PROFILE

Brown says good leadership reflects heart & head, not just bottom line

- Extension program director a leader by example -

By Karin Melberg Schwier

For the 10 years Lillas Brown has directed Extension Division's leadership programs, appropriately enough she herself has been one of the University's top examples of leadership in action.

Lillas Brown Photo by Karin Melberg Schwier

Having spent her professional life studying and teaching leadership skills, Brown is managing a growing set of leadership programs from her Kirk Hall office.

She recently talked with On Campus News following her latest sold-out conference, The Leadership Challenge, held in Saskatoon.

She's seen an evolution in the notion of leadership, and she also has a firm idea of the balanced approach real leaders must take.

"You need the technical and functional managerial competencies to plan, to organize, and monitor the budget. But you need the human side, the vision," Brown says, adding that in management and leadership, as in all things, a balance is required. "It's all of it: our hands, what we do; our heads, what we think; and our hearts, how we feel. There are huge payoffs when you invest in that."

She says leaders recognize people for what they contribute, build on their strengths, support them in areas of need, and have the humility to reflect. Team members - corporate or organizational or volunteers, or even a family - are stimulated to contribute by a leader's intelligence, vision and modeling.

Brown has watched the culture of management and leadership change from a 'hired hand' approach in management/employee relations to one that is more collaborative and creative.

"If you think about human beings in the same way you do a computer, typically you use a very small percentage of the full capacity and potential," Brown explains. "A good leader has a way of bringing out the best in themselves and in those around them."

When Brown joined the University's Extension Division in January 1993, she'd spent a lot of time in the private sector and felt there wasn't enough attention paid to the 'people' part of management.

"I agree with John Kotter from Harvard who says most organizations are over-managed, they're micro-managed, and they're under-led. That was certainly my experience and in the literature I'd become familiar with in management and leadership development. I thought if I was hired, I would create a full-fledged leadership program that paid attention to people and process. I was hired, and in some ways, we were ahead of the wave," says Brown.

Dr. Gordon Thompson was Dean of the Extension Division when Brown was recruited.

"When Lillas came on, it was a time of strained relationships between Extension and the College of Commerce," Thompson recalls. "Lillas has turned that relationship around so that we now have a very effective collaboration with them. I think that's due to her personal style, which is highly collaborative." Brown is an Associate Member of the Management & Marketing Department in the College of Commerce.

The mother of three grown children - to whom she's given the Myers Briggs Type Indicator with few surprises - Brown encourages her children to look inside themselves throughout life. Two of the approaches she uses to maintain her own balance are yoga and meditation.

"We can't always control what happens around us, but we have a pretty big say in how we respond in our personal and professional lives," she says.

Her commitment to collaboration in the design and delivery of learning programs is evidenced in her partnerships within and beyond the University. Co-ordinating the U of S Strengthening Departmental Leadership Program is one of her innovations and, collaborating with the Indigenous Peoples Program, Brown and her colleague Priscilla Settee are offering a first-of-its kind program in leadership.

"In doing this development work," Thompson says, "Lillas has helped the Extension Division to make highly visible contributions to the University community as well as to the external community."

Brown has also established a number of professional development programs, facilitated more than 100 workshops in Canada, the U.S., Australia and South Africa, and has contributed as a member of many boards and associations. She has drawn public and private sector leaders to the University. One example is the highly successful Leadership Development Program, an 11-week course for managers, professionals and entrepreneurs offered by the Division. It has attracted managers from all walks of the business and corporate world, the non-profit sector and government. In November, another learning retreat, The Essentials of Leadership, will be offered for engineers, geoscientists and related professionals, at the U of S Ursuline Campus in Bruno.

Brown's base program in Business and Leadership at Extension has offered 64 courses over the last three years, attracting 1,181 registrations. Half of those were women.

In fact, Brown's approach encourages women to find their potential, says co-worker Helen Duncan, Public Programs Co-ordinator in Extension's Business & Leadership Programs. Duncan says intuition and compassion guides Brown as she models a sensible task-focused, social/political approach and creates a supportive and encouraging climate for women.

Brown holds a Master's in Adult and Continuing Education from the U of S and has certification as a Human Resources Professional. In 1996, her book How to Conduct Focus Groups was published, co-authored with A.A. Einsiedel and F. Ross. Her next book is under way: Walking the Path of Integrative Leadership, co-authored with Richard Hatala, who has over 25 years of leadership experience in the energy industry.

Former dean Thompson reflects on Extension Division's own display of balanced leadership that focused, as in Brown's example, on hands, head and the heart.

"Lillas is a very high-energy individual," says Thompson. "She's been very effective at developing collaborative programs with other program directors in Extension.

"In other words," Thompson adds, "she doesn't just talk about collaboration and leadership development, but she demonstrates it in her professional practice. I would say that recruiting Lillas was one of the best decisions that my colleagues and I made in my 10 years as Dean of Extension."