Reflection 4: Friday, June 25th (Anna Marston, Council for Court Excellence)

Category: Theories in Action

As my fourth week at CCE comes to a close, I remain extremely impressed with the workplace for fostering such an inspiring environment even in a virtual world. The nature of CCE’s work is helping those impacted by the DC justice system–a difficult, hard-to-swallow topic where policy change is not always easy. Therefore, the staff members on the job, as well as the interns, almost always come to the table with an extreme passion for justice reform, reentry, improving DC, or nonprofit work–they usually want to help people. Based on my observations and my own passions to improve the lives of returning citizens, I find transformational leadership to be the most relevant theory to my internship at CCE. Transformational leadership “is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents,” (Burns, 1978). Each of the supervisors and my peer interns have exhibited examples of transformational leadership in their roles. 

Misty, the Executive Director of CCE, exhibits transformational leadership in her role every day. Not only is she a mother to a 2-year-old, but she is also currently pregnant, while also balancing her role as Executive Director. An example of her transformational leadership actually came today during a call I had with her and Emily, the Deputy Director. She pulled me onto a project to research for and create a survey for the DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers. I expressed that I was nervous to take on this task as I did not know a ton about the report we were pulling from; Misty was incredibly attentive to my nerves as well as nonjudgmental while answering questions, pushing me that I was more than qualified to complete this project. In reviewing my progress on the project, she continued to ask for my feedback, pushing me to feel that my opinion mattered to her. In this interaction and others–such as during Full Staff Meetings, Board Meetings, and other workshops, Misty and Emily both exude motivational, supportive, attentive behaviors. At the beginning of every Staff Meeting, we begin by telling funny stories from the weekend and enjoy camaraderie, but the Directors are always pushing interns and staff to their fullest potential to get the work done. 

I would say that each member of the staff and each intern acts as a transformational leader in their own way, both in the greater DC community and within CCE. Each staff member leads committees full of Board members, testifies at public hearings, and publishes research in the field of criminal justice. They lead by example and motivate others through their credentials–undergoing schooling and legal training, presenting at citywide events, and advocating for change. Engaging with others with compassion, holding people to the highest moral standards, and motivating others are pieces of transformational leadership that CCE staff members each execute on a daily basis.