Crisis leadership calls for creativity, risk-taking, clarity

House of Deputies president, San Joaquin chancellor say conflict can be creative

By Mary Frances Schjonberg, January 29, 2009 [Episcopal News Service -- Stockton, California] Being a leader in times of crisis requires the ability to manage conflict in creative ways that build and maintain relationships, and that are clear about the costs involved, Bonnie Anderson, president of the Episcopal Church's House of Deputies, and Diocese of San Joaquin Chancellor Michael Glass told a gathering January 28 at the University of the Pacific here.

Anderson's and Glass' presentation on "Leadership in Times of Crisis," part of Pacific's University Forum, was co-sponsored by the school's Jacoby Center for Public Service and Civic Leadership and the campus' Morris Chapel. The Rev. Donna McNiel, a priest in the Episcopal Church, was installed in mid-2007 as the university's multi-faith chaplain. Anderson and Glass were in Stockton to attend the three-day winter meeting of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council which begins January 29.

Anderson said that because of the world's ease of communications and travel, "the whole world is our neighborhood" and that no one can ignore the fact that many people in the world are facing major crises.

"Not one of us is free, not one of us has dignity unless we all are free, unless we all have dignity," she said. "We are in relationship with each other. God has made it so."

Facing the reality of the world's interdependence in the midst of current crises makes it important to recognize that leadership and relationship are "close sisters, who walk hand-in-hand," Anderson said.  "Occasionally one will walk by herself for a while, but they cannot be apart for very long—they depend upon each other for their very existence. If one is lost, the other will soon wither away."

Anderson suggested that if leadership exists in relationship and if many conflicts have to do with the wielding of power, then perhaps exercising leadership in a circular model is a better way to deal with conflict than with a more traditional hierarchical model.

"Leadership in a circular power model is shared. It is intentional, careful and purpose-driven," she said. "It is leadership that takes into account the attributes and qualities of everyone in the circle so that they can contribute their best."

Building relationships begins with finding unity of purpose amid disagreement, Anderson said. Conflict inevitably occurs and "sometimes you will have to walk away from it," she said. "Sometimes you will determine that there is no unity of purpose. Shake the dust off and go toward building relationships where you can purposefully use your gifts to the end for which you have been called."

Calling conflict "an inescapable part of the human experience," Glass said that many people try to avoid conflict in the mistaken belief that they are seeking peace. He reminded the audience that Martin Luther King Jr. said that true peace was not the absence of violence, but rather the presence of justice.

"The worst conflicts I actually see are conflicts that at one point were really rather simple, and because people chose to avoid them, they grew—and now to untangle them we will have to spend far more treasure, experience the cost of lost opportunities and sometimes work from a deficit to try and rebuild relationships," Glass said.

Glass explained that social worker and community organizer Mary Parker Follett suggested that conflict can be resolved in one of three ways. The first is by domination, in which one side gets what it wants. The second is through compromise, where neither side gets what it wants, and the third is integration, in which each side can get what it wishes.

Most conflicts, Glass said, are resolved through a combination of the three and "the leaders that are most effective are the ones who focus on how we choose to go about managing and resolving conflict."

In all three models, Glass said, conflict must be approached clearly by defining what the conflict truly is, defining the objectives for resolving the conflict and mapping out a strategy for getting there, defining acceptable outcomes, assessing the obvious and hidden costs of the strategy, and choosing a proper forum for meeting and resolving the conflict.

Anderson said effective leaders in today's world need to have insight into themselves and others. Glass added that those leaders also must be good collaborators to marshal needed skills that they may not have. "They're going to have to make partnerships outside of their power structures and they're going to have to take risks to do that," he said.

In response to a question about what to do about the "collateral damage" of a conflict that can hurt people not directly involved in the problem, Glass called for "transparency" so that people understand who the leaders are and how decisions are being made.

"If we're going to minimize collateral damage, the leadership has to do more than pay lip service," he said. "It has to take a determined risk but I think it's a risk that, well-managed, will pay tenfold."

Anderson, acknowledging the prospect for such damage, added that she has seen instances of what she called "collateral advantage" that invited rebirth. She cited her recent visit to the Falls Church, Virginia, Episcopal congregation that has re-grouped after a theological dispute split the congregation. Lay people have gone from being primarily "consumers of ministry" to being leaders in ministry in ways that they never would have done "if it had been business are usual," she said.

-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal Life Media national correspondent.

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