Leadership and innovation in social work Last week we were joined by Kyrene Darko, a Frontline fellow and creator of the social work leaders podcast, for a coffee break on leadership and innovation in social work. Below you can find some key insights from the session. ⭐We are all leaders: We often think that leadership is something we reach at a certain point in our careers, when actually leadership is not just about a title, it’s a way of being, it's an action and it really is a doing word. For social workers it's important that we all know that we can and should be thinking about ourselves as leaders from the moment we start our journeys in social work. ⭐Let's innovate: We all know that social work isn't a one size fits all model, it's important for us to think about how we innovate and adapt our practice to make sure it fits the families that we're working with. Innovation can be scary at first, but we need to remember that as social workers we are the experts in social work and we are the right people to create the changes that we want to see. ⭐Leadership and innovation go hand in hand: Being a leader in social work is all about thinking outside of the box, it's about recognising the need of the child and family you're working with and looking at how you can create or develop something to have an impact for that family. Kyrene's top tips: 1️⃣Identify a problem before identifying the solution: unpick the problem you are trying to solve, don’t start with a solution and work backwards - as you may find your solution doesn’t fit the problem. 2️⃣Seek opportunities for coaching, training and mentorship. 3️⃣Feel the fear and do it anyway: sometimes we can be too scared to take the leap to do something differently, but if you really believe in something and the positive change it could make then push forward and try something new. If we in the profession are not going to try and make a change, then why would anyone else. Watch previous coffee breaks on our YouTube channel.

Posted by Fellowship team at 2024-11-13 12:26:44 UTC