LTG Blog

Beyond Time Managaement: The Importance of Self-Care & Transformational Leadership in Times of Crisis

On October 24th and 25th of 2011 and again at the end of January of 2012 LTG will conduct a two day Management & Supervision Course for the The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). The two day course is offered in the Citywide Training Center Catalogue which is available for download.

Course Reference Number: C9322
Days of Training: 2 | Professional Credits: 1.2CEU/8CPE | Tuition: $250
Dates: Oct 24-25, 2011; Jan 30-31, 2012

The pressing fiscal demands and diminished staffing every agency confronts can cause a toxic work environment that leads to burn-out and illness as the seemingly unending urgency to agency life goes on and on.

This seminar offers a corrective to traditional models of time management and places at its center tools and techniques that help leaders engage in self-care on the job. By offering a model of transformational leadership based on 'leadership from within,' this seminar frames leadership in ways that build resilience, expands reliance on teamwork, and connects staff to "legacy work" that inspires and energizes even in times of genuine difficulty.

Activities, exercises and reflections will be offered throughout on addressing dynamics of urgency, burn-out, self-care, handling difficult staff, and how to heal while remaining productive.

For more information contact Citywide Training Center by calling (212) 487-5600 or send an email to citywidetrainingcenter@dcas.nyc.gov

SEMINAR OBJECTIVES:

• Learn a new framework for assessing leadership and self-care through "leadership from within"


• Examine your urgency index and assess levels of burnout


• Learn ways to diminish anger and reaction first within yourself and then your staff


• Examine the character-driven qualities within your work that help balance your approach to work


• Develop an "internal strategic vision" that becomes a foundation to your daily work


• Practice forms of self-care that emphasize resilience and personal mastery that can model such behaviors for your staff

Target Audience: Managers, directors, supervisors, and professionals who want to develop a leadership framework and leadership skills that can used for self-care, ending burn-out and provide a powerful model of "internal leadership" that diminishes stress while remaining focused on the tasks at hand.

On August 16th, LTG partner Liz Laboy co-hosted with consultant and trainer Kelly McGowan an exciting "Pro Action Café" workshop at Hunter College School of Social Work. This workshop is another example of LTG's growth and involvement in the newly emerging, democratic, and horizontal approaches to problem solving and team building that is at the heart of "communities of practice" created by Meg Wheatley, Harrison Owen, and others that places an emphasis on probing questions and the creativity of all workshop members rather than a few "talking heads" at the front of the room.

LTG partner, Steve Burghardt has just published a textbook with Sage Publications, Macro Practice in Social Work for the 21st Century. Combining his earlier work as a community organizer and his recent years as an LTG consultant and executive coach with human service agencies, the book develops an integrated "macro meets micro" approach for social workers and community organizers. By using a story-telling approach at the start of each chapter that features two young organizers at the start of their careers and as they develop into a field director and agency executive, the work follows the life span of those who work in the field, arguing that a commitment to social justice need not end at the grass roots level.

One of the most exciting chapters was written by LTG consultant Mohan V Krishna, who explored the use of the Internet as a vital organizing tool. By focusing on the explosion of "virtual organizing" after the defeat of Proposition 8 in California, Krishna goes on to analyze both the power to mobilize nation-wide actions that the internet provides as well as the possible limits in the creation of "virtual trust" and the implications for long-term organizing efforts.

On June 16-18, 2010 in New York City, I participated in a training/co-learning retreat called ‘The Art of Participatory Leadership” which was called and hosted by Martin Siesta, Toke Paludan Moller, Tuesday Ryan Hart, Nancy Fritsche Eagan and Kelly McGowan.

The intention of this interactive training/co-learning retreat was to expand and deepen the understanding of what is possible when we create structures and practices that keep our primary purpose and passion in the center of our work.

This training was an opportunity for me to enter a learning journey that I have been going through for 2 years, with worldly hosts/trainers who have deep practices of participatory leadership. I began my journey practicing circle meetings with my business partners and then extending it to dream circle and congress of women circle meetings.

The business strategic and healing circle meetings are held every other week where our collective wisdom and intelligence are engaged to find best solutions on any issues we are having. We practice speaking and listening with intention and always tend to the well being of each other. There are principles and practices to the circle and four agreements that are kept. These agreements are:

1. Listen without judgment
2. Whatever is said in circle stays in circle
3. Offer what you can and ask for what you need
4. silence is also part of the conversation.

We are having the best business meeting we have ever had and we have been together for over 16 years.

In this video, Liz Laboy asks Steve Burghardt "How do you talk to white people about race?", and about his relation to W.E. B. Du Bois.

In this video, Liz Laboy asks Steve Burghardt about how he, as a white man, handles the complex issues associated with Race, Power and Privilege.

We in the human services field continually call upon ourselves to be there and do for others. In being with others who are experiencing struggles and hardships, we come in contact with situations that can affect us deeply.

In their book Stories of Transformative Leadership in the Human Services, LTG Partners Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver offer us guidance and tools for taking care of ourselves so that we can reconnect with our highest intentions. Actively committing ourselves to lifelong learning, the authors say, is a key to fostering a culture of inspiration, innovation and openness in our organizations.