As part of the CAPSTONE programme, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) organized a three-day workshop on Leadership and Governance in Non-profit Organizations from 28th February to 2nd March 2023 at PRIA. This workshop involved 19 non-profit organizations across ten Indian states. The objective of the workshop was:
Over the course of this workshop, the emphasis and discussion were around the “leader-ship”, varieties of roles a leader needs to play - in engaging with staff (and how), nurturing conducive organizational culture within the organization, engaging governing body, maintaining external relationships with different stakeholders; along with governance and the role of the Governing Board. Various participatory tools (learning exercises, buzz group discussion, participatory lecture, among others) were used to engage participants and make the sessions interactive.
Leadership is the process by which other people are influenced so that they are willing to work towards the purpose of any organization. The leadership role is to develop “stake” among the stakeholders (both internal as well as external) in the organization and it is enforced by culture, culture is not a rule but a way of functioning. Good leadership ensures building, rebuilding, and nurturing of the culture to motivate people to work for the purpose.
It was emphasized that there is close relationship between effective leadership and learning. A good leader is always willing to learn about – oneself, the people around, issues and context and the like. Also, a successful leader spends most of her time in maintaining (external) relationships by delegating managerial and doer roles to others – delegation requires the ability to accept the colleagues to make mistakes. A leader takes the accountability of the consequences of the decisions.
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