Month: October 2017

When a leader makes the decision to intervene, they must then decide whether they should intervene internally or externally. (Northouse, 2017). First the leader must decide whether the problem is inside of the team or if it is external to the team. An effective leader must ask themselves, “Are the goals clear?” “What can I do to help team members focus on the goals?” (Northouse, 2017). When a leader knows the answers to these questions, they must “analyze the demands of the team and react appropriately.” (Barge, 1996), retrieved from (Northouse, 2017). “Leadership can help members effectively deal with conflict by encouraging discussion and rapport building within teams. (Gupta et al., 2010, P 338).

If a team is experiencing conflict, the leader must determine how to intervene to resolve the conflict to improve the functioning of the team. (Northouse, 2017). If a team is experiencing conflict between members, then an action must be taken internally or within the team itself. (Northouse, 2017).  A leader must assess the problem, and provide tactful means of improving relationships as well as the supports necessary for the team to effectively do their job. If the leader determines that the “organizational environment is not providing proper support to the team to do its job, then perhaps an external environmental intervention focusing on obtaining external support for the team might be the most appropriate intervention.” (Northouse, 2017, P 376).

In my personal experience, an external leadership action that has been taken was when my principal approached me and asked me what supports she could offer me in order to help me experience success with my students. She offered to assist me in meeting with parents, providing additional assistant support as well as extra literacy support for my lower students. Her action made me feel more of a part of the education team at my school.

 

Another example of an external leadership action, can be seen in the movie Invictus. The captain of the rugby team had the team teach rugby to young children. The children were so motivated and excited that they surrounded the team and started chanting songs and rhymes. This motivated the players of the rugby team and inspired a sense of pride and a sense of team spirit. Northouse, 2017, suggests that an external action is advocating and representing the team to environment. The players were together, working as a team and experienced success with teaching rugby to children.(Northouse, 2017, P 380).

Another example from this movie is when Mandela flew in to where they were about to play. In front of everyone, he shook the hand of each team member, called them by their first name and said, “good luck.” This is external action that motivated and inspired each player. According to Hill’s model for team leadership in Northouse, 2017, this is an example of networking. (Northouse, 2017, P 379).

In the last 4 years in my school division, they have implemented a new standardized test called Dibels. Each staff member initially struggled with this test, the information that it was providing us as educators and how we were to move forward with this information. The goals were unclear. Northouse, 2017, suggest that an internal leadership action is goal focusing, which involves clarifying the goals for the team members. Our principal took an internal leadership action to help clarify these goals for us. She created charts, brought in exemplars, encouraged collaboration and clearly defined the goal of the Dibels test so that we could more effectively do our job. (Northouse, 2017, P 377).

In this example, she also used the internal action of structuring for results. Once the interpretation of the test results were clear, she presented us with a vision for what the desired outcome would be. She came up with a plan to push the lower kids into the higher categories. She did this by delegating literacy support to some staff members and by clarifying our roles in this vision. (Northouse, 2017, P 378).

Another example of internal action that I have experienced relates to the student I had last year that had many learning and behavioural challenges. It quickly became clear that the situation we were dealing with was more challenging and difficult than we thought it would be. The principal took internal leadership action and sent the team of staff who was working with this student to receive more training. She realized that we, “did not have the skills necessary to make well-reasoned decisions.” (Northouse, 2017, P 378). Providing more education and training is part of Hill’s model for team leadership. (Northouse, 2017, P 378).

In a group project organization, the leader must provide all members of the team with clear goals as well as a structured plan on how these goals will be achieved. A leader must ensure that a cohesive environment is established so that all team members can “work together to achieve desired outcomes.” (Gupta, et al., 2010, P(Chang & Bordia, 2001). An effective leader will empathize and listen to each member of the team in order to determine when internal or external actions are necessary. (Spears, 2010). The leader must encourage a collaborative community within the team by providing opportunity for networking, sharing information and forming alliances within the team environment. (Northouse, 2017). If a leader can effectively complete these tasks while monitoring the progress and dynamics of the team, the leader as well as the members of the team will experience success in achieving goals.

 

References

 

Spears, L., (2010). The Journal of Virtues & Leadership, Vol. 1 Iss. 1, 2010, 25-30.

Northouse, P. (2017). Leadership: Theory and Practice.

Eastwood, C., McCreary, L., (2009). Invictus [Warner Bros]. United States of America: Warner Bros.

“Team effectiveness, which focuses on team excellence or the desired outcomes of teamwork, has two critical functions. (Northouse, 2017, P 367). The first critical function of team effectiveness is, performance, which is task accomplishment. (Northouse, 2017, P 368). The second critical function relates to the cohesiveness of the team. It is development. (Northouse, 2017).

Hackman et. al, 2012, have created an assessment tool that can be used to determine the effectiveness of a team. (Northouse, 2017). If a leader feels that there are weak areas, or areas where their team has not been the most effective, then he or she needs to focus on goals to improve the team in that area. (Northouse, 2017).  “Hackman et. al 2012, suggest 6 enabling conditions of effective team functioning:

1. Is it a real team?
2. Does it have a compelling purpose?
3. Does it have the right people?
4. Are the norms of conduct clear?
5. Is there support from the organizational context?
6. Is there team-focused coaching?”

(Northouse, 2017, P 368).

Laran and LaFasto (1989) also studied patterns in team effectiveness and found 8 characteristics, that were similar to Hackman’s findings, that consistently stood out. (Northouse, 2017).

1. Clear Elevating Goal.
2. Results-Driven Structure.
3. Competent Team Members.
4. Unified Commitment.
5. Collaborative Climate.
6. Standards of Excellence.
7. External Support and recognition.
8. Principled Leadership.

Personally, I have experienced some of these conditions of team effectiveness. Unified commitment relates to having a sense of unity or identification as a team. (Northouse, 2017, P 370). Previously, the staff was very separated at our school. Our school did not have a team that would voluntarily collaborate or assist others in achieving goals. We were a separated staff. This doesn’t make for an effective team because people were unhappy at work, felt overworked and did not feel like a team. Our new principal is trying hard to lead us into having a unified commitment so that we can be a more effective team.

I am in my fifth year of teaching grade 4. The other staff member and I who teach grade 4 have become very close as colleagues. We work together at school during school hours, outside of school hours in the evenings and on weekends and we share things we have done on our own. This is an example of Larson and Lafasto’s characteristic of collaborative climate. (Larson and Lafasto, 1989). I also see this characteristic beginning to be achieved elsewhere in the school so that we can work more effectively as a team. Another example is our committee that guides the new staff. Each new staff member has a volunteer leader that guides them through challenges that arise throughout the year.

The seventh characteristic of team excellence as defined by Larson and Lafasto is “External Support and Recognition.” (Northouse, 2017, P 371). Northouse, 2017, according to Larson and Lafasto, states that “teams can achieve excellence if they are given the resources needed to do their jobs, are recognized for team accomplishments, and are rewarded for team performance rather than for individual performances.” (Northouse, 2017, P 371). This year, I am experiencing a classroom of students who are mostly average or above average learners. In previous years, I have experienced groups who are much lower and have more difficulties learning. As teachers, we always try our best to ensure that each student is getting the highest quality of education. If a teacher doesn’t have the proper resources and external support, our task of providing quality instruction to students who struggle, becomes even more difficult. This year, for the first time in my teaching career, our administrative staff approached each classroom teacher at the end of September and asked us what kind of support they could offer and provide. They asked if we felt like we needed more educational assistant time in our classrooms, more certified instructor assistance or more classroom resources. It was motivating to be asked and to have had these external resources offered to us. Personally, I felt like it enabled me to ensure that I am giving the absolute best education to my students.

Principled leadership is the eighth characteristic in Larson and Lafasto’s characteristics of team excellence. It is defined as “the central driver of team effectiveness” (Northouse, 2017, P 371). It is the principles that drive the leadership towards achieving goals, facing challenges and accomplishing tasks. There are 4 sets of processes that influence team effectiveness.(Northouse, 2017). The first is cognitive, in which the leader assists the team with understanding the problems. (Northouse, 2017). The second is motivational, where the leader guides the team into being able to work together by setting high performance standards and them helping the team work towards achieving these standards. (Northouse, 2017). The third process is affective. The leader assists the team in conquering stressful situations by providing clear goals, assignments, and providing them with strategies that will lead them to desired results. (Northouse, 2017). The fourth process is coordination. “Coordinately, the leader helps integrate the team’s activities by matching members’ skills to roles, providing clear performance strategies, monitoring feedback, and adapting to environmental changes.” (Northouse, 2017, P 371).

The third process, affective, is valuable to me in a team environment. Teaching, at times, is a highly stressful career. When I am stressed, I sometimes feel overwhelmed, discouraged or unsure what to do next. I value the affective process because during these high stress times, a leader can offer practical strategies towards achieving goals and accomplishing tasks. The affective process, can provide a team with the tools that they need to face any challenge. If each member of the team knows exactly which strategies to use in order to accomplish goals, the team will be more effective and efficient in achieving the goals. Without these strategies and clear goals, it is difficult for a team to effectively work together.

Northouse, P. (2017). Leadership: Theory and Practice.

“Servant leadership begins when leaders commit themselves to putting their followers first, being honest with them, and treating them fairly. Servant leaders make it a priority to listen to their followers and develop strong long-term relationships with them.” (Northouse, 2017, P 239). Northouse tells us that servant leaders center their values around the needs of others instead of their own needs. Servant leaders use their power to enable others. They do not use power for selfish reasons. “Rather than using their power to dominate others, leaders should make every attempt to share their power and enable others to grow and become autonomous.” (Northouse, 2017, P 239). A servant leader is someone who “develops and empowers others to reach their highest potential.” (Beck, 2014, P 300).

Emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s’ feelings, beliefs, and internal states and to use the information gained to guide the thinking and actions of both self and others (Barbuto et al. 2014, P 315) Emotional intelligence is an antecedent of servant leadership. (Beck, 2014). “Studies have found that emotional intelligence is an important leadership construct.” (Beck, 2014, P 301). Being trained in emotional intelligence, enables an individual to communicate and listen more effectively which are key components of servant leadership. (Northouse, 2017).

“The psychodynamic approach defends the idea that psychological, social and emotional processes between leaders and followers have a great influence and need to be taken into consideration.” (Northouse, 2017, P 305).

Both emotional intelligence and the psychodynamic approach provide insight into the control of our emotions and the motivational patterns that people exhibit. In servant leadership, the leader needs to be able to understand their own emotions, as well as the emotional patterns of others so that they can influence people. “In other words, to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do.” (Northouse, 2017, P 306). If a leader possesses emotional intelligence, as well as components of the psychodynamic approach, they will be more insightful and interested in why people do what they do and they will be more able to influence their followers. (Northouse, 2017).

John Maxwell suggests that in order for a leader to be in the higher levels of leadership, they will need a deep dedication to their followers. “You need to understand what people live for, strive for, and what excites them. You need to commit yourself to the people.” Better understanding our own emotions will enable us to be more effective in doing this.

“We define servant leadership as an altruistic-based form of leadership in which leaders emphasize the needs and development of others, primarily their followers. (Barbuto et al., 2014, P 316). An example of a servant leader would be Martin Luther King. Greenleaf proposed 5 attributes of a successful servant leader. These included listening, empathy, imagination, intuition and foresight. He noted that servant leaders begin leading with the deep desire to serve others. (Gordon, 2007, P 1). Martin Luther King was a leader who placed the needs of others above his own needs. Martin Luther King “put followers first, empowered them, and helped them develop their full potential.” (Northouse, 2017, P 225).

 

References

Barbuto, J.E., Gottfredson, R., Searle, T. (2014). An Examination of Emotional Intelligence as an Antecedent of Servant Leadership. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies

Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(4), 245-259. Vol 21, Issue 3, pp. 315 – 323

Gordon, Raymond Daniel. “Leadership, Servant.” International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2007. 786-89. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

Maxwell, J. [JohnMaxwellCo]. (2013, September 10). John Maxwell The 5 Levels of Leadership [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI

Northouse, P. (2017). Leadership: Theory and Practice.

“Teachers and administrators need grit too—today more than ever.” (Hoerr, 2017, P2) This article is meaningful to me as it serves as a reminder that no matter how hard we work as educators, we are constantly being faced with new and possibly more challenging problems in our everyday work. “It’s important to note that using grit doesn’t simply mean working harder. Teachers and principals already work hard. But regardless of how talented we are or how hard we work, some parts of our job will always require added determination. Despite the effort and progress we’ve made, we’ll always face new challenges that will require us to try and try again while maintaining our focus and energy.” (Hoerr, 2017, P4) The article is a good reminder that grit – or perseverance and passion – will help us as educators experience success with even our most difficult situations.

Some key ideas that I picked from this article include:

1. We learn more from our failures than our successes. (Hoerr, 2017, P5)
2. Character traits like grit, self-control, conscientiousness and self-confidence are as important as cognitive talent in determining whether students succeed. (Hoerr, 2017, P2)
3. When we face failure and seemingly overwhelming obstacles, our success will stem from how we respond. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
4. The realization that we’ll need to persist through setbacks is particularly important. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
5. We all have frustrations and problems that can’t be solved quickly or easily. It can be oddly comforting to learn that others also have frustrations—even those colleagues who never seem to sweat. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
6. Grit can become a habit when we approach failure or frustration as an opportunity to learn. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)
7. We need grit to meet instructional challenges as well as to navigate the interactions and tasks that are part of every school day. (Hoerr, 2017, P2)
8. When your school tackles improvement efforts, do it with the understanding that things will not always go smoothly. When your school tackles improvement efforts, do it with the understanding that things will not always go smoothly. (Hoerr, 2017, P3)

This article serves as a valuable lesson for educators. Anything that we may be teaching our students, may have a stronger impact if it is something that we practice and value in our own lives. For example, it may be hard to instil values of faith and religion, if you are not practicing it yourself. It would be similar to trying to teach a language that you can barely speak. Teachers need to make an effort to live by the values and skills that they are trying to teach in order to provide meaningful examples and modelling for students.  By giving students real examples of how these skills are used in life, they are more susceptible to try and use the skills in their own lives. Grit is something that we need to work on in our own lives too.

I picked this article because I feel that the message behind it is valuable to me. Sometimes I struggle in my own career with trying to be perfect and it is healthy to be reminded that perfection is not necessarily something I should strive for but rather making progress and accomplishing smaller goals. “If you’re not making any mistakes, it suggests that you’re simply doing the same thing over and over; “Making new mistakes, on the other hand, means that you’re trying new strategies and not repeating your errors, so you’re learning.” (Hoerr, 2017, P5) Making mistakes and learning from them is the progress that I would like to strive for. Hoerr also discusses the dynamic environment that educators work in. It is a job that changes with each group of students that come through. The problems we are faced with are not the same each year and we  “They find it hard to accept that the job can still be difficult and exasperating for them at times. The reality is that each year brings new students, and the world continues to spin; no matter how good we are, new challenges—and, yes, new frustrations and failures—await us.” (Hoerr, 2017, P3)

Hoerr, Thomas R. (2017). Educators Need Grit Too! Education Leadership, Summer 2017. Pp. 60 – pp. 64

In his post, Rob Tegelberg posed the following questions, Is it possible to be a leader without taking on the role of manager? Can you think of a tangible example of a leader who is not also a manager?

I believe it is possible to be a leader without taking on the role of a manager. There is a staff member in my school who demonstrates leadership in everything she does. She volunteers in the school and outside of school. She is gifted with technology and volunteers to make ‘how-to’ slideshows for people who are not as skilled. She is always ahead and willing to help other staff members who are behind. Perhaps one of her most inspirational leadership qualities is portrayed in her love for the students. She takes the time to research to ensure that she is providing her students with the best possible strategies for learning and that she is providing them with exactly what they need in order to experience success. This individual is a classroom teacher. Even though she is not in an administrative position, she continuously demonstrates leadership qualities.  I find myself constantly reflecting on how I can follow her example and be a leader on staff as well.