and, in turn, those leaders help increase membership involvement. Existing leaders and

organizers have the responsibility for expanding the leadership core and motivating,

teaching, and supporting the new people who emerge" (Staples, 1984, p. 129). An

organization's choice not to innovate or change with the times is the largest reason for its

decline. Organizational performance is measured by its development of its people, its

standing, innovation, and its productivity. Changes in population structure and

population dynamics are important trends to watch in the future of organizations, as these

trends will be the cause of an organization to evolve. The populations that comprise the

memberships of organizations are changing and no longer remain as constant as they

once did (Drucker, 2001).

 A successful nonprofit organization focuses the organization on action by

defining the strategies needed to accomplish the important goals of the organization. The

most effective nonprofits devote much time on defining the mission of the organization.

They focus objectives that have clear implications for the work of their members, both

their staff and their volunteers (Drucker, 2001).

 Northouse (1997) defines leadership as, "a process whereby an individual

influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal" (p. 3). At the core of

leadership are the ideas that leadership is a process, it involves influence, it occurs within

a group and it involves the attainment of a goal by the group (Northouse, 1997).

An important impediment to achieving leadership effectiveness is a lack of leadership

skill. Skill is needed because the role of the leader is both complex and simple. Simple,

because effectively functioning groups have a natural synergy that gives them momentum

and complex because the relationships with group members are dynamic and constantly