Pre-Convention Workshop - Integrating Leadership & Service

A Comprehensive Model for Integrating Leadership and Service
~Kate Durso, & Todd Foley (Saint Louis University)


My ACPA experience began with a riveting pre-convention workshop aimed at exploring the concept behind integrating service into leadership curriculum.  The session was lead by Kate Durso, Assistant Director for the Honours Program at Saint Louis University, and her colleauge Todd Foley, the Assistant Director for the university's Student Involvement Center. The session was developed with learning in mind, and had incorporated discussion, group work, as well as several reflective activities in order to explore the material.  The presenters began the workshop by clarifying their intended use of the terms "leadership" and "service".  "Leadership is a relational and ethical process of people together attempting to accomplish positive change" (Komives, 2007). On the other hand, "service" was defined as "applying your time, treasure, and/or talent to respond to an expressed community need" (Durso & Foley, 2012). The group proceeded at this point to engage in discussion, aimed at answering questions such as why do students do service, why do we as educators want students to do service, and, where do you see connections between service and leadership? In reflecting on the questions, the group determined that student interest in service and leadership development was driven by various aspects such as mandatory credit hours, prior involvement, resume builders, volunteer experience, it's "trendy-ness", desire for social justice, wanting to make a difference, and much more. In discussing hte connection between what service experiences provide, the group began to understand the role that it could play when integrated strategically into leadership programs. 


At this point, Todd Foley led the group through a brief overview of some important leadership models and theories, such as the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996), Servant Leadership Theory (Greenleaf, 1977)(one of Stephan Tang's favourites he informed me), Adaptive Leadership Model (Heifetz, 1994), Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)(Our Royal Roads CED papers are brought to mind here - anyone else?), and much more! Todd Foley was very passionate about this body of theory, and suggested that if he could, he would talk for days about these concepts! Nonetheless, he kept it brief, and the two presenters moved on to discuss components of a successful leadership curriculum.  A discussing ensued about the contrast between the "Traditional Method" (AKA industrial) versus the importance of the latter "Transformational Method" (post-industrial) within leadership curriculum.  The presenters emphasized the importance of reviewing your current learning objectives and outcomes, in order to see if they are geared to more of the traditional outcomes, or that of the transformational experience that is geared towards achieving "high impact" outcomes. The workshop concluded with a large reflective period where attendees had the opportunity to think about their current leadership curriculum, and to discuss and focus thinking to the "small wins" that could be achieved in considering the integration of service into leadership.  The time spent discussing ideas and current practices with other attendees was truly valuable, and left the audience with an opportunity to soundboard their ideas off of each other.  The presentation at this point was over, and the presenters left the group with a take home exercise/action plan in order to begin to outline next steps towards integrating service into their leadership curriculum. Great session - very informative!  


References

• Durso, K. M., & Foley, T.J. (2012, March). A Comprehensive Model for Integrating Leadership and Service [PowerPoint slides]. Presented at the annual convention of ACPA-College Student Educators International, Louisville, KY.

• Greenleaf, R. G. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey in the nature of legitimate power and greatness. New York: Paulist.

• Heifetz, R. A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA

• Higher Education Research Institute [HERI]. (1996). A social change model of leadership development: Guidebook version III. College Park, MD: National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.

• Komives, s. R., Lucas, N., & Mcmahon, T. R. (2007). Exploring leadership: For college students who want to make a difference. 2nd edition: Jossey-Bass, An imprint of Wiley.