Preparing Human Services Professionals for Organizational Leadership
Winter 2020
Instructor
Nikole Seals
has an
impressive
breadth of
professional
experience
managing
the health
and wellness
of some of
Southern
California's
most at-risk
communities
and individuals.
As a California State University of Long
Beach clinically trained social worker, Nikole
launched her career with the County of
Orange in their Child Protectives Services
unit, an experience that taught her to adapt
under extreme circumstances and intense
pressure.
Nikole's family would say she has also been
an educator from the age of seven, when
her favorite activity was to play pretend
classroom and take the role of teacher.
This affinity for teaching is a driving force
behind her development of UCI Division
of Continuing Education's first course in
human services management.
With over two decades of experience in
the field of human services, Nikole has
an acute understanding of the clinical
and managerial demands placed on
professionals in this industry. Health and
human services organizations can be
characterized as stressful settings, with
budgetary uncertainty, heavy caseloads,
and constantly evolving bureaucratic and
regulatory procedures. Due to these
pressures, it's rare that clinicians are afforded
the time and support to cultivate their own
business leadership or managerial skills. The
fact that a candidate for promotion may be
an excellent practitioner does not always
equate to success as a manager.
Quite often, social workers or human
service coordinators move into management
positions where their primary job
duties have changed from direct advocacy
to administrative tasks such as budget
planning, performance management, and
conflict resolution. UCI and Nikole's goal
is to provide practicing health and human
services professionals with the training and
knowledge necessary to advance their
career while establishing sustainable
management and leadership skills.
“… I love that I have been able to incorporate these passions
into the work I have done teaching others.”
Nikole Seals
Instructor
A community advocate
A Los Angeles native, Seals dealt with a
cultural adjustment when her family
moved south to Orange County before
she started junior high school. Leaving what
was a very diverse community and landing
in a predominantly white neighborhood
taught her how to be confident in spaces
and situations that are uncomfortable.
Nikole credits this experience as one of
the main factors that equipped her to step
into the particular line of work she chose
in the field of human services.
Now an accomplished organizational leader,
Seals dedicated the first ten years of her
professional career to the County of
Orange as a senior social worker, and
then later as a clinical social worker. This
challenging opportunity was offered as a
component of her participation in CSULB's
California Social Work Education Center
(CalSWEC) stipend program. The CalSWEC
award Nikole received was provided
through the federal government's Title IV-E
funding; resources that are dedicated to
child welfare training. This support and
training from the university allowed Seals
to jumpstart her career in a role that has
shaped her into the person she is today.
“As a child protective services worker
you manage high risk cases and have
the immense responsibility of making
judgement calls on not only the well-being
of a child but also whether or not family
members are going to stay together. I dealt
with the fear of getting it wrong – and
even a fear for the repercussions of getting
things right.” Dealing with families in crisis meant that everyday held some sort of
uncertainty and an evolving pace of work.
Nikole attributes some of her career
success to the way she cared for herself
during these challenging moments. The
value of personal wellness is something she
hopes to instill in future managers so they
can mindfully support their staff through
stressful situations or decision making.
“One of my personal beliefs about life is
to really do the work you love and be
passionate about it,” she adds, “I've also
had a very strong drive for self-care. So,
practicing holistic health, staying active,
eating a really good diet, all of these things
have become a part of who I am as a
professional and I love that I have been
able to incorporate these passions into the
work I have done teaching others.”
As an instructor, Nikole will also equip her
students with the communication skills
required to set boundaries with staff while
they simultaneously provide coaching and
support to these practitioners who bear the
intense emotional demands of the field.
Stepping into a new role
Through her journey, Seals noticed that a
strong leadership culture was missing from
the management ranks of a number of
human service organizations she worked
with. This void would complicate her work,
making it more difficult to achieve the
mission or goals of a program. A strong
business case can also be made for creating
an environment where employees feel
recognized and supported since these
conditions lower staff turnover and end
some of the toxic behavior that affects
service delivery. Sounds straight forward,
but when a provider is operating at a high
volume, incremental changes in culture
can seriously impact the bottom line.
In Nikole's course, Human Services
Management Essentials, students will
discuss topics ranging from leadership
emotional intelligence to recognizing
personal bias. Offered online over
six-weeks, the course is designed for
professionals seeking a deeper understanding
of the organizational challenges
administrators face and the professional
skills needed to be an effective human
services manager.
“I am excited because I've gotten to watch
the evolution of this field since I was a
teenager,” she added. “The fact that
there has been enormous growth
has increased the need for a highly
qualified workforce – people
who can manage the demands
of consumers and act on
the opportunity to be an
agent of change in
someone else's life.”
Learn more at ce.uci.edu/humanservices