In seeking to make sense of Lia’s Generativity Four and the allure of civic engagement in the lives of other people, we first identify the primarily sources of satisfaction in civic engagement, then investigate the underlying motivations. Because the principal sources seem to be “frosting on the cake,” they may at times be surprising for generative leaders like Lisa. The motivations, on the other hand, are there from the start. They are what gets Generative Four leaders going in the first place. This is an important insight for professional coaches to take into their sessions with a client beginning to start or expand their engagement in community services.
It is not surprising that Sage leaders of all ages continue to work in their favored civic organizations, because they derive great personal satisfaction and meaning from these Generativity Four experiences. Both Emerging and Senior Sage leaders deliver the message that what they especially enjoy about their civic involvements is work with other people. For them, Generativity Four civic engagement is not only about seeking the betterment of their community; it’s about collaborating with others to bring this result about—to engage collectively the “bigger picture.” In sum, most satisfaction comes from bringing together an engaged group of people to mobilize and achieve a shared civic goal.
Emerging Sage Leaders
The sources of generative meaning and satisfaction for Emerging Sages include achieving organizational success, aiding others, helping the community to improve, the intense feelings that can arise from collaboration and consensus-building, and personal and professional growth.
Achievement: The primary Generativity Four satisfaction found among the Emerging Sages we interviewed comes from participating in activities that lead to the achievement of important organizational goals. Specific examples include: opening a new high school on the assumption that there is more than one way to go about education, leading school culture away from intimidation and bullying to a place where everyone can be heard and respected, turning around an organization’s reputation, knowing that a government agency is making a huge difference, finding a committed group of people who really want to change the school food program, mentoring an executive director, learning that systems integration can work, and a surprise discovery that teamwork can reduce school layoffs while sustaining governmental services in the face of budget cuts:
“What is most meaningful and satisfying is that our efforts have led to an ability to sustain most core Health & Human Services programs. When one branch is operating in the red due to the vagaries of funding, another branch helps out until solutions are found. There is a pendulum of funding in hard times. By pulling together and thinking creatively, we are able to sustain more than we ever could by retreating to our individual silos.”
Assistance: Emerging Sage leaders also derive great satisfaction in learning they have assisted others and made a difference in their lives. This is where Generativity Four meets Generativity Two. Examples include projects for youth and the elderly, helping kids who have a terrible home experience, developing work programs for families on public assistance, seeing what a difference mentoring makes in a child’s life, and finding loving homes for abandoned dogs. And there are also the intimate encounters in helping others:
“I get to see everything I am working toward in the faces of children every day. I feel confident I can walk into any classroom at any time and will see something amazing taking place. It is incredibly rewarding. And occasionally they make me brownies.”
Improvement: Seeing the results of community improvement is especially meaningful to many Emerging Sages. This ranges from the “greater good” that a Hospital Foundation does to the incredible impact of 15,000 people coming from across the country to the Nevada City Film Festival. Sustained satisfaction is derived from creativity and passion in making their “island” community a better place in which to live:
