Community Leadership Program Recruitment Energization
Erin Hoffrance, Nancy Klinefelter, Keith Pitts
June 2008
Prepared for:
LIS580, Jochen Scholl, University of Washington, Information School
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 3
The Managerial Toolset 4
Problems/tasks in the particular managerial area 4
Problems/tasks addressed by toolset 5
Components 5
Features 5
Specific purpose(s) 6
Technology involved 6
Users 6
Uses 6
Findings/results 6
Insights from analysis 7
Comparison between tools (organization versus class/textbook) 7
What did you learn? What would you modify in the toolset? 8
Report on the 10-week group process 8
How was the group forming done? 8
How did the storming go? 8
How did the norming go? 9
When did the performing start, how did it go? 9
What were major insights from looking back to your learning process? 9
What would you do differently if you could do it again? 9
Final Thoughts and Remarks 11
References 12
Appendix 1 - Leadership Kitsap, 2008 Survey 13
Appendix 2 – CLP Interview Questions 17
Appendix 3 - Theme Suggestion Form 18
Appendix 4 - Candidate Referral Form 19
Appendix 5 - Leadership Kitsap Application 20
Appendix 6 - Leadership Kitsap, 2008 Survey Results 26
Appendix 7 - Comparable US Census Bureau data 39
Figure 1: Gender Demographic Data 39
Figure 2: Racial Demographic Comparison 39
2
Executive Summary
Leadership Kitsap is interested in an improved strategic recruiting plan for its year-long community leadership program that is more diversified and reaches the wider community of Kitsap County. This program offers current and emerging Kitsap County leaders the opportunity to learn and expand community leadership skills. Within teams, projects are designed and implemented to improve civic volunteerism and community leadership within the county.
Graduate students of the Masters of Library and Information Science program from the University of Washington in partnership with Leadership Kitsap agreed to a project to investigate and develop recommendations that would increase diversification of participants to its community leadership program in Kitsap County.
A demographic survey was created and electronically distributed. The results confirmed that the typical participant is 40 to 49 years old, employed in the government/public sector or civic/non-profit, hold a bachelor's and/or master's degree, a director or manager/supervisor, and earns $70,000 or more annually, Caucasian, and female.
It is the goal of this project to recommend methodology that Leadership Kitsap may incorporate to their program in addition to the current process:
· Theme Suggestion Form
· Candidate Referral Form
· Improved Leadership Kitsap Application Form
· Develop and distribute brochures
· Continue use of media sources
Utilizing the above tools in an active recruiting process will inherently diversify Leadership Kitsap’s community leadership program participants, increase sponsorship, and further represent a cross section of Kitsap County.
The Managerial Toolset
Problems/tasks in the particular managerial area
Organizations need influential leaders that have the skills necessary to direct and motivate people to positively affect change. Programs with specific goals can produce leaders from within the community as well as inspire those who wish to become stronger leaders. Recruitment is the area that will be investigated in this paper. The following literature and interviews presents the recruitment methods of several community leadership programs.
A concern of the leadership programs examined here indicated diversity was important in their programs. Gauss and Jessamy (2007) in their article, The Board's Role in Developing a Diverse Leadership Team, claim that organizations should “define diversity broadly. Stretching the definition beyond ethnic, cultural and racial diversity, boards should also include, among other factors, diversity of thought, education and skills” (5). Leadership Kitsap is one among many non-profit community leadership programs (CLP) that develop civic commitment and volunteerism through its educational programs and wants to ensure diverse participation.
Erin Hoffrance interviewed several program directors of similar community leadership organizations and how they recruit participants: United Way of King County’s Project LEAD, Leadership Snohomish County, United Way of Thurston County’s LEAD Thurston County, and Leadership Tomorrow of Seattle. Jan Levy, Executive Director of Leadership Tomorrow, indicated most potential applicant names come from program graduates (personal communication, May 7, 2008). Other types of recruitment include presentations given to prospective companies and organizations, but states that approximately ninety percent of applicant names come from graduates. Louis Mendoza from Project LEAD says most of their outreach comes from alumni and community leaders. He believes word of mouth has been the most important tool in their recruitment (personal communication, May 8, 2008). In terms of networking and building relationships within the community, Ibarra and Hunter (2007) say that “all managers need to build good working relationships with the people who can help them do their jobs,” and they go further to define three types of networking: “operational, personal, and strategic,” (41). The attributes of these three types of networking are, respectively, “Depth: building strong working relationships. Breadth: reaching out to contacts who can make referrals. Leverage: creating inside-outside links. Network attributes and key behaviors” (Ibarra & Hunter, 2007, 43).
Each highlighted CLP has similar recruitment methods: word of mouth, alumni networking, and personal contacts. Though effective, it could be limiting a wider community reach, therefore hindering rich and diverse community leadership programs. As with most non-profit CLPs, budgets and funding are primarily provided through sponsorship, donations, and tuition from its educational programs. Staff and board members are usually volunteers who have additional personal and/or professional obligations. Keeping overhead and administrative costs to a minimum is important to the success of the organization. Gaining community and public support benefits these organizations. Leadership Kitsap is no exception.
The success of the community leadership program is dependent on the success of the participants that are representative of Kitsap County. Successful representation of the community of Kitsap County will require a more active recruiting approach and perhaps goes beyond the scope of this paper.
Problems/tasks addressed by toolset
The current executive director of Leadership Kitsap commences recruitment activities in November by sending Christmas cards to former class members and current/potential sponsors. This is followed by press releases to local media groups, word of mouth by board members, and contacting various organizations. Last year, Leadership Kitsap had a half- hour presentation on Bremerton Kitsap Access Television (BKAT) that ran for four weeks. These are all beneficial, yet time-consuming, activities. The primary concern of the new executive director and sponsor for this group project, Greg Hunt, is to ensure program applicant diversity. According to Hunt, each year the same pool of candidates apply and are selected, creating a generic and static class profile every year. His goal is to improve the recruiting process as well as the overall awareness and visibility of the program among the county’s citizenry (personal communication, April 8, 2008).
The survey was the critical tool used to gather primary information regarding demographics of the Kitsap County community to be compared with Leadership Kitsap’s community leadership program participants. After a month of reviews and revisions, this survey was completed and sent electronically to approximately 265 former and current class members, current applicants, and board members. Slightly less than half responded. The typical respondent is described above, and the numerical survey results are included in Appendix 7. Note, 24.19% (n=124) of respondents are current-year applicants and diversity perception data may not be valid for these respondents.
Components
Four tools were developed and one was modified: Survey (appendix 1), CLP interview questions (appendix 2), Theme Suggestion form (appendix 3), Candidate Referral form (appendix 4), and Leadership Kitsap Application (appendix 5), respectively.
Features
· Survey: Provided important demographic information about the participants to Leadership Kitsap’s community leadership program.
· Theme Suggestion form: Offers a way to personalize each class year. Group projects can be designed around this chosen theme.
· Candidate Referral form: Offers an additional method of referring candidates to the community leadership program’s future classes.
· Leadership Kitsap Application: The application was updated and modified to further reflect Leadership Kitsap’s vision, mission, and future of Kitsap County.
Specific purpose(s)
To gain an understanding of this need required an investigation of the demographics of Kitsap County and how it relates to Leadership Kitsap’s CLP program’s former and current participants. This is the first demographic study to be conducted. Analysis of the results is important to evaluating and recommending areas of need. In partnership with Leadership Kitsap, we designed a survey to evaluate the demographic status of former and current class members, current applicants and board members.
The current candidate application utilized by Leadership Kitsap needed updating to further reflect the mission, vision and goals of Leadership Kitsap’s program. It was modified by including an optional diversity component that can be used to gather information for future recruiting purposes. A Theme Suggestion Form was created to give each new class a personalized experience through the community leadership program. Additionally, the theme could be used to guide members as they progress through the team projects. The Candidate Referral Form creates a means to refer potential candidates.
Technology involved
Each of the managerial tools recommended can by developed and utilized by a variety of technology sources. Word processing and other software programs can be used to design and tailor each form to meet Leadership Kitsap’s needs.
Users
The managerial toolset will be utilized by Leadership Kitsap staff, board members, the executive director as well as current and future class participants. The application and candidate referral form will be freely available to the public and community.
Uses
The uses of the managerial toolset were designed or improved to increase diversity and visibility of Leadership Kitsap as an organization passionate about civic commitment and volunteerism activities; to educate current and emerging leaders; and to increase sponsorship to its programs.
Findings/results
The major area lacking significant diversity was ethnicity where 89.42% were Caucasian. Education level and income also showed a disparity, but leadership roles require a modicum of education, and education typically facilitates an increased income, thus these data may be artifacts of the leadership position
Perceptions of the program's diversity were generally positive. Only 8% of respondents who had attended the program believed it lacked diversity, while 53% found it to have adequate to significant diversity.
Diversity of communication about the program typically came from at-work sources: co-workers, supervisors, or general employer communication at 93.55%. However, only 34.68% of applicants were involved in an employer-based screening process.
Only two samples were comparable with US Census Bureau (2006) data: race (See Appendix 7, Fig. 1) and gender (See Appendix 7, Fig. 2). The data reflects disparity in gender representation, but shows a likely adequate racial representation. (Note, the 2001 Per Capita Income.)
One question from the survey asked “Do you have any recommendations for improving the Leadership Kitsap recruiting and marketing process?” Many of the respondents answers reflected a general lack of public awareness and suggestions to improve this disparity (Refer to Appendix 6 for detailed responses). Interestingly, Leadership Kitsap is marketed through many, if not all of the suggested venues.Yet, the organization seems to be invisible to many organizations, and in particular to academic institutions where there is an abundance of potential candidates who may seek future leadership opportunities. This could be an area of future research. Interestingly, the survey results were similar to the overall demographics of Kitsap County.
Insights from analysis
Most leadership programs reflected success connected to the constant contact with program alums. The common thread with alumni is that upon successfully completing the program, they are still invested and eager to offer potential applicants. The positive experiences acquired through the program allow for the keen interested in seeing the program and its graduate’s blossom. As exampled by these other programs, it is not simply about recruiting applicants, but ensuring that these applicants have positive and beneficial experiences that motivate them to share what they have learned within their communities.
Comparison between tools (organization versus class/textbook)
In developing the toolset that could benefit Leadership Kitsap we looked at the tools they were already using. Of the tools that were being used we sought to evaluate their effectiveness and compare them to similar organizations. The Leadership Kitsap Application was the only tool currently used that was examined. We made modifications to improve its appearance. The revised application (Appendix 5) more clearly defines Leadership Kitsap and the selection criteria incorporating bullet points to enhance the prominence of the standard that candidates are selected.
Two tools that Leadership Kitsap did not have were the Theme Suggestion Form (Appendix 3) and the Candidate Referral Form (Appendix 4). Other CLPs emphasized alumni as one of the most beneficial resources. It is logical to elicit their input; it keeps the organization and the program fresh in their minds. Dessler and Phillips also list referrals as a successful and widely used recruitment tool. Candidate Referral Form can increase general referral to the program in addition to creating a type of mentoring relationship. Dessler and Phillips suggest establishing a mentoring relationship as a tool in recruitment and confirm its importance by asking, "why attract a diverse workforce and then leave the new people to sink or swim?" (54).
In order for Leadership Kitsap to adequately evaluate the effectiveness of their current recruitment procedures, it is advisable to look at the demographics of their current applicants to identify where potential past and future participants are not adequately represented. As mentioned above, the survey study (Appendix 1) was a first for Leadership Kitsap. The results (Appendix 6) will provide a healthy data set for the organization to evaluate, review, and implement improved recruitment processes. Additionally, responses from alumni help to examine the processes and procedures currently in place to evaluate their effectiveness from the perspective of one who has been through the program. Dessler and Phillips also say that "advertising is a major way to attract applicants," (340). And while a brochure was not implemented as an actual tool in our proposed toolset, it was suggested as an instrument to increase the visibility and awareness of the program.
What did you learn? What would you modify in the toolset?
Working with a real-world organization presents a unique opportunity to gain valuable knowledge in management practices, or a part of it. Leadership Kitsap’s incoming Executive Director, Greg Hunt, played an important role as the sponsor with his continuous support and encouragement. He shared that this project was “in the spirit of process improvement, it's a win-win situation.” His participative management style is one that can be learned from because he empowers others. He wants others to learn and is always willing to help. He exhibited this through his efforts in helping us create the survey.