Justice Emerges in Institutional Conflict

Attendance at the event we hosted an hour north of us was just under half of what we had locally. Considering it was just two weeks after our local event, in an area where we had few existing relationships, and considering all the nonsense with the institution (whose campus was just a few miles away from where we hosted this event), most everyone involved viewed it as a success. Financially, it was close to break-even but I don’t know many people who are willing to put in all the time and effort we did to just break even. All that said, we did indeed identify several seeds to equal and greater benefits - it just took a while for us to recognize a few of them.

The two leadership attributes that resonated with me from the beginning of the adversities we battled in hosting that event were the willingness to accept full responsibility and having a keen sense of justice. From the moment we read the non-compete clause, we took complete responsibility for the entire event. We had no other option. Attempting to shift responsibility anywhere else would have not only cost us financially, it would have impacted existing relationships as well as the ones we were working to build. I’ll circle right back to those relationships…

A keen sense of justice could mean something different to everyone considering the situation. Justice is often viewed as restitution from or some sort of punishment to the other party involved. That wasn’t the case here, and I don’t think it should have been. Hill defined this attribute by saying, “Without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can command and retain the respect of followers.” In so many cases, this is viewed through the lens of a chain-of-command relationship. We had nothing of the sort with anyone involved - and we don’t have any relationships like that still today, intentionally. We’re very specific with every group we speak with when we explain that the purest form of leadership is achieved when we earn influence by serving others when and where we can, providing them with something they’re not capable of themselves. Cindy frequently reminds me that achieving justice doesn’t always have to involve some sort of fight - even if that fight is just figurative. Justice can just as easily come from choosing the high road in the situation, and often does even faster than it would through confrontation. Justice isn’t loud confrontation - it’s consistent, values-aligned action despite personal or financial cost.

We’ll dig into some of the costs and why they were absolutely worth it next. The relationships we strengthened through pushing forward, though, have served us ever since. Our interaction with Dr. Rob Walker had been solid leading up to him emceeing each of our 2017 events, but the close interaction we had with him through each of those took things to a new level. Prior to that, even through the work we did for his team’s annual leadership conference in late 2016, our direct interaction had been with key members of his team. The opportunity to strengthen our relationship with him through these events couldn’t have been more timely. As we wrapped up that second event, he pulled us aside to request a proposal for his team’s next event - and we’ve worked closely with that group ever since.

One other seed we pulled from that experience, one that we’re still nurturing years later, was a realization that the work involved in hosting any kind of event increases, often exponentially, the farther it is away from you. Mastery of Detail is indeed a necessary attribute for hosting a successful event, and those details are tough to administer from a distance. And regardless of the circumstances, it’s a leader’s responsibility to do right by everyone they serve amid any kind of fallout. We’ll work through that in more detail next. Before that, though, apply these thoughts on justice and responsibility to a conflict you’ve experienced. What seed of greater integrity might (still) be hidden? What’s one action you can take to nurture that seed?