Virtual Colloquium Concludes our 2020 Adaptive Leadership Fellowship

On April 20, 2020, our fifth cohort of MSW Adaptive Leadership Fellows concluded the program with a virtual colloquium featuring presentations from the 25 Fellows. The fellowship, which has been funded from the start by the B. Robert Williamson Jr. Foundation and the Katherine and Howard Aibel Foundation, was expanded with additional funding from The New York Community Trust to include 10 MSW students from CUNY’s College of Staten Island as well as 15 from NYU Silver.

Clinical Associate Professor/Executive-in-Residence Dr. Linda Lausell Bryant, who co-directs the fellowship with Marc Manashil, explained, “We host this colloquium as an opportunity to share highlights of the journey that you've been through as Adaptive Leadership Fellows and also for you to have the opportunity to share some of what you have learned through this process with your colleagues, friends, and supporters of this work. It is also a celebration of your commitment to engage in learning adaptive leadership, and to work towards increasing the impact of the social work profession in making progress on large scale adaptive challenges that hold back human potential, human development, equity, and justice.”

The adaptive leadership framework helps individuals and organizations adapt and thrive in challenging environments. It emphasizes cultivating leadership in others and leveraging the contributions that everyone across an organization has to make. In their presentations, the Fellows shared the aspects of the framework that resonated most strongly with them, and how they applied those strategies to adaptive challenges in their field placements as well as in their lives in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following is a sampling of what the the Fellows shared:

“Adaptive Leadership has been, perhaps, the most valuable experience I have had in social work school. It has changed the way I view society, organizations, and myself. It has provided me with an important definition of leadership, a new framework through which to understand organizations, and a better understanding of how I can lead.” – Rachel Waldman, NYU Silver

“I feel confident in having the skills to reframe conversations and present ideas and strategies to improve outcomes and create space for underrepresented folks.” – Arthur Larsen, College of Staten Island

“To change the system is where adaptive leadership steps in – CHALLENGING the status quo and SHAPING what might be.” – Tavleen Kaur, NYU Silver

“The Adaptive Leadership Fellowship has been a truly enriching professional and personal experience. Throughout my career, I have blamed organizational issues on authority or broken systems, felt hopeless, and avoided addressing challenges despite how passionate I felt about change. By learning the Adaptive Leadership Framework, I feel confident that I am part of the system and therefore, I can influence it.” – Kaylin Trifeletti, College of Staten Island

“I first took the adaptive leadership fellowship with the goal of learning more about being effective in an administrative position, [however] I never imagined how the fellowship would challenge my viewpoint of every aspect of my life.” – Nerija Rosemond,, NYU Silver

“I have the confidence. I can be brave. I can take action.” – Kaichen Tan, NYU Silver

“I find this definition of leadership powerful, even radical.  It helps me to understand leadership as deeply humane, as human centered, as empathic work, and as work that requires a wise heart.” – Jill Dovale, NYU Silver

Congratulations to all the 2020 MSW Adaptive Leadership Fellows!