The phenomenon and interplay between assigned and emergent leaders can be observed in many organizations (Northouse, 2019, pg. 8, 9). There is always an assigned leader, who, by title and position, is the one responsible for leading a group of people. Then, there is also frequently a leader who emerges amongst the followers who is perceived as the “go to” person for the group. This may or may not be the assigned leader.
Since my background is in education, I see this frequently in a school setting. One is hired as the Principal and legitimately is responsible to keep the school running successfully. Policies have to be written and implemented, budgets carefully drafted and accounted for, and educational programming moving forward. Teachers need to follow these directions very carefully and are evaluated frequently to ensure they are keeping the standards of the school and the Provincial mandates. However, within a group of teachers, an emergent leader can arise who becomes a “team leader” in a sense, and generally interprets what it is exactly that the Principal wants, works with others to develop strategies to meet the set out goals, and encourages others in their personal classroom journeys. Sometimes this person may eventually grow into a Vice-Principal or Principal role with time.
This emergent leadership was the impetus of my leadership journey, and occurred in exactly this way. Our Principal was a power based leader and although he provided clear direction, the “how to” get there was missing. Over time, teachers turned to me to interpret his vision, create systems, coach them in their practice, and request advice in the details of their work. My Principal saw this emergence occurring and, over time, gave me more and more responsibility with teachers as our school grew to the point where I was his Vice-Principal for several years. When he left our organization, I was therefore the most logical person to become the Principal. In contrast, in my current position, I was hired as a Vice-Principal and joined a staff I had never worked with. I was put into an assigned leadership role, without emerging into it. However, even in a short time, I can see characteristics of emergent leadership in that I am forming identity with the group and becoming like the group prototype (Northouse, 2018, p. 8). Staff are beginning to trust me and identify me as one they can trust to have their best interests at heart.
I was challenged by the definitions of leadership vs. management as I considered my current role. Northouse (2018) states that “the overriding functions of management is to bring order and consistency to organizations, whereas the primary function of leadership is to bring change and movement. Management is about seeking order and stability; leadership is about seeking adaptive and constructive change” (p. 12). When I consider many of the tasks assigned to me in a day and compare them to what is described for each management and leadership, I see that for the most part, right now I am a manager. I spend much of my time planning (agendas, timetables, resources), organizing and staffing, and controlling and problem solving daily problems. These are all management tasks that produce order and consistency. However, as a leader, I should be engaged in activities that produce change and movement – dealing with vision and strategies; communicating goals and collaborating with teams; and motivating, inspiring and energizing staff. These are the things which bring me passion but I do not engage with them on a daily basis.
There are a few questions I ask myself around this. First of all, what are a few key practices that I could implement that would begin to move me towards being more vision oriented? Systems and organization are good and still needed, but how can I communicate vision and inspire change in the midst of that? Secondly, there is still very much a need for managers. Can a leader do both, or is it best to have a secondary person take care of these issues?
Northouse, P. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
As a rookie to blogging, I must say I’m very impressed by the orderliness that Dawn’s page looks. It’s simply clean and neat. I also attest to her good writing skills. I notice Dawn has probably been leading a while and her experience of emerging as leader in her school and her ability to articulate the vision to her peers clearly enough, a task her boss couldn’t play simply because he was a power based leaders so perhaps he couldn’t offer certain dimensions of leadership because of the limitations of his assigned role.
I’m looking forward to viewing more of Dawns blogs in order to learn more from her.
Hassan
Thanks for your affirming comments, Hassan! Setting up my blog has certainly been a learning curve. I am looking forward to learning from others in this course and getting to know more about you too!
Dawn,
Great application of the concepts of “emergent” and “assigned” leadership, as discussed in Northouse (2018). It’s interesting to read about your own experiences emerging into a leadership role in your previous school, followed by the experience of being in an “assigned” leadership role. It sounds like you are quickly earning the trust and respect of those you lead (which of course, is a key element to success in either leadership experience). Do you think one is easier? (In other words, is it easier to gain the respect of team members to emerge as a leader, or to be assigned a leadership position and then earn their respect?)
— Leadership Prof
There are benefits to both. Emerging as a leader within my colleagues was beneficial in that we already had a firm relational foundation and they trusted me. However, there was an element against which I struggled, and that was to be established as their leader. There were times when they were chafed relationally because of what I had to do as their leader. They were less receptive to receiving my directions at times.
Now, in my assigned role, although it is still very new and I am quickly establishing relationship, I do see that difference, in that teachers definitely view me as their “boss”. As being new to staff, there is a slight sense of distrust as they don’t know me and are watching me closely. However, they respect me as giving them leadership. I am learning to not expect the same relational capacity with them as I did with my other staff.
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