Table Of ContentWith love, to Patricia Beresford, who keeps me honest and helps me play (SB),
and EoneTolliver, my mother and first teacher (WT)
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Burghardt,Stephen.
Storiesoftransformativeleadershipinthehumanservices:whytheglassisalways
full/SteveBurghardt,WillieTolliver.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-4129-7016-7(cloth)
ISBN978-1-4129-7017-4(pbk.)
1. Leadership—UnitedStates. 2. Humanservices—UnitedStates.
I. Tolliver,WillieF. II. Title.
HM1261.B852009
361.0068′4—dc22 2008045848
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CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Introduction ix
Acknowledgments xv
Part I.The Depletion ofValue 1
1. A BoringAssignment 3
2. Half-Empty? Half-Full? 5
3. Jack-of-All-Trades 11
4. Running to Catch Up 19
5. The Extra Mile 23
6. Clipping Coupons 29
7. TheAssembly Line 35
8. SplashedWater 41
9. Good Grooming 45
10. Salt and Pepper in the Pot 51
11. Good News, Bad News 59
Part II. CreatingAbundance 63
12. Popsicle Sticks 65
13. Seeking Illumination 71
14. Casting a Lure 75
15. Mr.Trumbull’s Motto 83
16. The Second Golden Rule 91
17. Clean asYou Go 103
18. CarryYourVision inYour Pocket 111
19. Politeness Doesn’t Cost a Cent 117
20. TwoTruths 125
21. Take the Cover Off the Book 133
22. BuildYour Community andThey
Will Come...Again 143
23. The Crossroads 151
Learning Guide: Reflective Questions for
Discussion and Classroom Integration 152
Part III.A Leadership Model of Personal
and OrganizationalTransformation 159
Starting Before the Beginning 160
24. If theWork Is Sacred,Then SoAreYou 163
Commitment to Being 176
From Inner Balance to Outer Energy:
Diet and Exercise 180
25. TheTransformative Model 185
The Commitment to Doing 192
26. CarryYourVision as aTool 193
CarryYourVision as aTool Exercises 200
27. Practicing Patience and Politeness 205
Practicing Patience and Politeness Exercises 212
28. Embracing Diversity 215
Embracing Diversity Exercises 225
Summing Up:The Steps to Embracing
Difference as aTransformative Leader 231
29. Clean asYou Go 233
Clean asYou Go Exercises 239
30. Building Community 245
Welcome 250
Engagement 251
Participation 253
Citizenship 255
Building Community Exercises 260
References and Books of Note 265
Index 269
About theAuthors 273
FOREWORD
Studentsaregoingtolikereadingthisbook.Sowilltheseasoned
practitionersandmanagerswhograpplewiththedailychallenges
of work in social agencies.
It’sbothabouthowagenciesworkandhowtoworkthesystem.
Although working the system can be for personal advantage,
Steve Burghardt and Willie Tolliver take a broader perspective,
exploring how organizational life can be made more meaningful
and productive for all those associated with its work—staff,
clients, and others.
Traditional application-oriented books are likely to begin with
descriptions of theory and then move on to demonstrate how
concepts and conceptual frameworks can be used to shape action
in specific situations. Not this one.
The pages that follow begin and end with situations. The
authors have chosen to tell stories about how change occurs
through the interactions of colleagues and others in the
workplace. Storytelling is an ancient art, often used to clarify
values, choices, and actions taken (or not taken). It is a way of
both passing on wisdom and learning from the experiences of
others. Stories permit readers to enter a presented situation as if
they were actually in it and to consider a number of what-ifs—
whatcouldhappenifwerespondedtothesituationinonewayor
another?
A warning: this places an enormous responsibility on the
reader.Noworksituationislikelytobeexperiencedinexactlythe
same way by all participants. We all bring our past experiences,
values, predilections, and aspirations to work with us, and these
are mediated by organizational culture and by the histories and
vii
viii StoriesofTransformativeLeadershipintheHumanServices
dynamics of our relationships with clients, colleagues and to the
expectations of others.
If you are using this book as a course text or as for in-service
training, you may find your colleagues agreeing or disagreeing
on the significance of the specific situations presented or the
appropriateness of the actions taken or considered. If you are
reading this book on your own, without the benefit of collegial
feedback, you’ll find the authors’questions and suggested exer-
cises helpful in discovering something about yourself as well as
the organizational setting in which you work.
A momentary digression: Most of us have had the experience
of window shopping in a mall or on the street. Chances are we
may have fleetingly considered whether an article of clothing,
appliance,orpieceofequipmentisattractive,useful,priced-right,
orevensensible.And,seeingourownreflectionsintheglass,we
might also have considered how that item might fit us or our life
style.A similar dynamic occurs when we read a story or watch a
film.We focus on what we are seeing, but also on how what our
reflection illuminates about our own aspirations and interests.
The authors describe processes of organizational change and
development that are drawn from their combined 40-plus years of
experienceascommunityorganizers,programdevelopers,academic
researchers, and university professors. Those experiences have led
themtothepointofviewthatorganizationalchangeiseveryone’s
business. But they don’t impose that point of view on their
readers.
It appears to me that they are after clarity, not consensus—
claritythatrequiresnotonlylookingthroughtheglass,butalsoat
what you see reflected in it.
—Armand Lauffer
INTRODUCTION
Thisbookisfor peoplewhobegantheirworkinhumanservices
orpubliceducationwithaspecialstory,onethatstartedwithyour
heart full and your mind alive to the possibility that the work
you are doing actually seems to matter, that the people around
you draw meaning and consequence from help offered or service
given, that a smile from another is less about happiness in the
moment than the beginning of trust—and the beginning, as well,
of hard work, late at night, that draws people closer together, not
farther apart. Perhaps your story began when you ran that small
youth leadership group in an after-school program; or worked
with those sleepy, scared kids in your community’s domestic
violence shelter; or helped fill out forms down at the immigrant
centeronenightaweek.Learningfromfolkswhoselivesseemed
defined by special purpose and who gladly shared their lessons
along the way, your extra hours of labor may have left you tired
attimesbutneverdepleted.Ifpartofyourquestasaprofessional
is to recapture and re-create that meaningful experience that
brought you to human services or public education in the first
place, this is your book.
Thisbookisalsoforthosewithadifferentkindofstory.It’sfor
those who once wrote in their college autobiography or ventured
inanearlysocialworkclassordaredtodreamthatsomedaythey
wouldruntheirveryownagencyorschool.Whatkindofagency
wouldyourspecialplacebe?Woulditbeopentorunawayyouth,
abusedwomenandchildren,thementallyill,thedevelopmentally
delayed,theveryold,orperhapstheveryyoung?Itcouldbeany
one of them, and it is “them” for a particular reason:You have
witnessed,throughyourownlifeexperience,theirmarginalization
ix
