On Leadership: Razia Shariff

Knowledge: Necessary for Leadership
Razia Shariff

I recently attended a social leadership enquiry event to explore leadership in the social sector and from the discussions it was clear that the role of leadership was going to be key in navigating the new environment and landscape of austerity and coalition politics.

For me, leadership is more about ‘pushing the boundaries of thought and possibilities’ as Foucault would say, of the new framework that is being imposed on you by government policy and its implementation at the local government level. Student protests and sit-ins against the new legislation on EMA and tuition fees is an example of leadership, standing up for the principles that you believe in, organising social action and not giving up when you are being ignored by policy and decision makers.

The most productive form of leadership would be to push within the system to mould it into a better system to resist from within changes that are not right, rather than accepting them and trying to do the best with what you are given, or petitioning and protesting on the streets. It's about being ‘makers and shapers’ not just ‘users and choosers’ as Gaventa so aptly puts it in his paper on repositioning participation in social policy.

But to be able to influence and inform changes to the system you need to have knowledge and information to back up your counter arguments for change. As part of the Knowledge Exchange work at the Third Sector Research Centre we try to ensure that the research knowledge we produce is informed by the realities of policy and practice, and that the research we create is published and shared in ways that are of use and relevance to policy makers and practitioners.

Leadership is an acquired skill but to ensure maximum impact you need to make a convincing argument and for that, you need knowledge.

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Razia leads TSRC’s Knowledge Exchange Team. Her role is to ensure that the research undertaken by TSRC is transformed into action and impact by practitioners and policy makers.