially) social justice ones, carry on with rigidly hierarchical organizational charts and stinting policies on work-family balance issues.

Kunreuther, Kim, and Rodriguez understand all the points along the leadership pipeline: not only how to attract, support, and listen to emerging young leaders, many of them women and people of color who have too long been missing from leadership positions in the nonprofit world, and whose full contributions can change the workplace and the rest of the world, but also the legitimate needs of the generation that holds leadership now. Many cling to leadership positions not because they are selfish or desperate to maintain power, but because they cannot imagine an alternative future. They still have much to contribute but few ways to do so. Our individualistic society treats that as a personal issue, but in fact it is a societal and structural one, and we have to come up with solutions that work.

Finally, the authors understand that the reluctance of many younger nonprofit staffers to assume executive director positions—to take their place in the pipeline when opportunities emerge—has much to do with all the demands of fundraising, staff management, board maintenance, and external relationships. These are real issues, and often structural ones, and they too deserve our best collective thinking. The challenges that social justice organizations face—the widening income gap, the persistence of discrimination, the shredding of the social safety net, the crisis in education for poor children of color—demand the strongest leadership we can find. If we have to remake the workplace, and the way we think about what leadership is and how to find and support it, to do so, then there is no more urgent task before us. We are fortunate that Frances Kunreuther, Helen Kim, and Robby Rodriguez have turned their formidable minds and experiences to this subject, and I hope it sparks much discussion and action in the ranks of those in the nonprofit sector and on those who rely on its continued edge and effectiveness.

New York, New York May 2008

Gara LaMarche President Atlantic Philanthropies

Acknowledgments

We start with our deep gratitude for all the individuals and organizations whose stories shaped the foundation of this book. Their candor and generosity, as well as their vision and commitment to social sector work, have motivated and challenged us to do our best to make a useful contribution to this field. We especially thank Susana Almanza, Gordon Chin, Andrew Friedman, Ellen Gurzinsky, Ng’ethe Maina, Jerome Scott, and Young Shin, whose reflections are highlighted in this book.

Board, staff, and members of the SouthWest Organizing Project deserve a special tribute. Their honesty, wisdom, humanity, and sometimes sheer will to move forward together during an often confusing and turbulent leadership and generational change process have been truly inspiring. We hope you agree as you get to know them in the following pages.

We acknowledge the work and support of many colleagues who made our work possible. Our original generational change study was done while Frances was at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University in 2001 with the help and support of her colleagues, especially Carol Chetkovich. At that time, not many paid attention to the issues around generational change in leadership. Since then, the increasing numbers of colleagues and resources have built a substantial body of work.

We cannot possibly name everyone whose work has influenced ours, but we thank a few people in particular. Ludovic Blain had the foresight to take our original study around the country to collect responses from Generation X leaders. We appreciate the continued support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, especially Donna Stark, who gave the initial funds to explore the issue of generational leadership shift, and Patrick Corvington, whose contribution of ideas is reflected throughout this work. We also thank Linda Wood and the Haas Jr. Fund for their support and for Linda’s thoughtful observations about building leadership.

Nancy Adess’s adept editing was instrumental in bringing clarity to our manuscript, and Sujin Lee and Dahnesh Medora’s patient review of the exercises in this book was indispensable. Heartfelt thanks to everyone at Jossey-Bass/Wiley for all their support in every phase of this book. The initial enthusiasm of Allison Brunner and Jesse Wiley gave us the push we needed, and the steady guidance of Allison’s talented and patient team was truly a gift to us.

In addition to the three of us, the rest of the Building Movement Project team—Caroline McAndrews, Linda Campbell, Kim Klein, Emery Wright, Cory Isaacson, newest member Trish Tchume, and intern Payal Kapadia—provided an invaluable critique and support throughout the conception and writing of this book. We could not have asked for a more brilliant, supportive, and fun team behind us. Special kudos go to Caroline, who not only gave us detailed comments on our early book draft but also took on significant amounts of extra work with great competency and humor as this book was birthed.

We especially thank our colleague, series editor, coach, cheerleader, and friend Kim Klein. Without her steady guidance and unwavering belief in us, you would not be reading this book.

Finally, Frances acknowledges Ann Holder with love and gratitude for her personal and intellectual sustenance throughout this process. Robby thanks Jeanne Gauna, Michael Leon Guerrero, Joaquin Lujan, Eleanor Chavez, and Roberto Contreras for their support, commitment to social change, and the opportunity they have provided him. And Helen thanks her parents, John Changduk and Ellen Hyesook, from the bottom of her heart.

Introduction

It was 1980, and a bunch of twenty- and thirtysomethings started an organization with a vision of “empowering the disenfranchised of the Southwest to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic justice.” They were revolutionaries—idealistic young activists who had come out of the civil rights, antiwar, women’s, and power identity movements. With Ronald Reagan ushering in a tide of conservatism, they wanted to build strong organizations to maintain and move forward the gains of the 1960s and 1970s. They were serious about creating a new society. Fast-forward twenty-five years. It’s 2005, and there I was, the newly appointed executive director of the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP). I am twenty-eight years old and mentored by some of those same visionaries. I have a deep respect and admiration for their work and feel a responsibility to carry forward their hopes and dreams.