VISION AND GOALS | Count | |
Establish a stable, shared long-term vision and a common sense of purpose | 7 | |
Identify what is happening to, or affecting, biodiversity | 1 | |
Set clear, short-term achievable goals. | 4 | |
Ensure flexibility in all levels of planning. | ||
Consider view of stakeholders and partners. | 6 | |
Ensure planning starts with understanding current performance relative to program purpose. | 1 | |
Ensure that staff embrace project aims and culture (vision, understanding the system, goals). | 6 | |
Get people to measure performance in relation to project aims. | 1 | |
Advocate good governance, particularly in large complex projects. | ||
Ensure congruency between plans, action on the ground and results. | 1 | |
Total | 27 | |
HANDS-ON LEADERSHIP | ||
Be orientated toward “hands-on” management, working with staff. | 5 | |
Possess highly developed biological and/or operational skills appropriate to the program | 4 | |
Be able to prioritise the work by asking key questions. | ||
Know people’s strengths; channel their energy and passion to maximum effect. | 1 | |
Understand cultural differences and manage people’s expectations and viewpoints sensitively. | ||
Check results with staff and empower them to get the job done. | 4 | |
Involve the people doing the work in data analysis, decisions, and implementing changes. | 1 | |
Place responsibility and control of information in the hands of people who do the work. | 7 | |
Ensure that an understanding of what matters to biodiversity steers the work people do. | ||
Have two-way communication meetings, with an emphasis on clarifying, testing, and listening. | 1 | |
Ensure managers lead; spend time with staff, listen to concerns, and enable contributions. | 2 | |
Total | 25 | |
CONSIDER BOTH PROJECT DETAILS AND THE BIG PICTURE | ||
Focus both internally and externally, understanding intra- and inter-organisational dynamics. | 1 | |
Know projects’ sphere of influence—identify the solvable problems. | ||
Establish budgets and a clear fund-raising strategy. | 2 | |
Examine financial and nonfinancial measures; which predict and cause conservation results? | ||
Base information, technology, and resource needs on how they help people’s core work. | ||
Create an attitude of cooperation with project partners, sharing information to improve work. | 8 | |
Anticipate unexpected outcomes. | ||
Be prepared to seek specialist advice from external sources. | 2 | |
Integrate management flexibility alongside professional/scientific rigor. | ||
Determine whether data on staff, communities, or society would be useful for the program. | ||
Total | 13 | |
IMPROVEMENT AND LEARNING | ||
Give people the opportunity to ask for training and provide it on a just-in-time basis. | 5 | |
Be receptive to (and seek out) alternative solutions. | 6 | |
Enable staff to challenge, share, and learn from mistakes, without fear. | 2 | |
Expect—and support staff to strive for—high standards. | ||
Expect the project (and its needs) to evolve through time. | 3 | |
Understand risk factors and make suitable contingencies. | ||
Appraise the system rather than people; manage morale, celebrate success, learn from failures. | 2 | |
Make improvements based on biodiversity needs and process performance, not arbitrary targets. | ||
Recognise difference between neglect and lack of capability (training, experience, or resources). | ||
Allow people doing the work, the freedom to experiment with methods to improve performance. | ||
Total | 18 |