Leadership with paradoxes

I was invited to talk about leadership to local community managers in General Social Service in Dortmund on 14 April. Managers in social services face paradoxes: “They are responsible for effective help and are supposed to save money at the same time. They are expected to be on top of things but constantly have to deal with unforseeable events. They shall provide high quality in their work but are faced with new tasks and cost-cutting measures again and again.” (Invalid style attribute.)

Different partly contradictory aims are a characteristic feature of management in non-profit organizations. One could envy the corporate sector in which “money is a complexity-reducing factor” (Ruth Simsa) and makes it easier to assess one’s goals. Being able to give the managers some stimuli for their work, makes me happy.