Mr. Ali Case Study

iew #1:

Mr. Ali considers the following values are part of his personal and organizational values:

Trust: Mr. Ali believe that being trusted is an important value for leaders. It is not only needed by followers, staff, but also by adversaries and opponents. Even enemies need to deal with trusted leaders that can deliver on any agreement or treaty.

Courage is another type of value that is required by the nature of his job and organization. Advocacy for justice requires courageous and resilient leaders that can stand firm when pressures intensify from hatred groups and people who do not believe in the values of justice and equality. Mr. Ali and his staff receive threat letters regularly, however, they are still determined to pursue their mission.

Vision: Mr. Ali described a leader without vision like a traveler in a strange land without a map or guide. He thinks

that leaders not only should have a shared vision for the work they do, but they also need to recognize opportunities within the challenges they encounter.

In answering the question: Have you experienced times or situations when others failed to adhere to agreed--upon values or standards?

And what did you do? Mr. Ali, stated that we need to be consistent in adhering to our principles. He added that sometimes you have to go against your partners and allies because they are not adhering to the principles you believe in. He gave the example of his organization's Anti CVE position when some Muslim organizations were hesitant to be seen anti FBI program. CVE stands for Countering Violent Extremism. It is a government program that aims to deter U.S. residents from joining "violent extremist" groups by bringing community and religious leaders together with law enforcement, health professionals, teachers and social service employees. While RIAC-MN agreed with the intended program objectives in countering violent extremism among youth, however, RIAC-MN opposed the way CVE was conducted because it discriminatorily targets the Muslim and Somali communities, increasing policing, and intelligence gathering under the guise of providing social

services.

In regard to what he does intentionally to set a good example for how others should act, he mentioned the necessity to remind staff repeatedly with the guiding principles of RIAC-MN and to be the example and role model for applying these principles. Mr. Ali shares the reasoning behind the decisions he makes that some of his employees may disagree with. He said it is import for our staff to know "why we are doing what we are doing?". He gave an example of an event where an anti-Islam & Muslims speaker was invited to speak in an event somewhere in MN. Some of his staff suggested to organize a protest at the event's location. However, he disagreed indicating that such protest will bring more publicity to the event. He would agree with the protest if public figures like governor or mayor attended the event. Instead, he suggested other effective measures that will minimize the event impact. Mr. Ali recalled that explaining the reasoning behind his decision helped staff to understand his position. Another action he does to set a good example is to praise employees who are role modeling these values. He makes the connection by stating why he is praising them.

When I talked to him about the way he formulates his vision for the future, he said that he looks for what he is not addressing, such as underlined issues behind many of the problems they deal with or looking at the big picture to see how resources of the organization are allocated. He provided the example of educating and training corporates’ supervisors about Islam and Muslim culture to avoid problems ignited by ignorance. Sometimes these programs may not be exciting or interest many people. However, they are crucial in the long-term fight against Islamophobia. Another source of vision creation for Mr. Ali is finding some internal or external voices that echo and support an idea or project that he thought of. This helps him tests the environment around to see if the idea, concept, or initiative will be accepted before going forward on it. The way Mr. Ali connects his vision to his team and make them embrace it is through his tireless efforts to always explain his vision, communicating the reasons behind what he does, and showing employees what success looks like.

The source of his innovation comes from his belief in the concept "work smarter not harder". Innovative ideas come to him when he asks himself how I'm going to do this task easier next time? A second source of innovative ideas comes from reading a lot of books and articles that are relevant to his work. A third source of innovative ideas comes from being in touch with similar organizations and exchanging best practices with other executives. He always looks for tools that other organizations use that could be helpful for his work. One of the new ideas he was experimenting recently is the use of contractors instead of hiring employees for some tasks. He found it less costly, requires a minimum supervision, and have better outcome result.

Collaboration is crucial for the work of his organization. "As an advocacy organization we need to work with people and organizations in order to gain access and have power" said Mr. Ali. He added that "the nature of our work requires always either to create coalitions, join coalitions, or lead coalitions". Mobilizing coalition is not an easy task according to Mr. Ali. He found that narrowing focus and goals of coalitions is one of the best way to make it effective.

There are few ways that Mr. Ali found that are effective in strengthening the skills of his employees.

Providing learning and training to staff through multiple learning tools since each employee has a preferred learning approach.

Recognizing those that are engaging in training to encourage other employees to do the same.

We made it a habit to ask staff to share knowledge and experience during staff meeting.

We found it useful to send MN staff to RIAC national conference in order to learn from others who perform the same job in other states.

I asked him how do you recognize your team members’ contributions and accomplishments? He cited three ways; recognizing them publicly in major events such as annual dinner, incentive them financially after performance review, and sharing their success with their peers. He added that it is imperative to ensure recognizing individuals in front of their peers while connecting their success to the mission of the organization and indicating the impact of their success on their work. For example, when one of his employee successfully completed a training in donor management software and he started accomplishing tasks faster, he praised his participation in the training and connected the good result he started making to the training he participated in.