EMQ » October–December 2018 » Volume 54 Issue 4
[memberonly folder=”Members, EMQ2YearFolder, EMQ1YearFolder”]C. Bryan Davis
Missionary work is, in large part, a question of leadership. Not only do missionaries strive to practice effective leadership in what they do, but leadership education is also part of the training missionaries receive and oftentimes pass on to national leaders. To date, the vast majority of leadership research and writing is from an American perspective. These Western models of leadership tend to be built around the idea that the leader is a hero; someone who is more qualified than everyone else in the organization.
The West also tends to assume that leadership is hierarchical in nature, and that good leaders find meaningful ways to exert influence over subordinates. Of course, these Western notions of leadership do not apply directly to the African cultural context, and are sometimes contrary to indigenous expectations for leaders. African scholars of management have pointed to the African concept of Ubuntu as a starting place for a description of leadership that is truly African. The purpose of this article is to outline some of the basic leadership themes Ubuntu has to offer and how they can benefit the work of missionaries in Africa. But not only within the church. They can also be applied to all groups a missionary may belong to.
Meaning of Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a word from Ndebele, a language that is predominantly spoken in South Africa. Ubuntu was adopted from the expression umuntu ngumuntu ngabanye, which means that a person is a person through others.[1] In other words, the individual finds his or her humanity and sense of personal identity through interaction with a collective of individuals. Ubuntu is a traditional concept that advances the African values of hospitality, family-like group solidarity, pride in the group, and the shared responsibility of each member of the group. It also implies that leadership is diffused among group members, which means that leadership is a group activity and not just reserved for appointed decision makers. After apartheid was dismantled in South Africa in the 1990s, Ubuntu became a popular theme in the business world as leaders sought to bring management techniques more into alignment with the African cultural experience.[2] Numerous scholars have pointed out that the values underpinning Ubuntu are the bedrock common to culture across the continent. Ethnographic descriptions from all parts of Africa point to a common sense of group solidarity that provides members with their personal sense of identity and responsibility.
In management studies, Ubuntu has become the pillar around which African leadership is often conceptualized. This has resulted in a body of Ubuntu literature related to leadership in African, with support from research in a number of African nations. However, the extent to which this Ubuntu literature informs on leadership in a given context in Africa can be quite nuanced. For instance, variation in how Ubuntu is expressed in varying cultural contexts has yet to be fully described, as well as how Ubuntu may function in groups whose membership crisscrosses different groups. Moreover, each organization will have its own history, organizational culture, and possibly the presence of leaders who choose to not prioritize the ideals of Ubuntu. All of these factors will influence how applicable leadership insights from the Ubuntu literature will be in the missionary’s context. I will now explain three simple leadership concepts that come from the Ubuntu leadership literature, and how they can benefit the understanding missionaries have of African leadership.
Three Ubuntu Concepts
Leadership Comes from Participation in the Community
Bolden and Kirk reported the findings of an African leadership development initiative for participants from several African countries.[3] In this initiative, participants were motivated to engage in leadership in their families, communities, and places of employment based simply on the fact that they were members in all of these groups. These findings are consistent with the diffused nature of leadership in Africa, in which group members afford each other some degree of influence. In the Ubuntu work environment, member participation goes beyond attending meetings and events related to work. Working together, and ministering together, is built on a personal relationship. As Malunga points out, what happens between colleagues in their non-work lives will eventually have an impact on their shared work life, and ultimately the entire organization.[4]
As cultural newcomers to Africa, where can missionaries derive authentic influence for effective leadership? Start by building relationships with members of the group where you are a leader. At the same time, trying to exert influence without investing in relationships may often result in frustration. You have to participate in the group in order for group members to afford you influence. What does participation in the group look like? It includes warm interpersonal interaction through personal visits, phone calls, and simply passing time together. Presence at family-related events also goes a long way toward laying the groundwork for effective leadership. Related to the ministry, participation includes faithful church attendance, since that is when the Christian family gets together, as well as participation in church leadership meetings. It also includes attendance at specific events that are important to the church body, such as weddings, funerals, and building dedications.
Leadership is a Conversation
Western concepts of leadership tend to focus on top-down communication, in which the leader communicates to subordinates with the goal of defining reality for them. On the other hand, Ubuntu leadership is based on consensus building, in which good leaders are recognized for their ability to listen and work towards the decision that is best for the group. More importantly, the conversations occurring between group members, as well as their conversations with their formal leaders, compose a living narrative that defines reality for the group. In this way, the group constructs its reality through a collaborative effort, mediated by formal leaders, in order to best accommodate all its members.[5] Mangaliso’s description of the advantages Ubuntu offers managers in Africa is based on communication.[6] He points to the success of White South African businessmen who learned an African language. While an African language is useful simply for the sake of communication, Mangaliso contends that its real contribution to successful businessmen is that they are able to better participate in the conversations that construct reality for their own companies. It is worth noting in Mangaliso’s description that control over finances, and even personal ownership of company equity, is not credited with affording these businessmen full participation in the construction of reality for the group.
The nuance of cross-cultural conversation can be difficult to navigate, but it is in these waters that real leadership emerges. This is especially true in the African context, where the continual stream of conversation is what defines reality for the group. The missionary who learns how to participate in these conversations will become a leader within the group. Most of these conversations are not explicitly about leadership issues. Rather, it is in the discussion of the mundane affairs of daily life that past events are interpreted, and the assumptions about the problems, opportunities, and limitations of the group’s reality are articulated.
These are the discussions that inform the missionary about the reality that group members have constructed and continually reconstruct. Participation in these conversations gives the missionary a voice in how that reality is reconstructed. Finally, the importance of African language cannot be overlooked. Missionaries should not assume that language acquisition is simply for survival. As illustrated in the case of South African businessmen above, the importance of language reaches to the very core of reality construction for the group, or groups, to which the missionary belongs. Moreover, participation in constructing reality with the group depends far more on participation in conversations than on financial input.
Leadership is Substitutional
Historically Western thinking has assumed that the official leader is the most qualified person in the group, but draws on input from others based on their individual areas of expertise. More recently, leadership literature encourages leaders to push down decision-making, as well as to have more confidence in subordinates and enlarge their jobs. Nevertheless, this still implies a very hierarchical way of viewing leadership, in which the leader remains the leader in every situation. The diffused leadership style inherent to Ubuntu allows the flow of influence in a group setting that is far less hierarchical.[7] describes African leadership as substitutional, in that the formal leader may not lead in every situation. In Eyong’s description, at different times others will assume a temporary leadership role and the leader will become a follower for that situation. This leadership substitution occurs at times when the formal leader does not have the status to lead. Eyong points out that provisional leadership occurs because certain individuals maintain a level of influence, and that the level of influence maintained by some individuals supersedes that of the appointed leader. Moreover, these individuals are able to maintain their status in a way that compliments, rather than threatens, the leader.
A retired missionary to Africa once made the observation that good leadership relies in part on the leader recognizing what he or she cannot do. When a situation arises, for which the leader may not have the influence or the history required by the group, that leader may defer to another recognized individual within the group. As a missionary, learn to recognize what you cannot do, and maintain a close circle of respected individuals with whom you share a common vision and whose leadership you affirm within the group. If the group is healthy you do not loose anything from affirming the leadership of others. You will be able to appeal to these individuals to intervene in situations for which you are not equipped. They will recognize these situations when they see them, so be sure they feel confortable offering to intervene. The flipside of substitutional leadership is that you, as a missionary, may be called on to intervene in occasional situations for resolution. This can be the case where fissures have occurred within the group and a trusted outsider is called upon as a nonpartisan mediator.
Conclusion
The African concept of Ubuntu, which articulates the cultural assumption that the individual is a person by virtue of participation in a group, has important implications for leadership in Africa. I have attempted to put forth three basic leadership implications Ubuntu has for missionaries in Africa.
First, influence within the group is built on participation in the group, and all members can participate in leadership. This speaks to the importance of interpersonal relationships as the basis for leadership.
Second, communication requires that formal leaders allow significant input from all members. Moreover, it is in the flow of daily communication among group members that reality is continually defined and redefined for the group. Participation in this continual flow of communication is what gives individuals a voice in how reality is defined. This voice does not necessarily come from financial input, and can be greatly enhanced by acquisition of a local language.
Third, the appointed leader is not always the leader in every situation. Rather, leadership is distributed among group members, who can take turns depending on the kind of status or expertise a situation calls for. This can by very useful to the missionary confronted with a situation he or she is not equipped to handle.
C. Bryan Davis has been serving the Assemblies of God in West Africa for over twenty years. He holds a PhD in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He blogs regularly at Cross Cultural Leadership Laboratory.
Endnotes
[1] Iwowo, V. (2015). Leadership in Africa: Rethinking Development. Personnel Review, 44(3) 408-429.
[2] Karsten, L. and Illa, H. (2005). Ubuntu as a key African management concept: contextual background and practical insights for knowledge application. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(7) 607-620.
[3] Bolden, R. and Kirk, P. (2009). African leadership: surfacing new understandings through leadership development. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9(1) 69–86.
[4] Malunga, 2006). Learning leadership from African cultures: a personal perspective. INTRAC PraxisNote, 25.
[5] Karten and Illa.
[6] Mangaliso, M. (2001), Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu: management lessons from South Africa. Academy of Management Executive, 15(3) 23-34.
[7] Eyong, J. (2017). Indigenous African leadership: key differences from Anglo-centric thinking and writings. Leadership, 13(2) 133-153.
