Social capital and self-leadership for personal, organizational and social change : A study of an organization that empowers self-leadership through a support network and common values

A new kind of organization is required in order to compete on the global market and organizations with leaders who can keep and develop their followers to become empowered self-leaders stand an advantage as self-leadership triggers cooperative behavior and action where people in the organization work together toward a common goal or purpose. Social capital, developed through close relationships and dense social networks is another vehicle for creating trust, loyalty and committed people with a willingness to contribute not only to themselves but to the organization and beyond. The purpose of the study has been to determine the means and objectives of the Balanced View organization for achieving its vision to create a better society and in doing so, identifying key factors that could be applicable to other organizations pursuing similar goals. The study is based on 13 in-depth interviews with people in Balanced View in order to identify how the effects of what the organization offers can be explained and how the support system, fundamental principles and organizational structure serve the vison of the organization. Conclusion: The effects of what the organization offers result in self-leadership and leadership skills correlating to the skills looked for in leaders today. The high level of social capital serves the vision of the organization and is the enabler of collaborative action, high performance and activities, both within and outside the organization. Identified key factors for growth and success and facilitators of social capital are: To provide concrete common guidelines; to develop leaders who can empower the workforce/stakeholders to become self-leaders and who role-model the organizational values; to offer trainings that elicit self-leadership and leadership skills; to build a network of coaches/peers in order to provide support to the people in the organization, and finally to create an organizational structure that allows for a constant flow of feedback between management and staff.