In most Scandinavian countries, they like the flat management structures, especially in clubs/associations. It’s not going to be too far between leaders and the leaders. But leaders have to be there anyway, because at the end of the day, someone has to make the important decisions. The question then is how leaders can create authority others want to follow and will respect. That’s what this blog post is all about.
Build credibility to create authority others will follow
An important first step on the way to create authority others want to follow, is to be able to see why it is there. In club/associations, it is not always obvious why some members have more say than others. Everyone’s there. Therefore, one might think that all decisions must be taken democratically. The fact is, however, that when planning a sports event, there can be so many details to get to grips with, that it is too slow to vote on everything.
Instead, it makes sense for the club to choose someone to make the necessary decisions. However, the election of a leader should be done in a way where the leader is confident of the support of the members. This objective is best achieved by what is called democratic legitimacy. That is, someone has authority by virtue of being chosen by others.
No orders, estimate work
When the manager is elected without dissatisfaction with the way the person was elected, the next step will be to think about how the work is led. When the manager has to share tasks to the association’s members, the tasks should not be formulated as orders. Remember, everyone is in the association voluntarily. Instead, ask members if they want to help by taking care of the task.
If you give tasks to new members in the association, you give them easy tasks that you know they can handle. Make sure members understand the guidance you give them. Let them know that they can always just ask if they have any doubts. And say thank you when a member has done his or her job so that they know their work is appreciated.
Transparency and freedom of choice
Just as the leader does not like not knowing how far members are with their duties, they also do not like not knowing what the leader is doing. Therefore, let there be transparency about what your tasks consist of, e.g. when planning an activity. So it doesn’t have to be a state secret what you do.
Sometimes it can be good to give each Member freedom of choice in terms of how they do a job. So that they don’t have to be completely lost or get too creative, you can give them options. And if you are leaning a lot towards a particular choice but don’t want to take the choice from the member, you can do the semi-odious trick of giving the member a limited number of options, one of which sounds much easier/less painful than the others.