LAUSR

For well over two decades, Adrian Ward has given us models for understanding the complex, often chaotic, world of residential child care practice that are simultaneously highly theoretical and deeply practical. In this, his parting gift to the field, Ward has offered up a synthesis of the best of what leadership, psychodynamic and systems theories have to offer in an accessible and engaging book. His overall aim is to identify the difficulties associated with the leadership task, examine what people seek from leaders and provide guidance on how leaders might address these challenges and expectations. What sets this book apart is its explicit relationship-based approach to leadership, which he defines as emphasising the quality of human interactions at both a practical and emotional level. Recognisable examples from practice, including accounts of his own struggles as an emerging leader, are incorporated throughout in order to make tangible what might otherwise remain distant or abstract to some readers. Ward also brings his wealth of insight and experience to establish the particular complexities of the residential child care context and why they are important: