Effective Leadership Within a Human Services Organisation

Leadership within organisations varies significantly across the public, private and third sector. This paper will examine the difference within leadership in the human service sector, looking at the influence that the human services sector has on leadership practices and analysing effective leadership models which lend themselves to the human services context.

Leadership is the role of directing and influencing the trajectory of an organisation through guiding employees, stakeholders and others that are involved the day to day functioning of an organisation to align their daily practice towards the organisational goals. The concept of leadership comprises of many aspects including organisational, personal and social processes that motivate direction. Effective leadership strives to improve the organisational processes to stay current with the changing nature of society and become innovative to meet changing demands. Leadership, unlike management, occurs across many levels of an organisation and is not a direct top-down approach informed by management. Effective leadership strives for positive change and continual improvement through clear vision, transparency of processes, valued input stakeholders, trust and effective organisational culture. Leadership within the third sector – those whose main objectives are focused on addressing social aspects over economic return vary from the traditional public and private organisation leadership styles. The environments in which Human service organisations operate have become vastly more complex over time. This complex nature is evident through the ever-changing socio-dynamic variations to localities, explained by the occurrence of immigration, resulting in transient demographic profiles that are dynamic and diverse in nature. The ever-changing nature of these areas means the Human service sector is continually adjusting their leadership and services to meet the needs of the changing socio-economic populations within the locality that the organisation operates.

Leadership Models, Philosophies and Styles

Leadership models, philosophies and styles vary between organisations and sectors, many leadership models and theories were developed for corporate and military bodies, which have vastly different objectives and processes to human service organisations. The underpinning philosophies and styles of leadership that work within the business sector often are not successful within the human services sector resulting in poor organisational culture and organisational objectives not being met.

Key leadership theoretical frameworks seen within the human services sector include transformational, situational and servant leadership.

• Transformational Leadership has a corporate focus, characterised by the emphasis on leaders encouraging, inspiring and motivating their employees to be innovative and generate change to promote growth and influence the future success of an organisation. Transformational leadership utilises senior-level managers to set an example to subordinates by developing a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence within their practice.
• Situational leadership proposes that no single leadership style is best for an organisation; it centres around the best direction and strategies that are suited to the task. This style of leadership is adaptive and innovative, allowing for flexibility to adapt to the changing environments. Situational leadership comprises of four styles which are dependent on the employees' level of knowledge, skills and willingness to complete tasks. The use of situational leadership allows leaders to read the situation and level of competence of individuals and tailor an approach that is suitable for the situation. It provides for support and direction depending on an individual's competence.
• Servant leadership is categorised as both a theoretical framework and a set of principles used to help others achieve a shared objective. Servant leadership places the needs of others before itself and emphasises the importance of empowering staff to continually develop their skill sets and perform to the best of their ability.

Leadership styles can be categorised into three classes, task orientated, relations orientated and change orientated. The core leadership styles seen within the human services sector span these three categories and include adaptive, distributed, authentic and servant leadership styles. Due to the complex nature of the human services sector, the suitability of these styles varies between organisations and are dependent on the current social, political and economic environments.

Adaptive leadership is defined by DeRue as 'leading and following as a complex adaptive process' . This style of leadership centres around the input of differing knowledge, beliefs and preferences of individuals working within the organisation. A leader emerges from the group who has skills set and knowledge in a particular area that is required to complete that task. Adaptive leadership is more flexible in application and utilises the knowledge of previous experience to adapt to the changing dynamics of the sector. Adaptive leadership allows multiple people within the organisation to be leaders when their expertise and knowledge align with the task that needs to be completed. Distributed leadership shares a few commonalities with adaptive leadership, when using a distributed leadership style, there are multiple leaders within the organisation, who are responsible for a specific area. An example of distributed leadership within the human services sector is in an organisation where team leaders are assigned to manage their team of employees. Both adaptive and distributed leadership styles have multiple leaders across the organisation.

Authentic leadership is based around developing an approach that provides consistency in words, actions and values. Authentic leadership requires the leader to have a comprehensive understanding of their values and not allow the values or beliefs of others to influence their actions regarding leadership decisions. Core values often act as a motivational force guiding decision-making processes for authentic leaders. This creates a workplace culture promoting mutual trust, transparency and guidance towards the shared objectives of the organisation and the wellbeing and career development of individuals within the organisation.

Unlike the public or private sectors, leadership within the human services sector is influenced by a multitude of factors. These include but are not limited to: the gendered nature of the industry, the causality of funding, multiple and complex needs of clients, the pressure of service delivery, high staff turnover, relationship with clients and the context of the day. Within the human services sector, no two days are the same; the challenges and demands that human service employees face daily is the unpredictable nature of this industry. Due to the unique nature of this sector, leadership within the human services sector focuses on the needs of vulnerable people in communities that are dependent on developing strong relationships with their communities.

A common theme of divided staff can be seen within human service organisations, between trained human service staff and administrative teams. Having a sound leadership model can be challenging when the goals of these two crucial yet distinct teams are opposing. Leadership within Human services organisations have two fundamental purposes, to assist their clients and to stay in business, one cannot exist without the other.

Within human service organisations, a lack of social workers employed in senior administrative roles. This shortage can be seen as a result of the lack of leadership training incorporated within social work education and continued professional development within the human services sector. To address this disparity within the industry, the skill sets of those in the human services sector need to be expanded to include leadership and organisational knowledge. It is imperative that staff have an understanding and appreciation of the roles within the organisation. All positions should add to the organisation, bringing skillsets that add value and expertise to the organisation and aligns with the key organisational objectives.

In a sector characterised by the complexity of an ever-changing, unreliable environment, human service organisations must adopt an inclusive leadership style, which reflects the objective and core values of the industry. Solely using a corporate based leadership model within the human service sector influences practice methods and organisational outcomes. These styles often undermine the ability of the human services employees to facilitate positive client outcomes, prioritising organisational growth. An effective leadership style can be developed implementing a style that is composed of aspects of the situational and servant leadership theories, incorporating aspects from adaptive and authentic styles of leadership resulting in an approach that is collaborative, innovative, relationship orientated, and supportive. This approach allows for reflexive and ethical practice to be completed and be innovative as often limited funding and resources are readily available in the sector. Implementing a mixed- model of leadership equips organisations to meet the complex demands of clients' needs and allows the organisation to remain financially viable to continue providing services.

Conclusion

A crucial element on developing an effective leadership style within a human services organisation is the current nature of the sector which is then influenced by the identified target group that the organisation works with and their needs. Effective leadership within the Human services sector should see organisations developing innovative methods to address the changing nature of the sector. Having competent leadership within an organisation is reflected in the organisation's ability to harness the changing dynamics of the world. The changing dynamics influence the social and political realms which flow on to impact the sector and individuals within a society. Effective leadership should be reflected in an organisations ability to adapt and implement changes stay current and meet the changing needs of vulnerable people within society. A combination of leadership models, philosophies and styles best suit the unique nature of the human services sector where the main focus is on the meeting the needs of the most vulnerable over creating a business empire centred around financial gains.

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