Global Integrity 10

Affirming Integrity...at all levels
Moral wholeness for a whole world

The integrity of the upright will guide them

but the falseness of the treacherous will destroy them.

Proverbs 11:3

Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its opposite is corruption, the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky. These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.

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As shared in the previous entry, living in integrity is not being morally perfect. But it does involve: admitting mistakes and wrongdoing; acknowledging our propensity for…hypocrisy; trusting ourselves but not completely. And as this entry asserts, integrity involves finding ways to affirm our integrity: to build it and to safeguard it.

The excerpt below is from part two of a guest weblog I (Kelly) did recently for the CHS Alliance (24 February 2016; see the previous entry. The weblog entry was on Ten Psychological Tricks for Avoiding Accountability. Part two though was more positive in that it focused on ways for preserving and developing integrity. Click on the link in the previous sentence to access the entire entry including part two.

Affirming Integrity
"Here are five suggestions for developing the main tool that we have in our good practice arsenal: integrity…[Integrity is] the core quality and commitment that helps us align our stated values with our actual behaviours as we pursue consistent moral wholeness.

1. Yourself. Examine your accountability practices by reviewing this weblog entry. What are you aware of regarding your strengths and weaknesses? Can you give some specific examples?

2. Colleagues. Discuss this topic with colleagues. To what extent are and can colleagues be accountable with one another? Identify some personal, group, organisational and sectoral vulnerabilities...

3. Managers. Encourage management to consider how they express moral values in the workplace, especially reflecting on how one’s private morality can differ from one’s workplace morality. Crisis times...

4. Leaders. Model and mentor transparency and accountability as leaders. Admit mistakes. Welcome feedback from others.  Encourage colleagues to share “uncomfortable” information with you...

5. Ethos. Cultivate an organisational “culture of integrity”...Intentionally weave transparency and accountability into “how we do things:” our organisational thinking, strategies, polices, and procedures...

Applications
--Which of the five 'integrity affirmations' above would you like to explore more?

--Are there any specific applications for your life and/or work.? 

Global Integrity 3

We Have a Problem

Moral wholeness for a whole world

Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Its opposite is corruption, the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the exploitation of people. Global integrity is moral wholeness at all levels in our world—from the individual to the institutional to the international. Global integrity is requisite for “building the future we want—being the people we need.” It is not easy, it is not always black and white, and it can be risky. These entries explore the many facets of integrity with a view towards the global efforts to promote sustainable development and wellbeing.

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Leadership Qualities

Hubris for Humans or Humility for Humanity?

“We have a leadership problem!...The Lausanne Leadership Development Working Group was created to respond to [the] need for Christ-like leaders.  The working group [was] made up of a cross section of global senior leaders…many of whom are specifically involved in leadership development. We started with a survey of Christian leaders.  We asked them to tell us about their experiences with Christian leaders, what they thought Christ-like leadership should look like, and what they thought was most effective in building Christ-centered leaders.

We collected responses from 1,031 leaders from across seven continents.  Those surveyed included a wide range of ages, types of leadership experience and quantities of leadership experience.  Approximate one-third of those surveyed were women.  We conducted the survey in five languages to try to get a wide range of opinions. In the process of conducting the survey, one thing became frighteningly obvious—we have a leadership problem!” (quote from Lausanne website)

Some Survey Highlights 

“When asked to describe their worst experiences working under [Christian] leaders, and what characteristics those poor leaders had, 1,000 leaders answering the survey said:

Prideful, always right, and always the big boss

Lack of integrity, untrustworthy

Harsh, uncaring, refused to listen, critical

Slightly lower on the list:
Inability to manage people and enable them to work together

Spiritually immature, no evidence of holiness or prayerfulness”

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“When 1,000 Christian leaders across the globe were surveyed, the top three ranking characteristics that described Christ-centered leadership were:

Integrity, authenticity, excellent character

Servant’s heart, humble

Spiritually mature, hears God’s voice, holy and prayerful

Next on the list came:

Excellent people management skills and ability to discern and develop the gifts of others

Biblical knowledge, theologically sound

Compassionate, good listener, more oriented to people than accomplishing the task”

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What would you say is the most frequent cause of failure in Christian leaders to ‘finish well’ as a Christ-centered leader in the nation where you are currently living?” Respondents could pick three answers.  Five of the ten possibilities received the vast majority of the votes.  The top five included:

Burn-out (360)

Abuse of power (360)

Inappropriate use of finances (354)

Inordinate Pride (353)

Lack of growth in their Spiritual Life (349)

The sixth cause ranked was “sexual sin” with 292 votes.”

Excerpted from We Have a Problem!—But There is Hope (2010) Lausanne Movement https://www.lausanne.org/content/we-have-a-problem-but-there-is-hope-results-of-a-survey-of-1000-christian-leaders-from-across-the-globe

Applications

--Are the findings in this survey relevant for leaders across sectors, countries, religious groups, etc.?
If so, how?
--List a few take aways for you from the survey results.

MC and Global Health—3

World Health Assembly—Health Governance

WHO World Health Assembly, United Nations Geneva

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How does global health governance work?

How can it apply to good governance
in mission/aid and member care? 

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Last month we were at the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA), the large annual event organized by the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the many highlights was the side-event on 23 May on Democratising Global Health Governance. Attended by nearly 100 people, this event primarily brought NGOs together to discuss the major structural and managerial reform process being undertaken by WHO. Many issues were raised by the panel of six speakers—three from NGOs, two from national health ministries (Kenya and Germany) and one from the WHO Secretariat. Some of the concerns raised by the NGO reps included not being informed about the overall philosophy that were guiding the reforms; the possibility of business, industry, and other special interests inappropriately influencing WHO priorities, primarily through their financial contributions (only 20% of the budget comes from member states); and the need for an increasing role for civil society in giving input, supporting, and monitoring  the work of the WHO Secretariat and member states (countries).

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One of the main groups organizing this side-event was a new coalition of organizations called Democratising Global Health (DGH). For more information about this organization, click here. To review some of the affirmations and concerns about WHO governance by one of the organizations that is part of DGH, Peoples Health Movement (PHM), click here. See also PHMs 2009 The Peoples Charter for Health. For even more information, see the Global Health Watch site including their alternative global health reports.

The presentations and exchanges by these high-level representatives were amicable and engaging, There is just so much to learn as we cross sectors for mutual learning and resources and as we try to understand how our work fits into the bigger issues of our globalizing world. Two crucial take aways for me from this WHA event in relation to good governance for mission/aid and member care are:

1)      who in the mission/aid community, or external to it, functions as  the equivalent of the DHG,  with the skills and conviction along with a  recognized platform for giving input, supporting, and monitoring the Evangelical mission/aid community, including the Evangelical member care community, for accountability and effectiveness in relationship to its values, practices, and priorities?

2)      what happens to movements, umbrella organizations, and networks when their leaders and members become out of touch with dissenting opinions and concerns—internal and external—and a thinly veiled authoritarian structure and inordinate sense of importance slowly takes the place of a more open, consensual, democratic ethos, ultimately with leaders becoming a law unto themselves, serving for over-extended periods with impunity and sadly supporting such aberrant practices by manipulative spiritual rationales and self-vindicating assertions of acting virtuously?

Note: The above organizations are in many ways very pro WHO and are committed to see its core values and crucial role in global health realized. The same is true for us regarding the mission/aid and member care community—we too are very pro in our commitment to its health, core values, and crucial roles. .

Reflection and Discussion
**Describe a few applications for MC based on the items/commentary above.

Global MC—Pearl Eight

Resources for Good Practice

Eastern Orthodox representation of Jesus Christ
as the Pantocrator (The Almighty)

We are exploring member care by using brief quotes from the book, Global Member Care: The Pearls and Perils of Good Practice (published February 2011). Drawing on the metaphor from Rev. 21:21, each quote is like a huge pearl--a pearl gateway--that allows us to enter more fully into the global field of member care. This eighth entry is from Part Two in the book, “Promoting Health in Mission/Aid.” https://sites.google.com/site/globalmca/

Pearl Eight

“People ought not to be encouraged or allowed to acquire the rights of statutory tenants to any part of the organization. In the voluntary world this applies particularly to management and executive committees, which have a preference for the re-election of their existing members, for co-option and for committee nomination for new members. Such ways encourage vested rights, and while there is a lot to be said for retaining wisdom and experience in the organization it need not always sit in the same place.” (Charles Handy, Understanding Voluntary Organisations, 1988, page 148) (page 140 in GMH book)

Some examples [of “bad” leaders, based on a lecture from Dr. Robert Sternberg, Tufts University, October 2007]:

• They see themselves as being above accountability—“ethics” are for other people.

• They do not avail themselves of needed input from others to complement, balance, and correct themselves.

• They lapse into an unrealistic and often disguised sense of omnipotence, inerrancy, mega-importance, unrealistic optimism, and invulnerability.

• They become entrenched in their ways, even when it is obvious to others that these leaders are digging a bigger pit of mistakes into which they and others will fall.

• They may have high intelligence, but ultimately all the above makes them “foolish.”

Ultimately, bad leaders distort and ignore reality. They create their own reality.

Bad leaders also display a significantly diminished moral competency. (page 144 in GMH book)

Reflection and Discussion

**Recall one aspect of your life/work that relates to the quote above.

**Have a go at connecting the above quote with a current international area that interests/concerns you.

Member Care: Pearls and the Perils--Introductory Devotional

Named, Known and Called
Dr. Cynthia Eriksson, Fuller School of Psychology, USA

This encouraging devotional, given 19 February, 2009, set the stage for the three lectures that followed at Fuller’s Integration Symposium. Cynthia Eriksson shares her journey as a missionary with mental health training and as a psychologist in missions. Using the interaction of Jesus and Peter in John 21: 15-19, she encourages us to live in the freedom of who we are and the freedom of who we are called to be. Her healing words are especially addressed to those of us in leadership: like Peter our frailties are not so much obstacles as they are a means to experience God’s grace, relationship, and call to lead.

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We think you will hear some very helpful comments by Cynthia as she intertwines her own life experiences with those of Peter’s. Her devotional and the opening remarks to the Symposium are about 37 minutes, and available to download for free in audio and video formats at:

http://www.fuller.edu/academics/school-of-psychology/integration-symposium-2009.aspx

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Reflection and Discussion

1. Summarize Cynthia's main point in one sentence. How does it apply to your life practically?

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2. List two charactersitics of Peter that are similar to your own characteristics. Are these areas we need to change or are they more like weaknesses that we need to live with?

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3. What are you thoughtts on Cynthia's assertion that Peter could still be called to lead in his broken state? How might this apply to your own leadership?

Member Care--Help from Leaders: 1

Helping Staff Deal with Difficult Experiences

Part one of four parts

Note--with a music link at the end.
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Death, discord, disillusionment, depression, danger. What helps our staff grow through such difficult experiences? How can people move from being “stuck in the mire of work/life” towards having a greater sense of contentment, healthy attitudes, and good relationships?

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To begin, everyone benefits from having a safe place and a safe person with whom to talk. Particularly helpful are special times that we have to talk with a trusted leader in our organisation. We call such times “AV2 encounters”.
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Mission/aid life can thrash even the most robust of us. Notworthy are the chronic exposure to misery and relationship struggles on field projects or in headquarter offices (e.g., the two main stressors in Carter’s 1999 study: “seeing needs I am unable to meet” and “confronting others when necessary”). How do we help ourselves and others navigate such difficult experiences?
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We Need Quality Leaders.

Group and individual debriefings can really help of course, including support from external consultants or in-house resources like colleagues with counselling/debriefing training or counsellors in an Employee Assistance Programme. In addition, there is something reassuring about connecting with an organisational leader, especially a “busy” albeit trusted person, who really takes the time to listen and understand. Talking with such leaders can be very valuable even if the leader does not always agree with the perspectives shared, or even if the leader can do little in response to the person’s concerns. In my experience most staff usually appreciate sharing their difficult experiences with such a leader, provided that the leader is indeed “safe” (low risk)—that is, keeps complete confidence, is genuinely concerned, and does not use staff concerns against them.

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Reflection and Discussion

1. List some safe people and places for you.

2. What makes them safe?

3. Are there leaders you trust enough to confide in?

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Listen to this song by Ringo Starr and George Harrsison, 1971.

It Don't Come Easy

How might this relate to your life and relationships of trust?

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http://youtube.com/watch?v=m5H-6fOc3HE

Reality and Good Leadership

When reality is not reality...

I recently heard Dr. Sternberg speak at Tufts University in Boston, USA. He is a psychologist and also Dean of the College of Science and the Arts. He was also the President of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Sternberg spoke on "good leaders and bad leaders". His presentation was excellent, and it was both personally and professionally challenging for me.

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All of us in leadership struggle at times with areas of weakness and even areas of wrongness. Sometimes though, people in positions of responsibility can consistently "go down the wrong road" and negatively impact the well-being of others. Sternberg would refer to such people as being "bad" leaders. His comments were enlightening. Based on his research and experience, he emphasised that bad leaders ultimately deny/distort reality. This denial of reality, as we have noted in recent blog entries, is essentially what dysfunction is all about. He also made many other points. Some examples:
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**They see themselves as being above accountability—“ethics” are for other people.
**They do not avail themselves of needed input from others to complement, balance, and correct themselves.
**They lapse into an unrealistic and often disguised sense of omnipotence, inerrancy, mega-importance, unrealistic optimism, and invulnerability.
**They become entrenched in their ways, even when it is obvious to others that these leaders are digging a bigger pit of mistakes into which they and others will fall.

**They may have high intelligence, but ultimately all the above makes them “foolish.”

Ultimately, bad leaders distort and ignore reality.
They create their own reality.

Bad leaders display a significantly diminished moral competency.

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Reflection and Discussion

How do we respond to weakness and wrongness in ourselves and others?

For starters, consider the words of Ayn Rand, a noted philosopher from this century. She adamantly asserts that 'something always happens when we do nothing'. Read carefuly--it is well worth it. How would you relate Rand's words with those of Sternberg?

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“It is not justice or equal treatment that you grant to men when you abstain equally from praising men’s virtues and from condemning men’s vices. When your impartial attitude declares, in effect, that neither the good nor the evil may expect anything from you---whom do you betray and whom do you encourage?”