Competencies | My Site 2

Social Change Competencies

Before starting the Lead Forward Fellowship, I did not believe that I was capable of making real change in my community. I knew that I was effective at completing tasks, but I doubted my ability to think creatively or initiate meaningful impact. However, throughout the fellowship, I grew exponentially as a leader and realized that any change matters, no matter how small in scale. Our project may be small for now, but we are taking important first steps toward making accessibility a priority in student organizations, and that is the change we are able to make at this moment.

During this experience, I focused on making student organizations more accessible at Purdue University, which helped me strengthen the citizenship competency. I connected directly with the Disabled community, holding important conversations and forming collaborations to work towards the change we all wanted to see. I learned how to approach these discussions ready to listen and grow. True citizenship requires not only leadership but also the humility and intention to create the right kind of change, which is why working closely with the community you aim to serve is necessary to meet the shared purpose in leadership.

Another area where I experienced growth was congruence. I have always believed that accessibility and disability rights matter, but I did not always take action to reflect those values. Through this project, I feel more aligned with my values and beliefs. I am now actively working on something that I truly care about which is incredibly fulfilling. Growing in congruence has made me more passionate and driven to create lasting and relevant change.

Finally, the fellowship helped me develop the competency of reflection. Prior to this experience, I was good at completing tasks and moving on, but I rarely paused to reflect on the broader impact of my work. The fellowship challenged me to slow down and practice self-reflection. I was surprised at how much my project evolved simply by taking the time to critically think about what I was doing, what I needed to learn, and how I could improve the work beyond the tasks themselves. Self-reflection made me a more effective leader, a more thoughtful observer, and more deeply connected to my project. After engagement in this action, I believe that self-reflection is one of the most valuable leadership competencies and one that is too often overlooked in traditional leadership roles.

Francis Corvin and Natalie Horgan have undergone tremendous growth as social impact leaders over the course of their project to make extracurricular student groups more accessible for Disabled students. I have witnessed how they learned to work with multiple stakeholders including university personnel whose offices exist to support Disabled students, but are restricted by bureaucracy and limits of the law; college staff who support students while needing a continual education of students’ evolving needs; student committees and organizations that have never previously considered accessibility barriers; Disabled students advocating for inclusion; and students who need inspiration and concrete instructions on how to make extracurricular groups more accessible. Francis and Natalie showed leadership in negotiating with these stakeholders and perseverance as they not only advocated for change but took steps to implement that change.

They demonstrated by example how a student group, HonorServes, can implement practices of accessibility, but first they had to develop a suite of practices that befits student life outside the classroom! Smartly, they decided to use their findings to create a resource guide for others. In so doing, I watched the growth of their understanding of how systems work and an acceptance of how change must be pushed to be immediate, but takes time if that change is to be systematic rather than a one-off. They developed their skills of persuasion over the course of this project. Francis and Natalie were each thoughtful individuals from the start, and they expanded their leadership skillset to make room for more flexibility and consensus building.

Finally, and this is a sign of advanced leadership ability, Francis and Natalie invested significant time into making their work sustainable for the future by creating “accessibility how to” materials for future students to use, developing a system to disseminate their materials, submitting a research paper on the subject, and including new students in their cause. Together with these new students, Francis and Natalie co-developed a plan for future expansion of the project. Francis and Natalie should be proud of not only their accomplishments but managing struggles along the way.

— Rosanne Altstatt, Lead Forward Accessibility Mentor