Change Projects | Leadership

All degree students in the Center for Creative Change conduct a capstone change project in an organization or community. Change projects enable students to integrate ideas studied in the classroom with real-world experiences of social change.

These student change projects cover a range of issues and approach them in many different ways. Here are examples of student projects on the role of collaborative leadership in social change: 

An Uncooperative Co-op Provides a Lesson in Group Dynamics

Tara Beatty (Organizational Psychology) explored collaborative leadership and group dynamics by working with the shareholder's association at the cooperative where she lives. How can communication be improved in a group with a long, rich history? How can group members be encouraged to take personal responsibility for the group's process? Beatty's work elucidated the answers to these and similar questions.

Shared Leadership: Dynamics Revealed

How is shared leadership experienced? Does it emerge? Can it be cultivated? Working with a group from a community college, Gina Carter (Organizational Psychology) investigated shared leadership in a dyad and in a team, focusing on group dynamics, team effectiveness and organizational development.

From Committee to Community

Anne Clamoungou (Management) worked with Project Stop Hate, an initiative that teaches elementary school students to recognize and respond effectively to racism. Her work explored the challenges of effective collaboration, trust building and shared leadership. She took the initiative from functioning like a committee to one with a deep sense of community.

Strategies for Developing a Leadership Network

Ryan Hawkes (Whole Systems Design) helped to develop a leadership network for the more than 60 community gardens in Seattle (P-patches). Using systemic thinking and strategic reframing, he designed a leadership model for a supportive agency to increase social capital and collaboration between gardens and gardeners.

Leadership Training: Helping Community Members to Resolve Differences

Rene Neff (Management) collaborated with members of the Maxwelton Salmon Adventure on Whidbey Island to create a leadership training seminar that provided strategies and tools to help local environmentalists and farmers resolve issues related to salmon migration.

Leadership and Organizational Development

By studying Ricardo Semler's Semco Corporation, Donna Nichols (Management) explored how leadership styles can affect organizational development. She also looked at the relationship between organizational leadership, democratic decision-making and consensus management.

Contextual Leadership: I'll Meet You There

Eleanor Trainor (Organizational Psychology) worked with a women's sports organization and studied contextual leadership in multiple capacities. Through this experience, she learned the importance of meeting people where they are to create an opportunity to influence transformation and change.

Leading Virtual Teams in Volunteer Organizations

Andrew Wong (Management) evaluated the operations of the Metropolitan Church's volunteer virtual tech team. Andrew then led an initiative that re-vitalized it. The re-vitalization initiative relied on team-building strategies, motivational tools and enhanced collaboration.