Comprehensive
Leadership Competencies
Dorothy I. Mitstifer
Kappa Omicron
Nu Honor Society
4990 Northwind Drive, Suite 140
East Lansing, MI 48823-5031
Telephone: (517) 351-8335 · Facsimile: (517)
351-8336
E-mail: dmitstifer@kon.org
 |
The evolving model of leadership
for the future “is concerned with what people in
workgroups, teams, and organizations actually do—action
and thinking about action” (Mitstifer & Miller,
1999, p. 3). So what does that mean for preprofessional
and professional education in Family and Consumer Sciences?
The very definition of a professional implies that all
professionals have a responsibility to lead—thus
the need for a nonpositional mode of leadership. Leadership
implications abound: the stresses on family functions
and other social trends require professional leadership;
leadership is a major theme in the new world of work;
and organizations of all kinds will rely on “‘bundles
of potentiality’ which create the energy to affect
the environment, the product, or the outcome” (Mitstifer
& Miller, 1999, p. 41). Furthermore, Green (1990)
described the challenges in advancing our “intellectual
ecology” that require generous “helpings”
of leadership.
The theory of Reflective
Human Action (Andrews, Mitstifer, Rehm, & Vaughn,
1995) defines leadership as an active, mind-engaging process
of meaning-making in a community of practice (family,
neighborhood, organization, institution, or government).
This comprehensive theory is based on the assumption “that
there is a common human voice . . . [that] we all desire
to live together more harmoniously, more generously, more
humanely” (Wheatley, 1999, p. 196). Members of a
group, positional leader or not, can demonstrate these
qualities of leadership by practicing the principles and
utilizing the core features of Reflective Human Action.
1) Principles
a) Accept chaos
b) Share information
c) Develop relationships
d) Embrace vision
2) Core features
a) Act with authenticity
b) Demonstrate ethical
sensibility
c) Display personal substance
in actions (spirituality)
d) Determine action (change)
by framing issues and implementing interventions according
to the theoretical framework of the Action Wheel (Mitstifer,
1998):
i) Mission – direction
ii) Meaning – significance
and context (why)
iii) Existence –
history and situation
iv) Resources –
critical assets
v) Structure – plans
and processes (individual, group, collaboration)
vi) Power – expenditure
of energy (decision, passion, will)
Leadership Development Approaches
Kappa Omicron Nu developed
an educational module (Leadership: Reflective Human
Action, Andrews, et. al., 1995) with four chapters
that explain the theory and three chapters of experiential
activities. The activities, utilizing an experiential
learning mode, teach the core features and principles
of Reflective Human Action. In addition, the Margaret
Wheatley video (1993), Leadership and the New Science,
introduces the principles in a dazzling display of images
that explain the concepts in extraordinary clarity and
depth. These resources can be utilized in the following
educational formats.
1) Introduction to Reflective
Human Action (3-4 hours)
a) View Video, Leadership
and the New Science
b) Dialogue in small groups
to explore principles of Reflective Human Action presented
in the video. Focus on “develop relationships.”
c) Explore core features
of Reflective Human Action.
d) Apply Reflective Human
Action to individual and group leadership challenges.
2) Reflective Human Action
Workshop (1 day)
a) View Video, Leadership
and the New Science
b) Dialogue in small groups
to explore principles of Reflective Human Action presented
in the video. Focus on “develop relationships.”
c) Explore core features
of Reflective Human Action. Focus on “authenticity.”
d) Explore Action Wheel.
e) Apply Reflective Human
Action to individual and group leadership challenges
utilizing the Action Wheel.
f) Set personal development
goals and develop action plan for accomplishing the
goals.
3) Reflective Human Action
Course (1 or more credits as a single course or component
of a course)
a) View Video, Leadership
and the New Science
b) Dialogue in small groups
to explore principles of Reflective Human Action presented
in the video. Focus on each principle.
c) Explore core features
of Reflective Human Action. Focus on each feature.
d) Explore Action Wheel.
e) Apply Reflective Human
Action to individual and group leadership challenges
utilizing the Action Wheel.
f) Apply Reflective Human
Action to specialization and professional issues utilizing
the Action Wheel.
g) Conduct personal needs
assessment and set personal development goals.
h) Develop action plan
for small groups for accomplishing the goals.
i) Implement action plans.
Summary
Through Reflective Human
Action all individuals have “the opportunity for
creative engagement, for leading—even though some
will choose not to. If it is our earnest belief that all
persons can empower themselves, then it is also our belief
that all persons can choose to lead in some way, at some
time” (Mitstifer, 1995, p. 1).
References:
Andrews, F. E., Mitstifer,
D. I., Rehm, M., & Vaughn, G. G. (1995). Leadership:
Reflective Human Action. East Lansing, MI: Kappa Omicron
Nu.
Green, K. B. (1990). Our
intellectual ecology: A treatise on home economics. Journal
of Home Economics, 83(3), 41-47.
Mitstifer, D. I. (1995).
Leadership. Kappa Omicron Nu Dialogue, 5(3), 1-4.
Mitstifer, D. I. (1998).
Reflective human action. A Leadership Journal: Women
in Leadership—Sharing the vision, 2(2), 45-53.
Mitstifer, D. I., & Miller,
J. R. (1999). Strategic leadership of the professions:
Agenda for Change. East Lansing, MI: Kappa Omicron Nu.
Wheatley, M. J. (1993). Leadership
and the new sciences (video). CRM Films.
Wheatley, M. J. (1999). Leadership
and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world.
San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
KAPPA OMICRON NU HONOR SOCIETY
