International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

    Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming

 

 

 1-24-06
Last week I met with Local Union Business Managers from around the district in a  Leadership Conference. This is the text from the training provided.  I ask you to review the challenge I gave 8th District Leadership and see what you can do to make a difference. Thanks, Ted C. Jensen,  IBEW 8th District International Vice President

 Welcome to the first IBEW 8th District Leadership Conference.  In the next three days I hope we will come together to lift and inspire one another to a higher degree of service.  I ask that you keep an open mind as we discuss the principles of leadership and how they apply to running your local union.  As the principal officer of your local, the buck stops with you.  We are judged in the fulfillment of the objectives contained within the constitution by how well we deliver the promises to those who hold and those who seek the gifts of membership.

Henry Miller and countless men and women like him took up collections and traveled from town to town spreading a message of hope and a call for action as they organized tens of thousands of workers for collective association and a better way of life for themselves and their families.

The call today is no less important or challenging. We stand at the crossroads for the American middle class.  Home ownership (interest only loans) 50 million uninsured (an accident away from bankruptcy), legislation eliminating credit card debt (legalized loan sharking) the attack on public education (the great social equalizer) the shifting of corporate responsibility for employees in the areas of health care and pensions (United Airlines and IBM) and a crisis of leadership - all are posed to eliminate the very class which created the American Dream and gave dignity to working men and women.

The next few days we will focus our attention on the things we can do to improve our ability to lead others; to inspire them to a higher degree of citizenship, to mobilize them through collective association to action and leave our labor movement just a little bit better than we found it.  If you hear something you think can be useful in fulfilling your leadership role, I ask you to go home and adopt it.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result.

I could put up membership trends for the last few years, but the bottom line for each and every local, district and international union is the same.  If we continue to do business as usual or as we have done in the past – we will surely die.

A few years ago my son gave me a book titled The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.  I found a gift book which contains those agreements without all enchantments of the Toltecs.  I hope you will read and adopt those basic agreements into your life and into the job of Business Manager for your local union.  They are simple yet profound.  May I share with you the four agreements and how they can improve your ability to be the Business Managers your memberships deserve.

  1. Be impeccable with your word -  We have the ability to lift or lower others in every conversation.  Your position and the office you hold gives you and inherit power and the ability to influence others, use it wisely – for it is finite.
  2. Don’t take anything personal - We can allow the praise of others to go to our heads and create a false sense of importance, or we can allow criticism to weaken our ability to serve and doubts erode our sense of purpose.  A t-shirt I’ve seen proclaims “it’s all about me”, but our jobs demand the opposite – It’s all about those we serve.
  3. Make no assumptions - We listen until we learn where another person is coming from. It is the action of listening before we speak, of allowing others their say before we deliver and defend our position that allows the greatest degree of influence building to take place in our relationships.  Your view is only yours and has little impact until you understand the reality of another’s world.
  4. Do your best - When all is said and done and at the completion of the stewardship to which you have been entrusted, all you can ask, or for that matter any member will require of you is that you did your best.  And if you have – it will be well with you.  Last year I reminded myself and those who attended, “the hands that hold the reins don’t pull the load”.  I ask that we give greater attention to the way we deal with and treat our membership.  I’m not suggesting we enable bad behavior, but that we recognize and reward those who want to assist in building this great movement.

I want to thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to be with us.  I remind you that the best ideas will come as you discuss different problems within this group and implement ideas that have proven successful in similar settings.  In addition to the way we treat our members I ask you give consideration to the way we run our meetings, deal with our employers and serve our customers. 

Finally, it is your opportunity to learn and after you have learned a new principle – it is your responsibility to teach that principle to others.  Go home and educate your officers and the membership to a higher degree of citizenship.  We are in the “people” business.  As circumstances continue to change for those we serve, our success and theirs, depend on our ability to help them control and direct the changes that will surely come.  If we fail to educate, elevate and inspire others – how can we in good conscience hold the reins of leadership?  To paraphrase Jimmy Carter in his book, Endangered Values, we must assist those in need, share our talents, and be wise and generous if we are to restore trust, admiration and become who we need to be within this great movement.

  

Characteristics of Leadership

 

Transactional Leaders                                                   Transformational Leaders

  judged on what they know                                          legacy based on what they do

  it’s just a job                                                                involved in leading a cause

  focus on where we’ve been                                        where we are headed

  spend most time servicing members                           spend most time getting others involved

  mobilize others through fear                                       lead with vision

  accept status quo                                                        continually strive for improvement

  focus on the bottom line                                              focus on the top line