As the deadline for entries to the 2006
Leading Wales Awards approaches,
Lottie Miller, Community Development Manager for Rhondda
Housing Association, shares her experience of life as a
leader in Wales.
‘The power that holds people powerless
only exists in their own submission’. I am a great
believer in the freedom and responsibility of everyone to
challenge inequality and create a new future. But you need
self-belief to do it.
Change needs to be owned – imposed
change will fail at some level. If a problem is local and
pertinent to that locality, whom do you ask for advice?
The politicians? An expert? Local people understand the
problem in a way an outsider never will. Even if they sometimes
lack the self belief to fight for the solution, their determination
will be more powerful than any external influence.
Communities in South Wales can only change
for the better once people have real choice and opportunity
and there are positive role models to guide them. Our society
seems determined to vilify young people, often as troublemakers.
However, those from disadvantaged backgrounds are often
the neediest, lacking a fundamental sense of self worth.
The young people I meet have complex problems, but if asked
will say: ‘I want to be happy and be someone’.
‘Remove the stone from your shoe
rather than learning to limp more comfortably.’
It seems to me that we’re cursed with an ability to
‘put up with things’ and a sense of the status
quo. I believe that change can be made and that everyone
has some special strength to bring. I also understand that
there are many obstacles. It may seem a fruitless task throwing
back individual starfish floundering on a beach, but to
each star fish it matters!
I am very determined. Having had a heart
operation aged four, I was told that I would not be able
to have children and should avoid any activity which made
me tired! Three children and ten moves later, including
living abroad, my advice to anyone would be define yourself
before you let others define you.
I am interested in the argument for and
against ‘strong leadership’, by which I assume
the subtext is macho and dominant. Coming from a Quaker
background, I go to great lengths to resolve conflict, but
that does not mean I always acquiesce. My children blamed
all run-ins with their teachers on the shining example of
assertiveness I gave them!
It pays to listen more and talk less.
I may have the vision but am probably singularly badly placed
to deliver it. Good leadership is about recognising your
own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of your staff.
I have a strong value base – I could
not do my job without it. A desire for social justice matters
to me and makes less palatable aspects of my work acceptable.
I also try to lead with integrity, which means I try to
be honest and straightforward and treat people as I want
to be treated myself.
My first experience of leadership was
trying to train a much sought after dog when I was ten.
The sweet little puppy was lively and affectionate, possessing
all the qualities of a leader of a large pack. Needless
to say, the dog won hands down. The humiliation of the dog
training classes remains with me to this day. Despite his
size, he had a highly developed sense of his own importance
and spent most lessons running under large Alsatians attempting
to bite them.
There is a danger in being innovative.
My staff have a look of dread every time I suggest I have
been thinking. The important thing here is that they also
know how to ground me. My colleague describes me as a ‘space
cadet’ who needs ‘reeling in’ every now
and again.
I have many sources of inspiration: my
daughter, for showing more courage and determination in
one year than the average person does in a lifetime; the
community leaders I meet who are paid nothing, often treated
with contempt, but still find the strength and commitment
to make a difference where they live; and also, individual
acts of kindness.
Lottie Miller won the 2005 Leading Wales
Award for Voluntary and not for profit organisations. To
nominate a leader at any level in an organisation for the
2006 Leading Wales Awards, log on to www.leadingwalesawards.com.
Deadline for entries is Friday 11 November 2005.
LOTTIE’S TOP FIVE TIPS
1. Be clear – have a vision
2. Be bold – the things you don’t do will haunt
you
3. Be yourself – authenticity is more important than
image
4. Be humble – treat your own importance with a measure
of healthy humility
5. Be passionate – passion is infectious and essential
when times are difficult
LOTTIE’S TOP FIVE DON’T’S
1. Don't point - escort
2. Don't expect staff to mind read ( I learnt the hard way
when staff informed me I regularly sent e-mails without
beginnings or endings)
3. Don't blame - it stifles innovation and trust
4. Don't assume - you don't know it all; you are not always
right; everyone does not have the same values
5. Don't forget to laugh - working life can be fun as well
