ORGL-522: Leadership and Community Empowerment, Collaboration, and Dialogue

Expected Competencies

Contextual Integration of Leadership and Community
Understand the dynamic relationship between personal leadership, communal structures, and empowered collaboration. Demonstrate the ability to connect spiritual, social, and structural components in fostering effective, inclusive communities.
Immersive Participant Observation
Employ participant-observer methodologies to examine leadership practices in communal settings, integrating personal experience with organizational analysis.
Application of Benedictine Principles to Leadership
Analyze and apply concepts from the Rule of St. Benedict—such as humility, stability, and community rhythm—as metaphors and models for organizational development and leadership design.
Dialogue as a Transformational Tool
Use dialogue and reflection as core practices for understanding, shaping, and sustaining healthy leadership communities.
Strategic Community Building
Demonstrate the ability to synthesize leadership theory and practice into actionable strategies that support empowered, sustainable community engagement and volunteer development.

Achieved Competencies

Ethnographic Leadership Insight
Applied participant-observer analysis from time spent at St. Andrew’s Abbey to identify transferable leadership principles rooted in monastic rhythm, structure, and stability.
Programmatic Visioning
Designed a national NICU Liaison Program integrating contemplative leadership principles, volunteer empowerment, and systemic change in support of families in critical care settings.
Strategic Communication and Belonging
Leveraged Peter Block’s theory of belonging to create organizational infrastructure that fosters identity, relational trust, and commitment in dispersed volunteer communities.
Integration of Ritual into Leadership Culture
Used Benedictine rituals as grounding metaphors to enhance cohesion, reduce burnout, and encourage resilience among NICU volunteers and staff.
Reflective and Embodied Leadership Practice
Deepened personal leadership philosophy through contemplation, Lectio Divina, and relational presence, fostering a more intentional and empathetic leadership style.

Applied Competencies

Metaphor-Based Leadership Framework
Developed “NICU Rhythms” as a metaphor for organizational effectiveness, mirroring Benedictine community life to structure communication, reflection, and empowerment across a national volunteer team.
Volunteer Leadership Design
Created an infrastructure for Hand to Hold’s NICU Liaison Program that draws upon ritual, shared language, and belonging to enhance retention and impact.
Contemplative Strategy
Employed spiritual practices such as Lectio Divina and intentional listening to inform leadership planning and foster cultures of presence in trauma-informed care settings.

Artifact Inclusion

NICU Rhythms as a Metaphor for Organizational Effectiveness (Final Paper)
Strategic framework proposal for NICU Liaison Program (Hand to Hold)
Personal reflections and participant-observer insights from St. Andrew’s Abbey

References

Block, P. (2009). Community: The Structure of Belonging.
Dysinger, L. (1997). The Rule of St. Benedict.
Palmer, P. J. (1993). To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey.
Casey, M. (2001). A Guide to Living in the Truth: Saint Benedict’s Teaching on Humility.
Norris, K. (1996). The Cloister Walk.
Cleveland, L. M. (2008). Parenting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing.
World Health Organization. (2014). Preterm Birth Fact Sheet.
Cascamo, K. (Unpublished). NICU Rhythms as a Metaphor for Organizational Effectiveness.

Key Words

Servant Leadership; Community Empowerment; Organizational Flourishing; NICU; Benedictine Rule; Ritual and Rhythm; Volunteer Development; Participant Observation; Dialogue and Belonging; Trauma-Informed Leadership; Contemplative Practice; Strategic Program Design; Spirituality in Leadership