ABSTRACTAN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP IN SOCIAL WORKByDeborah J. Sanderlin-Nykamp The major goal of this exploratory project is to examine the process of leadership development in master's-degreed social workers who are currently leading nonprofit humanservice agencies. How did they learn to lead, and what were the stages in their journey to becomethe CEO of an agency? This exploratory process has resulted in a qualitative research project, relying on personal interviews to collect the information. Eighteen MSWs currently employed as chief executive officers of nonprofits within the state of Michigan were selected for the interviewing process. These nonprofit executives were interviewed and their stories documented. In order to glean this leadership information, I developed an open-ended interview question format, using the concepts of Bernard Bass-transformational leadership (2006), the Hartford Foundation leadership training model (Annual Report, 2008), and ethical theories developed from the literature. My basic premises are that leadership skills can be acquired and that they are measureable, learnable, and teachable. The interview processes allowed the subjects' journeys to be recorded and analyzed. The major findings for this project indicate that leadership development evolves over a lifetime, often starting in childhood. Analysis of the data resulted in the development of a timecontinuum of themes, which taken together allow us to see how the leadership process may have developed for these leaders. Each interviewee related childhood and young adulthoodexperiences that seemed to be significant; these experiences together seem to paint a picture of an incubator for leadership, a setting of the stage for leadership development. Mentors, religion, ethics, politics, and family--all are important variables that have helped to form the leadership abilities of these subjects. The early leadership development periodseems to have included more mentoring support for these budding leaders, as well as ongoing training through both supervisory experiences and the performance of clinical work. Based ontheir reports, ethics remain important and continue to develop throughout this period. Not infrequently the subjects' actual MSW training, which they described as valuable, occurredduring this time frame. The subjects also seem to have developed a personal drive to lead during this critical period. All of these factors have combined to effect the maturing of their leadership. The maturity theme melds the utilization of external leadership support with increased skill development, allowing a leadership style to emerge. Support during this mature periodcomes again in the form of mentoring, which merges with peer networking to form a support system that is developed and sought out by the leader. While training remains important, itcomes now in ways that go beyond the MSW degree. Frequently these leaders have become selfdescribed lifelong learners. Skill development seems to happen simultaneously; these CEOSreport having developed the abilities to multitask, fundraise, utilize ethics in decision making, and develop and support staff to reinforce agency mission through mentoring and coaching. These leaders often lend their personal leadership styles and abilities to help other organizations or community collaboratives succeed as well. Their role has become morecomfortable and natural over time. Indeed, the reports of these subjects seem to exemplify that leadership develops over a lifetime. By carefully recording and analyzing these personal histories, I believe that I have garnered information that may inform the field of social work on educational concepts and methods of teaching leadership for social work students.
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