Leadership in Counseling Psychology: Introduction to the Special Issue

In this introductory article to the two-part special issue, we focus on leadership as a critical action in which many counseling psychologists will engage at some point in their careers. Counseling psychologists can and do take on any number of roles necessitating that they lead others, and yet the topic of leadership has been sorely neglected in the scholarly literature in the field. In this special issue, the first to appear in The Counseling Psychologist focused on this topic, we aim to provide information, practical advice, and inspiration for those who are current leaders in the field as well as for those who aspire to engage in leadership roles in the future.

First, we consider the question: What does it mean to be a counseling psychologist “leader?” Are we leading when we teach or mentor others? Are we leading when we intervene with clients? Are we leading when we engage in research? Are we leading when we undertake administrative roles? Are we leading when we provide court testimony or partner with community groups? Are we leading when we participate in a group that is working toward change, even if we are not the designated “leader?” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “to lead” means “to guide on a way especially by going in advance,” “to direct on a course or in a direction,” and “to serve as a channel for” (Merriam-Webster, 2017). Implicit in these definitions is the presence of others who are responding to the actions of the leader, and also assumed is a direction, destination, or endpoint for the collective movement of the leader and the followers.

Thus, broadly conceptualized, common professional activities of counseling psychologists such as teaching, mentoring, conducting research, providing therapy, and engaging actively in communities—in addition to engaging in formally designated organizational or elected roles—indeed can be viewed as leadership, as they all involve guiding, directing, and channeling the movement of others intellectually, emotionally, attitudinally, and behaviorally. Moreover, counseling psychologists are active as leaders in the larger field of psychology, particularly in their involvement in professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA). In fact, there is even a designated governance position in Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology, for the monitoring and coordination of counseling psychologists currently involved in APA governance.

Given that common professional activities of counseling psychologists clearly involve leadership, it seems important to understand the act of leading as it relates to our work. This understanding will help us lead effectively—that is, successfully help others achieve desirable outcomes and function as leaders within the standards and values of our field. In this effort, we hope this special issue will begin to address the current gap in scholarship on leadership in counseling psychology.

A search of articles published in The Counseling Psychologist, for example, reveals that leadership has been discussed within the context of the internationalization of counseling psychology (Forrest, 2010), as it pertains to aspirations of doctoral students (Gregor & O’Brien, 2015), in the honoring of esteemed leaders through the Legacies and Traditions Forum (e.g., Hill, 2000), and as part of a mentoring award address (Neville, 2015).

However, despite the implicit or explicit inclusion of leadership considerations in some of the counseling psychology literature, there has been almost no attention to the scholarship of leadership, including leadership approaches and theories, leadership skills and competencies, leadership processes and outcomes, leadership assessment, and leadership training. This is unfortunate because this knowledge might help leaders better navigate their roles across contexts and cultures, might benefit the myriad settings in which counseling psychologists function as well as the diverse populations that they serve, and might suggest viable directions for developing future leaders in our field. It is our observation that counseling psychologists have been largely unintentional (and perhaps not even consciously thoughtful) about their leadership, particularly in their day-to-day professional lives apart from their formal organizational roles. We believe that it is both critical and timely for us to become more deliberate about our leadership, and to consider whether our professional actions reflect merely reactions and responses to environmental pressures or an effort to actually seize and shape our destiny. Incorporating and building upon a scholarly literature of leadership can help move us forward.

Although counseling psychologists have largely ignored leadership as a topic of study, the broader field of psychology and society at large have not. Contemporary social media (print and electronic) are bursting with leadership stories, ranging from personal narratives (e.g., Schnall, 2013) to analyses of the behaviors of politicians (e.g., Bruni, 2017), particularly given that the current presidential administration is exhibiting what many view as a “leadership crisis” (e.g., Galupo, 2017; Shear, Steinhauer, & Flegenheimer, 2017). Employment domains from academe to nursing and policing publicly declaim their struggles to find good leaders (e.g., see Blumenstyk, 2015 on the leadership crisis in higher education), and numerous websites aim to appeal to members of a particular demographic (e.g., women; see Huffington Post [2017] for one example). Training opportunities that purport to build leadership capacities abound, often with high price tags; the American Management Association (2017) listed 320 on-site or on-line courses available on July 7, 2017, and the American Council on Education (2017) on the same date listed eight programs for presidents and senior academic leaders, two programs for rising administrators, and four additional programs related to diversity and inclusion. The business literature has focused for decades on leadership (e,g., Stewart, 2007), and many business programs in colleges and universities as well as freestanding business-related organizations (such as Forbes) feature “executive MBA” programs to provide targeted training and advanced degrees on leadership to working executives (e.g., Bajic, 2017).

Within psychology, there are both specialties and individual scholars that place an emphasis on leadership. Many of the writings on the topic have appeared in the organizational and consulting psychology literature. The 2009 Annual Review of Psychology includes a review of the leadership literature in psychology (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009). APA’s flagship journal, the American Psychologist, published a special issue focused on leadership in January 2007 (Sternberg, 2007), which provides an overview of many important aspects of the literature on leadership. Notably absent from this 2007 contribution, however, was a discussion of leadership from a multicultural and social justice perspective. To address this critical gap, a follow-up issue of the American Psychologist appeared in April 2010 (Chin, 2010). These contributions should be of great interest and value to counseling psychologists. The first issue provides a concise and readable introduction to the leadership literature, and the second focuses specifically on diversity, a core value of our field. In the second contribution, for example, topics included women leaders (Cheung & Halpern, 2010), gender influences and contexts for leadership (Ayman & Korabik, 2010), women of color leaders (Sanchez-Hucles & Davis, 2010), and leadership as it relates to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals (Fassinger, Shullman, & Stevenson, 2010). Notably, there were several counseling psychologists who contributed to this important issue, and yet leadership literature within counseling psychology has been extremely limited.

Thus, in the two parts of the present special issue in The Counseling Psychologist, we sought to address some of the gaps in the literature by providing a snapshot of work currently conducted by counseling psychologists in the area of leadership. In the call for the special issue, we sought empirical, theoretical, and conceptual contributions, as well as descriptions and analyses of specific initiatives and innovative applications. We indicated our interest in manuscripts from authors diverse in their demographic, social, and identity locations, as well as articles based on interdisciplinary collaborations. We particularly welcomed contributions related to the training and development of future leaders in our field. Our call also emphasized addressing particular aspects of counseling psychology (e.g., values, foci) that might affect the conceptualization and enactment of leadership, as well as the importance of locating the contribution within the broader field of psychology. We describe next the two parts within this special issue (the current August issue and the forthcoming October issue).

This first part of the special issue focuses on various contexts and settings in which counseling psychologists consider and enact leadership. One of the main contexts in which many counseling psychologists lead is in the academic setting. Fassinger and Good (2017 [this issue]) note characteristics that may render counseling psychologists particularly well-suited for academic leadership roles, critically examine challenges in higher education today, and offer the example of mentoring as a challenging leadership task for academic administrators. They also offer practical advice for counseling psychologists who are considering moving into academic administration. Many academics also lead by taking their research expertise out into their local communities. Tucker, Williams, Roncoroni, and Heesacker (2017 [this issue]) present a leadership approach that counseling psychologists can implement when conducting community-based participatory action research. These authors provide an example of their leadership approach in addressing health disparities in two low-income, diverse communities, and discuss the challenges of implementing the approach, particularly the challenges encountered in giving voice to all community partners in the research process, and in promoting a sense of justice and empowerment within marginalized communities.

As counseling psychologists work in communities, cultural issues are of paramount importance. Two articles in this issue specifically focus on integrating diverse cultural perspectives into leadership models. In one article, Varghese et al. (2017 [this issue]) make a case for the relevance of Asian Indian values to counseling psychologists, and suggest specific ways in which these values may complement a transformational leadership approach. Specifically, they discuss the integration of duty, selfless service, and nonviolence into leadership within counseling psychology. In another article the authors, all of whom are past presidents of the National Latina/o Psychological Association (Miville et al., 2017 [this issue]), discuss the importance of honoring cultural roots in enacting leadership. Specifically, they present an historical account of the creation of the National Latina/o Psychological Association and the ways in which their leadership processes have been influenced by the cultural values of colectivismo, familismo, simpatía, confianza, respeto, fatalismo, and personalismo.

The last two articles published in the first issue, although not a formal component of the special issue, are closely aligned with our topic and we highlight them here as well. First, we note the Leona Tyler Award address by Melba Vasquez (2017 [this issue]), in which she argues that diversity in leadership is a compelling interest for society. Using Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as a model, she contends that individuals with mujerista, womanist, and/or feminist internalized attitudes and identities are well poised to become effective leaders, as they are aware of injustice and committed to engage in social justice advocacy. Hargons et al. (2017 [this issue]) also focus on social justice in their call to action for counseling psychology leaders to engage in a critical contemporary challenge: the extrajudicial killings of Black people and the resulting Black Lives Matter movement. In their article, the authors use the framework of spontaneity in social movements to describe ways in which counseling psychologists have been involved, as well as make recommendations for their further involvement, in this critical and timely social justice activity.

The second part of this special issue focuses on leadership conceptualizations and development, including ways in which leadership scholarship can and should be integrated into counseling psychology. First, Shullman (in press) discusses the role of leadership in counseling psychology and the need for a more mindful and focused approach to leadership as core to counseling psychology, especially given its stated foundations. Shullman raises the possibility of a future in which counseling psychologists adopt a scientist-practitioner-advocate-leader model, more actively enacting contemporary leadership approaches and outcomes. Next, Fassinger and Shullman (in press) present an overview of the leadership literature, noting especially areas of likely synergy with counseling psychology. They give examples of applications of leadership in counseling psychology, highlight areas of success, identify cross-cutting challenges for counseling psychologists regarding leadership in myriad settings and roles, and point to the importance of training for leadership in counseling psychology.

The remaining three articles address leadership development. Phillips et al. (in press) introduce the Society of Counseling Psychology Leadership Academy and provide results of a formative evaluation conducted by program leaders. Specifically, the article presents the history of the Academy, its conceptual foundations, curriculum, and implementation processes. Drawing from functionalist, interpretive, and dialogic leadership development discourses, they critically examine the work undertaken by the Academy and discuss ongoing efforts to improve its effectiveness. The voices of leadership academy participants themselves are featured in a companion article that augments the information provided by program faculty. In this article, Hewitt et al. (in press) report on a qualitative study that offers insight into alumni perceptions of the influence of the Academy on their professional and personal development. Specifically, the authors discuss facilitative factors and barriers to leadership development experienced by participants in the Academy, as well as participants’ outcomes related to professional opportunities, ability to embrace counseling psychology values, and leadership skill development process. The final article in this section presents the results of a collaborative autoethnography of counseling psychology student leaders. Using bridge leadership as a conceptual framework, Hargons, Lantz, Reid Marks, & Voelkel (in press) present a qualitative study of factors associated with participants’ leadership development processes such as personal identity, future orientation, determination to pursue further leadership opportunities, availability of opportunities, and receipt of mentoring.

The two-part special issue concludes with a brief article providing an overview of the contribution as a whole: a reflection on what we have learned about the state of scholarship regarding leadership in counseling psychology. In this review (Fassinger, Shullman, & Buki, in press), as editors of the special issue we provide commentary on the articles it contains, noting strengths, relevance, and unanswered questions. Finally, we offer ideas about where to go next in developing our counseling psychology literature to capture more fully the work that we can and must do in the science, practice, education and training, and social justice domains of leadership in counseling psychology.