I've been thinking a lot about leadership transitions lately. My own leadership role as President of NASWNC is coming to an end, our state Division of Mental Health is going through major leadership changes, nationally there will be a new leader on the Supreme Court--it's everywhere.
So what does a good leader do in transition? Three things come to mind for me.
The first, and most obvious, is sharing information--policies, facts, forms, event histories, budgets, personnel evaluations--all of that concrete stuff.
Second, and more subtle, is conveying culture; helping the new leader understand the tenor of the environment, the emotional subtext, the norms and expectations.
Finally, is the hand-off, stepping back and fading a bit so the new leader can step in and create her own space. A long time ago a clinical supervisor taught me a trick when working with couples. If one person in the couple only looks at and talks to you, if you repeatedly look at the non-speaking person, the person speaking will begin to do so too...and that way you shift their attention from you to their partner. Similarly, a transitioning leader helps the group/organization/coalition look to the new leader by shifting their attention. Getting out of the way gracefully, without abandoning the new person or organization and without overstaying, is a leadership skill.
So here's to transitions in leadership, and exciting new times ahead. Good luck to all the new leaders out there!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
I'm posting a paper that I think is a wonderful example of leadership and of parallel process. Two students in our MSW program, Rebecca Graves and Leah Oster-Katz, wrote a paper on the history of the Crest Street Community in Durham, NC and its decades-long struggle to stop a highway from being built through the community. The story is one of social capital, community activism, and local leadership coming together to prevent the destruction of a neighborhood that is predominantly African American and of historical importance.
The parallel process is that the two students demonstrated amazing leadership in developing this project independently--jointly creating something based in their vision of what is important in social work macro practice.
It's an excellent piece, and you can find it at the link below.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8u_BhOhkWLANTQ4ZWU4ZTUtNjNjNi00ZjY5LWJmNzktZTQxNzc4Yjg2NjM2&hl=en
The parallel process is that the two students demonstrated amazing leadership in developing this project independently--jointly creating something based in their vision of what is important in social work macro practice.
It's an excellent piece, and you can find it at the link below.
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8u_BhOhkWLANTQ4ZWU4ZTUtNjNjNi00ZjY5LWJmNzktZTQxNzc4Yjg2NjM2&hl=en
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Arizona Immigration Law
Arizona just passed a new, sweeping immigration law. The law requires state and local police to determine the status of people if there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are undocumented immigrants and to arrest people who are unable to provide documentation proving they are in the country legally.
As social work leaders, we are ethically mandated to consider the potential civil and human rights violations of laws such as this. What does it mean when we give police the power to stop anyone they wish to consider as possibly an undocumented person? Does this mean all citizens of Arizon must now carry their birth certificate with them at all times? As a Latina and a U.S. citizen, does this mean if I visit Arizona I must carry my birth certificate or risk arrest?
For me personally there is a sense of the totally unreal about this...Remember those old WWII movies? The bad guys would stop innocents on the streets, snarling "Show me your papers" and we could feel smug and secure know that this would never happen to us in the U.S. Well, not any more.
As social work leaders, we are ethically mandated to consider these things, and to challenge social injustice. We are mandated to act.
As social work leaders, we are ethically mandated to consider the potential civil and human rights violations of laws such as this. What does it mean when we give police the power to stop anyone they wish to consider as possibly an undocumented person? Does this mean all citizens of Arizon must now carry their birth certificate with them at all times? As a Latina and a U.S. citizen, does this mean if I visit Arizona I must carry my birth certificate or risk arrest?
For me personally there is a sense of the totally unreal about this...Remember those old WWII movies? The bad guys would stop innocents on the streets, snarling "Show me your papers" and we could feel smug and secure know that this would never happen to us in the U.S. Well, not any more.
As social work leaders, we are ethically mandated to consider these things, and to challenge social injustice. We are mandated to act.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Today, the nation lost one of the foremost leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and the social work profession. Dr. Dorothy I. Height was a renowned civil rights leader and a vital force in the struggle for human rights and equality in the United States for more than half a century.
Her tireless efforts on behalf of others exemplified the social work commitment to social justice and advocacy. In 2009, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act was introduced into the 111th Congress by U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD) and U.S. Representative Edolphus Towns (NY). The bill seeks to create a national commission that studies the impact of social work interventions, and to fund social work training and research grants.
(Information courtesy of NASW)
For more information you can go to
https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/2010/042010Height.asp
Her tireless efforts on behalf of others exemplified the social work commitment to social justice and advocacy. In 2009, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act was introduced into the 111th Congress by U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski (MD) and U.S. Representative Edolphus Towns (NY). The bill seeks to create a national commission that studies the impact of social work interventions, and to fund social work training and research grants.
(Information courtesy of NASW)
For more information you can go to
https://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/2010/042010Height.asp
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Advocacy and Social Work
As social workers we talk about advocacy a lot. We advocate for our clients, making sure they can access services they need and are entitled to, that their rights are respected, and the like.
But larger-scale advocacy at more political levels, and advocacy for ourselves as a profession—for some reason that seems harder to do sometimes. Things like lobbying the General Assembly or writing op-eds can be intimidating at first. So how do we do the positive self-talk needed to push ourselves to advocate...why should we as social workers advocate at political and public levels?
As I think about this I am reminded of an old TV commercial for Quaker Oats where a wizened Wilford Brimley told us that we should eat oatmeal because “it’s the right thing to do.” It was true, but I never found that a very compelling reason to consume bland breakfast cereal. Similarly, I think sometimes the only reason we are given for why we should engage in advocacy is because “it’s the right thing to do.” Our Code of Ethics says we should promote social justice (e.g. through advocacy), our chapter Director of Advocacy and Legislation tells us we ought to, emails from NASW national office tell us we ought to.
All of these are true and good reasons—advocacy is the right thing to do. But I’d ask you to think about it differently. Advocacy is also important for each of us to do because it is a form of self-care. Let me explain a little. One of the hardest things about social work practice (at least for me) is feeling helpless as I watch clients struggle with an illogical and unfair system. That feeling of helplessness is stressful—it can make us sick. Advocacy to change the illogical and unfair systems is a way to fight the helpless feeling, to know we can make change and not have to feel stressed and powerless.
Advocacy is also the only way that we will improve our own working conditions as social workers. When we advocate for fair systems that provide good services with quality providers we are advocating for healthy places where we can offer services, places that are safe, that provide a respectful service context (for clients and for providers), that ensure that provider turnover is low. Fair systems benefit social workers and clients alike, so when we advocate for these we advocate for ourselves.
Finally, advocacy is a way to claim our voice and thus our power as professionals. When we advocate we demand attention, we say “we are here and we have valuable things to say”, we own our power. Advocacy is a way for each of us to do this, to become more empowered as individual social workers. It is also a way for us to do this as a profession.
So, I’d invite you to think about all of this, to talk with your colleagues and join in advocacy efforts. Do this because it is ethical, because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s a way to take care of ourselves, of each other, and other the profession to which we’re dedicated.
(Taken from an NASW NC newsletter article I wrote)
But larger-scale advocacy at more political levels, and advocacy for ourselves as a profession—for some reason that seems harder to do sometimes. Things like lobbying the General Assembly or writing op-eds can be intimidating at first. So how do we do the positive self-talk needed to push ourselves to advocate...why should we as social workers advocate at political and public levels?
As I think about this I am reminded of an old TV commercial for Quaker Oats where a wizened Wilford Brimley told us that we should eat oatmeal because “it’s the right thing to do.” It was true, but I never found that a very compelling reason to consume bland breakfast cereal. Similarly, I think sometimes the only reason we are given for why we should engage in advocacy is because “it’s the right thing to do.” Our Code of Ethics says we should promote social justice (e.g. through advocacy), our chapter Director of Advocacy and Legislation tells us we ought to, emails from NASW national office tell us we ought to.
All of these are true and good reasons—advocacy is the right thing to do. But I’d ask you to think about it differently. Advocacy is also important for each of us to do because it is a form of self-care. Let me explain a little. One of the hardest things about social work practice (at least for me) is feeling helpless as I watch clients struggle with an illogical and unfair system. That feeling of helplessness is stressful—it can make us sick. Advocacy to change the illogical and unfair systems is a way to fight the helpless feeling, to know we can make change and not have to feel stressed and powerless.
Advocacy is also the only way that we will improve our own working conditions as social workers. When we advocate for fair systems that provide good services with quality providers we are advocating for healthy places where we can offer services, places that are safe, that provide a respectful service context (for clients and for providers), that ensure that provider turnover is low. Fair systems benefit social workers and clients alike, so when we advocate for these we advocate for ourselves.
Finally, advocacy is a way to claim our voice and thus our power as professionals. When we advocate we demand attention, we say “we are here and we have valuable things to say”, we own our power. Advocacy is a way for each of us to do this, to become more empowered as individual social workers. It is also a way for us to do this as a profession.
So, I’d invite you to think about all of this, to talk with your colleagues and join in advocacy efforts. Do this because it is ethical, because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s a way to take care of ourselves, of each other, and other the profession to which we’re dedicated.
(Taken from an NASW NC newsletter article I wrote)
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
international social work and leadership
Given the recent disasters in Haiti and Chile, I've been thinking a lot about international social work, and how a social worker can travel to another country during a time of crisis and be truly helpful. Not paternalistic, or colonial, or oppressive, but helpful. International social work, and leadership in international social work efforts, requires above all the ability to listen and to be humble.
Dr. Gina Chowa recently gave a great talk on this topic at the UNC SSW. You might want to take a look--it's at http://ssw.unc.edu/students/leadership/multimedia
Dr. Gina Chowa recently gave a great talk on this topic at the UNC SSW. You might want to take a look--it's at http://ssw.unc.edu/students/leadership/multimedia
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
DSM and Social Work leadership
The proposed new version of the DSM was unveiled recently, to the great consternation of many. Some see this as a way to more accurately diagnose people who suffer from disorders and get them the scientifically-based treatment they deserve. Others worry that the new diagnostic categories cast too wide a net and may pathologize some atypical but healthy behaviors. For a story on this, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/10/AR2010021000009.html
Once materials are posted on the APA web, there will be a public comment period until April 20. This is a perfect opportunity to engage in some social work leadership. Read the materials, post comment, and make your (and social work's) voice heard on this important issue.
Once materials are posted on the APA web, there will be a public comment period until April 20. This is a perfect opportunity to engage in some social work leadership. Read the materials, post comment, and make your (and social work's) voice heard on this important issue.
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