The Social Change Model of Leadership Development was created as a guide for what knowledge, skills and values students needed to learn in order to be an effective leader in social change. It contains the "7 Cs" of social change leadership and has shaped undergraduate leadership curricula around the country. The 7 areas are split into three categories: Individual values, group values and community values.
INDIVIDUAL VALUES Consciousness of Self This means being aware of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions that motivate one to take action. Your leadership is heavily based on the individual values that you have. If gender equality is extremely important to you, it is likely that as the head of your company, you will implement policies that ensure that employees are treated and compensated fairly- regardless of their gender. It is important to be aware of your values to understand the way that you were leading. I spent 2 years on Relay Committee and experienced 2 very different leadership styles that were clearly based on the values of the leaders. The first year on Fundraising Committee, there was immense pressure on us form our execs to exceed the fundraising goals set for us. They had one thing on their mind- money. They valued Virginia Tech Relay raising a lot of money because they were passionate about that money going to help cancer patients and that was clearly communicated to us. My second year on Equity and Inclusions Committee, my exec's values were clearly very different. It was clear she valued the closeness of our committee just as much or more than the outright successfulness of this. Being aware of how your own values effect your leadership and your goals and how that may differ from others is important. Something that happens in your personal life has the possibility to greatly impact your leadership style and your relationship with your community. As i move forward, I will make sure that I am aware of not only my values, but also my current emotional state and point of view. This is vital to continuing to grow in leadership bev
Congruence It is important that we are consistent with our beliefs and actions. If we are consistent with our beliefs and actions leads to perceived trustworthiness. I most recently experienced this in a conflict within my sorority. Last week we initiated our newest members, and during this time it is important that all the current members are their best behavior and setting a good example for the newest members. During our chapter meeting, our current president had made a joke about how it fell around Halloween and that she was sure it would make it more difficult for all of us to be on our best behavior. She also mentioned that as long as she didn't see any inappropriate behavior, they would not be getting anyone in trouble. A few days later, my roommates and I had dressed up for Halloween and I had posted a picture of our group costume on Instagram. The following day, the entire chapter received a scathing email from the President about posting pictures of our costumes on social media during initiation time. My roommates and I were shocked, not only because of her incredible harsh language, but also because of her cavalier attitude just a few days earlier. This was a serious issue to our President, but when she joked about it at our meeting, we did not think it would be. If our President had initially acted in congruence with her personal feelings about the issue, instead of trying to make a joke, we would have understood how much value she placed on us setting a god example for the new members, and that this included posting pictures of a costume on social media. It is important to always stay true to your values, and express them clearly to those around you. Confusion about your values and your expectations will only create conflict to those who acted based on the values they perceived from you. This is important is important because your values guide your leadership, and its important not to stray from those in an effort to be viewed more favorable- by say making a joke at a meeting.
Commitment Commitment to the group and the group's goal is vital. If you are committed to a goal, you will be motivated to contribute to the group's effort to achieve that goal. Additionally, it is significantly easier to lead a group of people who are motivated to achieve the same goal, and it can be used as a uniting factor. This is most often seen in groups who are the most passionate, most committed, to their cause are the ones who are most often able to cause a change. Apathy is a major problem in today's society and the lack of commitment to issues are the reason that many things have yet to change in today's society.
GROUP VALUES Collaboration Working together is vital for leadership because it capitalizes on the strengths of the entire group as well as empowers individuals. Leadership requires being in charge of a group, but also working with that group to be an effective leader. I saw this during my time on the SGA Equity and Inclusion Committee. The head of my committee was technically our leader, however he lead in a very non collaborative and therefore noneffective style. He attempted to lead in his own way, without really taking the input from the people that he was leading. This experience has shown me first hand that a leader must collaborate with others to be effective. They must work with the people that they are leading to ensure that they are doing what is best for them and that all their needs are being met. When in a leadership position, I will make sure that I am working with and listening to others to ensure that I am making the most effective decisions. Most recently, I applied this when applying to get a service dog. When I brought up the idea to my roommates, they all seemed excited to told me to go ahead and take the initiative to apply. However, I made sure to talk to with each of my roommates individually to explain the responsibilities and see their personal feelings about raising a puppy before I went ahead and applied for one.
Common Purpose Having a common purpose promotes collaboration and helps groups work more effectively. This can be seen in the current presidential election. The Democratic Primary was a fierce competition between Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton. Although Sanders eventually conceded and Clinton became the Presidential nominee of the party, many Sanders supporters, and even Sanders himself, were unhappy with the result. Despite those feelings, many of them have united with Clinton supporters and have pledged their support to Clinton. Despite the differences between the two candidates and their supporters, Sanders has his supporters have joined Clinton in an effort to defeat the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. The desire of Sanders and many of his supporters to defeat Trump has caused them to ally with Clinton, even though they seemed so against it. Common purposes are a strong tool for uniting groups and finding a common purpose between two seemingly very different groups can foster collaboration. Most communities are not homogenous- they are diverse and made up of people with all types of interests and concerns. As a leader, it will be my job to unite even the most diverse and seemingly different communities, which can perhaps best be done with a common interest.
Controversy with Civility Conflict is bound to happen in a community, but it is important to be able to handle that conflict as a leader and make your grievances known. As a college student, I have seen this manifest more often than not in group projects. Earlier this semester, I had to complete a group research paper for my Race, Ethnicity and Gender class. Initially my group consisted of just me and my close friend, but we decided to combine with a group who had a similar topic to lighten the work load. Although our topics were similar, we had very different ideas about how to complete the assignment. Our other group members wanted to meet often to discuss our progress, but my friend had a hectic schedule at the time and preferred to just email each other. I should have realized that combining with a larger group I was not familiar with would come with the potential for larger conflict. Instead of telling the other students that we had a busy schedule, we reluctantly showed up to meetings and were less than helpful or canceled last minute because we had work we needed to finish. Although we were not the most helpful at these meetings, we still did our fair share of the work and we all ended up with good grades on the assignment. However, I could still tell that our other groups members were not thrilled with how we had acted during the project and that they probably would not have wanted to work together again. If my friend and I had been upfront at the beginning and explained that we had a busy week, but still offered ideas and support, the project could have gone a lot more smoothly. The other group members would have seen that we were just stressed, and not that we were purposefully trying not to participate just because we did't want to. If you don't explain your side of the conflict, the other side will likely make assumptions about your actions and the conflict will be rendered unsolvable. Although conflict is not the most comfortable thing in the world, it is a necessary part of working with others. Moving forward, it will be important to keep in mind that the best w
COMMUNITY VALUES Citizenship Being a good citizen is working to better the people and the community around you. This concept has been extremely apparent in my education through out college, although not advertently or purposefully. When learning about dictators, genocides, policy failures and corrupt leaders, it was clear that although these individuals considered themselves the sole leader or most senior leader of their country, they were not at all leading. When learning about American-led interventions in other countries and the leadership breakdowns that occurred leading to deaths of innocent people and the fall of nations, it was clear that there needed to be more to leadership. In order to be effective leaders and enact real change, the effect on all communities needs to be considered- not only the one you represent, but also the ones that you will be effecting. Communities will inevitably interact, and only acting in the self interest of yourself or your won community is not a sustainable or ethical way to lead.