CAPSTONE Workshop on Leadership & Governance

Participatory Research in Asia-PRIA, New Delhi conducted a 3-day workshop on Leadership and Governance in Non-Profit Organisations. Chief Functionaries of 19 organisations from 10 states across the nation participated in the workshop held in New Delhi starting from 28 February to 2 March 2023. 

The objective of the workshop was: 

• Developing clarity on the meaning and roles of leadership in non-profit organisations. 
• Discovering self to improve leadership styles and qualities. 
• Understanding governance in non-profit organisations and the functioning of the Governing Board. 

The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Kaustuv K. Bandyopadhyay, Director of PRIA, Dr. Rajesh Tandon, Founder President of PRIA, and Ms. Anita Madhusudan, Founder of Governance Counts. 

For a long time, there has been a lot of focus on neta (leader) instead of netritv (leadership). In the context of a non-profit organisation, leadership should be looked at as a process that is played by individuals. For non-profit organisations, the purpose is to bring about change in society. The most crucial element of leadership is to identify the purpose(s) for the existence of the organisation and inspire others, both internal and external to the organisation, to believe in the same. The effort to influence should be such that external individuals/institutions develop a stake in the purpose of the organisation. 

The leaders perform three functions in an organisation including that of a doer, managerial, and leadership. Differentiating and creating a balance between the three is important for any leader. As organisation grows, delegation should start, and their role as doer and manager should decrease, and leadership function should increase. In practice, a large organisation would have managers play certain leadership roles and vice versa. 

Organisational culture plays an extremely important role in the functioning of an organisation. The culture is driven by the espoused values of the organisation. The behavior of employees, decision-making, delegation, autonomy, teamwork, etc. would always be governed by culture. The major parameters of organisation culture are openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, pro-action, autonomy, collaboration, and experimentation. Many times, a leader instead of delegating tasks, acts like either an abdicator or a confiscator. According to the theory of situational leadership, employees need delegation, coaching, encouragement to participate, or micro instructions based on their competency and commitment. 

The influence of leadership doesn’t necessarily work only with formal power. The other sources of power leadership can use are sanction, referent, expert, persuasion, influence upwards and outwards, and professional skills. A leader should use a mix of these sources of power based on the requirement. 

Henderson defined feedback as, “a process in which learners make sense of information about their performance and use it to enhance the quality of their work or learning strategies.”.  (Henderson, 2019) In the organisational context, feedback is the process by which an employee or leader gets information about their effectiveness or performance that they can use to make necessary adjustments or improvements in their work. Each one of us has our own self-conception. One of the ways to understand the self is through receiving feedback, it either reinforces or challenges it. Self has four areas: Open, Blind, Hidden, and Unknown. The art of giving and receiving feedback is very important. And as a leader, your employees and peers should be able to give you honest feedback. The atmosphere of free-flowing feedback comes from the organisation’s culture and in turn, affects the culture. The feedback isn’t always upward or downwards but also horizontal. Timely feedback is crucial for excellent organisation culture and performance. 

The governance function in an organisation focuses on processes of the HOWs and WHYs of decisions. Most of the time, it ends up performing a statutory function more than a governance function. The characteristics of good governance are: 

• It is based on a sound understanding of the organisation, what it is about, its history, and its direction for the future. 
• Good governance is that which steers the organisation towards the achievement of the mission 
• Good governance is implemented within the legal and statutory mandate within which organisation operates. 
• Good governance is participative and decision-making democratic.
• It is responsive and inclusive. 
• Good governance is both effective and efficient decision-making. 
• Good governance occurs when the Board has clarity on its role and individual members are aware of what is expected of them. 
• Good governance is transparent. 
• Good governance ensures that there are adequate resources to help the organisation achieve its mission. 
• Good governance ensures that the board is always performing optimally. 

It has been observed that the contribution of Board members increases when they have been provided with opportunities to engage with the stakeholders (including directly served communities). Acknowledging the contributions would also engage Board members better. Understanding Board members’ individual motivations and engaging with them appropriately would also impact their engagement. When the communication is open, optimal, and balanced and Board has complete trust in the CEO’s capabilities, the engagement of Board members has seen to be improved. To increase the ownership of Board members, development of bigger stakes have to be developed. The factors to influence Board involvement are the personality of the CEO/founder, the growth stage of the organisation and aligned Board role, the cohesiveness of the Board, and a good Board Chair. The relationship between CEO and the Board Chair is extremely important to ensure accountability. It is very important to change the narrative around Board. The narrative should present the role as an opportunity for the potential board members and the visibility it would offer them. It is important to understand that good governance is more than just Governing Board. 

Workshop Agenda -