Tag Archives: leadership

Forgetting Perfection

Posted on November 11, 2010 by | Leave a comment

I wrote last month about how advocates need to get over what we don’t know, to jump into the fights where we, and what we know (partial though it is), are so needed.

I guess I’m on a “trust me, you’re good enough” kick, because one of the pieces of Soul of a Citizen that really spoke to me is this theme, that the only two things that differentiate those who are actively engaged in social change, from those who are not, is (1) how they see the world, as demanding their involvement and (2) how they see themselves, as integral, albeit small, parts of the solution.

In part, it relates to the concept of “good enough”, which comes from the parenting idea that caregivers should forget striving for perfection, because it really will make things worse, and should instead celebrate “good enough”, because that’s all kids really need to thrive, anyway.

And it’s also connected to the importance of understanding and accurately assessing activist leaders and social movements current and past, because unfairly and incorrectly viewing them as larger-than-life not only inappropriately reifies them, but, more importantly, it’s also a major deterrent to the activism of the rest of us, mere mortals though we are. (That’s a big part of the reason why I care what students today are and are not learning about our history, including the history of the fight for social justice.)

It’s not enough, then, to say, “we don’t all have to be (fill in the blank–Jane Addams, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day)”. The consolation we should instead be showering on each other goes more like, “who were they, anyway, but flawed human beings, just like us, who, nonetheless, did amazing things for justice, just like we can, too”. As an activist said in Soul of a Citizen, “it does us all a disservice when people who work for social change are presented as saints–so much more noble than the rest of us. We get a false sense that from the moment they were born they were called to act, never had doubts, were bathed in a circle of light” (p. 37). Shattering that myth reminds us that we stand just as good a chance as they did to change the world…maybe, given today’s technology and advances in human rights, even better.

And then, we start.

We start knowing that our skills are inadequate and our knowledge incomplete and, even, our commitment imperfect.

We stop trying to be martyrs, always focused on the cause, because we know that others are drawn to those struggles were people are having fun and living the kind of whole, full lives that they want for themselves, too.

We realize that standing up for our most sacred values isn’t about making ourselves into some, more noble person, but about becoming more fully human…more purely us.

We start treating ourselves a lot more like we treat our clients–as worthy, just as we are.

And, in so doing, we shed the last remaining excuse not to act.

And that’s…perfect.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Background Reading

Tagged , ,

Nonprofit Leadership: The Next Frontier

Posted on March 10, 2010 by | Leave a comment

photo credit: ButterflySun via Flickr

I’ve had this report, Ready to Lead, on my desktop for a few months, but I just got around to reading it. If you share my concerns about the future of our nonprofit sector, are headed to executive leadership in a nonprofit organization yourself, and/or have questions about the leadership in your area of practice, you should read the whole report (it includes a thorough overview of the sample and methodology, so I’m not reiterating that either). Here, I’m highlighting some of the findings that have the most relevance for social workers, and for the organizations in which we work. In particular, although the authors of the report didn’t include this at all, there are some public policy approaches (big surprise!) that I think could help to address some of the challenges and gaps indicated by respondents.

I’d love to know what you think, not just about this report but about the state of leadership in your nonprofit. If you are a young professional, what do you see as your career trajectory? What influences your professional decisionmaking about organizations and positions within them? What skills and experiences must good nonprofit leaders possess? If you want to lead a nonprofit organization, do you feel ‘ready’ to do so? If not, what help do you need? What would help your current leadership to succeed?

Most provocative findings, and my thoughts:

  • By 2016, the nonprofit sector will need ~80,000 new managers per year! They have to come from somewhere, and, as we think about the future of social work and social work education, we have to figure out if we’re committed to ‘growing’ these leaders ourselves, and to really carving out a niche in nonprofit leadership, or if we’re going to see those positions go increasingly to individuals from the corporate world and/or from planning or nonprofit administration programs. It matters, I believe, what value perspective the leaders of our organizations share, but we have to acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of social workers choose a more direct practice/clinical track, and that that may mean that social workers increasingly find themselves working for non-social workers.
  • These worker preferences, in fact, continue to influence career decision making well into an individual’s advancement. Fifty-five percent of the sample (most of whom are already working in nonprofits) say that their interests or skills don’t align with executive leadership in nonprofits. Fear of distancing themselves from the work and/or reducing their job satisfaction were some of the primary concerns.
  • There’s not as much ‘hiring from within’ as in the for-profit sector–only ~1/3 of current executive directors were hired from their own organization, and 55% of survey respondents believe that they need to leave their current organizations in order to advance.
  • Not surprisingly, these experiences are different for women and people of color than for white men. While more people of color and foreign-born nonprofit workers aspire to executive leadership, white men in the sample were more likely to be on a leadership track, more likely to have received executive coaching, and more likely to say that they are currently ‘ready’ to lead. Obviously, this has major implications for social work education, which also tends to attract a majority white student body. If we’re going to truly reflect our society, and best equip our organizations with talented, skilled, prepared individuals with a desire to lead our organizations into the future, we have to aggressively recruit, actively mentor, and intentionally place more bright leaders of color.
  • Only 17% of respondents have a degree or certificate in nonprofit management or administration. Importantly, of those who do, relatively few feel that it, specifically, has prepared them for nonprofit leadership. Again, as we think about the future of our profession, we need to continually evaluate the skills and competencies that we transmit through our degree programs, communicating with nonprofit organizations about those skills they most need.
  • We need to confront the financial realities; many of our most talented nonprofit employees may leave nonprofits, especially as the economy improves, so that they can earn more money. One of the recommendations was that foundations invest in multiyear funding and institutional capital to allow for more adequate compensation packages and to facilitate succession planning. But here’s where public policy can come into play, too. Several respondents mentioned student loan debt as a major concern–obviously, more state and federal aid directly to higher education, as well as more generous financial aid packages, could reverse the tide of rising student debt and free graduates to make career decisions without worrying about default. Likewise, young nonprofit workers are particularly concerned about retirement savings; ensuring Social Security’s long-term solvency as well as adequacy, and restoring a measure of progressivity to pension/retirement systems could take some of this pressure off young workers during their careers.
  • And we can’t ignore the role that nonprofit organizational culture itself plays in creating and perpetuating this problem. Several respondents mentioned the ‘dated power structures’ that inhibit mentoring; the poor work/life balance; and the increasing demands on executive directors to do more with less as disincentives to their own pursuit of executive leadership. Addressing these factors as part of organizational advocacy strategies could make work life better for all those in nonprofits, improve agency functioning for clients, and, in the long-run, make these institutions easier to run, thus attracting more candidates for the job!

    • → Leave a comment

    Posted in Analysis and Commentary

    Tagged , , ,

    On privilege and leadership: Que viva Kennedy

    Posted on August 27, 2009 by | Leave a comment

    So, I know that blogs and traditional media outlets have been inundated with coverage of Senator Ted Kennedy’s life, public service, and death. Certainly many who knew his work and life much better than I have provided ample tribute and considerable analysis.

    I just have two things to add.

    I remember a rally for immigrant rights on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol building, listening to him speak and then to the rather amazing (it still brings tears to my eyes) sound of thousands of immigrants, most of whom spoke English as their second language, shouting “Kennedy” in a dozen different accents. Most didn’t know much about his family, or his legacy, but they knew what they heard and what they sensed: that, here, was a public official who wasn’t talking about ‘touchbacks’ or ‘guest workers’. He was talking about ‘justice’ and ‘America’ and ‘rights.’ That’s my first reflection on his role; at least from my encounters with him and with his office, while he was quite a pragmatic politician, he also had an understanding of his power, his electoral invincibility, and the freedom and responsibility that they bestowed on them. It was the only speech I can remember during my campaigns with immigrants hearing a member of Congress speak (in English, at least) about immigrants the same way that immigrants speak about, and to, themselves. It was pretty uncensored, and, to a community deluged with negative attacks and half-hearted ‘help’, it was renewing, invigorating, and redeeming. It was like a gift that he knew he could give to us, one that we very much needed. He did it again, later, on a conference call during some of the ugly negotiations over legislation, negotiations in which he central. He reminded us of the horrible stories he heard during hours talking with survivors of the New Bedford, MA ICE raids, and reminded us that that’s why we were in this fight, and he pitched himself as our ally in that struggle. When he left the call, there was an audible exhale and some nervous laughter, letting off steam. We were restored to fight on. That, to me, is about understanding your power and privilege and using it for good. Unpacking it, so you can exploit it. And it’s inspiring.

    My other memory of Senator Kennedy was in a town hall-type event on immigration. He made a point of shaking the hands of several of the immigrant kids who were there with us, including one that had come with me. She asked me about him later–who he was and why he cared. In talking to her, I was struck about how much his life was not about the American Dream of ‘anyone can be a leader’ but a lot more about the idea that some have special responsibility to lead, and what it means to live that weight. And we talked about the scandal that had touched his life and career, about how he had almost thrown away his place in politics. And she was quite comfortable with the idea that, as she put it, we’re all human, and it’s what we do to make up for our mistakes that distinguishes us much more than making them in the first place. And I thought about that this week, when he is remembered much more for the good that he has done with his legislative career than for the tragedy of Chappaquiddick, even though that tragedy echoes still. If we hold that only those public figures without flaw are worthy of revere, then we’re, by extension, excusing from courageous service all of us who are flawed. We can’t afford to bench that many of our allies. We need accountability, we need transparency, we need honesty, but we also need space for redemption. In my memory, the student’s brow furrowed for a minute upon hearing the story, and then she returned her gaze to watching Senator Kennedy embrace immigrant families, nodding as she watched good decisions atone for the past.

    We obviously can’t all be Kennedys, but we can all leave our mark–using the power that we accummulate as a force for good, refusing to be sidelined by the mistakes we’ve made, living up to our destiny to lead even as we’re still creating it.

    → Leave a comment

    Posted in Analysis and Commentary

    Tagged , ,

    Student Advocacy Projects–Postpartum Resource Center

    Posted on May 26, 2009 by | 2 Comments

    For the SW846 class the past two years, I have worked with some of my former colleagues and organizational allies to identify a couple of potential student advocacy/organizing projects in advance of the spring semester. I present these as options to students through the Blackboard virtual classroom and in the second week of class, but I also encourage students to bring ideas from their own work or practicum sites to offer to their classmates as project options.

    This year, I had several student groups who identified and developed their own projects, and it was exciting to see how those played out, particularly as they complemented the students’ existing work in the field. It is also an important part of the learning process to present one’s ‘pitch’ for a project and attempt to recruit other students to that particular cause. In many ways, it’s a kind of organizing in itself–figuring out how to talk about what it is that you’re committed to in such a way that your colleagues will become committed to that same cause, and then finding roles for them to play in the effort that are meaningful to them and helpful to you.

    This project really exemplified that process; a student, Jen Stoll, raised her hand to suggest a project related to her work at the Postpartum Resource Center of Kansas. It was still in the early stages of development, and so Jen was a little vague as she talked it through, but her passion for women experiencing postpartum mood disorders, and their families, came through as always. Immediately, two students, neither of whom had ever done anything related to this population or issue, said that they wanted to work with her. She and I were both a little shocked, and she then faced the task of working with Hillary (Unrein) and Ashley (Marple) to define the project and carve out tasks within it.

    The crux of the project relates to birth trauma and how women who have been victims of abuse can be revictimized by standard procedures employed by medical professionals, particularly those that deny women control over their own birthing experiences. This is another social problem that I had really never thought about, and, at the end of the semester, I think the entire class was grateful to Jen, Hillary, and Ashley, for raising our consciousness. The project is very much ongoing, and it is truly multi-faceted, involving:

  • Advocating for Medicaid to reimburse for doula services, given that doulas’ presence at births is related to a more empowering experience for women
  • Development of a curriculum for providers to sensitize them to the problem of birth trauma
  • Organizing a core group of women to serve as consultants to the curriculum development process
  • Training women to become certified as doulas
  • Collaborating with organizations that serve survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to identify program participants
  • Developing a list of recommended providers with a demonstrated commitment to protecting women from revictimization

    And I’m probably leaving something out–it’s a pretty massive undertaking! They spent considerable time just navigating the Medicaid system to figure out the steps involved with pursuing approval of a new reimbursable expense, and that process is just getting started. It is key, though, to the fulfillment of PRC’s goal that services be available to women across the socioeconomic spectrum, and I think it sends a strong statement that they’re going to make that a priority. I expect they will also find, though, that while the Medicaid process is cumbersome, it is at least more publicly accountable than private insurance companies, whose own rules about covered services are often even more opaque.

    The community organizing and coalition-building pieces are moving slowly, as PRC tries to establish itself with new partners and new constituencies, but the students see the value in building these relationships, and it seems that they’re definitely moving in the right direction. One of the more significant pieces of learning to come from this project, I think, was Jen’s process in explaining her work and her passion to two newcomers, a process that she’ll have to repeat dozens of times as she seeks allies around the community. Both Hillary and Ashley served as a sounding board, often, for Jen, and helped her to refine messages, an ongoing struggle for an organization dealing with an often-hidden and stigmatized social problem.

    At the conclusion of the semester, students present their accomplishments, their process, and some reflection on their learning to their classmates. The presentation for this group was probably the most impactful and controversial in my history of teaching this class. The students sought to challenge all of our ideas about mothering and childbirth and family formation in order to illustrate some of the difficulties in confronting postpartum mood disorders and organizing this population. I consider myself fairly sensitized to these concerns, with a family history of PPD, but I still found myself pausing a bit as I considered the powerful stereotypes that I, as a mother in this society, have absorbed.

    In the presentation, Hillary said (I’m paraphrasing, hopefully closely!) that she was just struck by Jen’s passion for women and their babies and that, even though she didn’t really have any idea what Jen even meant by ‘birth trauma’, she just had to be close to that kind of passion, and she knew that she would learn a lot from organizing and advocating in that environment. That really struck me, because I can’t think of a better measure of leadership than convincing someone to join with you in your cause just because they want to be close to the power and energy that you bring to it.

    Is there anything that you would like to add to this, Jen and Hillary and Ashley? Given that this project involved one student who had real background in the issue and two that did not, what could I have done as an instructor to better facilitate the process for you? Have other students or instructors had similar experiences? Does anyone have advice for PRC in dealing with Medicaid?

    • → 2 Comments

    Posted in Inspiration and Examples

    Tagged , , ,