Making a Difference on Pressing Economic and Social Issues: Learning about and living the collaborative leadership model

The forty Fellows in the 2011 Emerging Leaders Program worked in collaboration with the Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston on their “reshaping poverty policy” initiative. The Fellows used their professional skills to analyze data and create awareness campaigns, in turn getting a deeper view of how their civic engagement can make a difference in addressing social issues that affect both businesses and communities. The Fellows examined factors that affect housing and family homelessness, working closely with three organizations: Boston Tenant Coalition, The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, and GoKids Boston

Teaching Leaders

In an age of instantaneous information sharing and increased interdependence, today’s leaders must learn to work collaboratively, leveraging the strengths, skills, and experiences of those around them, in order to address the challenges they face. The Center for Collaborative Leadership is uniquely situated in the College of Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The purpose of the Center’s Emerging Leaders Program is to challenge and inspire the adult participants in the program to act collaboratively, identify and rethink boundaries, build purposeful relationships, and become better leaders and citizens. In this brief, the authors reflect on how this program is changing not only the individual leaders but, as importantly, the organizations and communities to which they belong. They offer insights on lessons learned that may be beneficial to others who teach graduate students and professionals

Engaging and Expanding Communities: Widening the circle of stakeholders

The 32 fellows in the 2013 Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Engaging and Expanding Communities . They worked with six community partners, and identified ways to help them expand beyond their core stakeholders to a wider circle of stakeholders and broader potential impact. The fellows gave their time and professional skills to understand how to reach new business partners, new participants, new advisors, and new donors. They conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups; explored social media options; examined best practices; and considered ways to tell powerful stories about the vitally important work of the “project sponsor” organizations with whom we partnered. Our six project sponsors – and their widening circle of stakeholders – include: Massachusetts Business Roundtable: Large corporations – & small businesses Girl Scouts of Eastern Mass: Scouts, parents, leaders – & new scouts, volunteers Science from Scientists: Scientists in schools – & engaged donors in this niche Children’s Trust Fund: Struggling families – & supportive young professionals Center for Social Policy: Poor people’s views – and business people’s views Center for Collaborative Leadership: ELP staff - & ELP alumni as ambassador

Lessons from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action

The 34 fellows in the 2014 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Learning from Lived Experience: From fresh insights to effective action. Each year, the projects draw upon a theme or lesson from the prior year. Last year and this year, fellows saw how the lived experiences of both their stakeholders and themselves generated nuanced and appropriate approaches to problem-solving. The fellows worked with six community partners, giving their time and professional skills to understand how to frame complex social challenges, engage new partners and resources, and sharpen strategic plans. They conducted surveys, interviews, open houses, and focus groups; they explored social media options, examined best practices, and considered ways to tell powerful stories about the vitally important work of the project sponsor organizations with whom the ELP partnered. Our six project sponsors are: Massachusetts Business Roundtable, Center for Social Policy at UMass Boston, Hospitality Homes, Commonwealth Diversity Fellows Program, Emerging Leaders Program and the Center for Collaborative Leadership

Supporting Healthy Lives and Vibrant Places: Learning about and living the collaborative leadership model

The 31 fellows in the 2012 UMass Boston Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) worked with community partners to investigate the theme, “Supporting Healthy Lives and Vibrant Places.” They worked in peer self-managed teams, in order to learn collaborative leadership skills first-hand, while engaging with stakeholders and issues where collaboration makes a difference. Their team projects addressed: best practices in corporate wellness initiatives, outreach to support health care access for homeless people, ways to grow awareness of the wide need for affordable housing, ideas for arts-based local economic development, broader funding sources to support innovative research on poverty, and ways to continue to engage and support ELP alumni as they continue to grow as leaders. Through their team projects, they brought their professionalism, analytical skills, and fresh perspectives to nonprofit organizations that benefit from their commitment and energy

Making the Invisible Challenges and Opportunities Visible

The 41 fellows in the 2015 Emerging Leaders Program worked with community partners to generate the theme, “Making the Invisible Challenges and Opportunities Visible: Collaborative leadership for economic and social well-being. The projects provide fellows an opportunity to practice elements of collaborative leadership in peer-led teams working with multiple stakeholders. The projects focus on civic engagement, building a leadership base for Greater Boston that is ready to tackle the big challenges that ensure the broader economic and social well-being of the region. The project sponsor with whom each team works is a nonprofit or governmental organization with big goals. Each team begins the process by refining the scope of work, so they can best leverage their skills for the organization’s strategic needs

Teamwork: Crucible for Learning about Collaborative Leadership

In teaching leadership development we have developed and revised a model of teamwork and collaboration, which has yielded innovative and positive results. Our study draws on insights from more than 90 project teams, gathered over twelve years of a mid-career executive education program designed specifically to teach collaborative leadership. The teams work on a strategic dilemma with a business association or community organization, highlighting the civic engagement aspect of collaborative leadership. Teams devise their own operating procedures, refine (not simply manage) the project, create working relationships with multiple stakeholders, and present a deliverable within the nine-month span of the program. The team experience emphasizes complexity and ongoing reflection. We identify seven concrete leadership skills that emerging leaders developed: coping with ambiguity, working cross-functionally beyond their usual expertise, knowing when to get outside help, understanding different stakeholders, working effectively across dimensions of diversity, dividing labor in a leaderless team, and handing off a project that advances but does not close a complex problem. Rather than implementing flawlessly on a project with defined metrics—which propels potential leaders partway up the ladder—participants shift toward the greater leadership challenges of defining scale and significance, changing course after listening carefully, and learning from obstacles. They emerge from the crucible of teamwork with leadership skills for everyday work and the future

Acute inflammatory reactions to hemostatic materials mimicking post-operative intracranial abscess

AbstractOxidized cellulose can cause acute neurologic worsening in the immediate post-operative period. MRI often shows restricted diffusion around the surgical cavity on the first post-operative MRI. When acute clinical deterioration occurs with the typical MRI findings, the material must be removed surgically

Barriers to exercise in people with Parkinson disease

BACKGROUND: Exercise is known to reduce disability and improve quality of life in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Although barriers to exercise have been studied in older adults, barriers in people with chronic progressive neurological diseases, such as PD, are not well defined. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify perceived barriers to exercise in people with PD. DESIGN: The study had a cross-sectional design. METHODS: People who had PD, dwelled in the community, and were at stage 2.4 on the Hoehn and Yahr scale participated in this cross-sectional study (N=260; mean age=67.7 years). Participants were divided into an exercise group (n=164) and a nonexercise group (n=96). Participants self-administered the barriers subscale of the Physical Fitness and Exercise Activity Levels of Older Adults Scale, endorsing or denying specific barriers to exercise participation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of each barrier to exercise behavior, and odds ratios were reported. RESULTS: Three barriers were retained in the multivariate regression model. The nonexercise group had significantly greater odds of endorsing low outcome expectation (ie, the participants did not expect to derive benefit from exercise) (odds ratio [OR]=3.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.08–7.42), lack of time (OR=3.36, 95% CI=1.55–7.29), and fear of falling (OR=2.35, 95% CI=1.17–4.71) than the exercise group. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional nature of this study limited the ability to make causal inferences. CONCLUSIONS: Low outcome expectation from exercise, lack of time to exercise, and fear of falling appear to be important perceived barriers to engaging in exercise in people who have PD, are ambulatory, and dwell in the community. These may be important issues for physical therapists to target in people who have PD and do not exercise regularly. The efficacy of intervention strategies to facilitate exercise adherence in people with PD requires further investigation

2020 APTA Combined Sections Meeting Scientific Poster Presentation: How Well Do Clinical Walking Measures Predict Natural Walking Behavior In Parkinson Disease?

Declines in the amount and intensity of natural walking behavior in people with Parkinson disease (PD) may precede declines in motor behavior, gait, and balance. Physical interventions targeting walking behavior in PD may have the greatest impact on slowing the progression of disability. Despite a lack of supporting evidence, however, clinicians may be more likely to rely on quick performance measures of walking speed, capacity, and balance to make inferences about a patient’s walking health, rather than direct measures of natural walking behavior. Our primary purpose, therefore, was to examine the extent to which clinical walking measures might predict natural walking behavior in early to mid-stage PD. Secondarily we sought to explore differences in the predictive capability of clinical measures between relatively less active and more active participants.https://dune.une.edu/pt_facpost/1006/thumbnail.jp