Social Change Leadership Practices
Leaders of social change organizations (SCOs) see abundant possibility in environments where people operate on the margins of power structures. Research from several Wagner leadership programs and initiatives shows SCOs to be driven by dissatisfaction with systemic inequity and guided by values like inclusion, solidarity, democracy and transparency. SCOs work with resourceful and purposeful action, propelled to enact their visions of a more just world.
A major contribution of Wagner's research to the leadership field has been illuminating three sets of leadership practices:
- reframing discourse,
- bridging difference, and
- unleashing human energies.
These practices are used by community-based nonprofits to build leadership capital and create social change. While often overlooked in leadership studies, social change nonprofits represent a rich and essential resource for civil society in serving as bellwethers for the field and reforming broken systems and structures. These efforts, toward the common good, reflect the human spirit at its best and their leadership is essential for a strong democracy.
Reframing Discourse
Leadership practices that reframe discourse challenge the existing cognitive models that are reinforcing the problems that social change organizations are looking to address. These organizations look to effect changes in perceptions or understandings of issues or constituencies by shaping identities and recasting issues for the greater public.
- Erica Gabrielle Foldy, Laurie Goldman and Sonia Ospina. The Leadership Task of Prompting Cognitive Shifts: Shaping Perceptions of Issues and Constituencies to Achieve Public Service Goals. A practical five-page guide for nonprofit leaders. 2009.
- Dodge, J. 2009. Environmental justice and deliberative democracy: How social change organizations respond to power in the deliberative system. Policy and Society 28, (3): 225-39.
- Foldy, E. G., L. Goldman, and S. Ospina. 2008. Sensegiving and the role of cognitive shifts in the work of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly 19, : 514-29.
Bridging Difference
Leadership practices that bridge difference involve connecting different worlds and worldviews to open new avenues for alliance building and collaboration. Bridging may involve coordinating the efforts and resources of communities facing similar challenges or combining sources of capital that offer a strategic edge in addressing the issue at hand.
- Ospina, S., and E. G. Foldy. 2010. Building bridges from the margins: The work of leadership in social change organizations. The Leadership Quarterly 21, (2): 292-307.
- Ospina, S. and A. Saz-Carranza. 2010. Leadership and collaboration in coalition work. In Leadership in social care., ed. Z. van Zwanenberg, 103-128. London: Jessica Kingsley, Publishers.
- Ospina, S., and C. Su. 2009. Weaving color lines: Race, ethnicity, and the work of leadership in social change organizations. Leadership 5, (2): 131-70.
- Stephen, Lynn, Jan Lanier, Ramon Ramírez, and Marcy Westerling. 2006. Building alliances: Collaboration between CAUSA and the Rural Organizing Project (ROP) in Oregon. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Available in Spanish: Stephen, Lynn, Jan Lanier, Ramon Ramírez, and Marcy Westerling. 2007. Formación de alianzas: Colaboración entre CAUSA y Rural Organizing Project (ROP) en Oregon. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Hufford, Mary T., and Rosina S. Miller. 2006. Piecing together the fragments: An ethnography of leadership for social change in North Central Philadelphia 2004-2005. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Available in Spanish: Hufford, Mary T., and Rosina S. Miller. 2007. Uniendolos fragmentos: Liderazgo para el Cambio Social en el Areanorcentral de Filadelfia, 2004–2005. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- J. Dodge, and R. Sparrow. Making partnership a habit: Margie McHugh and the New York Immigration Coalition. New York, NY: Synergos Bridging Leadership Resource Center, 2004.
Unleashing Human Energies
Leadership practices that unleash human energies create conditions that allow members of groups to recover their humanity, while recognizing the power to direct their lives and strengthening their capacity to do so, in the process.
Unleashing entails unlocking and developing human potential at the service of individual, organizational and inter-organizational capacity. Those involved already come with an expertise derived from encountering the targeted problem in their everyday lives. This knowledge can be strengthened and used to fill these gaps within this mastery.
- Learn and Let Learn: Supporting Learning Communities for Innovation and Impact
- RCLA and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Guide; November 2012
- El Hadidy, Waad, Sonia Ospina, and Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla. 2011. Popular education. In Political and civic leadership, ed. R. Couto. Number 96, Vol. II. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
- Theodore, N. 2009. When workers take the lead: Leadership development at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Available in Spanish: Theodore, Nik. 2009. Cuando los trabajadores asumen el liderazgo: Desarrollo del Liderazgo en la Red Nacional de Jornaleros (NDLON). New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Blackwell, Maylei. 2007. Líderes campesinas: Grassroots gendered leadership, community organizing, and pedagogies of empowerment. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Hall, Kathleen. 2006. Until all of us are home: The process of leadership at project H.O.M.E. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Available in Spanish: Hall, Kathleen. 2007. Hasta que todos tengamos techo: El proceso de liderazgo en el proyecto H.O.M.E. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Aprill, Arnold, Elise Holliday, Fahari Jeffers, Nobuku Miyamoto, Abby Scher, Diana Spatz, Richard Townsell, Lily Yeh, and Lyle Yorks. 2006. Can the arts change the world? The transformative power of the arts in fostering and sustaining social change: A Leadership for a Changing World Cooperative Inquiry. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Aprill, Arnold, Elise Holliday, Fahari Jeffers, Nobuku Miyamoto, Abby Scher, Diana Spatz, Richard Townsell, Lily Yeh, and Lyle Yorks. 2006. Puede el arte cambiar el mundo?. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- O'Neal, Bertha, John O'Neal, Amparo Hofmann-Pinilla, Sanjiv Rao, and Theresa Holden. 2006. Storytelling in the name of justice: Junebug Productions, Inc. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Weinberg, L. 2005. Leadership development for community action: An ethnographic inquiry. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Alcántara, Lucia, Larry Ferlazzo, Reverend Tyrone Hicks, Victoria Kovari, Craig McGarvey, Mary Ochs, and Lyle Yorks. 2005. Don’t just do something, sit there: Helping others become more strategic, conceptual, and creative. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Altvater, D., B. Godsoe, L. James, B. Miller, S. Ospina, T. Samuels, C. Shaylor, L. Simon, and M. Valdez. 2004. A dance that creates equals: Unpacking leadership development. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Altvater, D., B. Godsoe, L. James, B. Miller, S. Ospina, T. Samuels, C. Shaylor, L. Simon, and M. Valdez. 2004. Una danza que crea iguales. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.
- Walters, Jonathan, Gail Aska, Paul Getsos, LaDon James, Joan Minieri, Dianne Reese, Tyletha Samuels, and Jennifer Dodge. 2002. I got the tools to fight for myself: Community Voices Heard. New York, NY: Research Center for Leadership in Action.