What do you mean, “We?”

I recently gave the keynote at the City of Eden Prairie’s annual appreciation banquet for commissioners and board members.  The event honored  volunteers who assume community leadership positions requiring time, effort, and energy.  As I reflected on their work, I realized that perhaps the greatest commitment they make might be summed up as follows:

They commit to being “We.”

If I am a parks commissioner, “they” didn’t cut the parks’ hours or programs: we did it.  If I serve on a board responsible for streets or sanitation, “they” didn’t raise fees.  We did.  Indeed, leaders in any role within any organization should regard the “mantle of we” as a significant responsibility.  As such, it is too often neglected.

I have seen the abandonment of we most starkly in some fire service and police organizations.  A line supervisor – a fire captain or patrol sergeant – gives instructions at training or roll call that ring out as, “here’s another thing they are making us do…”  Who are they?  Who are us?  Firefightrs and cops have no monopoly on this bad habit, and perhaps it seems most stark there because of the paramilitary underpinnings of their cultures.  Maybe it’s just because they actually have regular meetings specifically to convey information and direction.   

Wherever we sit, being “we” is important, but it isn’t always easy.  I empathize with line managers struggling with this specific challenge.   When I was a direct supervisor, my people groused about “management.”  I had to remind them – I’ll admit that my reminder was at times reluctant – that I was management.  Serving in those roles also made me realize that, as a manager in an organization, I have a dual responsibility:

• To participate in – and influence –  decision making to the extent allowed by my position and circumstances, and
• To accept and implement lawful and moral decisions as a leader of an organization.

If I believe a decision to be unlawful or immoral, I may have additional ethical duties (which will be the topic of future blog posts, to be sure).  For the vast majority of decisions and actions, though, I have a duty, to my organization in general, and to my superiors and subordinates in particular, to understand what we are doing and why, and to communicate that direction consistently, constructively, and unequivocally.

That constitutes an excellent reason for recognizing those who assume such responsibilities voluntarily, for the good of their communities.

Thanks to so many for your warm wishes and encouragement!  Let’s make this blog a conversation.  Comments?

CAW