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service leadership

Introduction to Service Leadership

Service-Leadership

Service Leadership is a management style and a process that prioritizes the greater good over individual interests. Nonprofit Service Leaders serve employees, program participants and the community with humility, intention and care. When considering service leadership the goal is to understand service as a leadership model and discuss its significance, characteristics and role in nonprofit management.

What distinguishes service leadership from other leadership models is the connection to community and commitment to developing others holistically. It’s a compassionate approach to management that results in high morale, increased engagement, strong ethical standards for the organization, and the development of future leaders.

Service Leaders are empathetic, persuasive, big-picture thinkers with a high degree of emotional intelligence, and they are active and curious listeners who are open to feedback. Building relationships through service leadership takes time and leaders have to find the balance between reaching business goals and objectives that serve the whole community.

Service Leaders are:

  • humble and know how to quiet the ego

  • active and curious listeners

  • empathic relationship builders

  • focused on building others up

  • emotionally intelligent

  • persuasive communicators

  • big picture strategic thinkers

  • open to feedback

  • patient with the pace of progress

  • able to balance business goals and community objectives

Logic Model Samples

A logic model is a visual way to illustrate the resources or inputs required to implement a program, the activities and outputs of a program, and the desired program outcomes (short-term, long-term).

Logic models assist in program planning, implementation, management, evaluation, and reporting. They help define program requirements, stakeholders, activities, deliverables, goals and impacts. They are useful tool to for developing letters of inquiry and proposals, and they are essential to program assessment. Experts agree that there are connections between program success and using logic models.

source: Administration for Children and Families


Logic Model Sample


Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service


"Justice At Its Best Is Power Correcting Everything That Stands Against Love"

FULL QUOTE “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” - Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This quote reminds us that love is the reason we take action, and the method of correction for whatever troubles us.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service is a defining moment each year when Americans across the country step up to make our communities more equitable and take action to create the Beloved Community of Dr. King’s dream. While Dr. King believed the Beloved Community was possible, he acknowledged and fought for systemic change. His example is our call to action.

Congressman John Conyers (MI) and Representative Shirley Chisholm (NY) submitted legislation for 15 years for a national holiday to honor the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

After years of opposition, legislation was passed in 1983 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan to remember the civil rights leader on the 3rd Monday of January.

Senator Harris Wofford (PA) and Congressman John Lewis (GA) introduced the 'King Holiday and Service Act' to challenge us to transform MLK Day into MLK Day of Service. The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

King Day of Service is meant to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.

Service-Learning Vocabulary

Service: the action of helping or doing work for someone.

Learning: the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or presentation.

Service-Learning is form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as leaders seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves. Vanderbilt University

Professional Service-Learning is an approach to adult-education that links service-leadership and project management to deep inquiry and reflection. It's a process for nonprofit and community leaders who want to learn, participate and lead to improve conditions in their neighborhoods. DevoCenter Inc.

A

Action: the process of doing something to achieve a goal.

Action Plan: a detailed strategy outlining activities needed to reach one or more goals.

Advocate: a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause.

Advocacy: the process of creating awareness of or promoting action on an issue of public service.

Assessment: an ongoing process to evaluate performance and measure program, project or organizational progress to goal, in order to adjust and set future targets.

B

Brand Narrative: a concise, streamlined story that acts as the platform for an organization's marketing and communications. Brandeis University

C

Collaboration: the ability to work with others towards a common goal.

Community: a group of people connected by geography, culture, situation, and/or need.

Community Partnership: an association of two or more people or entities who agree to work together for mutual benefit.

Community Resources: people, funds, and goods available to participants in order to carry out their plan of action.

Community Service: a voluntary act that benefits others.

Community Service Leader: someone who organizes and guides others, facilitates problem-solving and decision-making, and takes action to benefit their neighborhood.

D

Documentation: Evidence of performance or learning.

E

Education for Sustainability: a transformative learning process that promotes an understanding of the relationship between economic prosperity, responsible citizenship and the health of living systems. EfS links this knowledge with inquiry and action to help leaders build a healthy future for their communities and the planet. The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education

Evaluation: a periodic look at a program inputs and outputs to see how successfully it is achieving its goals.

F

Feedback: a response to a particular portion of the project.

I

Impact: a strong effect on someone or something.

Inquiry: an act of asking for information, requiring leaders to engage in active learning by generating questions, seeking answers, and exploring complex ideas.

L

Leadership: the action of guiding a group of people or an organization.

Learning by Teaching: helps leaders comprehend and deepen new knowledge by preparing a presentation for stakeholders.

M

Meaningful Service: time spent impacting the community in a positive way, with an understanding of purpose and personally relevant activities.

Mindfulness: maintaining an awareness of our intentions, thoughts, and feelings from a position of curiosity and kindness.

O

Outcomes: changes that occur as a result of actions.

P

Project: an undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is planned to achieve an outcome.

Project Management: the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all goals with available resources.

R

Reflection: a thoughtful, serious looking back at one's experiences, individually or as a group, as part of future planning.

S

Self-Reflection: contemplation about one’s personal values, mindsets, behaviors, and desires.

Servant Leadership: is a leadership philosophy, embedded in a set of behaviors and practices that place a primary emphasis on the well-being of those being served. Center for Servant Leadership

Socratic Method: a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.

Stakeholder: an individual or entity who is invested in or impacted by the outcome of a program or project.

Storytelling: the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination. National Storytelling Network

Introduction to Service-Learning (Infographics)

Service-Learning is form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as leaders seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves. Vanderbilt University

Service Learning Supports for Students

Self Reflection

  • Personal Development

  • Critical Thinking

  • Social-Emotional Wellness

Community Love

  • Meaningful Service

  • Civic Engagement

  • Sense of Belonging

Academics

  • Learning Objectives

  • Knowledge & Skills Acquisition

  • STEAM Education

Service-Learning Stages

  • Reflect: examine thoughts, feelings and actions throughout the service-learning process

  • Investigate: identify and analyze a community concern, existing resources, personal interests, and individual readiness

  • Plan: design a service plan that describes the timeline, roles, responsibilities, goals and required resources, knowledge and skills

  • Take Action: engage in learning, provide community service, monitor progress and make adjustments

  • Evaluate: measure progress, evaluate impact and analyze effectiveness

  • Share: demonstrate the results of learning and the impact of service

  • Celebrate: honor the service team by recognizing their efforts and intention to improve the community


Types of Service

  • Direct Service is hands on help to people or the planet - like handing out meals or cleaning up a park.

  • Indirect Service is work performed separate from the people or cause supported – like fundraising or knitting blankets.

  • Research is finding out information in order to take action – like collecting scientific data or conducting surveys.

  • Advocacy is when you speak up for something you believe in – it could be live in a public setting, in-print or online.

Ready For Impact Workbook

Through the Mastermind Program we help educational nonprofit leaders explore and embrace the knowledge, skills and mindsets needed to manage sustainable businesses, deliver meaningful programs, and prepare for valuable partnership opportunities. This easy to use workbook is designed to help you organize and prepare for funding to achieve your mission.

Here you’ll find a series of prompts and exercises to help identify and articulate personal values, organizational goals, desirable leadership qualities, brand message, program impact, and partnership opportunities.

The guiding questions are perfect for individual reflection and journaling, and can be used for board planning and team visioning workshops. Once completed, you’ll have the rationale and language to begin conversations with funders and other stakeholders.

Each section of the workbook includes:

  • Big Idea: Explains what each essential is, why it’s important and how it helps build better nonprofits

  • Key Concepts: Includes important words and phrases

  • Prompts: Open-ended and provocative questions that inspire discovery of the big idea

  • Task: An activity that reinforces the big idea and supports development of an executive summary

  • Resources: Examples, templates, videos and other media that support the big idea

Servant Leadership

Service Leadership is a management style and a process that prioritizes the greater good over individual interests. Nonprofit Service Leaders serve employees, program participants and the community with humility, intention and care. When considering service leadership the goal is to understand service as a leadership model and discuss its significance, characteristics and role in nonprofit management.

What distinguishes service leadership from other leadership models is the connection to community and the commitment to developing others holistically. It’s a compassionate approach to management that results in high morale, increased engagement, strong ethical standards for the organization, and the development of future leaders.