Leadership Dilemma
Artifact 2: Leadership Dilemma
Course: EDUC 5201G Foundations of Leadership
Description: The “Leadership Dilemma” paper was written to examine a leadership challenge that was faced by me in my current workplace. The leadership dilemma resulted due to the divided location of the school campus, lack of experience of the administration unit, poor leadership style of the principal and lack of proper communication between the principal and staff members. For resolving the leadership dilemma it was proposed that the principal could take on a Transformational Leadership role (Burns, 1978), strive to become an Authentic Leader (George, 2012), exercise Distributed Leadership (Bennett et al., 2003) practice in the school community and enhance leadership communication.
Reflection: "Leadership is at the hub of transforming values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards." (Kouzes & Postner 2007) "Leadership is considered to be about communicating to people their worth and potential clearly that they come to see it in themselves’ and about unleashing the potential of those around you" (Covey, 2005). The (Kouzes & Postner, 2007) states that successful school leaders are seen to be motivating visionaries – skilled communicators, who listen, reflect, learn and empower. During a crisis situation they provide certainty, engendering hope, ensure openness and credible communication to and for all affected members of the school community.
During the times of crisis, (O’Brien & Robertson, 2009) argue that "leaders must cultivate a new set of leadership competencies for dealing with situation they may never have encountered before." According to (Smith & Riley, 2012) in times of crisis the attributes of effective leadership include the "ability to cope with ambiguity, a strong capacity to think laterally, a willingness to question events in new and insightful ways, a preparedness to respond flexibly and quickly, to change direction rapidly if required, an ability to work with and through people to achieve critical outcomes, a willingness to take necessary risks and to break ‘the rules’ when necessary."
The leadership dilemma artifact allowed me to explore a crisis situation that occurred at my current workplace. As a leading teacher the overload of responsibilities that I faced was mainly due to the location of the school and leadership style of the principal. Since, our school is located in three different campuses, their communication between the principal and staff members which resulted in a condition where the campuses are generally run by the lead teachers and the principal generally intervenes during serious administrative issues. According to Barrett (2006) Leadership Communication requires leaders to use full range of communication skills and resources to overcome interference to create and deliver messages that would guide, direct, motivate or inspire others to action. The location of this school has also influenced the work ethics of the teachers were they are generally less willing to spend their time towards the development of the students. This situation can be explained using the Transactional Theory that states that people are passive and must be directed and extrinsically motivated to serve organizational needs. (McGregor, 1966)
The leadership style of the principal is another reason that has resulted in the leadership dilemma. Using the Ohio State Leadership Quadrants I understood that the principal is less active in directing group activities through planning, communication, scheduling and trying out new ideas. The Managerial Grid analyzed the leadership style of the principal where the principal has a higher concern for work and a lesser consideration for the people working at his organization. (Blake & Mouton, 1964)
In my understanding, the leadership style of the principal can be understood by exploring the Situational Theory, which argues that the situation determines what leaders do and their behavior is linked to the specific environment at hand. (Fairholm, 2009) Due to the high load of work from different campuses the principal selected a classroom teacher to look over each campus in his absence. The principal could assign duties to each staff member or groups to complete the responsibilities. In exercising Distributed Leadership (Bennett et al., 2003) the principal could create a network of relationships inside the school campus where teachers, students, department heads, administrative staff members, and parents would be working together for the benefit of the school. The values such as commitment towards students, inquiry and trust would be the driving force for the teachers. The teachers would be working together as a team to create a positive environment for the students and teachers inside the school. The principal could also strive to become a Transformational Leader who inspires and energizes their followers to become their best selves. They are engaged in moral uplift of their followers and they share a mutually rewarding vision of success and power them to transform those into realities. (Burns, 1978) In addition, the principal could change his leadership style to become an Authentic Leader (George, 2012). As an Authentic Leader the building of self-awareness would allow the principal to gain knowledge about his leadership skills which can be done by gaining honest feedback from others. It is also important for the principal to focus on his true north (George, 2012) to build a support team that can help him stay focused on his work despite the workload of managing three campuses. These would allow the principal to create a positive environment in the workplace and work together with teachers towards a shared vision.
Course: EDUC 5201G Foundations of Leadership
Description: The “Leadership Dilemma” paper was written to examine a leadership challenge that was faced by me in my current workplace. The leadership dilemma resulted due to the divided location of the school campus, lack of experience of the administration unit, poor leadership style of the principal and lack of proper communication between the principal and staff members. For resolving the leadership dilemma it was proposed that the principal could take on a Transformational Leadership role (Burns, 1978), strive to become an Authentic Leader (George, 2012), exercise Distributed Leadership (Bennett et al., 2003) practice in the school community and enhance leadership communication.
Reflection: "Leadership is at the hub of transforming values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards." (Kouzes & Postner 2007) "Leadership is considered to be about communicating to people their worth and potential clearly that they come to see it in themselves’ and about unleashing the potential of those around you" (Covey, 2005). The (Kouzes & Postner, 2007) states that successful school leaders are seen to be motivating visionaries – skilled communicators, who listen, reflect, learn and empower. During a crisis situation they provide certainty, engendering hope, ensure openness and credible communication to and for all affected members of the school community.
During the times of crisis, (O’Brien & Robertson, 2009) argue that "leaders must cultivate a new set of leadership competencies for dealing with situation they may never have encountered before." According to (Smith & Riley, 2012) in times of crisis the attributes of effective leadership include the "ability to cope with ambiguity, a strong capacity to think laterally, a willingness to question events in new and insightful ways, a preparedness to respond flexibly and quickly, to change direction rapidly if required, an ability to work with and through people to achieve critical outcomes, a willingness to take necessary risks and to break ‘the rules’ when necessary."
The leadership dilemma artifact allowed me to explore a crisis situation that occurred at my current workplace. As a leading teacher the overload of responsibilities that I faced was mainly due to the location of the school and leadership style of the principal. Since, our school is located in three different campuses, their communication between the principal and staff members which resulted in a condition where the campuses are generally run by the lead teachers and the principal generally intervenes during serious administrative issues. According to Barrett (2006) Leadership Communication requires leaders to use full range of communication skills and resources to overcome interference to create and deliver messages that would guide, direct, motivate or inspire others to action. The location of this school has also influenced the work ethics of the teachers were they are generally less willing to spend their time towards the development of the students. This situation can be explained using the Transactional Theory that states that people are passive and must be directed and extrinsically motivated to serve organizational needs. (McGregor, 1966)
The leadership style of the principal is another reason that has resulted in the leadership dilemma. Using the Ohio State Leadership Quadrants I understood that the principal is less active in directing group activities through planning, communication, scheduling and trying out new ideas. The Managerial Grid analyzed the leadership style of the principal where the principal has a higher concern for work and a lesser consideration for the people working at his organization. (Blake & Mouton, 1964)
In my understanding, the leadership style of the principal can be understood by exploring the Situational Theory, which argues that the situation determines what leaders do and their behavior is linked to the specific environment at hand. (Fairholm, 2009) Due to the high load of work from different campuses the principal selected a classroom teacher to look over each campus in his absence. The principal could assign duties to each staff member or groups to complete the responsibilities. In exercising Distributed Leadership (Bennett et al., 2003) the principal could create a network of relationships inside the school campus where teachers, students, department heads, administrative staff members, and parents would be working together for the benefit of the school. The values such as commitment towards students, inquiry and trust would be the driving force for the teachers. The teachers would be working together as a team to create a positive environment for the students and teachers inside the school. The principal could also strive to become a Transformational Leader who inspires and energizes their followers to become their best selves. They are engaged in moral uplift of their followers and they share a mutually rewarding vision of success and power them to transform those into realities. (Burns, 1978) In addition, the principal could change his leadership style to become an Authentic Leader (George, 2012). As an Authentic Leader the building of self-awareness would allow the principal to gain knowledge about his leadership skills which can be done by gaining honest feedback from others. It is also important for the principal to focus on his true north (George, 2012) to build a support team that can help him stay focused on his work despite the workload of managing three campuses. These would allow the principal to create a positive environment in the workplace and work together with teachers towards a shared vision.
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