LTG Blog

An Event sponsored by Mary Wesley-Bullock & Friends brought together an intriguing mixture of intellect, jazz, food & friends old and new!

As the night began the room was all a-buzz excitedly awaiting the arrival of the author’s of the Stories of Transformative Leadership in the Human Services. As the wonderful musical stylings of the 3 piece jazz band “Azaam Ameed” filled the room the guests of honor arrived and were graciously received by a very intimate group of adoring fans. As usual they were humble and gracious taking the time to meet and greet with each and every guest.

How has LTG helped you to "Hit Issues Head On"?

Since 1997, The Leadership Transformation Group has been facilitating supervisor management trainings, workshops, retreats, leadership forums and trainings and continues in its desire to heal the adults who work with children and families in child welfare.

Our facilitators have been trained to think outside of the box when using our curriculum and to use teachable moments whenever an issue arises. Whether it's a complaint about a situation in their unit, the department or they need information on how to handle a complex issue, the LTG facilitators have been there to assist them in any way.

In these trying economic times, I am asking facilitators and training participants – How have we helped you to stay the course and continue to remain positive at work and at home?

The potential for leadership is never far - if we look honestly within ourselves and view others as they truly are.

From schools to non profits to large public sector agencies, there are leaders throughout the fabric of organizations. Many of these people do not have fancy formal titles or hold high ranking positions. Much of their work may go unnoticed and unrecognized. Many of their voices are rarely heard until we take the time to listen. They are the janitors, the front desk staff, the computer technicians, the cooks, the administrative assistants, the van drivers,... They are people who can create the pulse of an organization and who, through many years of dedicated service, have come to know what an organization is really about and can help shape where it is going.

No organization struggling to survive in today’s economic climate, whether supportive housing agency or housing development corporation, can do so without utilizing the talents of all its staff…and yet few do.

Using lessons from their recent book, LTG Partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver offered tools to do so at a workshop at the Annual Affordable Housing Conference of the Neighborhood Preservation Coalition of New York State in Albany. They explored how we all can undo racial tensions on the job, end daily crisis management, and move from competition among team members to genuine partnership.

Working in child welfare agencies, I have seen examples of genuine partnerships and teamwork between managers and front-line staff. I have also seen managers miss critical opportunities to nurture the talents of their front-line staff.

How have you and your colleagues tapped into the talents and leadership potential of all of your staff, especially your front-line workers and support staff?

Is it just me or do u feel the men of the millennium or for better clarification men that fall between ages of 25-38 have replaced normal one-to-one human on human communication with that special someone with the current ever-so-popular technology based form! i.e. Texting, instant messaging and emailing.

Now no disrespect to you 40 plus-ers, I stop at the age of 38 only because I've found (have a 40 year old sister who will vouch for me) in the exception of a rare few (men & women alike) beyond that age bracket just can't seem to get the system down. I mean you don't understand the smh's and the ROTFLMAO's and you sometimes even take LOL's out of context. Now please, try not to take what I just said as an insult or like I'm calling you old and out of touch but instead take it how it was intended, as a compliment. I mean really, because you dudes still know how to pick up the phone and speak through them like normal human beings. You know the way God okay maybe not God but at least as Alexander Graham Bell intended.

Ok, back to the point I'm trying to make... Who doesn't love the occasional impromptu, off the cuff & out of the blue, virtually unexpected, "Hey babes how's your day goin?" Or quick reminders like “Our date is still on for tonight @ 8 right?" Or even the totally rare, "Just thinking of you" text, email or IM? But c’mon Fellas don't get too comfortable and start using cyber talk as your main form of communication with your lady or should I rephrase that, your better half. Your lady friend can get a text but your better half, your baby, your boo, your girl, your main squeeze should rate and were not asking for much, at least one 3-5 min phone call a day. At LEAST!

LTG Partners Deliver Workshop to Standing-Room Only Crowd at 9th Annual Supportive Housing Network of New York (SHNNY) Conference at the New York Hilton: June 9th.

At the start of the morning as the hustle and bustle of a large crowd of about 125 or so filed into the Renaissance Room of the Hilton Hotel for LTG partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver's workshop "Transforming Leaders in Times of Uncertainty" there seemed to be a mixed bag of energies. There was the enthusiastic ready-to-go energy of, "Oh my gosh, did it already start? Hope I didn't miss anything" to the indifferent "Yeah I'll take a flyer lady,' while thinking... "I can use it as proof of my attendance." And, of course, there was the ever-unenthusiastic "I hope this will not turn out to be a waste of 1 1/2hrs of my already stretched-thin-never seeming-to-be-my-own time."

As the work shop quickly began to unfold and the LTG partners took their turns speaking, bouncing off of each other, both charismatic and intellectual but totally different styles of speaking, the energies of the audience began to change. A change directly due to the way that the information was being delivered which was most impressive.

After our 200-person book launch at Hunter College School of Social Work, Willie Tolliver and I were lucky enough a week later to be invited to speak about our book Stories of Transformative Leadership in the Human Services: Why the Glass is Always Full by our good friend Emily Rubin at the Supportive Housing Network of New York’s (SHNNY) 9th annual conference at the New York Hilton.

It went well; hell, it went really well. We started with 100 people in the room and ended with 125 folks, some of them crammed against the exit door. Nobody left, we got thoughtful questions, lots of folks wanted to buy the book. All good. Emily had ensured a well-organized event, and she came through. We felt honored to have been there; happy to see some former students’ faces, equally pleased that most came for the topic and not because we were known to them at all.