Social Change Model of Leadership

Student Leadership & Engagement is guided by student development theories, Jesuit values, and the Social Change Model of Leadership, where leadership is a process that incorporates the individual, group, and community.

The Social Change Model of Leadership views leadership as a process rather than as a position and promotes the values of equity, social justice, self-knowledge, personal empowerment, collaboration,citizenship, and service.

Values are core critical elements of the Social Change Model – specifically these seven:

Individual Consciousness of Self Awareness of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions that motivate on to take action.
  Congruence Thinking, feeling, and behaving with consistency, genuineness, authenticity, and honesty.
  Commitment Motivational energy to serve and that drives the collective effort.  Commitment implies passion, intensity, and duration.
Group Collaboration Working with others in a common effort.  It constitutes the cornerstone value of the group leadership effort because it empowers self and others through trust.
  Common Purpose Working with shared aims and values.  It facilitates the group's ability to engage in collective analysis of the issues at hand and the task to be undertaken.
  Controversy with Civility Recognizes two fundamental realities of any creative group effort: that differences in viewpoint are inevitable, and that such  differences must be aired openly but with civility.
Community Citizenship Process whereby the individual and the collaborative group become responsibly connected to the community and the society through the leadership experience.

CHANGE, of course, is the value "hub" which gives meaning and purpose to the 7 C’s. Change, in other words, is the ultimate goal of the creative process of leadership - to make a better world and a better society for self and others.

Adapted from the the Social Change Model of Leadership Development Guidebook, version III.