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California State University, Long Beach
Lois J. Swanson Leadership Resource Center
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Leadership Academy

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The Leadership Academy is a curriculum of workshops and experiences designed to cultivate leadership excellence. The workshops help students to enhance their leadership competencies as well as develop their leadership potential. A service learning project of a minimum of 20 hours is also required.  The project must be a new experience and pre-approved by the Leadership Academy staff.

PURPOSE OF THE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

  • - To develop civic minded leaders
  • - To improve leadership competence and cultivate the potential of future leaders
  • - To develop practical application and increase understanding of leadership roles
  • - To connect the academic classroom experience with daily leadership roles and organizational activities.
  • - To develop the skills needed to have a positive impact on your community
  • - To better understand how to apply leadership to your life

The model utilizes its values, or the “7 C’s” as a framework to implement leadership development for social change.  They are as follows:

INDIVIDUAL

  • - Consciousness of Self: Awareness of the values, emotions, attitudes and beliefs that motivate one to take action, including how one understands others.
  • - Commitment: Commitment to the service task implies intensity and duration. Commitment requires involvement of one’s self in the activity and its intended outcomes.  It is the motivational energy to serve that drives the collective effort.
  • - Congruence: Thinking, feeling and behaving with consistency, authenticity and honesty towards others.

GROUP

  • - Common Purpose: To work with others within a shared sense of aims and values. It suggests that these shared aims facilitate the groups’ ability to engage in collective analysis.
  • - Collaboration: The basic means of empowering others and self through trust. Through collaboration, students can learn to have trust in the diversity of multiple perspectives that can lend to creative solutions and actions.
  • - Controversy with Civility: Recognizes two fundamental realities of any creative group effort: those differences in viewpoint are inevitable, and that such difference must be aired openly but with civility.

COMMUNITY

  • - Citizenship: The process whereby the self is connected to the environment and the community and that this interdependence is a responsibility of all in the leadership effort.  Citizenship recognizes that effective democracy involves individual responsibility as well as individual rights.

Change is the value “hub”; it is the ultimate goal of the creative process of leadership - to make a better world and a better society for self and others.

Diagram of Group, Individual, and Societal/Community Values based on the Seven C's of the Social Change Model. Collaboration, Common Purpose, and Controversy with Civility are in one circle titled Group Values. Consciousness of Self, Commitment, and Congruence are in a circle titled Individual Values. Finally, Citizenship is in a cirlce titled Community. All values are needed to achieve Social Change.

 

The social change model examines leadership development from three different perspectives:

INDIVIDUAL

GROUP

COMMUNITY

What personal qualities are we attempting to foster and develop in those who participate in a leadership development program?  What personal qualities are most supportive of group functioning and positive social change?

How can the collaborative leadership development process be designed not only to facilitate the development of the desired individual qualities (above) but also to effect positive social change?

Toward what social ends is the leadership development activity directed?  What kinds of activities are the most effective in energizing the group and in developing desired personal qualities in the individual?

REQUIREMENTS OF THE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

In order to receive certification from the Leadership Academy students must complete the following:

EIGHT (8) CORE REQUIRED WORKSHOPS (2 HOURS EACH):

  1. 1. Communication Skills (Collaboration)
  2. 2. Who Am I? (Consciousness of Self)
  3. 3. Multiculturalism (Commitment)
  4. 4. Creating Your Vision (Common Purpose)
  5. 5. Conflict Resolution (Controversy with Civility)
  6. 6. Leadership Theory (Citizenship)
  7. 7. Ethical Decision Making (Congruency)
  8. 8. Dollars & Sense (on-line workshop)

FIVE (5) ELECTIVE WORKSHOPS* (1 HOUR EACH) EXAMPLES INCLUDE:

  • - Alpha Male/Female Leaders
  • - Perceptions of Individuals with Disabilities
  • - Avoiding Burnout
  • - Teamwork Through Teambuilding
  • - Time  Management
  • - Spiritual Leadership

    • *The topics for the elective workshops are subject to change.

THEORY TO PRACTICE

The Theory to Practice is an opportunity for students to showcase the skills learned by applying them in a hands-on leadership role. To satisfy this requirement, students will write a short paper which discusses a leadership role you have held, how they integrated the Social Change Model into their leadership role and how you were able to apply the skills you learned from the Leadership Academy in that role. These leadership roles could from campus or community organizational experiences.  The paper should be a least one-page, typed, double spaced, and should include your name and campus ID number.

SERVICE HOUR COMPONENT

Students must complete 20 hours of service  learning with one specific agency that is pre-approved by the Leadership Academy staff. Core Workshops need to be completed before beginning service hours.

LEADERSHIP ACADEMY GRADUATE SELF-ASSESSMENT

Self-Assessment will allow students to gain insight to their leadership growth. 

The Leadership Academy is based on the 7 C’s Social Change Model which is a value-based leadership development model.  The model incorporates a number of key assumptions:

  • - Leadership is concerned with effecting change on behalf of others and society
  • - Leadership is a process rather than a position
  • - Leadership should be value-based
  • - All (not just those who hold formal leadership positions) are potential leaders
  • - Service is a powerful vehicle for developing students’ leadership skills
  • - The values of equity social justice, self-knowledge, personal empowerment, collaboration, citizenship, and service are explicitly promoted
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