A Handbook for Collaborative Leaders

About the Book

This book equates leadership with problem-solving. Don proves this with 30 years tutoring experience and by the rationale (and examples) in the written pages. Leaders solve problems. Don’s book shows the methodology of collaboration, i.e. how-to collaborate. The initial section depicts collaboration as facilitated by a third party. It recommends this as a learning tool before engaging in deliberations where the facilitator “owns” a stake in the problem. A follow-up section discusses collaborating amid anger, hidden agenda and two-party collaboration. In other words, when a stakeholder and facilitator are one. In this manner, learning is incremental, develop-mental; knowledge is added to what has already been learned. A Handbook for Collaborative Leaders: Millennials Assess the Workplace of Today introduces a twin-poled leader model to replace the Situational Leadership of Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard. It argues that H/B’s accepted model, now some 60 years in use, misidentifies the situation as revolving around internal measures such as knowledge, trust, and closeness. Rather, the actual situation must be defined by external measures -- chiefly, what is confronting workers and what problem does this situation present. Bi-Polar leading reconciles authority-based leading with participatory models as challenged by jurist Michael Josephson in 1989. Until now, that challenge has gone unanswered. Throughout the book, readers will find a sense of supervisors and the rank-and-file bonding into something greater than themselves. Examples of such are found in the case studies, all written not by Don, but by his former students. Without a one-size-fits-all, workshop participants design their unique leader template, one which offers a menu of more than 24 intervention styles.

About the Author

Years ago as a former military officer, Don was troubled by his ineffectiveness in the civilian world. In 1984, desperate to relinquish the authority-based model he learned in the Marines, Don studied under Dr. Thomas Gordon (Leader Effectiveness Training,). There he learned to collaborate with those around him. In 1991, to better learn the process, he began facilitating quarterly workshops in the education department at Seattle Pacific University. These days his Collaborative Center (AKA Negotionics) is opening a new front, transitioning from teachers to the commercial domain. Don is determined to change the impression of millennial employees from annoying job-hoppers to thoughtful contributors in the decision-making process. The wretched image of millennials is well known, as is the frustration when dealing with them. As shop owner Bryan Kelly bemoans, “When I give them direction nothing gets done.” Less recognized is the shift from representative democracy to deliberative democracy, the search for more meaningful interaction apart from rank and authority, promoting respect for others as equals and attaining true social equality. This is a quest for basic human needs. “Real participation goes beyond voting to a situation where people and government work in partnership to co-create services and solve problems for the benefit of all” (Journal of Social Justice, Ireland). Don’s chapter four, On Politics, Government, and Community addresses this macro dimension of collaboration. “With effective process, people can generate more creative and comprehensive solutions than they can by themselves” (SJI). Don has invested half-a-lifetime preparing children to enter such a world. Now is the time to invite Corporate America, particularly business owners and supervisory managers, to join the thrust toward a more deliberative workplace. Our nation’s young people are ready.