Principles 12 страница

Leadership Development

One part of making the transition from child to adult is learning about leadership. Who are leaders? What is leadership? Could I be a leader? Unfortunately, most adolescents answer this last question, ‘‘No, I am not a leader. ’’

—Linden and Fertman, Youth Leadership (1998)

The quotation by Linden and Fertman (1998) above is quite provocative and of extreme importance to the field of youth-led community organizing, particularly when youth cannot perceive themselves as leaders in this so-ciety. This sad state of affairs speaks volumes about how undervalued youth feel and the amount of work that must be undertaken—opportunities as well as support—to rectify this situation. What are the qualities that are essential to make a good leader in this society? The answer to this question goes to the heart of what makes a good youth community organizer and helps to shape how youth-led community organizing must be conceptual-ized and carried out in the United States.

There is extensive literature on the qualities essential for productive leadership, the best models and modes for leading most effectively, and the processes by which new leaders are identified, recruited, and developed. Much of this literature is adult-centered (MacNeil 2006); indeed, many leadership principles, functions, roles, tasks, and skills can be generalized across dimensions of age, race, gender, and class. Nevertheless, the youth development and youth-led approaches have placed a unique emphasis on employing methods that increase the leadership capacities, critical con-sciousness, and skills of young people. Consequently, a growing body of knowledge specifically related to youth leadership has begun to emerge

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over the past two decades (Klau, Boyd, and Luckow 2006a; MacGregor 2005; Smith, Genry, and Ketring 2005). Insight (Turning the Leadership 2003, 2) notes that:

Youth leadership. . . is fundamental to youth and community develop-ment, especially for low-income youth. . . . Equally important, communi-ties need to look to youth leadership strategies to ensure that institutions, policies, and practices are responsive to the needs of young people and their families, and that the principles of democracy are honored and up-held.

The youth-led movement in general has recognized the importance of youth leadership development. However, this field has viewed youth leadership through a broad lens, as this chapter highlights.

Certainly, no book about youth organizing can afford to ignore leader-ship development, and this chapter examines this phenomenon and the particular challenges or tensions inherent in carrying out a social-change agenda while concurrently developing new leadership that can sustain fu-ture campaigns as existing leaders age out. A focus on youth leadership development brings youth into a context that serves multiple goals, such as improvement in relationships with peers and adults and engagement in the life of an organization and community (Edelman et al. 2004; Ferber, Pittman, and Marshall 2002; Wheeler 2003).

Leadership development, in essence, is the anchor to hold the attention of youth, thereby enhancing their assets, providing growth experiences, and facilitating identity development. Youth-led community organizing, in turn, brings the critical dimension of shaping the interventions, particularly those involving marginalized youth in this society who have few opportunities to exercise leadership outside of gang membership. Klau, Boyd, and Luckow (2006b) raise important questions about youth leadership that pertain to youth-led community organizing: What exactly is youth leadership? Is it different from adult leadership? How does it differ from productive youth development? Can it be taught? If so, what are the best and worst practices? These and other questions will be addressed in this chapter.

Leadership

It is certainly appropriate to start this chapter with a definition of what a leader is. Using the term leadership evokes a wide range of responses, and this result can present a challenge in better understanding its meaning and key elements (Libby, Sedonaen, and Bliss 2006). The context in which leadership is exercised also determines how the word is defined. For ex-ample, Libby, Sedonaen, and Bliss (2006) make a conceptual distinction between internal and external youth leadership that is predicated on con-

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textual forces shaping the definition and determining its actions. Internal leadership describes youth leadership within formal institutions, generally those institutions entrusted to serve youth; external leadership describes youth leadership outside of these youth organizations and in the commu-nity instead. The authors argue that both internal and external youth leadership must be fostered and supported.

There has been no conclusive empirical evidence to show that particular innate personal qualities and characteristics are associated with leadership (Stogdill 1974), and the trait approach for explaining leadership has not been viable for several decades. Theories that leadership behavior is a re-sponse to different situational variables and external stimuli also have been discounted for many years (Heifetz 1994). Today, leadership is conceptu-alized as a reciprocal relationship that exists between those who lead and those who follow (Rost 1991; Heifetz and Linsky 2002).

Research on reciprocal leader–follower relations has been conducted according to two distinct theoretical schools of thought. The transactional model (Hollander 1978) views relations between leaders and followers through the lens of exchange theory, with leaders exercising power via their ability to provide rewards or mete out punishment. On the other hand, the transformational model is based on inspiration, emotional appeals, and the leader’s ability to communicate a compelling vision (Sashkin 1988; Berson et al. 2001; Haslam and Platow 2001).

Reciprocal relations vary depending on whether leaders hold formal positions and carry out official duties or they simply emerge, based on trust and respect developed with other group members (Gibb 1969). The social power earned by leaders may include social and political support, knowl-edge, reputation, legitimate power, and the power of personality (Tropman 1997; Zachary 2000). Leaders also differ as to the degree that they focus on accomplishing tasks or concern themselves with intra-group processes and the feelings of members (Bales 1970). While both instrumental and socioeconomic orientations are essential for successful group operations, few leaders are equally attentive or adept in both areas, presenting a bal-ancing challenge for most community-based organizations (Hanson 1972; Burghardt 1979, 1982; Hardcastle, Wenocur, and Powers 1997; Johnson and Johnson 2003; Ephross and Vassil 2005).

The literature on community organizing identifies a variety of functions, roles, and tasks that grassroots leaders are likely to execute, including re-cruitment, facilitating meetings, problem solving, decision making, action research, strategic planning, direct-action tactics, public speaking, negotia-tion, internal conflict resolution, team building, media relations, lobbying, advocacy, administration, management, and outcome evaluation (Boehm and Staples 2005; Staples 2004b; R. Sen 2003; Bobo et al. 2001; Kahn 1994). Community organizing also tends to operate from the assumption that leadership abilities and skills can be developed through a combination of direct experience (informal) and formal training in methods and tools

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(Aglooba-Segurno 1997; Hollister and Mehrotra 1999; Wheeler and Edle-beck 2006; Zachary 2000).

Kim and Sherman (2006) argue that, despite the impressive role youth played in the social-justice movements of the 1960s and 1970s, little atten-tion was paid to recruiting and training a new cadre of youth leaders, which resulted in a generation gap that had critical implications for the remainder of the twentieth century. A number of explanations can be put forth to account for this oversight; however, conservative political forces succeeded in criminalizing young people (Elikann 1999). The application of super-predator labels to urban youth of color typifies how this political movement manifested itself.

The importance of leadership development in youth-led organizing is difficult to overemphasize, and careful thought and attention must be given to the social context in which this development is conducted (Martsudaira and Jefferson 2006). However, much also depends on how that leadership is defined. Soyun Park, of One Nation Enlightened (ONE), the Colorado Progressive Coalition, notes:

There’s no point in building all these leaders. . . and none of them can work together. . . . Sometimes to me leadership development almost does more damage than anything without the group dynamic, without making sure people can work together. . . . And I think when people don’t do well in school or can’t participate in society, it’s not because they lack, or they’ve not heard. . . support for some innate characteristics they’ve grown up with—which is supporting each other and being part of a broader network. I mean, you don’t hear much of that in school. (Lead-ership? 2003, 2)

Linden and Fertman (1998, 17) provide a definition of leader that is con-sistent with the reciprocal model, yet goes beyond conventional character-izations of this term and has tremendous implications for how youth-led community organizing is conceptualized. They define leaders as:

[I]ndividuals (both adults and adolescents) who think for themselves, communicate their thoughts and feelings to others, and help others un-derstand and act on their own beliefs; they influence others in an ethical and socially responsible way. For many, leadership is best described as a physical sensation: a need to share ideas, energy, and creativity, and not let personal insecurities be an obstacle. Being a leader means trusting one’s instincts, both when doing leadership tasks and being a leader.

Linden and Fertman’s definition is the basis for their model, which in-cludes both transactional and transformational leadership. Their model also broadens the concept of leadership to be more inclusive and situational— namely, that leaders can emerge and withdraw depending on needs that are expressed by an action group. A conventional definition of leadership would place a leader in that position at all times, regardless of the group’s ex-pressed needs. Transactional leadership stresses particular competencies

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and sources of power that come with assuming a leadership role. Trans-formational leadership entails being the leader one already is. The former emphasizes the leader’s use of compliance approaches to motivate others to participate based on instrumental considerations. The latter highlights the leader’s ability to cultivate member ownership through problem solving and decision making, as well as focusing members’ attention on desired outcomes. Linden and Fertman (1998) note that transformational leadership stresses participation and contributions of others while transactional lead-ership values problem and solution identification.

Various Manifestations of Leadership in

Youth-Led/Youth Development

The concept of leadership receives a tremendous amount of attention in society, which is not restricted to a particular age group, although youth generally seem to be missing when the term is used unless the reference is to gang leaders. For example, the ‘‘ability to exercise leadership’’ is a common description used when judging the effectiveness of an individual as a leader, and it is not unusual to find this phrase in performance evaluations. However, it would be a serious mistake to think that leadership is defined similarly across all sectors of this society. Clearly, the concept is highly influenced by socioeconomic class, gender, race, ethnicity, age, social situ-ation, and a number of other factors.

Golombek (2002) notes that commonly accepted visions of leadership are invariably based on research conducted on adults—not unlike research on empowerment, for example. Certainly a nonconventional vision of leader-ship such as Linden and Fertman’s model greatly influences how leadership is viewed and encouraged within youth-led community organizing. The field of youth organizing needs to emphasize three critical elements of leadership: (1) knowledge and awareness, (2) community and collective identity, and (3) shared visions (Beyond Base 2004).

One youth organizer articulated the role of leadership in youth-led community organizing quite well (Transformative Leadership 2004, 22):

We have faith. More importantly, we have a sense of urgency. Special opportunities for reinventing and restoring principled, democratic lead-ership that is truly reflective of our racial, economic, and experiential diversity lie in the work of this generation. Given the need and the prom-ise, investing in these youth and the different leadership paradigm they aim to uphold is a must.

This perspective, which defines leadership in a democratic and inclusive manner, appeals to youth-led community organizing because it stresses the

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importance of all participants having opportunities to exercise leadership. This perspective also builds on most visions of youth development pro-grams.

The very nature of leadership within youth-led community organizing campaigns necessitates a broad base of support and participation by members to sustain a social-change agenda. This organizing approach seeks to expand the number of leaders or potential leaders who can set the stage for future, even more ambitious social-change efforts. Leadership is not viewed as an exclusive category, static and monolithic; rather, from the youth-led organizing perspective, all youth are considered leaders (Linden and Fertman 1998).

Youth leadership involves multiple roles and tasks, and it must take into account situational (local) factors. Therefore, no one individual should be expected to fulfill all of the functions. Situations dictate different roles; leadership is viewed as dynamic and subject to the expectations of particular strategies and tasks. Further, given the relatively narrow age range of youth-group members, leaders age out at a more rapid pace than is typically seen in adult organizations. Yet some skills may take years to learn; and often by the time they are mastered, the youth are older and are moving on to other stages of their lives, such as to college or into full-time employment. This presents a challenge for the youth-organizing field: should the focus be on developing leadership skills that meet immediate organizational and cam-paign needs, or should it be in the development of skills that will manifest themselves well after youth age out of youth-led organizing?

Preparation to assume leadership falls within the responsibility of all youth who participate (Beyond Base 2004). Beyond promoting specific skills, leadership development also entails gaining the ability to critically analyze the inequitable distribution of wealth and power in society, knowl-edge of the dynamics of oppression, and understanding of collective action as a means to bring about social change. Freire’s concept of ‘‘conscientiza-tion’’ (1973) best captures the process by which youth leaders actively reflect on their personal experiences, recognize experiences shared by other youth, develop a critique of systematic oppression, and prepare to engage in col-lective action to challenge and change the circumstances of their lives. Ef-fective youth leaders develop an increased critical consciousness and an enhanced capacity for strategic analysis.

The process of learning how to be a leader and assuming a leadership role can be very complicated and depend on the interplay of numerous factors (Transformative Leadership 2004, 2): ‘‘Those who never identified as leaders become immersed in the larger purpose of their work, and suddenly realize that they have become a leader, as a consequence and necessity, not as an end goal. ’’ The rewards of leadership far outweigh its challenges and complications in the youth-led field (Kress 2006; MacNeil and McClean 2006).

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Tensions and Youth Leadership

Life would be too simple if we could all—practitioner, academic, and youth participants—view the youth-led organizing field and not encounter di-lemmas, tensions, and debates. In fact, we would argue that a field without any tension is a field that is irrelevant. Tensions, if you wish, provide valuable energy for expansion of a field.

Klau, Boyd, and Luckow (2006b), in examining the field of youth lead-ership with direct applicability to youth-led community organizing, iden-tify seven core themes that are shaping current discourse and debate: (1) the importance of social justice to the discussion on youth leadership; (2) the differences between inside and outside leadership; (3) leadership as a po-sition of authority versus leadership as an activity for everyone; (4) every-one as a leader versus only a select few serving as leaders; (5) youth as future leaders versus youth as current leaders; (6) the challenges inherent in a youth–adult partnership in leadership education; and (7) clarity and alignment in youth leadership education.

We are certain that these seven themes do not hold any surprises for the well-initiated in this field of youth-led community organizing. Mind you, this is not to say that a comparable list of themes cannot be generated for adult organizing. However, youth bring particular circumstances that high-light the importance of leadership opportunities and support at that par-ticular stage of life. The tensions described earlier in this section take on added significance because of the nature of the work youth-led organizers do. Social action invariably involves activities that cause tension for both the youth and adults involved; this tension adds a dimension to leadership because of the immediacy of a campaign.

Characteristics of Effective Youth

Community Leaders

As previously stated, hundreds of research studies have failed to demon-strate the existence of inherent traits for good leadership. Ultimately, leadership is a reciprocal relationship between leaders and their followers; and effective leaders must have the ability to influence and inspire others in a variety of situations. That said, the following characteristics have been identified as important for successful youth leadership. Most, if not all, of these qualities and attributes can be learned and developed through direct experience, mentoring, popular education, consciousness raising, observa-tion, dialogue, reflection, reading, the arts, workshops, conferences, and structured leadership training programs.

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Patience

Youth often have a strong desire for immediate gratification, and this is quite natural and to be expected. The energy associated with this desire for immediate gratification adds a dimension to social change that must never be lost in youth-led community organizing. Indeed, this ‘‘lack of tolerance, ’’ so to speak, can be a driving force in social-action campaigns. However, it also introduces a factor that must be addressed and has both short- and long-term consequences for youth organizers.

A recruiter may look for potential youth leaders who possess patience and a long-term perspective. According to Weiss (2003, 114), ‘‘[s]ometimes with young folks, they believe change happens overnight. They get bored. They have trouble realizing the necessity of long-term campaigns. ’’ Cer-tainly, patience can be learned, and Freire’s (1990) conceptualization of ‘‘impatient patience’’ is particularly relevant and appropriate for many youth leaders. Acquisition of patience helps youth organizers appreciate how time can be turned into an asset. When there’s insufficient time to plan and carry out a strategy, rather than the situation being viewed negatively, the limited time can be seen positively as a way for youth to focus and concentrate their energies and other resources.

Open-mindedness

Youth workers must be able and willing to work with emerging leaders to give them guidance in recognizing the bigger picture: raising critical con-sciousness. It may be unrealistic to expect many youth to already possess a broad perspective on societal issues and to understand their interrelated-ness. However, a prerequisite for selecting youth leaders may be their ability to see beyond their immediate problems and to show a willingness to ex-pand their horizons. Open-mindedness is a quality that helps youth orga-nizers expand their visions of self-interest to embrace the community at large.

Also, as noted by Clayborne (Polk and Clayborne 2004), youth must be open-minded about trying new skills such as public speaking and grant writing. Personal development has to be a significant part of any work to change communities. If youth participate but do not benefit personally from this participation, then the goals and tasks of community organizing cannot be considered complete. Clayborne lays the groundwork for youth to enter into a learning contract that systematically builds on their assets but also identifies areas for their growth.

The quality of open-mindedness is multidimensional. Its presence is es-sential in youth-led community organizing because it not only serves the current cause of social change but also creates personal change. Youth ac-

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quire new knowledge and skills, but in the process also assume an atti-tude that seeks to be inclusive of others and a willingness to venture into uncharted territory to find new experiences that will benefit them in the future.

Critical Thinking Skills

The ability to think critically and be able to grasp the seemingly disparate ideas that connect to create a broader picture is an important asset in youth-led community organizing. It is also an important quality in adults; how-ever, in the case of youth, it takes on greater significance because of the marginalized position they hold in this society.

Ginwright’s (2003) identification of key topics, and how they relate to creation of a critical consciousness, clearly has a place in youth-led com-munity organizing. Critical thinking leads to further politicization, which in turn helps stimulate engagement and action. Youth go through a process, or take a journey, that invariably entails multiple steps or stages. In essence, there are no shortcuts. Each youth goes through these stages at his or her own pace, with some entering the field of youth organizing with a clear understanding of how societal forces shape behavior and outcomes while others bring a high degree of skepticism about individual versus society’s responsibility for community conditions.

Desire and Ability to Commit Time to a Cause

Youth must be more than passionate about an issue or cause in order to be productive leaders and organizers. They also must be able to commit the time necessary to act on their convictions, in the short and long run. These two elements transfer to other social arenas in their lives. Since many of the skills needed for organizing take time to develop, even if some youth ini-tially possess a number of these characteristics, younger individuals will be able to participate over a longer span of years and are more likely to see a campaign through from beginning to end.

It is important to add that a commitment to bringing about change should be rewarded—with funds, whenever possible. Merging commit-ment with career potential becomes critical when agendas for social and economic justice are put forth by economically marginalized youth; few of them are in a position to volunteer their time and effort. However, it is critical also that a youth’s commitment to social change not be supplanted by a commitment to the paycheck.

There is always tension between commitment to a cause and commit-ment to earning a wage! One youth organizer stated this very well (Polk and Clayborne 2004, 5):

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One of the biggest risks was youth who would come in for the wrong reasons. They wanted a job or income. Not that it’s wrong to want these things, but when money is your only agenda, you’re not looking at the overall agenda and what you’re supposed to be doing there or how sig-nificant it is to the overall product. The other risk was organizations not really expecting youth to do what we said they’d do. If you send youth into that type of environment you can expect negative outcomes.

The tension between making a commitment to the cause and needing a source of income highlights two important, conflicting motivations that must never be compromised in youth-led community organizing.

Anger at Social Injustice

The statement ‘‘It is not fair’’ has often been the rallying cry for efforts to address social and economic inequalities, and it is an idea that often reso-nates with youth regardless of age (O’Kane 2002). However, it is never sufficient to be aware of social injustice; this awareness and anger must translate into concrete and constructive action. But being able to ground this sense of unfairness is an important first step in creating a goal-focused youth organizer. When youth perceive and react to social injustice with anger and indignation, they set the foundation for action to occur, chan-neling that resentment into productive work (LISTEN, Inc. 2004; Pecukonis and Wenocur 1994). Youth activists deepen their sense of outrage as they gain direct experience through collective action. Charles (2005) notes that, in the case of African-American adolescents, a faith tradition of giving back to the community further channels this outrage into creative social change.

How the outrage gets expressed is determined by the context (time and place) within which it operates. As addressed in chapter 3, Chang (2003) notes how hip-hop activism reflects this ability for critical thinking and a willingness to get involved in purposeful change by providing space and opportunity for dialogue, in a fashion similar to how the civil rights and black power movements did in previous generations. Thus, hip-hop activ-ism can be considered a natural expression of a post-civil rights generation’s desire for social and economic justice. Today’s hip-hop activism reflects a shift from the old-guard civil rights organization to present-day civic en-gagement (Kim and Sherman 2006). However, as noted earlier in this book, this may also be a source of tension.

Belief in Social Justice and the Ability to Effect Change

A fundamental belief in one’s ability to create change and the vision that accompanies it are the building blocks for successful leadership in any social intervention, but particularly for social action, as in the following case

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