Introduction

In this chapter descriptions of leadership are reviewed and its purpose discussed. What is its value, and what are the benefits of good leadership? Leadership is an integral, core part of both direct professional practice, and how we all work within services and with colleagues. The management of the organisation and of the services where social work is located, while important, depend on assertive, confident and competent professionalism. Without this, social work and social work services are subject to the negative forces of managerialism, the denial of expertise and creativity, with a dominance of technocratic or procedurally driven prescription of what is done and how it is done (Harris and White, 2009, p 149). It is interesting to reflect that this is not a new issue, but has been an increasingly troublesome one for social work. In a different context, Seabrook (2013, p 98) quotes the report from the Poor Law commissioners in 1834:

It is notable that the English College of Social Work (2014, p 3) begins a description of the distinctive role of social workers with, ‘Social workers use a distinctive range of legal and social work knowledge and skills.’ Legal knowledge and skills are given precedence over those of social work. In the same document on the role and functions of social workers in England, out of a total of 130 references, 99 are from legislation or case law, 25 from government guidance or government organisations, and only three from social work organisations. This underlines the lack of clarity or certainty on what social work, of itself, can and should demonstrate – this is to deny the body of experience and expertise each social worker brings to their work. The evidence base for effective interventions as active social workers is an integral part of the leadership of practice, which recognises the range of research methods and approaches available across social sciences (Shaw and Norton, 2007; Rubin and Babbie, 2011).