Humanitarian Leadership
Joint Initiative on Leadership in the Humanitarian Sector
For leaders working to provide assistance during humanitarian emergencies, success must be achieved while working in chaotic, often physically challenging and insecure environments.
Humanitarian leaders need to resolve multiple, often paradoxical pressures - to respond quickly, to be as effective as possible, to be impartial and accountable and to respond according to need and in line with donor expectation, often on the basis of incomplete or anecdotal information and with limited resources.
As one of the most studied and researched areas in the business world, understandings of leadership have evolved over the past fifty years. One of the central challenges when considering leadership is one of definition, for it is often confused with a related discipline of management. Although leadership has gained prominence in every aspect of life, from politics to business to education, there has not been a systematic approach to the study and development of leadership within the humanitarian community. As a result, conventional approaches to leadership often fail to meet the needs of humanitarian organisations and networks struggling to work in the midst of turmoil and complexity. This failure is being increasingly acknowledged - the ALNAP State of the Humanitarian System report published in 2010 highlights leadership as the most signifcant challenge facing the sector today.
To address this gap between established leadership practices and their relevance to the humanitarian community, the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP), the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy (DRLA), Humanitarian Futures Programme (HFP), and People in Aid have formed a joint initiative to systematically explore and improve leadership within the humanitarian sector.
This collaborative research effort is in the preliminary stages of being implemented. Over the next year, the four members of this joint initiative will work towards furthering the humanitarian community’s understanding as to how leaders can effect change within their organisations, as well as bring about changes in work undertaken across organisations. By pooling analytical frameworks and research findings, and using this in concerted ways to inform practice, the parties to the initiative hope to enhance the quality of leadership in the humanitarian sector.
The four programs have already undertaken preliminary explorations in the inter-related areas of operational leadership, strategic leadership, transformational leadership and organisational change, and leading people. The following is an initial summary of each of these areas. More detailed information and papers will be made available as the different trands of work progress.
ALNAP: Operational Leadership
When responding to a humanitarian emergency, agencies move into a space of high uncertainty and ambiguity, placing severe stress and pressure at the operational leadership level. Initial research suggests there is growing unease that the space available for leadership in such operational settings is perceived to be contracting. As decisions made within the first 72 hours of a crisis can influence the way an operation is run for months to come, we must recognize that short-term technical solutions may be necessary to reduce immediate danger, but they are inadequate for long term development which requires innovative and adaptive approaches.
ALNAP plans first on identifying what might be distinctive about leadership in humanitarian contexts. Through further development and exploration of hypotheses and questions, using the evidence of different operational responses, it should be possible to develop a clear set of ideas as to what operational leadership might involve in different settings, and the way in which the demands change as crises evolve. These hypotheses will then be explored in a number of specific emergency settings, resulting in a published ALNAP study in autumn 2010.
Read the full ALNAP research note on Operational Leadership
HFP: Strategic Leadership
The intent of strategic leadership is to foster and promote a purpose based on abiding goals and values, which transcend the pressures of immediate operations, yet provide a guiding framework for them. Conventional approaches to strategic leadership fulfill functions in preconfigured ways, and often approach challenges with low-risk, predictable actions. However, these approaches do not meet the needs in those working in the humanitarian sector. The value of a strategic leader, who can steer their ways towards value-driven goals in the midst of turmoil generated by uncertainty and complexity, must be recognized.
To date, HFP has undertaken a preliminary study which is currently available on its website as a work in progress. It also used its annual 2009 Stakeholders Forum to discuss the nature of strategic leadership in the context of future-oriented crises. HFP plans on undertaking interviews of those involved with strategic leadership. HFP plans to utilize their research, combined with more extensive desktop research, in finalizing an updated study in mid-2010. An intended strategic leadership guide is planned to be released in the future, and the overall work will be linked into the work of its leadership consortium partners.
Read the full HFP research note on Strategic Leadership in the Humanitarian Sector
Disaster Leadership Resilience Academy: Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change
Transformational leadership has been described as the process by which “leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels or morality and motivation.” The business world and humanitarian community have different goals and objectives; can the framework for transformational leadership, as well as other established frameworks, be applied to the humanitarian world with similar results? Whereas the business world measures impact by indicators such as increased productivity and decreased costs, what indicators would be relevant for us to use?
Additionally, given the complex and diverse actors and organizations in our community, each with distinct cultures, motivations, and infrastructure, the DRLA will address whether there are different leadership styles and traits required across organizations, such as NGOs, UN, and donors. The DRLA also plans to examine how leaders can exert influence beyond their scope of authority in order to improve coordination and communication.
Read the full DLRA research note on Transformational Leadership and Organizational Change
People in Aid: Leading People
People in Aid is a global membership network of more than 160 organisations worldwide, who work in the humanitarian and development sector to improve organisational effectiveness by advocating, supporting and recognising good practice in the management of people. Leadership of people has been an important element of their work, reflected clearly in their Code of Good Practice, which affirms that “people are central to the achievement of the organisational mission."
Over recent years, they have investigated individual leadership and functional leadership within INGOs. To progress its agenda in leading people, People in Aid will be concentrating on a number of leadership-focused projects in 2010, including relaunching their Development Programs as the International Leadership Program. It will also meet quarterly with more than 20 UK/European INGOs and RedR in an informal collaboration to explore different dimensions of leadership. In working with the Center for Creative Leadership, People in Aid’s research aims to explore the current status and future needs in leadership; in its work with Cranfield University’s School of Management, it is researching capabilities which are required by future leaders, and ways in which human resources in the humanitarian sector can address challenges and improve.
Read the full People in Aid research note on 'Leading People'
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