Leadership in Tough Times: Funders Reflect on Challenges and Strategies for Environmental Leaders

by Lissa Widoff, Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation

In this difficult funding environment and increasingly hostile political environment, our grantees are being asked to do more with less. Given these circumstances, how are new and emerging leaders being identified, cultivated, trained and prepared to face these challenges with positive outcomes for the environmental issues on which they work? What has been learned about the role leadership development plays in advancing environmental work––in terms of diversifying the base of the environmental movement, building skills and networks for organizational and personal leadership, working across sectors and ultimately influencing policy and action? Most importantly, how do we, as funders, balance our focus on the issues (clean air, clean water, public lands, environmental justice, etc.) with the need to ensure that the next generation of leaders is prepared for the challenges and power relationships of the future and able to sustain their commitment for the long haul?

These were some of the questions that drew over 35 participants to a recent session, In Tough Times, We Need Leaders: Why Leadership Development is More Important than Ever, at the EGA 2003 Fall Retreat in Ottawa, Canada. Funders came to share strategies and models of leadership development in the environmental field. The session focused on individual leadership development rather than broader organizational capacity-building strategies, recognizing these are mutually reinforcing elements of positive organizational change.

The range of challenges described by funders at the session included:

• building youth leadership skills and empowerment and preparing young people for their future management and leadership roles;
• strengthening grassroots and community leadership skills for local needs and in translating local strategies to larger or more powerful arenas;
• how to manage leadership transitions––whether due to founder’s syndrome, burnout of high-energy leaders, or frequent turnover of leadership within organizations;
• how to develop the “soft” skills of collaboration, “people skills”, strategic and creative problem solving, and an ability to be “reflective” with increased self-awareness about how to pursue change; and
• leverage––how to increase the recognition of selected individuals and their organizational work coupled with the challenge for funders on whether to focus on the few versus the many.

The Life-cycle of Leadership

One way to examine leadership needs and models is through the “life-cycle” or path of a career in environmental and social justice movements. Young leaders are most in need of networks, skills and credibility. Dick Mark, consultant to the Beldon Fund and long-time advocate for leadership development in the environmental field, describes a network of young environmental activists in Florida called “Green Behind the Ears.” He says, “this group has created their own support system, so they can build the skills and networks they need to step into leadership roles in the near future.” Similarly, National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program (www.nwf.org), Green Corps (www.greencorps.org), and the Center for Environmental Citizenship (www.envirocitizen.org) among others are building broad new networks and “entry points” for new and aspiring leaders, including those from underrepresented groups. Participation in some of these programs is by self-selection, in other cases there is a selective, competitive process.

Several leadership development programs for early career and emerging environmental leaders are “fellowship” or “leadership” programs that focus heavily on training. Participants––generally competitively selected––receive sustained training, coaching, networks, and additional funding for pilot projects to leverage their ideas into action. In other cases, the program may be an elective training program, meant to confer specific skills as well as facilitate a network of graduates.

For example, the Environmental Leadership Program (www.elpnet.org) selects 20 individuals each year from the environmental, academic, business and governmental sectors to train in collaborative leadership, power analysis, communications and participatory decision-making over a two-year period. This training program identifies participants as “fellows” who are financially supported to take part in the training and offered project funding for collaborative efforts.

The Rockwood Leadership Program (www.rockwoodleadership.org) offers an intensive three-day training, and then a variety of follow-on programs. Also, in collaboration with foundations and nonprofit organizations and coalitions, Rockwood designs and delivers customized intensives––some of them lasting over a year or more––to communities organized by issue area (such as all US nonprofits working on hospitals and health care, or self-determination for Tibet), or geography (nonprofit and community leaders in Ohio, and environmental leaders in the American Southwest). Many funders provide support to grantees or issue-related groups to participate.

Other programs focus on graduate students whose expertise can then be directly applied to critical environmental issues in the public sector, as in the Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation’s Environmental Fellowship and Leadership Programs (www.switzernetwork.org) or the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Conservation Fellowships (www.ddcf.org).

In mid-career leadership programs, individuals may already have credibility in their field, and the programs are designed to offer a network, contacts and incentives for collective action or advocacy for environmental goals or a greater confidence to leverage their position for significant environmental change. For example, more than 50 Fellows of the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation (www.pewmarine.org) are signatories to an Action Statement for Fisheries Conservation, calling for governments around the world to take specific steps to restore sustainable fisheries.

Cynthia Robinson directs the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program that trains academic environmental scientists to improve their leadership, outreach and communication skills in order to interact more effectively with non-scientific audiences. She notes, "At the mid-career stage networking remains an important aspect of fellowship and leadership programs. While participants want to hone specific skills through targeted training, they seek the inspiration of role models and creation of a community of colleagues who understand the challenges of the work, who bring diverse perspectives to the issues, and with whom they can collaborate for outcomes even more powerful than their individual efforts."

Leadership Transitions

Funders at the session also shared their concerns about the increasingly challenging operating environment for nonprofit leaders. Many organizations were built on the success of charismatic leaders and founders who are now planning for transition of their own leadership. New leaders’ knowledge of issues must be complemented by greater awareness of the politics, social and cultural dimensions of environmental work and savvy for creating long-term organizational sustainability. Current leaders also have a responsibility to mentor the next generation, but it may only be at the point of burnout when transition issues are addressed. The characteristics of some successful leaders are the very things that may work against mentoring––a focus on results, overworked, spending more time on fundraising, etc. Some funders are exploring funding sabbaticals or time for renewal, including attendance at “retreat centers” like Vallecitos Refuge (www.vallecitos.org) that offers shorter-term healing retreats for environmental and social activists.

Follow-up

This funders-only session to discuss challenges and strategies and concluded that investments in leadership development have never been more necessary. Funders have a variety of options––from directing their grantees to existing leadership training and fellowship-type programs to making funds available for these training programs to serve greater numbers of individuals. Some funders may choose to design their own programs to fill geographic or sector gaps. In all cases, the field of environmental leadership development is growing and has a number of lessons to share.

Please check the EGA website for a list of Leadership Development Resources or contact Lissa Widoff at lissa@switzernetwork.org for a copy of the summary shared at the Retreat session or to indicate your interest in a continuing dialogue among funders on environmental leadership development.