Response to Organization and Systems Thinking Week 3 DQ post by Kamal

Hi Kamal!

I found it interesting to reflect on Lepsinger (2010), “High expectations for performance appear to affect both the leader and the employee.  It causes managers to treat both employees differently and provide support and feedback.”  (Lepsinger, 2010, as cited by Kamal). I reflect on this in my organization and wonder how it fits in. I often feel that an important aspect of this in education is if the leader should have the same high expectations for all employees. A specific example in my school is in regards to supervision. Our previous principal (leader) did not divide the outdoor supervision evenly amongst staff. Staff members who have been at the school for many years would complain that they’ve been at the school long enough and have already ‘put in their time.’ As a result, the younger staff would have extra supervision. Our new principal has not accommodated this for older staff as she feels that supervision is a part of the job and we all need to do it. This has caused a lot of upset among the older staff. With one principal, the newer staff were feeling over worked and burnt out, while with the new principal, the newer staff are happier and the older staff are more upset. I wonder how a leader effectively communicates that sometimes things just have to be what they are, even if it means that some people will be very unhappy as a result. I agree with Lepsinger (2010) when he writes “Later studies have shown that other forms of interpersonal communication like listening and feedback are also ways leaders communicate expectations” (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 48).

You can tell from this one example that my school needs to work on Team Learning. This is currently what our leader is working on in our school as the above example does not demonstrate a cohesive team. I like the idea of team retreats. I am curious, are these team retreats optional or mandatory? That is one of the struggles that our school has had in building up our team as events that are optional have very low attendance. This then becomes a difficult cycle for the leader as she puts in a great deal of effort to change the current situation and doesn’t always receive the same level of effort in return. One thing that has caught my attention in the readings is when Lepsinger (2010) writes, “the starting point of breaking the cycle of low expectations is to assume value and listen for the positives.” (Lepsinger, 2010, p. 50). Personally, I find that this takes a great deal of self-discipline and courage to be able to always make people feel valued and always try to look for the positives, even when it can be difficult.

Thanks for the thought provoking post!

References

Lepsinger  R. (2010) Closing the Execution Gap. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.