Note: This article was written by Thom Hughart, Adjunct Professor at Suffolk University in School Counseling, Director of Guidance at Wellesley High School, and Executive Board member of MASCA. The article appeared in most recently in the December 2007 issue of The Counselor’s Notebook, a publication of MASCA, and also appeared in 2005.
The topic is about leadership, where is it coming from? I want to put a plug in for interns and the value of having interns working within our departments. I am still puzzled by guidance directors who do not have at least one intern in their department. If space is the issue, I have found ways to overcome that problem. I cannot imagine providing all the services we provide at my school without the help of our two interns. What they do for our department is so important, but equally important is what they can do four our counselors. They can teach us, keep us up to date on what’s new in the field, contribute to our own professional development. They have to do action research or some type of research project. Turn them loose on your school – what have you wanted to study, explore, better understand. Of course someone has to provide supervision to them and fill out some forms for their school, but nothing is really free. I still believe the payoff totally outweighs the cost.
Here is the piece about future leaders. If we truly feel a commitment to our profession then I believe we have a commitment to do our part to cultivate our aspiring leaders.
That brought me back to my major concern for our profession – leadership.
(from The Counselors’ Notebook – 11/2005)
Where are the leaders for tomorrow? They are sitting in our Counselor Education Programs, they are interning in our schools and we are supervising them, they are working in our departments as new counselors. We can spot them; take a look around. They are the ones who have the energy and enthusiasm to jump right in with both feet and get the job done. They ask the probing questions and struggle to understand every last drop of meaning in our responses. They think and act with the perfect balance of independence and interdependence. They are not afraid of words like “accountability, data driven or standards based”. They are comfortable with change and do not see it as a threat. They have successful ways of controlling stress in their lives and still love their jobs. They are neither naive nor cynical. They firmly grasp the reality of our profession and want to improve it.
My point is this – there are leaders for tomorrow and we know them. We work with them. We don’t have to hunt for them, just open our eyes and see them. But that’s not enough. We must nurture them, care for them, support them, mentor them. We have to tell them that we see these leadership qualities in them. We should help direct them to forums where they can be leaders; first within their own schools, then to the larger arenas.
We can encourage them to lead a committee or co lead one. We could recommend that they represent the department on a board or committee. Find opportunities for them to become involved in district, state or national organizations or activities. If at all possible, allow them released time to pursue these leadership opportunities. They need our assistance and direction to move from potential leadership to actual leadership.
And we need these new leaders now. As professional school counselors we are called upon to define ourselves, to rewrite our job descriptions, to compose mission statements and to take back control of who we are and what we do. We need the freshness of perception and the dynamism of our newer colleagues. If you supervise, educate or work with new counselors take the time to identify the developing leaders and give them your verbal and emotional support. Be direct – tell them they would be excellent on such and such a board or on this or that committee. We are beyond the time when we can sit and wait for someone to come along and pick up the leadership.