The Nature of Leadership

The Nature of Leadership Leadership

Leadership has been defined in many ways. Fullan (1991) describes leadership as a process of persuasion. Hallinger and Heck (1998) see leadership as the process of influencing others. Leadership is also defined as a process of influence with the purpose of enabling groups and individuals to achieve goals or objectives (Sawbridge, 2000). Leadership is worth the risk because the goals extend beyond material and personal gain. In an educational setting, these risks may be aligned with teaching and student achievement.

Getting more out of life by putting more into it and putting yourself and your ideas on the line, responding effectively to the risks, and living to celebrate the meaning of your efforts can been explained as leadership (Heiftz and Linsky, 2002). Leaders, according to Fullan (1991), are generally people who do the right things. Educational leaders perform the appropriate tasks in most situations based upon their knowledge, experiences, and job responsibilities.Roles of a leader

A leader has three essential roles to perform, according to Senge (1990). The leader must be a designer, a steward, and a teacher. As the designer, the leader must demonstrate a connection of the learning process to achieving mastery within the organization. The behaviors associated with this role are those of coaching and mentoring (Senge, 1990). The stewardship component has the responsibility for developing a personal vision for the organization along with ensuring that the vision of the organization reflects the aspirations common to the others working within the group (Senge, 1990). As a teacher, the leader’s role is more that just coaching and supporting individuals. It is also developing the ability to see how the various parts of the organization work together. It is this interrelationship that assists with learning being transferred from one situation to another. A teacher is to effective pedagogy as a leader is to a successful educational organization.

Leaders lay the foundation for successful teaching by developing a three dimensional framework for their schools. Glickman (1998) explains these components: 1) beliefs, 2) structure, and 3) research as being interconnected in schools to assist in providing a solid foundation for success. His framework substantiates that schools are communities of purpose.

Any discussion about the framework for a successful educational organization includes style of leading reflective of an established model. Modeling is an important aspect of being a leader.

Leadership Models

Effective leaders have evolved over time along with the development of organizational theories. There are a number of models of leadership processes and behaviors. Instructional, transformational, moral, participative, managerial, and contingent leadership are approaches frequently found within educational organizations (Leithwood, 1999). The composition of a successful leader might take the form of any one leadership model or be a combination of models.

The instructional leadership model is one that has dominated educational organizations since 1980. Instructional leadership focuses on the development of behaviors that will directly influence teachers in the planning and delivery of learning (Sawbridge, 2000). It is this model of leadership that might be helpful to us in establishing a connection between leadership and teaching.

Influencing others is a component of the transformational leadership model, and is an important skill to have as a leader. The transformational leadership model originated in the United States in the late 1970s and has been adapted and modified by a number of people. This model emphasizes the importance of idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individual leadership behaviors (Bass and Avolio, 2000). Influencing others is a key component of other leadership models such as moral leadership.

The moral leadership model is based on the assumption that educational organizations operate within a framework of absolute values. The leader’s role is to influence the adoption of a clear set of organizational values, manage conflict over the interpretation of basic values, and commit others to the values that leaders themselves believe to be good (Sawbridge, 2000). A leader’s ability to guide or manage others’ basic values or the organization’s mission is also influential.

The managerial model of leadership stresses the importance of teams and team working with the leadership’s primary purpose to balance the needs of the team, the tasks on which the team is working, and the individual needs of the team members. The leadership role is associated with being the team leader (Sawbridge, 2000). Here the role of the leader becomes more of a facilitator of events and purposes. Many times this role allows teams to work to solve a particular situation to make a consensus decision.

The contingent leadership model is contingent or situational leadership. Leadership is focused on a particular situation or contingency that requires a decision to be made. Leaders need to have a variety of leadership styles and practices to meet the ever-changing situations (Sawbridge, 2000). This is particularly important within educational systems in which an educational leader is called upon to serve in various capacities on a daily basis in a wide variety of situations.

All models of leadership require specific persons, events, and responsibilities to be utilized in an attempt to provide opportunities for success within the educational organization. With these opportunities for success, comes the responsibility of leading others in the shared vision or mission.

Responsibility of Leadership

Martin (2002) has referred to the plague of many leaders as being the responsibility virus. There are two separate strands of the created virus, one of over-responsibility and one of under-responsibility. The over-responsibility virus begins with the assumption of a single responsibility for success resulting in some followers opting out and eventually leading to failure (Fullan, 2003). The under-responsibility strand of the virus begins with assuming a minimal responsibility for success, thus focusing on other’s responsibility and once again subsequent failure in solving the problem (Martin, 2002). Principalship, as described by researchers, has fostered more under-responsibility than over-responsibility. However, in either case, there is a need for enormous increase of responsibility taking in school leadership. Leading an educational organizational requires much time and effort, whether it is considered under- or over-responsibility, the leader has a responsibility to the people of the organization.

Leadership has a starting point in the people within the organization. Getting all of the stakeholders involved to work collaboratively toward the established organizational goals is a concern for these leaders. Leaders exist at all levels within each organization. It is a leader’s responsibility in an educational setting to foster those skills and abilities in each individual, working toward the established goals together. Responsibilities, models, and roles of leadership require certain skills and competencies in order to perform the job of an educational leader. To be a leader, one must be competent to lead others, teaching them pedagogy, providing
opportunities for leadership, and meeting the expectations set forth by the educational community.

Leadership Competencies

There are seven competencies (Hooper and Potter, 1997) which are skills required to effectively lead at all levels. A leader needs to (1) set the direction for the organization, (2) be an influential example and role model, (3) effectively communicate, (4) provide convincing leadership, (5) bring out the best in people, (6) be proactive, and (7) possess the ability to make decisions in the time of crisis. The connection of these competencies to leadership is enabling leaders to make significant changes in the performance of the organization while working toward the organizational goals. These same competencies allow leaders to assist with the management of curriculum and instruction while working with teachers as an instructional leader providing avenues to resources available for developing instructional strategies and techniques.

Instructional Management

Fink and Resnick (2001) describe the principals’ role as one that goes beyond a competent manager to the instructional leader. The idea that principals should serve as instructional leaders is broadly believed by educational researchers. However, very few principals are simply just genuine instructional leaders. Principals manage situations, while scheduling, reporting, building public relations within their community, dealing with special circumstances conducive to school settings, and handling multiple crises at any given time. The ideals of principals in the 1980’s were considered responsible for defining the mission of the school and meeting the school goals (Murphy, 1990). These instructional leaders were to manage educational matters by coordinating the school curriculum, fostering quality instruction strategies and techniques, supervising and evaluating personnel, aligning instruction with goals and objectives, and monitoring student progress. Principals were also supposed to promote high expectations for all students to establish standards for student behaviors and academic achievement. Lastly, principals were to develop a safe and secure culture conducive of learning, promote student involvement and strong staff collaboration, and establish positive communication and rapport with the parents and community (Murphy 1990). Leadership is about meeting the expectations of teachers, students, community members, and other stakeholders while influencing others (Fullan, 2003).

Leadership seemingly suggests that one is considered the boss and needs to meet certain expectations. Leaders are considered to possess a clear personal vision; to be extremely knowledgeable and have the right answers to most pressing problems of the moment; are expected to demonstrate initiative, courage, and tenacity; have an ability to amass power that is utilized for organizational improvement; and are individuals who can solve the problems along the road to acquiring their personal vision (Murphy, 1990). All of this is part of the responsibility of an educational leader while he or she continues to make improvements in instruction within the school. While carrying out all of these responsibilities and living up to stakeholders’ expectations, educational leaders must also be judged upon by a set of standards that have been developed to determine their effectiveness as leaders.

References

Kuhns, Gregory M. (2005). The Connection Between Leadership and Pedagogy. West Virginia University Dissertations.