Tips on Having a Successful Leadership Experience

By Shirley Gentilini, MSW, LCSW

In August, 89 delegates voted to continue NASW Delegate Assembly structure in its current form and to meet in three years to assess if they want to continue this format. Seventy-three delegates voted to dissolve the Delegate Assembly structure in its current form and to assign its functions to committees and the NASW board of directors. The Delegate Assembly has 277 elected delegates through which NASW members set broad organizational policy, establish program priorities and develop a collective stance on public and professional issues.

The elected delegates approved revisions to the policies that were presented online and open for comments. These revised policies will be published in the next edition of Social Work Speaks (2015).

Delegates agreed to review policy revision statements every year rather than wait three years. This can be done on the Delegate Assembly website which is open to all NASW members offering the opportunity to provide input to the policies up for review. Ideally the policies will keep up with current statistics and needs of those we social workers serve.

The majority of delegates approved the program priority goals, in effect on July 1, 2015 until June 30, 2018. I encourage you to visit the Delegate website to familiarize yourself with Delegate Assembly and the new priority goals. Please also review the policies in 2015, which are up for revision.

This fall as newly elected leaders begin their journey, I would like to share some information that I came across. The article I gathered information from was titled Tips on Having a Successful Leadership Experience.

Social workers practice and work in a variety of fields. Those elected to office may be interested in membership, legislation, professional development; all have the NASW Code of Ethics as a guide.

Most of us don’t spend a lot of time analyzing why we are leaders or what skills make us leaders. More than likely the skills that make us good social workers are the same ones that make us effective leaders.

You may be the newly elected local unit chair, regional director, assistant regional director, or NPN chair. For some assuming a leadership role is not a challenge; for others it may be.

To get you off to a quick start, meet with your predecessor. Get information about the history of the region, unit and the usual procedure used. Find out which members have been active and helpful in the past. Schedule and hold a steering/executive committee meeting and discuss:

1. Budget and program planning.

2. When to schedule regional and unit meetings.

3. The plan for Social Month activities.

4. Social Worker of the Year nomination process.

5. Providing information to the California News.

The unit’s financial chair will need to contact Saul Kemble, NASW-CA’s accountant, and consult on what they need to do for reimbursements for expenses incurred.

You could have program committees that help coordinate activities with the region and local units. Committees that can be established include program planning, public relations, legislative and CalPACE.

As a guide for what issues matter to social workers in your local unit and region and to help you plan meetings and workshops, ask other social workers what their concerns are about the profession and/or other issues such as public social services, health care, managed care, homelessness, etc.

At the beginning of your monthly meeting, ask those social workers present to not only give their name and place of work, but also to say three things that concern them most about what is happening in the profession to their clients, such as health care reform, for example.

You can then use that information to plan programs that will give members the ideas and knowledge they are interested in.

Look for issues where you can mobilize the region’s/unit’s membership. Good issues are ones that you and others feel strongly about — issues that you can work toward and something that will, in turn, make the organization stronger and bring members together. Issues that bring members together are simple, affect many people, and have an achievable solution—people working together accomplish success.

As an NASW leader you can work toward recruiting members. Start with the people you know. Have a plan and know when and where to put your recruitment efforts into action. Give members an active role to help you recruit new members. You may want to appoint a membership coordinator to contact new members and welcome them and encourage them to become active.

Another suggestion is to call less active members and ask their opinion on different issues. You can encourage them to write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper or work with the program committee to organize/give a presentation about one of the issues they identify.

Having a public relations committee could be another asset for your leadership. A member can write an article for our newsletter California News about unit activities. Also, they can write letters to editors of your local newspaper and establish working relationships with media representatives, and from time to time supply them with information about the profession’s position on current issues.

Having a program committee can organize events that not only benefit NASW, but other unidentified groups such as homeless projects, battered women’s shelters, and others in your community. Another suggestion is to co-sponsor events with other social work groups such as the Clinical Society, The Association of Black Social Workers, The Latino Social Workers Network, etc. Another idea is to call or email unit members (especially those who don’t come to meetings) and ask them what topics they want the unit to have.

Another committee is your legislative committee where members follow new legislation related to their area of specialization and provide the chapter’s legislative committee’s input on the unit’s position on legislation. Also write letters to legislators and city or county officials about issues of concern.

Regarding CalPACE, you can coordinate efforts with the Chapter’s CalPACE committee to appoint individuals to serve as “key people” and maintain contact with your representative to the state assembly and senate. Identify and ask members to meet with local candidates who have been endorsed by the local or chapter’s CalPACE committee.

When planning your monthly meetings and other events, the most successful formula developed is to schedule your meetings on the same day every month. For example, your unit holds its monthly meeting on the second Tuesday of every month. Also try to hold your meetings at the same location and the same time.

Remember to talk to other members and nonmembers, friends, and colleagues about what issues concern them the most. One of the great things for social workers is that we have an immense pool of issues that concerns and affect the profession and our client.

Planning takes time and it is best to do it well in advance of the actual meeting date. One suggestion is to hold your executive committee meeting during the summer, after the end of the program year and before the next gets into full swing. Develop a calendar with the dates of your meetings and identify program topics for each one. Committee members take responsibility for contacting potential presenters. It is very important to have a timeline for everyone’s assignment completed.

With all your hard work the meeting should be successful. At times the number who attend will be small. Instead of being concerned about how few members attend meetings, focus on the value of the content of your meetings and that you have succeeded by making the effort to recruit another social worker by planning an informative and interesting program.

Today we have more tools to help us in our leadership role: access to a qualified staff in Sacramento, computer outreach, email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Most important of all is reaching out and communicating with other social workers who have walked in your shoes as a new leader. May you have a successful year as a new leader.