School Leadership

School Leadership






Leadership is not domination or coercion of others but the promotion of efforts to achieve communal goals. Effective leadership promotes change and school leaders need to know how to bring about change as well as how to respond to it when it is threatening as well. The principal working within the school organization must deal with reactions to pressures for initiating and responding to change that come from both staff and the school community. S(he) must develop strategies which allow change to be meaningful and sustained. Key concepts include:






Knowing The Dimensions Of Leadership


Providing Purpose And Direction


Improving School Culture


Developing A Relevant School Vision


Setting Priorities And Goals










If you think you can win, you can win.






If you think you can lead, you can lead! Faith, as it is in winning, is also necessary to the victories of successful leadership. The dimensions of leadership within a school are different today than they were in previous years. School leaders of today may find no “One-Minute Management” solutions to the problems of leadership in the educational world. A school principal often does not stay on one task for longer than two minutes and within one working day handles more than 1000 different situations rendering decisions. Consequently there is constant return to complex problems as new information becomes available. While one could say that the purpose of school leadership is to provide teachers, students and their parents with a learning environment which emphasizes trust, meaningful instruction, and psychological security. The truth is that effective school leadership is much more.






Knowing the Dimensions of Leadership






A successful principal wears numerous titles at any given moment throughout the school day including Instructional Leader, Supervisor, Evaluator, Colleague, Friend, Mother or Father, Nurse, Counselor, Psychologist, Custodian, Negotiator, Facilitator, Mediator, Crossing Guard, Social Worker, Guardian, Caregiver, Cheerleader, Supporter, Pastor, Priest to Rabbi, to name a few. However a successful principal must have a thorough knowledge of curriculum and instruction, personnel management, fiscal management and facility management, too. The National Association of Elementary School Principal’s assessment centers look for leadership of principals in twelve dimensions ( NAESP, Streamlined Seminar)






NAESP’s Dozen Dimensions of Leadership






1. Instructional Leadership and Supervision - The leader must understand the instructional process and is well-versed in a variety of instructional techniques; evaluates classroom instruction relative to teacher objectives and student performance.


2. Human Relations - Leader perceives the needs, concerns, and personal problems of others; recognizes conflicts; deals tactfully with persons from varying backgrounds.


3. Judgment - The leader reaches logical conclusions and makes quality decisions based on available and acquired information; exercises skills in identifying educational needs and setting priorities.


4. Organizational Ability - The leader organizes prior to an event and plans and schedules the work of others using resources optimally as well as considering societal and governmental constraints.


2. Educational Values - The leader possesses a well-reasoned educational philosophy; places high priority





3. on needs and the welfare of students; is receptive to new ideas and change, but understands the need for stability.


6. Oral Communication - The leader clearly presents facts and ideas orally to individuals and groups using language that is precise and appropriate for the audience.


7. Written Communication - The leader expresses ideas concisely and precisely in writing.


8. Problem Analysis - The leader seeks and analyzes relevant information to determine important elements of a problem using information to distinguish problem significance.


9. Creativity - The leader generates and recognizes innovative solutions in work-related situations and exhibits an openness to new ideas demonstrating originality in developing policies and procedures.


10. Decisiveness - The leader recognizes the need for a decision and is willing to act quickly , to make decisions, render judgment, take action and accept responsibility for consequences.


11. Group Leadership - The leader possesses and projects a sense of vision, exhibits confidence in self; involves others in accomplishing goals and solving problems and recognizes when a group requires direction.


12. Resourcefulness - The leader actively attempts to influence events to achieve goals and considers work important to personal satisfaction. The leader also evaluates his/her own work, initiates activities and takes action beyond the minimal requirements.






Providing purpose and direction






Implementing these dimensions of leadership requires flexibility and insight on the part of the leader while at the same time taking into account the expectations of the followers. Leadership is a process that begins where followers are and moves them toward more participative forms of leadership behaviors. In this sense, it follows good pedagogy in that learning begins where the learners are and leadership begins where the followers are, not where the leader would like them to be.






Now contrast these generic dimensions of leadership with the performance standards seen in the National Policy Board Manual. The principal is able to:






• articulate a vision for the school


• gain insight into the school members hopes


• apply understanding of important new trends


• align reward systems with enduring values


• facilitate direction setting


• see the school as part of larger systems including the district and


the community


• foster innovation and


• build on the specific strengths of staff.
















Theoretically, leaders should be those who can do things best for a group or school. But in many schools today, the authorities are assigned to leadership roles even when there are others who have greater skills and insights about certain difficulties or problems. Researchers have identified six leadership styles of school administrators.






Teller - The leader shares what has been decided


Seller - The leader shares the decision the leader decided on


Tester - The leader shares a tentative decision to see the reaction


Consulter - The leader seeks input prior to the decision


Joint efforter - The leader gets equal participation from members


Abdicator - The leader delegates the decision to others






School leaders today move between any of these styles in as many minutes with every action of the leader influenced by the relations between the leader and the staff, students and parents. Every member of the staff has conscious and unconscious attitudes which tend to distort how they see and understand the messages of the principal. It is important to look at oneself critically and upon self reflection determine how much of the time you use a variety of these styles? Or do you tend to favor only one or two? How much of the time do you vary your style? Are any of these styles difficult for you to use? Ask fellow leaders to assess your styles and help you assess which styles work well and those that need work. Just becoming aware of and learning these different styles will help leaders work more effectively and successfully with their staff.






Formal and Informal types of Leadership






Leadership types fall into two different types, formal and informal. Both operate within the same organization. A principal may successfully use both types depending upon the situation or interaction. The school principal has been designated by the state as the legal-rational authority in the school building. In this setting leadership is a formal type. But leadership is not just limited to the principal and can be appropriately demonstrated in an informal style when assigned to those who can best serve the needs of people at particular times and places. In the classroom or teacher’s lounge, many staff who are followers in faculty meetings become informal leaders creating positive or negative feelings in other staff members. This ability of individuals to shift from the role of follower to that of leader is often observed in schools and corporate structures. Because of this, research into small group life has come to see the leadership role as a shared function, rather than a quality assigned to a particular individual.






Nobody can be the “cool and competent” person all the time, yet this is often the front which leaders are asked to present in their everyday dealings with people. Some situations





demand personal knowledge about students; others require skills and insights which are most developed by staff or counselors. Attention given to the social interaction and feelings evoked from teachers, parents, and students is a key responsibility for a leader to build trust and psychological security.






Improving school culture






Crucial variables in leadership are the kinds of interpersonal relationships developed between the leader and others. If you have good relations with those with whom you work, they will be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when you make mistakes. They will also be more likely to tell you when they are annoyed or angry with you. Therefore, leadership style is much less significant than the leader’s ability to build good relationships with all stakeholders at a school site.






Todays students and staff come to our schools with a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicity, beliefs and values. For these reasons, it is important for school leaders to become more aware of their own feelings and behaviors and to be aware of them in reacting and responding to teachers, students and parents. An ability to understand and work through the variety of attitudes, emotions and behaviors brought to school is important if leadership patterns are to succeed. When leaders and followers are provided an environment were they can openly verbalize their thoughts and feelings, they often see and understand things clearly for the first time. An open environment will create trust and confidence by all involved. Trust is extremely important because it allows leaders to know that what another is saying is truthful and it is related to the development of good interpersonal relations with others. Trust improves the predictability of individuals and when another acts in an unpleasant way, the relationship can better be saved by having already established an environment free to share and express thoughts and feelings and openly to provide new workable solutions.






When an administrator is assigned to a new school, whether it is a first assignment or a transfer to a new school, initial attention must be paid to begin the building of trust and friendships. With these in place, it is much easier for other tasks to begin and successfully be accomplished. Three key questions will always be posed to any new leader seeking to find her/his supervisory style. How approachable are you? How helpful and supportive will you be with me, the teacher, parent or student? Trust will also be influenced by the kinds of leadership staff members want and expect. If they have been happy with paternalistic, authoritarian styles, that is where the new administrator should begin. Over time, you may want to wean them away, introducing them to more democratic and enabling forms of leadership behavior. Leaders should also seek to reduce the anxieties of followers in their first meetings together. This can be done by taking a preliminary step of seeking out staff members and speaking to them one-on-one to learn what kind of leadership style they are comfortable with, how they are used to working with a leader and what questions they have about the new administrator. This initial groundwork helps one to clearly know how to define roles and run initial meetings. Once a good relationship is started, a leader can then approach new ways and ideas anticipating positive outcomes and less resistance.






Effectively Leading Communication






How can leaders be trained to understand group structures and the changing roles of leadership? What must they do in order to work with informal groups effectively? The answers to these questions do not lend themselves to easy answers or short cuts. Yet ways of identifying positive and negative groups and leaders do exist and methods of expressing and neutralizing conscious and subconscious emotions also exist. These are important in helping leaders to improve their communication and relations with others. A sound communication system provides the leader with reliable information about what is really happening inside the building. It allows the making of decisions based on a deeper understanding of the staff’s personal goals and aspirations. The wellspring and power of organizational energies are released when people are encouraged to identify and resolve problems that come up in their work. New ways of doing things are accepted more easily when they are the result of participation and consensus. Many principals desire participative management with their staffs, providing strategies and structures which take into account the demands of the organization, the expectations of staff members and children.






Leadership is a way of influencing others through communication. The focus must be on social interaction and the feelings the interactions evoke between all of the stakeholders. With the diversity of our school populations today, primary focus must given to the cultural and socio-economic differences of our school families and the ways teachers can be more effective in teaching in these new situations. But these encounters between teachers and students and between teachers and administrators do not take place in a vacuum. They form the social context within which schooling pursues its primary purposes of socialization and instruction. They provide a background which can help new supervisors understand why racism and socio-economic factors have loomed so large in the academic success or failure of certain groups in American society.






Developing a relevant school vision






Leadership is not domination or coercion of others but the promotion of efforts to achieve communal goals that are





part of a realizable vision. Leadership promotes change but it also can resist change when it feels itself threatened. Sensitive leaders need to do more than mechanically position themselves when they speak to others. Effective communication in pursuit of a vision ultimately depends on non-verbal communication as well as on what is actually being said.






Development and articulation of an educational philosophy is the first step in creation of a workable vision for your school. Many administrators find that one should be no more than 10% ahead of your community and district.






Setting priorities and goals






Your personal vision might include not only goals but high standards that are reachable. Standards that are too high or too low are ignored by school staff operationally, even though they may give lip service support to survive politically. Since your primary objective is often the widest possible participation by members of your school community, you may find the "10% Discrepancy Model" helpful.






Let us say you are working on the standard for reading at grade 2. The test your district uses reports percentiles where 99 is the best possible. The mean score for grade 2 last year was 83. You subtract 83 from 99 and get a discrepancy of 16. You then take 10% of 16 and get 1.6 rounded to 2.0. You then add 85 and 2 for a new target of 87 for the coming year.






The advantage of this model is that it provides a realistic target. If your scores are low, the expected increase is large, and in fact larger gains are realistic in this situation. If you are a high scoring school, the gains expected are small, and, as you no doubt know, they are hard to reach. But all of these strategies carry you nowhere if you are not communicating well.






When engaged in conversation, consider these following questions:






Do I like the person I am talking to? If I do, how well am I listening to what is being said?


What am I saying on a non-verbal level, and how is this person responding? Is his body language and presence indicating that he trusts our conversation and me?


Are either one of us acting as though we were not paying complete attention to one another? Are either one of us distracted by other concerns?


If there are distractions, what am I doing to deal with these problems , now?






Body Language Communication Tips






As has been stated already, effective communication skills are an integral part of effective leadership. But in addition to what is being communicated we need to pay attention to how the communication occurs as well.






The following suggestions are skills that have been mastered by many successful leaders. These body language communication tips are based on American culture. While they are suggested, it is important that a leader be aware of the cultural diversity present in our schools and become aware if these actions, accepted in the American culture, are offensive to other cultures.






TIP #1 - Look the person to whom you are speaking straight in the eye. This shows in our culture that I am listening to you and that I am available now.






TIP #2 - Face the person to whom you are speaking squarely: Adopting an open position or posture when you talk also communicates an openness to listen and respond.






TIP #3 -Lean forward towards the other person. This shows interest and concern for what is being said. When both the leader and the staff member are leaning toward one another, they show their mutual involvement in what is being said. However, leaning too far toward the other can backfire. You may violate the personal space of the other person and cause them to draw back and become defensive or frightened. It can also be seen as trying to becoming intimidating.





TIP #4 -Eye contact is a must in American society and steady eye-contact can be a good thing. This is another way of telling a client or staff member that you are with them, that you are sharing their interests and concerns. Conversely, looking away to the side can be seen as a lack of interest and involvement and should be avoided.





TIP #5 - Come to a meeting in as relaxed a frame of mind as possible. Being at ease tells others that you are not nervous or preoccupied. If you move about in your seat or seem distracted facially, the observer will wonder what’s making you so uncomfortable.






Using your body effectively is a first step in being a skilled leader. But of course that is only the beginning. These skills will not work if they are used without thinking about the relationship which you as a leader have developed with your staff or clients. Giving careful consideration to the person you will be meeting and awareness of their comfort level is important prior to implementing of any of these tips. Likewise, it is important for leaders to be aware of their own feelings and behavior. Teachers and supervisors often react to one another in ways which are not helpful. In new situations, they often transfer behaviors and emotions from a past situation onto another one. This transference can negatively compound communication processes. Some may regress to more infantile behaviors, seeking to please the leader or to behave in ways which worked for them when they confronted other authority figures in the past. An ability to





understand and work through these behaviors and emotions is important if leadership patterns are to succeed.






Three Components of Leadership






As we seek to understand the behavior of school staff and students, it is helpful to stand back and try to see if there are more general human behaviors that we can study in order to gain insight into what happens in schools. For administrators, power, authority and evaluation are key concepts in this search for clarification. Power can be defined as a person’s ability to get another person to do what you want him/her to do. Authority, by contrast, is legitimized power. Power can be made legitimate by a member of the school, say a teacher getting approval of a proposed action from one or more of three sources of legitimation. These approvals can come from one’s superior, one’s equals or one’s subordinates. Evaluation is the use of one’s authority, say as a principal, to control staff behavior in an attempt to focus staff energy upon priority goals and objectives. Effective schools are characterized by administrators who use their authority to carry out evaluations which help teachers to prioritize their goals and objectives and implement them successfully. You will read more about these concepts in Chapter 21, Establishing a Climate for Staff Acceptance of Assessment and Evaluation.






Conclusion






Some conclusions can be drawn about successful leadership. First, it begins with the identification of the needs and concerns of people and then proceeds, over time, to include levels of trust, involvement and understanding. It is flexible and varies from situation to situation.






No one principal has the skills, knowledge, insight or information to provide effective leadership in every situation. Some situations call for specific knowledge and skills in specialized areas . Leadership often requires some aspects of counseling as well as teaching. When dangerous situations occur and members are confused and troubled, teachers and students may respond to school leaders without thinking much about it. If such leadership persists beyond these moments of crisis, an overly directive leadership style may develop. So we may say that the identification, authority and functions of leaders are determined by the organizational structures of schools and the ongoing social processes that occur between teachers, parents and students in their everyday work together. An analysis of effective school leadership shows that it is a shared rather than an individual effort with all stakeholders sharing in the tasks at hand and working together to bring about the cohesiveness of the group.






An effective leader understands the beliefs, feelings and thoughts of the school community . Through this understanding, meaningful leadership can follow. Each school can be likened to that of a puzzle box cover. The puzzle box allows you to view the whole picture of a puzzle before you begin to put the individual pieces together. The end result can be the same, but with a view of the whole picture first, working with the individual pieces becomes much easier. Sometimes, we don’t even know what all of the pieces are, but if we can keep focused on the school vision and mission, then the pieces may all be able to neatly fit and join together.