Essential leadership characteristics, skills, and knowledge of future social work community-based, nonprofit human service leaders: A Delphi study

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to identify, utilizing a Delphi method, the future leadership characteristics, skills, and knowledge experts believe are essential for professional social work leaders of community-based, nonprofit organizations in the next 15 years. Additionally, this study investigated what a panel of experts perceived to be the most essential characteristics, skills, and knowledge for social work leaders to successfully lead community-based, nonprofit human service organizations in the next 15 years.;Methodology. A 3-round Delphi process was conducted to gather qualitative and quantitative data from social workers who were high-level leaders of community-based, nonprofit organizations. Purposive sampling was used to identify a panel of social work nonprofit leaders in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties.;Findings. The panel generated 101 responses across the domains of leadership characteristics, skills, and areas of knowledge. The panel reached high consensus on 65 items across all 3 domains, with the highest consensus for 6 characteristics, 6 skills, and 3 areas of knowledge. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) social work experience, (b) self-awareness, (c) business savvy, and (d) managing change.;Conclusions. Specific characteristics, skills, and areas of knowledge are essential for future social work leaders to successfully sustain community-based nonprofits in the next 15 years: communication, professionalism, credibility, business skills, and fiscal knowledge. Additionally, future social work leaders must understand the dynamic communities they serve and know how to address and manage change using sound theory in decision making in the ever-changing nonprofit environment.;Recommendations and Implications for Action. Further research should explore (a) challenges and professional development needs of this population related to the themes generated in this study, (b) replication of the Delphi with a larger sample and social workers at the highest level of leadership, (c) the learning needs of future social workers who will lead nonprofit organizations. In addition, (a) social workers seeking high-level leadership positions must build a knowledge base in financial analysis, board development, and business-oriented models; (b) the profession must support these leadership positions through accessible mentoring, postgraduate education, and online support; and (c) educators must strengthen leadership identity by linking course assignments to current leadership research.