Teacher As An Organizational Leader
Teacher As An Organizational Leader
THE TEACHER AS AN
ORGANIZATIONAL
LEADER
School Culture and Organizational Leadership (PROFED 106B)
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TABLE OF CONTENT
Titles Pages
TABLE OF CONTENT
Titles Pages
References Page
……………30
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DEFINE LEADERSHIP
What is Leadership?
Leadership captures the essentials of being able and prepared to inspire others. Effective
leadership is based upon ideas—both original and borrowed—that are effectively communicated to
others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act.
A leader inspires others to act while simultaneously directing the way that they act. They
must be personable enough for others to follow their orders, and they must have the critical
thinking skills to know the best way to use the resources at an organization's disposal.
Alternate definition: Leadership may also refer to an organization's management structure.
In business, leadership is linked to performance, and any leadership definition has to take
that into account. Therefore, while leadership isn't intrinsically linked to profit, those who are
viewed as effective leaders in corporate contexts are the ones who increase their company's bottom
line.
The trait approach to leadership was one of the earliest theories of leadership. Although it is
not a fully articulated theory with well-developed hypotheses, the trait approach formed the basis
of most early leadership research. This approach focuses on the personal attributes (or traits) of
leaders, such as physical and personality characteristics, competencies, and values. It views
leadership solely from the perspective of the individual leader. Implicit in this approach is the
assumption that traits produce patterns of behavior that are consistent across situations. That is,
leadership traits are considered to be enduring characteristics that people are born with and that
remain relatively stable over time.
Early trait researchers studied the personality attributes that they believed were related to
leadership effectiveness, rather than researching exceptional historical figures (i.e., the great man
approach to leadership). Many early researchers viewed leadership as a unidimensional personality
trait that could be reliably measured and was distributed normally throughout the population (i.e.,
an individual difference variable).
Most of the early empirical work on the trait approach focused on the systematic investigation of
the differences between leaders and followers. It was reasonable to assume that individuals in
higher-level positions would possess more leadership traits than those in lower-level positions.
Concurrently, a large number of studies were conducted in an attempt to develop reliable and valid
measures of leadership traits.
Researchers discovered, however, that only a few traits appeared to distinguish between
leaders and followers. Leaders tended to be slightly higher on traits such as height, intelligence,
extraversion, adjustment, dominance, and self-confidence as compared with nonleaders. The small
differences between leaders and nonleaders were attributed to errors in leader selection, errors in
measuring leadership traits, or the failure to measure critical attributes.
Many early trait researchers had assumed that, no matter what the situation, there was a set
of characteristics that made a leader successful. These researchers believed that the same
leadership traits would be effective, for example, in both the boardroom and on the battlefield.
However, the differences between leaders and followers were found to vary widely across different
situations—researchers had underestimated the impact of situational variables on leadership
effectiveness.
Leadership Traits
Trait researchers often developed lists of characteristics that they believed were related to
successful leadership. In creating such lists, some researchers mixed together very different
attributes. For example, lists included some leadership traits that were aspects of behaviors and
skills, in addition to other traits that were related to temperament and intellectual ability. These
lists of traits typically included characteristics such as self-confidence, intelligence, ambition,
perseverance, assertiveness, emotional stability, creativity, and motivation.
The lists, however, were not exhaustive and typically omitted some important leadership
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attributes. Today, many popular books on leadership continue the tradition of providing lists of
traits that are thought to be central to effective leadership. The basic idea remains that if an
individual possesses such traits, she or he will be a successful leader in any situation. In 1989, John
W. Gardner published a study of a large number of leaders and concluded that there are some
attributes that appear to make a leader successful in any situation. These traits included the
following:
One of the concerns about such lists is that the attributes typically associated with successful
leaders are often perceived as “male” traits. Reportedly, when men and women are asked about the
other gender’s characteristics and leadership qualities, significant patterns emerge, with both men
and women tending to see successful leaders as male.
As discussed previously, many early researchers found no differences between leaders and
followers with respect to their leadership characteristics—some even found that individuals who
possessed these traits were less likely to become leaders. Researchers also found very small
relationships between these traits and leadership effectiveness. Because so few of the traits clearly
differentiated between effective and ineffective leaders, their efficacy in selecting individuals for
leadership positions was severely limited.
There were too many leadership variables with low reliabilities, and no rationale for
selecting specific variables to include in a study. This approach has been called “dustbowl
empiricism” at its worst. Additionally, there has been little systematic research on the processes by
which individuals acquire the capacity for leadership. If leadership is indeed an individual
difference variable, then very little is known about the origin of these differences.
As the trait approach fell out of favor in industrial/ organizational psychology, researchers
began to develop new situational approaches to leadership. They also began to focus their attention
on leader behaviors, which led to the emergence of behavioral theories of leadership.
Many modern researchers adopted a contingency approach to leadership, which posits that
leaders who posses certain traits will be more effective in some situations than in others.
Recently, however, there has been somewhat of resurgence in research on the trait approach to
leadership, especially with the emergence of the five-factor model of personality.
Recent research has attempted to correct some of the methodological shortcomings of the
earlier research on leadership traits. For example, researchers have developed conceptual models
linking leadership attributes to organizational performance. Additionally, they have begun to
highlight consistent patterns of relationships between traits and performance measures. Rather than
simply studying what combinations of traits would be successful in a particular situation,
researchers are now linking clusters of personality traits to success in different situations.
Summary
In general, the trait and situational approaches have resulted in only limited advances in the
understanding of leadership. Although early studies highlighted the importance of situational
considerations in leadership, there still is no situational theory of leadership. Most leadership
researchers, therefore, have abandoned the pure situationist approach.
Researchers have concluded that successful leadership is the result of the interaction
between the traits of the leader and the situation itself (i.e., the contingency approach to
leadership). They have realized that the interaction between the leader and the situation is key to
understanding leadership, along with the specification of important trait and situational variables.
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Situational theories of leadership work on the assumption that the most effective style of
leadership changes from situation to situation. To be most effective and successful, a leader must
be able to adapt his style and approach to diverse circumstances.
For example, some employees function better under a leader who is more autocratic and
directive. For others, success will be more likely if the leader can step back and trust his team to
make decisions and carry out plans without the leader’s direct involvement. On a similar note, not
all types of industries and business settings require the same skills and leadership traits in equal
measure. Some fields demand a large measure of innovation, whereas in others, personal charisma
and relational connection with clients are far more important.
Different theories have been developed that recognize the situational aspects of leadership.
Each theory attempts to provide its own analysis of how leadership can be most successful in
various situations. Let’s consider a few of the key theories.
The term “situational leadership” is most commonly derived from and connected with Paul Hersey
and Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory. This approach to leadership suggests the need
to match two key elements appropriately: the leader’s leadership style and the followers’ maturity
or preparedness levels.
Telling: Directive and authoritative approach. The leader makes decisions and tells
employees what to do.
Selling: The leader is still the decision maker, but he communicates and works to persuade
the employees rather than simply directing them.
Participating: The leader works with the team members to make decisions together. He
supports and encourages them and is more democratic.
Delegating: The leader assigns decision-making responsibility to team members but
oversees their work.
In addition to these four approaches to leadership, there are also four levels of follower maturity:
In Hersey and Blanchard’s approach, the key to successful leadership is matching the
proper leadership style to the corresponding maturity level of the employees. As a general rule,
each of the four leadership styles is appropriate for the corresponding employee maturity level:
Telling style works best for leading employees at the M1 level (low competence, low
commitment).
Selling style works best for leading employees at the M2 level (low competence, high
commitment).
Participating style works best for leading employees at the M3 level (high competence, low
commitment/confidence).
Delegating style works best for leading employees at the M4 level (high competence, high
commitment/confidence).
Identifying the employee maturity level becomes a very important part of the process, and
the leader must have the willingness and ability to use any of the four leadership styles as needed.
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Another situational theory of leadership has been developed by Daniel Goleman. His theory
incorporates his development of the concept of emotional intelligence. He develops that idea into
six categories of situational leadership, describing the leadership style and suggesting when each
style is most appropriate and likely to be successful:
One final theory we will look at is Vroom and Yetton’s Normative Decision Theory. This
approach is intended as a guide in determining the optimum amount of time and group input that
should be committed to a decision. A leader has a number of options available to him in this
regard:
Victor Vroom and Phillip Yetton provide a model that helps leaders decide when to use each
approach. The model walks leaders through a series of questions about the decision to be made,
and the answers will lead the decision maker to the suggested approach. The questions focus on a
few key factors:
Leaders are challenged not only to make good decisions, but to decide who decides. At times,
the best choice is to involve others in the decision.
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Leadership Behaviors
Leadership Behaviors are easy to understand, though perhaps requiring effort to perform
consistently. Behavior change gives every leader a path forward to increasing
effectiveness. Behaviors can be learned whereas characteristics, such as charisma, seem inborn and
more difficult to practice.
Kouzes and Posner's work on leadership practices, which are leadership behaviors, aligns well
with other leadership research, such as transformational leadership and personality traits. Inspiring
a vision is telling a compelling story. It is giving people a reason to WANT to work hard bringing
the vision to reality. This leadership behavior sets the tone of the organization and expectations for
right behavior.
The leadership behavior, modeling the way, is simply the leader doing what he or she expects
the followers to do. If you expect people to speak respectfully to each other, speak respectfully to
them. Leadership behaviors and organizational values should be spelled out and every leader be
held accountable for modeling them. Behavior will always outweigh a list of values hung on the
wall.
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Leadership Tips
"Do as I say, not as I do" doesn't for work with adults any better than it works with
kids. If you expect people to be on time for meetings, as the leader, always be there a few
minutes ahead and begin exactly on time, every time, no exceptions.
If you aspire to be a leader, look and act like the level of leadership above you in
order to be percieved as "management material." As Gandhi said, "Be the change you
seek."
Being the change you seek is particularly important during large scale
organizational change initiatives, such as a merger, enterprise-wide system upgrade,
regulatory change or move. Leaders who are positive about the change will help the
organization overcome the natural resistance to change.
Leadership Behavior Tips
Leaders who are open to new ideas are more effective than leaders who close off
new information or approaches. Openness to other's ideas invites participation and
increases the quality of interaction between leader and follower.
Men and women who lead challenge differently and are perceived differently when
they do. Brain science show that male brain patterns and female brain patterns differ. More
men are wired to take risks in both leadership decision making and in their career choices.
More women are wired to consider options more deeply and to use information and
options to then choose a more certain path. This also holds for both leadership and career
decisions.
The situation will inform about which approach or combination and timing of
approaches will provide the best business option and likelihood of success.
As positive emotions permeate the organization, they have a positive impact on the
health of employees by reducing stress levels. Reduced stress leads to reduced illness and
reduces healthcare costs. This leadership behavior has a bottom line impact on both
productivity and reduced costs.
Leadership Tips
Modeling the Way includes emotional modeling. A leader who is positive and
encouraging models those for others to follow. Focus your language on what will work
rather than what won't work. For example, "We will succeed" focuses people in the right
direction while "We will not fail" focuses them on fear of failure. The human brain tends to
ignore the word "not" therefore people hear "We will fail."
Celebrate small wins. Celebrating small wins allows people to recognize progress
which encourages people to keep going. A recent Harvard Business Review article by
Amibile and Kramer noted that 76% of days people label "good days" are characterized by
the description "meaningful progress."
The act of celebrating, even something as small as a high five or a fist pump,
releases brain chemicals that give people, energy, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and
alertness. Those are all great in the workplace. More good news is that those emotions carry
into the next workday. Celebrate early and often to Encourage the Heart.
Leadership Tips
Hire well, orient well and get of out the way. If you ask for input, act on the input or
explain how you will use the input. When employees are asked for their ideas, they have a
reasonable expectation that the ideas will be used.
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Employees' brains consistently show higher stress in the presence of the boss.
Employees also rate any interaction with the boss as more stressful than interactions with
colleagues. Therefore, employees are more calm and focused when they are in charge of
their own work and not under the constantly evaluative eye of a boss. Enabling Others to
Act is a leadership behavior in line with how the human brain works in processing
information and relationships. Remember that in the course of human history, assembly line
and factory type work is recent. Implementing assembly line work took persuasion,
coersion and a certain amount of force to implement and maintain; it still does.
Enlisting people's brains and commitment to their own work has a higher return. Dr.
David Rock identified Autonomy as one of five motivation factors. Every person has some
level of autonomy as a motivator, although the positioning among the five and the strength
of each motivator varies from person to person. The other motivators Dr. Rock identified
from brain science research are Status, Certainty, Relatedness and Fairness. In short, every
person wants to be captain of ship "me" or at least some decisions about where the ship is
going.
Effective Management
Situational Leadership also relies on a few key behaviors. However Situational Leadership
is more effective management than leadership as it focuses on delegation or learning new tasks, a
small part of the overall picture.
Situational Leadership points out how the manager can adapt to the follower. The manager
assesses the follower in terms of the follower's relationship to a particular task.
As each person is aware of and adapts to progress or the need to step back and relearn, the
employee performance improves. This aligns with one part of contributing to a high quality leader
member exchange which is the manager understanding where the employee is what and what the
person needs to succeed.
This model is practical and appreciated for its practicality by managers and supervisors. It is a
quick tool that can be immediately applied. While there is an assessment tool that gives the
manager or supervisor a profile and also information on how well they can flex into other styles, it
is not required for teaching the model. Managers and Supervisors quickly grasp the idea.
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In the workplace, there are dozens of factors that can affect a leader’s effectiveness. These
include things like the size of the team, the scope of a project and the expected delivery date for a
result. Different leaders, each with unique leadership styles, will respond to these variables in
different ways. Contingency theorists would say that no matter how successful a leader is, there
will always be a particular situation that will challenge them. Therefore, leaders must be willing to
acknowledge the fact that their success depends partially on their circumstances in addition to their
personal skills.
To lead their team well, managers and supervisors may need to either adapt their leadership
style to the current situation or delegate some of their leadership responsibilities to a coworker.
For example: Consider a project manager named Doug. Doug finds it much easier to communicate
in writing rather than in person, so he usually encourages his team by sending them thoughtful
emails at the end of every week. However, there is a new employee in the office who is not very
receptive to written communication. To connect with this employee, Doug will need to either make
an effort to change his method and encourage this employee in person or he will have to assign this
task to the assistant manager.
In this article, we'll explore Fiedler's Contingency Model, and we'll look at how it can
highlight the most effective leadership style to use in different situations.
NOTE: With this theory, we are not using the word "contingency" in the sense
of contingency planning. Here, a contingency is a situation or event that's dependent –
or contingent – on someone or something else.
The Fiedler Contingency Model was created in the mid-1960s by Fred Fiedler, a scientist
who studied the personality and characteristics of leaders.
The model states that there is no one best style of leadership. Instead, a leader's effectiveness is
based on the situation. This is the result of two factors – "leadership style" and "situational
favorableness" (later called "situational control").
Leadership Style
Identifying leadership style is the first step in using the model. Fiedler believed that
leadership style is fixed, and it can be measured using a scale he developed called Least-Preferred
Co-Worker (LPC) Scale (see figure 1).
The scale asks you to think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with. This
can be a person who you've worked with in your job, or in education or training.
You then rate how you feel about this person for each factor, and add up your scores. If your total
score is high, you're likely to be a relationship-orientated leader. If your total score is low, you're
more likely to be task-orientated leader.
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The model says that task-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more negatively,
resulting in a lower score. Fiedler called these low LPC-leaders. He said that low LPCs are very
effective at completing tasks. They're quick to organize a group to get tasks and projects done.
Relationship-building is a low priority.
However, relationship-oriented leaders usually view their LPCs more positively, giving
them a higher score. These are high-LPC leaders. High LPCs focus more on personal connections,
and they're good at avoiding and managing conflict. They're better able to make complex
decisions.
Situational Favorableness
Next, you determine the "situational favorableness" of your particular situation. This
depends on three distinct factors:
Leader-Member Relations – This is the level of trust and confidence that your team has in
you. A leader who is more trusted and has more influence within the group is in a more
favorable situation than a leader who is not trusted.
Task Structure – This refers to the type of task you're doing: clear and structured, or vague
and unstructured. Unstructured tasks, or tasks where the team and leader have little
knowledge of how to achieve them, are viewed unfavorably.
Leader's Position Power – This is the amount of power you have to direct the group, and
provide reward or punishment. The more power you have, the more favorable your
situation. Fiedler identifies power as being either strong or weak.
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Think about the person who you've least enjoyed working with, either now or in the past.
Rate your experience with this person using the scale in figure 1, above. According to this model, a
higher score means that you're naturally relationship-focused, and a lower score means that you're
naturally task-focused.
Figure 2 shows a breakdown of all of the factors we've covered: Leader-Member Relations,
Task Structure, and Leader's Position Power. The final column identifies the type of leader that
Fiedler believed would be most effective in each situation.
For instance, imagine that you've just started working at a new company, replacing a much-
loved leader who recently retired. You're leading a team who views you with distrust (so your
Leader-Member Relations are poor). The task you're all doing together is well defined (structured),
and your position of power is high because you're the boss, and you're able to offer reward or
punishment to the group.
The most effective leader in this situation would be high LPC – that is, a leader who can
focus on building relationships first. Or, imagine that you're leading a team who likes and respects
you (so your Leader-Member relations are good). The project you're working on together is highly
creative (unstructured) and your position of power is high since, again, you're in a management
position of strength. In this situation, a task-focused leadership style would be most effective.
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TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Background
James MacGregor Burns (1978)[1] first introduced the concept of transforming leadership
in his descriptive research on political leaders, but this term is now used in organizational
psychology as well. According to Burns, transforming leadership is a process in which "leaders
and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation". Burns related
to the difficulty in differentiation between management and leadership and claimed that the
differences are in characteristics and behaviors. He established two concepts: "transforming
leadership" and "transactional leadership". According to Burns, the transforming approach creates
significant change in the life of people and organizations. It redesigns perceptions and values, and
changes expectations and aspirations of employees. Unlike in the transactional approach, it is not
based on a "give and take" relationship, but on the leader's personality, traits and ability to make a
change through example, articulation of an energizing vision and challenging goals. Transforming
leaders are idealized in the sense that they are a moral exemplar of working towards the benefit of
the team, organization and/or community. Burns theorized that transforming and transactional
leadership were mutually exclusive styles. Transactional leaders usually do not strive for cultural
change in the organization but they work in the existing culture while transformational leaders can
try to change organizational culture.
Development of concept
Another researcher, Bernard M. Bass (1985), extended the work of Burns (1978) by
explaining the psychological mechanisms that underlie transforming and transactional leadership;
Bass also used the term "transformational" instead of "transforming." Bass added to the initial
concepts of Burns (1978) to help explain how transformational leadership could be measured, as
well as how it impacts follower motivation and performance.[2] The extent to which a leader is
transformational, is measured first, in terms of his influence on the followers. The followers of
such a leader feel trust, admiration, loyalty and respect for the leader and because of the qualities
of the transformational leader are willing to work harder than originally expected. These outcomes
occur because the transformational leader offers followers something more than just working for
self gain; they provide followers with an inspiring mission and vision and give them an identity.
The leader transforms and motivates followers through his or her idealized influence (earlier
referred to as charisma), intellectual stimulation and individual consideration.
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In addition, this leader encourages followers to come up with new and unique ways to
challenge the status quo and to alter the environment to support being successful. Finally, in
contrast to Burns, Bass suggested that leadership can simultaneously display both transformational
and transactional leadership.
Now 30 years of research and a number of meta-analyses have shown that transformational
and transactional leadership positively predicts a wide variety of performance outcomes including
individual, group and organizational level variables (see Bass & Bass 2008, The Bass Handbook of
Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications" 4th edition Free Press).
1. Individualized Consideration – the degree to which the leader attends to each follower's
needs, acts as a mentor or coach to the follower and listens to the follower's concerns and
needs. The leader gives empathy and support, keeps communication open and places
challenges before the followers. This also encompasses the need for respect and celebrates
the individual contribution that each follower can make to the team. The followers have a
will and aspirations for self development and have intrinsic motivation for their tasks.
2. Intellectual Stimulation – the degree to which the leader challenges assumptions, takes
risks and solicits followers' ideas. Leaders with this style stimulate and encourage creativity
in their followers. They nurture and develop people who think independently. For such a
leader, learning is a value and unexpected situations are seen as opportunities to learn. The
followers ask questions, think deeply about things and figure out better ways to execute
their tasks.
3. Inspirational Motivation – the degree to which the leader articulates a vision that is
appealing and inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation challenge
followers with high standards, communicate optimism about future goals, and provide
meaning for the task at hand. Followers need to have a strong sense of purpose if they are
to be motivated to act. Purpose and meaning provide the energy that drives a group
forward. The visionary aspects of leadership are supported by communication skills that
make the vision understandable, precise, powerful and engaging. The followers are willing
to invest more effort in their tasks, they are encouraged and optimistic about the future and
believe in their abilities.
4. Idealized Influence – Provides a role model for high ethical behavior, instills pride, gains
respect and trust.
1. Personal Evolution
Evolutionary Leaders use the power of emotions and language to bring forth new realities. This
competency invites leaders to master their emotions in a way that sets the foundation for healthy
relationships, for caring, for seeing the other as a legitimate other [Maturana, et al, 1996], and for
setting the context for generative dialogue.
This competency also includes developing philosophical understanding of language and its
relationship with emotions which facilitates conscious articulation of new possibilities and
empowers leaders to declare bold stands and purposes for a just, flourishing, and sustainable world.
Though developing deeper understanding of humans as emotional and linguistic beings, language
becomes a powerful tool that shapes human reality and elicits commitments to effective action.
Evolutionary Leaders use this powerful generative language to facilitate the emergence of new
historical narratives, a new story of life and human beings that promotes meaning, purpose,
solidarity among people, and harmony with our natural world.
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3. Systems Thinking
We need to be aware of the fact that we exist within a multiplicity of systems: natural systems,
living systems, social systems, and technological systems, to name a few. This competency enables
leaders to see systems, design new ones, and influence those systems toward systemic
sustainability.
Systems Thinking offers powerful tools for observing the dynamics and outcomes of systems.
It is a discipline for seeing the whole not just parts, a method for seeing visible and invisible causes
of our world problems.
Our world problems are often diagnosed as isolated issues: poverty, hunger, energy, war,
population growth, climate change, deforestation, human rights, etc. are often understood and
treated in isolation, instead of as part of a larger system. Most of our leaders in corporations,
NGOs, and governments deal with parts of the system and have a short-term understanding of the
behaviors of complex systems.
Systems Thinking enables leaders to influence the dynamics of these systems and it can direct
their ability to design new social and technological systems to promote justice, well-being,
prosperity, and harmony with nature.
4. Systemic Sustainability
We human beings are now the stewards and caretakers of our systems. This is a big
responsibility and the sooner we understand it and confront this challenge the better our chances
are a species not only to survive, but to build a just, sustainable, and flourishing world.
Understanding the concept of Systemic Sustainability and mastering tools and techniques that
allow every act of design be assessed based on its implications on environmental, human, and
institutional sustainability enables Evolutionary Leaders to make a lasting impact on a global scale.
5. Ontological Designing
The human world that we live in is a product of human design. We are all designers of our
world, no matter if we want it or not
The world we live in designs us, so everything we design eventually comes back and
designs us
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Most of the time we are not aware of what we are designing – changing that gives us power
to effectively design ourselves and the world around us
Ontological Design is a powerful distinction and a powerful discipline that can be used for
good or for bad. Evolutionary Leaders develop skills and capacity to identify, leverage, and
influence the feedback loop between one’s worldview and the cultural, institutional, and physical
context, and use this power to design new realities in an ethical, sustainable, and future-focused
ways.
Adaptive work requires that people confront tough issues, confront losses, change of values,
make choices, while staying open to finding new solutions together instead of trying to find experts
who “know it all”. Therefore, collaboration is the fuel for the engine of adaptive work.
Evolutionary leaders need to develop skills and capacity to identify and engage stakeholders in
a way that facilitates addressing adaptive challenges.
This competency supports leaders in understanding our evolutionary history as living systems,
and as human beings. It also invites us to develop wisdom in order to make the right choices for
our future. Wisdom asks you to consider the importance of those actions, the choices, and the long
term consequences of those actions.
Evolutionary Leaders think in terms of evolutionary time, and use their understanding of
evolutionary principles to design and direct the process of human evolution. They can think
strategically in terms of 10, 25, 50, or 100 years or more to envision that we can design and build a
better world.
Besides knowing history and understanding principles of our evolution, designing scenarios
and visions of a just, sustainable, and flourishing world required an ability to break off the tenets of
the past and look into the highest possibility of the future. Evolutionary leaders must work within
the creative tension, of solving immediate tough local and global problems, like poverty, hunger,
climate change, and also working from the future, not just problem solving, but also being
designers of new institutions, new futures.
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INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
Permeating every aspect of school life, the school principal is an educator, administrator,
coach and mentor. The principal’s role has evolved over time; from the top-down lone authority
tasked with rescuing vulnerable schools from failure, to an effective leader who encourages those
qualities in students and teachers, motivating them to step out beyond classroom boundaries to
transform the school from a workplace to a learning place (Hallinger, 2005).
Twenty years ago, teachers and even assistant principals didn’t take on school leadership
roles. In order of importance, the usual responsibilities of a principal were managerial, political and
instructional in nature, and the roles were separate. Now, many principals are experiencing
diminished managerial and political priorities in favour of increased instructional and student
learning priorities, and the roles are more interconnected (Hallinger, 2005).
The principal remains the designated leader of the school, but today, leadership is
distributed across different people and situations – it’s more like patterns of influence across many
players. Leadership effectiveness depends on how this influence promotes leader and teacher
learning (and sometimes parent learning), in ways that improves the engagement, learning and
well-being of all students. This is not the work of one person.
Distributing leadership does not mean the principal delegates responsibility to others and remains
aloof from what is happening in students’ learning environments. It involves interacting with
teachers and developing relevant materials, routines and structures to promote learning (Timperley,
2011). The principal sets the tone for the entire school – studies over the past 25 years have shown
the school principal’s effects on classroom instruction operate more through the school’s culture
and by modeling rather than through the direct supervision and evaluation of teaching (Reeves,
2008).
Educational leadership is more than a spot on a hierarchical organization chart. The quality
and practice of leadership at every level has a demonstrable impact on organizational health in
general and on student achievement in particular. (Reeves).
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A number of recent research studies have shown that school leaders have an impact on
student learning (Robinson, 2011, Leithwood and Seashore-Louis, 2011). Vivian
Robinson (2011) conducted a meta-analysis of 30 studies which examined the impact of
educational leadership on student learning. Her analyses of the studies identified five different
leadership practices that made a significant difference to student learning.
These five leadership practices or dimensions “tell leaders what to focus on to have an
impact on student learning; however they say very little about the knowledge, skills, and
dispositions needed to make the practices or dimensions work” (Leithwood and Seashore-Louis,
2011, Robinson, 2011). Robinson contends that there are three capabilities that are needed to
engage in these five practices:
Helen Timperley contends that if principals are going to lead teacher learning and
development they must know their class of teachers. They need to know what teachers already
know and do well and when teachers need to learn. They also need to learn and do what makes a
difference to teacher learning and student learning. Principals learn to lead teacher learning and
development when they, themselves, undertake a process of cycles of inquiry for leadership
learning (Timperley, 2011).
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TEACHER LEADERSHIP
Throughout their often-diverse careers, most teachers maintain many leadership roles.
Some are among students, while others influence fellow educators and the community. In recent
years, though, teacher leadership has become a more distinct role that educators must fill.
The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement defined teacher leadership
as, “The process by which teachers, individually or collectively, influence their colleagues,
principals and other members of the school communities to improve teaching and learning
practices with the aim of increased student learning and achievement.”
Teacher leaders step outside the classroom to bring their expertise to a larger platform, influencing
educational culture, practice and growth in their communities. They may help other teachers
improve their ability to instruct students, or they may lead teams to better meet the needs of the
students, school and community. Some focus much of their time on helping parents better work
with their children, while others push for reform through political means. In short, the list of
responsibilities teacher leaders take on is seemingly endless.
A teacher leader does not always have authority over peers. In fact, it may be better if they
don’t. The Center for Comprehensive School Reform stated, “The appointment of a teacher leader
by an administrator without teacher input, uncertainty about teacher leader versus principal
domains of leadership and inadequate communication and feedback among teacher leaders,
principal and staff can all contribute to conflict.”
Teacher leadership is at its best when the leadership is organic, the teacher leader is
respected but not feared, and they collaborate and nurture instead of enforcing.
Standards and definitions of teacher leaders differ from state-to-state, with degree programs and
certification programs using different names to describe this unique and vital role. The Kentucky
Education Professional Standards Board has these standards:
Foster a collaborative culture.
Use research to improve practice and student learning.
Promote professional learning.
Facilitate improvements in instruction and student learning.
Promote the use of assessments and data.
Improve outreach and collaboration with families and the community.
Advocate for student learning and the profession.
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Teacher leaders have a huge role to fill in our schools and community that leaves a lot of
responsibilities open to interpretation. They must use their best discretion to promote and advocate
in ways that benefit students, teachers, schools and families.
While teachers have always taken on informal leadership roles in their schools and
communities, now it’s more important than ever that teacher leadership is defined and encouraged.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development said, “The role of schools is
changing — 1both as an institution and also in the value they bring to and provide for society. No
longer merely the stepping stones to a job or a trade, schools act as important institutions that help
grow and develop our youth as citizens and as engaged members of society.”
A job this big requires leaders both inside and outside of the classroom to guide, encourage,
advocate and inform. While every teacher can lead and influence, a defined framework for what
that means helps teacher leaders succeed. This important role requires support and buy-in from
other educators.
Roles in teacher leadership vary greatly. All teacher leaders, whether designated as a leader
through certification and job title or simply making a difference in their school a community, drive
education forward. Here are just a few roles that a they may take on.
Instructional Specialists
An instructional specialist helps teachers improve teaching strategies and implement new
instructional ideas into their classrooms. Instructional specialists spend a lot of time researching
best practices and new studies so that they can use the latest and most effective lessons and
resources in their classrooms. Instructional specialists are often teachers themselves. They take on
this additional role to better the overall educational quality of their school and help their fellow
educators grow.
Mentors
Many teacher leaders take on the role of mentor to help teachers familiarize themselves
with the school, curriculum, practices and culture. Mentors are invaluable when it comes to
ensuring that standards are communicated and that young teachers feel welcomed to the school
community. It’s not just new teachers who need mentors, though. Mentors can help established
teachers grow or help parents understand how to encourage their children outside of the classroom.
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Some teacher leaders enjoy speaking at professional conferences and community meetings
about their area of expertise or as a representative from their school. Others blog or write pieces for
publications. These teacher leaders help place schools and communities in the spotlight and spread
their influence beyond just one school. Blogging and speaking is a great way to lead many
educators in multiple communities.
Data Coaches
Data plays a huge role in teaching, but not every educator knows what to do with the large
amounts of it. Data coaches help guide their peers in analyzing and applying the data to improve
instruction. Teachers with a knack for numbers will really flourish in this leadership role and help
drive the education practices at a school forward.
Political Advocates
Teachers and students need representation in the government for teachers to perform at
their best. “Advocating for teacher pay, more planning time and common sense in education
policies is a significant component of teacher leadership,” said Anthony Colucci, a national board-
certified teacher and vice president of the Brevard Federation of Teachers. Teacher leaders can
speak from a position of experience on behalf of their schools and fellow educators in the public
arena.
While these jobs differ, all have the goal of bringing teachers together, helping them
become better and advocating for best practices.
Conclusion
There are many teacher leadership qualities that help them be successful as Teacher
Leader. Becoming a teacher leader starts with loving to educate others. You must also be willing
to take that love outside of the classroom to share what you know with colleagues and the
community. They need to have a passion for learning continually. Most importantly, great teacher
leaders earn the respect of many parties, from fellow teachers to parents to political leaders.
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