Leading Positive Change

Leading Positive Change represents the culmination of Southern Leaders’ learnings throughout the program. In this tier, Leaders explore the complex nature of leading change. They take part in the LEAD 3000: Rethinking Community Leadership course, where they analyze the factors that impact communities and organizations. Through interactive classroom experiences and engaging discussions, LEAD 3000 focuses on leadership and community engagement, allowing Leaders to develop a deeper understanding of their interconnectedness. Afterward, Leaders apply their leadership skills in real-world settings, such as workplaces or leadership positions, through the Leadership Incubator. This practical experience is accompanied by guided reflections, further enhancing their grasp of leadership in action.

Students will engage with these experiences and more through the Leading Positive Change curriculum, which includes:

• LEAD 3000: Rethinking Community Leadership
• Complete a Leadership Incubator Experience
• Complete the third and final portion of the LinkedIn project

Leadership Incubator

Southern Leaders actively practice and develop their leadership skills through the Leadership Incubator. They take part in internships, co-ops, student leadership positions, work experiences, or other approved spaces to exercise their leadership abilities. During these experiences, Southern Leaders engage in guided discussions and receive personalized coaching from the Southern Leaders team. This process enhances their overall leadership development.

Leadership Incubator experiences must be at least a semester long, and the job/leadership role must be held during the semester you are completing your Incubator experience. As mentioned above, Leaders will participate in guided reflections during their Incubator experience; these are completed via Google forms on a monthly basis during the semester. At the end of the semester, Leaders participate in a one-to-one coaching meeting with a member of the Southern Leaders staff to round out their Incubator experience.

Learning Objectives

After completing the Leading Positive Change tier, students will be able to:

• Articulate how context influences the change process
• Demonstrate personal, group, and contextual reflection
• Connect the leadership behavior of ‘Challenge the Process’ to leading change
• Articulate your source(s) of power and how it affects your leadership in communities/organizations
• Develop a personal philosophy for leading positive change in the community
• Implement a team-based project that meets an identified community need
• Connect leadership development to future career aspirations or community involvement
• Reflect on their practice of leadership

Leadership Competencies

Through Leading Positive Change, students will develop the following leadership competencies (Seemiller, 2014):

• Power Dynamics
• Creating Change
• Organizational Behavior
• Social Justice
• Social Responsibility
• Problem Solving
• Systems Thinking

Leadership Certificate

After completing the curricular and co-curricular requirements for Leading Positive Change, students will receive a certificate at the end of the year. Additionally, if students have successfully completed all three tiers of Southern Leaders, they will be awarded the Leadership and Service diploma seal and the prestigious Southern Leaders graduate medallion.

Last updated: 5/16/2023