SW Intrapreneurship or SW Entrepreneurship: You Decide

Many individuals have dreams and aspirations of one day owning their own business and this is no different for professional social workers. Social Workers are skilled in the science of collaboration, resource allocation, and problem solving. Effective critical thinking is the cornerstone of our education and fear is typically not in our lexicon. Social Workers understand the influence of social and economic issues and the impact on human functioning. We are often economically conservative (frugal) and skilled practitioners in the art of stretching limited funds for the greater good. These are tremendous attributes to have as social entrepreneurs.

Even though economic challenges continue to persist on a local, national and international level, this uncertainty presents a multitude of opportunities for Social Workers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Social Work profession is expected to increase by 25% by 2020. While Social Work is one of the fastest growing careers, Social Workers have not been exempt from layoffs, downsizing, mergers, and organizational closers. Economically challenging times, such as those we currently live in while unpredictable and a bit scary at times, are fertile grounds of opportunity for Social Workers.

Social Workers are well suited for roles in social entrepreneurship given our group work skills (networking), innate creativity, understanding of ecological and economic systems, and genuine desire to e/affect change. If you are a Social Worker interested in becoming a social entrepreneur, and you are currently employed, I would first strongly encourage you to spend some time honing your skills as an Intrapreneur. An Intrapreneur is an individual who is currently employed by someone else (this person does not yet own their own business), but in their current position has a great deal of freedom and decision making power to a/effect social change. The Intrapreneur is able to bring creative/innovative ideas/services to their current place of employment, and these ideas may even produce additional income. An Intrapreneur applies many of the same skills and acumen a sole business owner would, except the Intrapreneur is not the owner of the business.

For example, as a Social Worker within a college setting I have been afforded a great deal of freedom to create products, services, and activities I believe will enhance student life. The products and services I tend to create focus on enhancing students' quality of life on campus, but at the same time have the potential to make money (intrapreneurship). One of the products I developed and test marketed on campus was a motivational line of greeting cards for college students. Some of the money I generated from  greeting card sales was donated to one of the student organizations I worked with, which is social intrapreneurship. I even successful negotiated with our college bookstore to carry my line of greetings cards. Regrettably, before I could get my cards on the shelves of the bookstore its parent company terminated contracts with its greeting card vendors. While this relationships was not to be, it confirmed the idea of social intrapreneurship is a viable one that is easily transferable. 

If you are interested in entrepreneurship, my advice is to use your time wisely. If you are currently employed by someone else use this time to test market your ideas and risk tolerance. Do not compete with the services/products your employer offers, but instead seek opportunities to hone your skills and test market your ideas under the umbrella of social intrapreneurship.
  
You might be surprised, social intrapreneurship may not only enhance the social functioning of others, it might also lead you to a lifelong opportunity you hadn't considered. Social Work Intrapreneurship or Social Work Entrepreneurship, the decision is ultimately yours. This is the beauty of social work!

Using iPads/iPods to Provide College Mentorship

Recently, I wrote a funding proposal to purchase iPads and iPods for the purpose of delivering intrusive peer mentoring support to a special population of college students. I titled this project the "Mobile2Mobile Learning Community" as it is my hope Peer Mentors (PM), who are academically successful BSW and/or MSW students with an interest in technology will engage their Mentees using mobile technology.

I recruited confident, self assured, respectfully aggressive PMs that are comfortable being "persistent" and sometimes intrusive in their approach to mentoring. The PMs will each be assigned a caseload of 4-5 Mentees they will work with October 2012 through August 2013. The PMs will be responsible for monitoring their Mentee's progress at the university and will be given an iPad in exchange for their service in lieu of a cash stipend. Each Mentee will be given an iPod Touch to help them engage their PMs and administrative program staff.

PMs are expected to engage their Mentees once per week using FaceTime in addition to texting and "IMing" their Mentees to ensure they are progressing socially and emotionally at the college. The PMs record notes of their meetings with their Mentees using the iPad "Notes" function. These general session notes are then forwarded directly from the iPad to the M2M LC administrator's email for record keeping and follow-up as needed. Given potential confidentiality concerns, only general information is transmitted electronically.

While iPads/iPods will be used heavily to facilitate communication between PMs and their Mentees, the mobile technology will also aid participants academically as these devices have internet access, the ability to load college e-textbooks, conduct research, check email, and much, much more. I am hopeful using iPads/iPods to provide college mentorship will prove to be an effective tool and will also enhance college student retention, while delivering key support services to potentially at risk student populations.

Fear is a Good Catalyst for Change, Right?

Recently, I have had many opportunities to talk with friends and professional colleagues about the need for personal change. Many of these conversations have revolved around discussions about personal relationships, professional jobs, and the need for personal reinvention. I wondered if many of these conversations were based on the fact that fall is quickly approaching which tends to signal change, or if the conversations were age based as many in my circle are quickly approaching 50.

Some in my circle have grappled with whether to remain in relationships that have become dysfunctional and toxic, while others have become consumed by their jobs, almost never taking time to enjoy life and its beauty. Several of my closest friends are seriously considering downsizing their lives and living more minimalistically. Initially, I wondered exactly what they meant as they appeared to have life by the horns. I was told the desire to lead a more simplistic lifestyle was due in part to the need to downsize the importance they have allowed their jobs to have in their lives. Many in my circle are senior social work administrators, organizational program directors, and some even own their own businesses and are quite successful financially. Even with great success, fear can often prevent us from changing our lives in ways that truly bring us happiness and self-fulfillment. Our jobs do not define us, instead, they help us to do the things we want to do and often times need to do.

In order to achieve true self-fulfillment, I have learned we must be willing to release the fear that keeps us from moving forward. Do I personally feel fear on occasion? Yes. Are there areas in my personal and work life I would like to change? Absolutely. As I approach my next major age milestone in the next few years, I am sure I too will begin to explore and take inventory of my life. In some ways, I already have.

As we approach fall, I promise myself to make a conscious effort not to continue living my life in a way that does not fully celebrate me, my loving family, and my incredibly supportive friends. I will make a stronger effort to take more moments to enjoy the little things in life (like having an ice-cream cone without thinking about the calories). I will take more time to walk, not run because everything is not an emergency. I will try my hardest to leave work at work and not allow it to consume me with endless emails and phone calls (sometimes initiated by me) during my time off. And finally, I will try to look for ways to downsize my life, so that I too will know what is truly important.

Fear is a necessary part of life and can help us lead a much more satisfying life if we embrace it and move past it. Fear can be a good catalyst for change. Right!

Socialworktechblog.com and Socialworkhelper.com - Terrific Websites for Social Workers

I have been following a terrific website on Twitter called SocialWorkTechBlog and on the web at Socialworktechblog.com. This site covers a cornucopia of social work and tech-based resources, I highly, highly recommend following it!

This morning I had an opportunity to review a website called, Socialworkhelper.com and must say I was thoroughly impressed with the mission of the site, its depth of content, and commitment to encouraging responsible use of technology within the Social Work profession. As a "Cyber Social Worker" with 25 years of non-traditional Social Work experience in higher education settings, I am pleased to see a  recent graduate internalize social work principles and values through the use of technology in such a useful and innovative way.

Thank you socialworktechblog and Socialworkhelper for expanding the way social workers think about the delivery of social wok services in the 21st century. You have compiled such useful content in an easily accessible format. I intend to share your sites with professional colleagues and the students I work with in higher education.