Case Western Reserve University
- evin39
- Sep 19
- 8 min read
Updated: Oct 27
Autumn 2025
In This Edition | High Performance at Case Western Reserve University
The Social Sciences-High-Performance Connection: What Every Leader Should Know
In this issue, Dr. Dexter Voisin discusses his school’s unique focus on leadership development and his commitment to the high-performance team model. Howard Guttman provides an overview of GDS’s exciting partnership with the school, which is launching an HPT Certification Program. It’s offered remotely and open to everyone. Check out this powerful new program! And tune into Howard’s video, “The New Leadership Coach,” for insights into what makes for effective leadership coaching.
Dean of Applied Social Sciences
Case Western Reserve University
Dexter R. Voisin is the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Dean in Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, located in Cleveland, Ohio. The school offers a Master of Social Work, a Master of Nonprofit Organizations, and a PhD in Social Welfare.
Since its founding in 1915, the school’s mission has been to promote individual and community well-being, advocate for economic and social justice, and protect and empower the most vulnerable members of society.
You’re on an elevator. It’s a short ride. Someone turns to you and asks, “What’s the Mandel School?” How do you respond?
The Mandel School is one of the country’s leading schools of social-work and nonprofit management in the United States. We equip our graduates to be social work and nonprofit change leaders across diverse sectors. Our graduates are clinicians, policy makers, researchers, advocates, community leaders, educators, CEOs, college presidents, and so much more.
Let’s say I’m considering getting a degree in social work. I’m looking at your school, along with Columbia University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Chicago. Why should I choose the Mandel School?
All the schools you mentioned are mission driven. One of the many aspects that makes our school stand apart is our unique focus on leadership development. We are pioneers in curriculum development with an impactful leadership history in child welfare, mental and behavioral health, community practice, school social work, children youth and families, and so much more. Notably, approximately eighty percent of all mental health services in this country are provided by social workers. Our graduates provide important leadership in this area in Ohio and across the United States. Moreover, we have a world-class full-time and adjunct faculty with extensive teaching, research, policy experience, who are training the next generation of change leaders.
Where do graduates from the Mandel School typically land?
Remember the old American Express commercial, “Everywhere you want to be”? Social work is literally
everywhere. With a Mandel School degree in social work, you can pursue various career paths, including those in child
welfare, mental health, substance abuse, and public policy. You can lead an employee assistance program, become the
CEO of a nongovernmental organization (NGO), lead in the corporate sector, become a grant officer for a foundation.
We have a graduate who serves as the lead curator at the Smithsonian Museums. Some have become college presidents and provosts and deans and directors of schools of social work. So, in essence there is no typical Mandel School graduate—the opportunities are endless. A degree in social work from the Mandel School is truly versatile!
To what extent can graduates with a degree from your
school benefit today’s organizations?
You have a great example in Howard Guttman, Principal of Guttman Development Strategies! Organizations are about
maximizing potential and profits. This requires taking care of the well-being of workers. If you don’t address worker burnout, stress, mental health, or wellness needs, you won’t get the best return on your investment. You must focus on building the whole individual, not as a cog in a machine, but as a valued member of a team and organization. It’s part of our basic training. We focus on the person-in-the-environment. Many social workers
are cross trained in terms of management principles. In our Master of Nonprofit Organizations program, many of our students take the same courses that they would in a business school. We bring both technical skills and human acumen to organizations.
What, if anything, causes you to lose sleep at night?
People are at the heart of organizations, corporations, schools, and other institutions, facing significant stress related to work, personal life, and their roles in national and global communities.
How can we help individuals manage this stress and care for ourselves, our clients, and our communities? We must ensure that historically underserved communities do not fall further behind, as we all share the consequences of widespread disconnection and inequity.
How does the Mandel School prepare the next generation of social work leaders to play a role in alleviating the pervasive stress?
The Mandel School is a leader in social work education, training the next generation to tackle today’s pressing social issues. As the first school nationally to implement a competency-based curriculum, we
emphasize essential competencies that students must master for real-world impact. Our innovative, competency-based education model has transformed our curriculum and serves as a model for social work programs across the country. By choosing the Mandel School, you’re joining a pioneering movement dedicated to excellence in social work. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is the place for you. Join us in revolutionizing the
future of social work!
What’s an example of how the school focuses on preparing students to deal with a pressing social issue?
To say that our country and the world are filled with stress is an understatement. Our curriculum is contemporary and responsive to today’s needs and solutions. We will soon be implementing a Trauma and Healing study path within our diverse curriculum. It will provide our graduates with a disciplined approach to helping people heal from trauma and develop resiliency. We are ensuring that our students possess the basic skills and capacity to address these complex problems.
What are some of the basic skills that today’s students must master to deal effectively with the complex problems our communities face?
I think of social work in terms of head and heart. It is made up of both. The ability to empathize, to actively listen to what people are saying and make sense of it—that’s the heart of social work. On the other hand, the science of social work is its head. How do we conduct and use research? How do we identify and utilize evidenced-based practices? How do we know when to intervene and how to employ interventions that are not just touchy-feely but work to bring about change? Being a good social worker also involves critical thinking.
What’s the role of technology in enhancing the effectiveness of social work?
Artificial intelligence is here to stay. The question becomes: How can we effectively leverage artificial intelligence to augment and complement the incredible skill sets of social workers? How can we use AI to free us up from some of the mechanical aspects of social work, such as note-taking and documentation, so we can focus more on relationship building? Artificial intelligence can also play a crucial role in creating virtual-reality experiences that sensitize social workers and clients to issues and populations they might not be exposed to otherwise.
Your school is sponsoring a certificate program in high-performance leadership, which will be led by GDS facilitators. Why is a school that focuses on social work offering this program?
As I shared earlier, we have long been an innovator in social work, curriculum development, education, and design. This
new program will enable our students to explore additional ways to continuously innovate, serving both them and the
broader community. While schools of social work are now focusing on nonprofit management, to my knowledge none
of these schools—or even some business schools—focus on high-performance teams. And our stakeholders, not only in Ohio but elsewhere, are telling us that they need to acquire the skills to maximize team performance. We are very excited about partnering with Howard and his team of organization development specialists.
What’s the objective of your certificate program in high performance
leadership?
The online program equips leaders at every level and in all industries with the proven high-performance leadership process, behaviors, and skills essential for maximizing their performance and that of their teams. It is offered in two levels, each comprising four two-hour sessions. The fall semester begins on September 30, and the spring semester begins on February 18. Enrollment for the fall semester opens on August 1.
How can anyone interested learn more about the high performance
certificate program?
To learn what you will gain from attending the program and to view the details of each session:
Is the high-performance leadership approach relevant to leading and managing institutions of higher learning?
People drive organizations. Leading today is more than just setting a strategy and aligning everyone around the mission. It’s about developing talent within teams. Unleash that talent and you turbocharge your organization for continuous success.
by Howard M. Guttman
Why is an organizational development firm that typically works with the
CEOs and leadership teams of major global corporations partnering with a school of applied social sciences and social work? The short answer: GDS aims to spread its high-performance approach to this critically important and influential segment.
The high-performance approach is, after all, a process as much as a set of values, ways of working, and skills. It is independent of specific context or content. It applies with equal force and validity across geographies, organization types, and industries. There are important takeaways in the high-performance approach for any leader or team member tasked with achieving results through others.
We are excited to bring our unique approach to Case Western Reserve
University’s School of Applied Social Sciences. Its talented, out-of-the box thinker, Dean Dexter Voisin, recognized the value of offering a powerful new “Certificate in High-Performance Teams” program to the academic, government, social service agencies, and business communities that the school serves. The program provides a proven process for equipping participants with the high-performance leadership behaviors and skills essential to maximizing their own performance and that of the teams they lead.
The mix of participants—entry-level, mid-level, and senior executives across the for-profit and nonprofit sectors—will make for exciting synergy and cross-pollination. But such a diverse group is not easy to corral in one congregate setting, which is why we are offering the program remotely and on two levels. Each level is made up of four two-hour sessions. Each session will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Fall sessions will
begin on September 30th; spring sessions will start on February 18th. For detailed
information on the content and dates of each session, click here:
The faculty is another unique feature of the program, with several of GDS’s top
facilitators leading the program. And, as a special bonus, a number of senior
executives from GDS’s client companies in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors,
who have “been there and done that,” will candidly share with participants their
experiences in transforming their leadership and organizations into high-performance powerhouses.
We at GDS are looking forward to partnering with a prestigious university and its dedicated staff of
professionals to make an impact in an area that directly affects the well-being of human beings and their communities.
We welcome the opportunity to support CWRU’s focus on creating change leaders and deepening
their perspective of the what, why, and how of high-performance leadership. They, after all, are on the frontline of dealing with life-changing issues related to drug abuse, mental health, child welfare, and so much
more. And, as Dean Voisin points out in this issue’s Leader’s Corner, those with a degree in social work can be found leading our national government, running city halls, and managing prestigious foundations.
The leverage attained by adding a high-performance approach into this equation is genuinely exhilarating.
Takeaways from the HPT Certificate Program
• An understanding of the fundamental concepts, processes, and skills of
horizontal, high-performance leadership.
• The listening, assertion, conflict management, and coaching skills required to lead teams to achieve greater cohesiveness, engagement, productivity, and results.
• A sharpened ability to pinpoint and resolve performance issues and apply the high-performance approach to how
they manage, coach, and lead.
• A recognized certificate that will enable them to enhance their current performance and future career marketability.
365 Howard Blvd. PO Box 435 Mt. Arlington, NJ 07856 Call us @ 973.770.7177 |
Tell us about your experience:
YES - I found the insights relevant
YES - I am familiar with GDS' HPT programs
NO - I didn't find the insights relevant
NO- I am not familiar with GDS' HPT programs
You can vote for more than one answer.
Comments