Tag: learning activity 1

One of the hardest things about becoming a principal was that it meant spending less time in the classroom.  I entered education in the first place because I wanted the opportunity to  help students successfully transition through the middle years from childhood toward adulthood.   As a middle school teacher, I loved the opportunity I found in the classroom.  Early on, becoming a principal meant that I would have to leave that purpose behind or at least shift how it was accomplished.  As time went by, I was challenged to see my staff as a class.  I had the opportunity to build deeper relationships with them, to share our careers together and to help them be the best teachers and people they could be.  For this reason, exploring transformational servant leadership was really valuable for me as I was able to develop specific language and concepts for the new perspective I was developing as an educational leader.

I am a single administrator working with a relatively small staff.  I have been keenly aware of my colleagues in other schools using the phrase “administrative team”.  I like to make them aware that it is a privilege to use the phrase.  I really appreciated the content in Unit 5 regarding team leadership.  It has given me the opportunity to interact with my staff in a new way.  I seek to work in teams not because it is lonely at the top or because it distributes the workload but rather because it provides more of my staff members the chance to work on projects within the school that go beyond the scope of their classrooms.  They are able to set and work toward common goals, be collaboratively creative and to solve problems together (Northouse, 2016). In the togetherness of team, we are able to accomplish so much more than I could accomplish on my own.

Servant Leaders…

They choose responsible, behind-the- scenes action over public heroism to resolve
tough leadership challenges. These individuals don’t fit the stereotype of the bold
and gutsy leader, and they don’t want to. What they want is to do the “right
thing” for their organizations, their co-workers and themselves- inconspicuously
and without casualties. ~  Carolyn Crippen ( 2005) referencing Fullan (2003).

References

Crippen, C. (2005). The Democratic School: First to Serve, Then to Lead. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, (47). Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ846732&site=eds-live

Fullan, M. (2003). The moral imperative of school leadership. Thousand Oaks, California:
Corwin Press, 3-47, 70-71.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

In Case Study 15.1 “The Glass Ceiling”, Lisa Weber, a top level portfolio manager is held back from promotion despite her exemplary work.  The firm that she is working in is plagued by many cultural obstructions blocking her pathway to success.  Some of these cultural obstructions appear to be part of the firm’s historical culture. The CEO states that they have never in their long history had a female partner.  Some of the obstructions come straight from the CEO himself.  In his corporate world, he does not have a perspective to allow into partnership someone who has been a professor nor will he allow a woman to advance further.  These multiple prejudices keep him from fostering an inclusive culture in his organization.

The hostile atmosphere created by the firm’s history and directly from the CEO filters down throughout the senior partnership and to Lisa herself.   When the CEO is not present, she has regular meetings with her peers where she is valued by them. This behaviour has the potential to become collaborative rather than competitive in nature and perhaps bare even more fruit for the firm.  In the presence of the CEO and his ridicule of her, her peers will not stand up for her, and neither will she.  To be seen as one of the boys, Lisa herself is influenced by the negative culture of the firm.

Lisa has brought in more clients than any of her peers, she rose rapidly through the corporate structure of the firm, her clients praise her for outstanding performance , even all of her peers look to her for guidance and direction because of her competence, yet her CEO does not see her.  He appears to be blind to her success because she is a token woman (Nugent, Pollack and Travis, 2016). As soon as there are ripples with her and it is predictable that she will likely move on, the next token woman is brought in to be a senior portfolio manager and replace her (Northouse 2016).

I am intrigued by how the story ends.  Lisa moves on to start her own firm.   I wonder if her negative experience with gender discrimination would influence her own company positively or negatively.  I also wonder what mechanisms she will put in place or what culture she will establish that will allow for her employees to rise to their full potential within her new organization.

References

Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th eds). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Nugent, J., Pollack, A. & D. Travis, (2016). The Day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. Retrieved from http://www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf

In addition to vision setting, policy development, management and production, the demonstration of moral and ethical behaviour in leadership is essential.  All organizations face times of victory or success and times of turbulence and struggle.  In either case the leader sets the tone.  The degree to which the leader is able to demonstrate an authentic appreciation for the followership and give credit where it is due  in the good times sets an example that success comes when the talents of the whole team are recognized.  In this way a culture of collaboration rather than cut throat competitiveness is created.  This happens most authentically when the leader is able to establish and continually reenforce that the purpose behind any of the work functions because of a greater ethical or moral code (Van Buren, 2013). Similarly in times of challenge or struggle, the ability of the leader to demonstrate hope, courage and resilience impact the overall confidence and climate of the followers within an organization (Avolio and Gardner, 2005).

Organizations are dependent on public or customer favour, to be financially viable and to complete their work consistently over time they must be seen to be operating in an ethical manner.  The perception of the organization is influenced by the ethical behaviour of its leaders and employees.  It must not be seen to be financially questionable, to have employees who are not treated favourably or to act in the marketplace in a way that is unacceptable. Largely, protecting the organization in this way is the job of the organizations leadership (Van Buren, 2013).

The leader must build a moral or ethical culture. The leader must balance both the means and the end by creating an ethical process of achievement which recognizes both employees and clients well along the way (Van Buren, 2013).  The positive moral tone created by the leader through positive behaviour, ethical decision making, fair treatment of people and building high quality relationship will have a contagious impact on the overall function of the organization and the followers.  The leader may end up transforming followers into ethical leaders simply by being a good role model.  For this reason, authentic ethical leadership must be a central function of a leader (Avolio and Gardner, 2005).

As my organization grows, the staff size continues to grow with it.  Where I was once able to create a positive and ethical culture because it was easy to have direct contact with each staff member, new structures need to be put in place to allow this to continue to happen.  As a Christian school, we all operate as a staff from an external ethical code, the Bible, which allows for shared values in how we approach each other as staff as well as students and parents.  As the staff grows however, situational complexity, poor communication, or lack of contact can create an environment where employees and leadership can trend toward being focused on self.  We would all agree as leaders and followers that we do many things very well as a team but their is room to do better.

If my organization is going to flourish the staff must also flourish.  In light of organizational growth, the most important thing I can do is to create an open, safe, honest and consistent culture of communication where we are able to ask hard questions and problem solve together. (Van Buren, 2013). To lead this process I must recognize and develop the variety of strengths within the followership. I must be positive, encouraging and consistent. I must respond to all situations we face as an organization and a staff in recognition of our our values and by recognizing the variety of interests which may be represented within our community.  These things are only possible if they come from a place of ethical authenticity.  I must keep myself aligned to Biblical values and true to who I am as a person  (Avolio and Garner, 2005).

Morality and ethics are not interchangeable terms.  For ethical leadership to be studied further, they should be independently defined.  How would you explain the difference between moral and ethical in terms of leadership?

References

Avolio, B. & Gardner, W. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315-338.

Van Buren, J. (2013) What is Ethical Leadership?  Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks2QGoIq5nA

Teams are a way of organizing a group of interdependent individuals who are working to achieve common goals (Northouse, 2016). Two critical functions of team effectiveness are performance (task accomplishment) – quality of outcomes or accomplishing goals in a quality manner. Development (team maintenance) – cohesiveness of the team and the ability for the members to satisfy their own needs while working effectively with one another. Conditions which must be in place for a team to both develop and perform include the following:

1. A real team
2. A compelling purpose
3. The right people – (personal example: Forming a school board committee for a specific purpose ie. rebranding)
4. Clear norms of conduct which are expectations regarding how members are to behave
5. Team focused coaching
6. Supportive organizational-context

Characteristics to promote team effectiveness:

1. Clear, Elevating Goal – It is important that a team has a clear goal. This keeps the team focused, it allows measurement to determine whether objectives are being met. Effective leaders will keep a team focused on the clear goal. (Personal example: teachers redesigning a report card template and reporting process)
2. Results-Driven Structure – Depending on the purpose of the team, one structure may be more appropriate than another. Some structural features include task design, team composition, and core norms of conduct.Whatever the structure it is important that team members understand their roles, communicate well, evaluate how they are reaching their objective base on fact-based analysis.
3. Competent Team Members – A team must have enough people to be effective. Members must demonstrate competencies or skills to be able to do the job and be able to solve problems. Members must also be able to function within a team environment, they must be open, positive and make contribution to the work of the team.
4. Unified Commitment – A team is more than a collection of individual workers. They have unity of purpose, team spirit and common identity. (Personal example: starting a new school with a committed teaching staff)
5. Collaborative Climate – A collaborative climate is developed as members build a relationship based on trust, give and take, open communication, and a tolerance for risk taking. The team leader plays a significant role in cultivating this climate.
6. Standards of Excellence – Clear concrete expectations established by either the team or the leader.  These expectations are used to determine how the individuals members and the team collectively are performing. With these in place, members will know what is required in order to put forward their best work.
7. External Support and Recognition — In order to be successful, a team must have external support from the rest of the organization.  This support may be in the form of space, equipment, or financial resources.  Once a team is working successfully and meeting the goals with which they were tasked, it is important that they are recognized and rewarded.  It is important that this recognition is given to the team and not to individual accomplishment.
8. Principled Leadership- Four processes: cognitive – understanding the problem, motivational – helps the team become cohesive and capable of setting and achieving high standards, affective– handle stress by providing clear goals, assignments and strategies, coordination – matching members skills with roles, provide clear performance strategies, monitoring feedback and adapting to environmental changes.

One of the only places I have worked with a work group which is described as a team is with a school-based team which meets to determine a support pathway for a student.  The affective process is important at this time.  There are times when these teams come together when there has been a level of frustration, dysfunction or insufficient strategy applied in aiding a student to be successful.  As a leader it is important to help resolve the stress levels of the team members.  This is done by laying out a goals for the team to work toward, tasking each person with specific assignments which need to be completed and then determining the correct strategy to address the questions raised by the team members.

I have found the exploration of a formal team based structures to be relatively challenging.  In a small school setting where people are often working within the silo of their own assignments, teams have not been a regular part of my leadership strategy. While I often establish smaller work groups, I have not formally conceived them as a team.  I am intrigued at the possibility of exploring this further.

How can a team concept be applied to staff members who have a common overarching goal of educating children and carrying out the vision of the school but very different day to day objectives?

Reference

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice, Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Transformational leadership is a newer leadership model and has been researched in contrast to transactional leadership. The transformational leader is tasked with inspiring people to do great things to further the goals of the organization (Northouse, 2016). This leadership requires that the leader has a higher moral development than her followers and therefore her personal demonstration of virtue is important. (Mulla and Krishnan, 2011).  This leader must recognize the need for change, articulate a new vision and inspire and motivate others to work for something that is greater than herself (Northouse, 2016).  Inspiration takes time.  Transformational leadership is most effective in creating change in followers when the leader has an opportunity to work directly with them over a long period of time (Mulla and Krishnan, 2011).

Mother Theresa is a good example of a transformational leader.  She set out to serve the church, do God’s will and help the less fortunate in Culcutta.  Mother Theresa impacted countless people through her work with the poor.  She had a vision for what needed to be done, sought permission from the church to do it her way and inspired others to work with her.  Her dedication drew the attention of the world which she used to continually funnel resources back to those she cared so deeply for (Biography, 2014).

References

Biography.com editors. 2014. Mother Teresa Biography. sourced from https://www.biography.com/people/mother-teresa-9504160

Mulla, Z. R. and Krishnan, V. R. (2011) Transformational leadership: Do the leader’s morals matter and do the follower’s morals change? In the Journal of Human Values. Vol 17, Issue 2 pp 129-143

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: theory and practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.