Rowitz On Leadership

     At a policy level, Americans talk about the need to protect the separation of church and state. However, this policy position does not mean that faith leaders do not have an important role in public health practice. Public health leaders and leaders in the not for profit sector often work closely together to address health promotion and disease prevention activities in communities across the United States. In fact both the faith community and the public health practice community believe strongly in social justice and the need to promote health equity for all our people. In this month’s article, I want to explore how the faith community helps us to better understand our agenda to protect the health of the public. Hopefully, we can also begin a dialogue on how the faith-based leaders can better collaborate with public health leaders.

There are four dimensions of faith-based leadership that are the foundation of the work of these leaders in the community. The four dimensions are love for all our fellow residents on this planet, belief that there is a higher power guiding our actions, support for the institution of the family as the critical organization for our future, and the strong belief in community in that we do better together than alone. In his book BOWLING ALONE, Putnam talks about social capital and how we build community infrastructure when we work together. The leadership writer Peter Block( COMMUNITY: THE STRUCTURE OF BELONGING,2008) pointed out that we can create a better future by working with all our community leaders. He mentioned at least six ways to create this better future. We do this by shifting from a retribution approach to resolving our differences ( a community equity approach), concentrating on possibilities rather than problems( a challenge model), concentration on ways to give back to our communities rather than promulgating fear and blame ( a social entrepreneurship model), moving from a reliance on old rules, regulations, and protocols rather than our creative ability to make change that build our social fabric in a more positive way( a model for creative tension and synergy), strengthening our associations ( a social capital model), and finally moving from leaders making our decisions to real citizen response ability ( a shared leadership approach). Our real secret to success is to create change through positive and crucial conversations. Communication is the tool to our successes.

In a very interesting book Mitroff and Denton(A SPIRITUAL AUDIT OF CORPORATE AMERICA,1999), defined spirituality a a blending our minds and emotions to discover the real meaning of life. They stated that people want their lives to be integrated rather than fragmented. Religion is different than spirituality. People do not want to be criticized for looking for meaning in their lives. It is spirituality that helps us to relate to others and to respect our differences. I would use the concept of ethical leadership to exemplify leaders who perceive and conceptualize the orld around them in a framework that supports public values and strong empathy for others. The components of ethical leadership involve the practice of leadership with organizational and community purposes in mind, the use of knowledge and the management of that knowledge to inquire and judge and act in a prudent manner, the power to make decisions in accordance with personal and organizational and community values, and inspiring trust in our organization and community. Ethical leaders work with others through inspiration, facilitation, persuasion, and gentle manipulation.

Leadership in the public sector supports laws and the values of the communities that leaders serve. Public health and faith leaders are the stewards of their communities and are thus held to high ethical standards. The real purpose of collaboration is to create a shared vision based on trust, spiritual and secular beliefs and values, and the creation of community strategies that go beyond thee agendas of any particular group member. For example in an emergency situation, it is important for public health and faith leaders to work collaboratively in the humanitarian response to the crisis. This is done through the coordination of planning activities with emergency response partners, helping people to cope with disaster, finding meaning and understanding of the crisis event, helping in the mental health response, restoring hope, showing care, giving support, and helping to reestablish community identity. Thus, through a leap of faith, we can address all our concerns and create a better world for ourselves and others.