I am coming to the pointy end of this first assignment. I have been reflecting on the qualities required for good leadership according to our readings, and when combined, the criteria is staggering. And yet, not beyond reach.

I recognise these qualities in colleagues with whom I work and it is heartening to know that these are all achievable. Having worked under a very authoritative (albeit charismatic) leader, I also know which I prefer. Leadership which instils a sense of empowerment and fosters an eagerness for change and innovation is truly exciting.

In the spirit of presenting information diagrammatically, I collected the descriptors of what a good leader does from our readings and have presented them here:

I then trawled through the job-descriptions of TLs in leadership positions and discovered that their key contacts included the following (also presented diagrammatically):

When I combined the two to represent leadership style with actual role, this was the result:

It actually looks like a fireworks display. For those not daunted by the many facets of leadership, I guess there's a lot to celebrate. If there's one thing I've learned here, it's that that while leadership can be developed, it really can't be taught. Surely the desire to embrace the challenges and rewards that come with this life need to come from somewhere within.

Some observations:

Leadership is process not a person – this is why there are so many verbs in the first diagram connecting leadership to outcomes. Leadership does, not is.

The mark of good leadership is in the morale of its teams.

Good leadership actively grows rather than fears new leaders.

Transparency is a mark of confident leadership.

Change cannot be mandated; leaders create the right environment and change occurs.

Aguilar, E. (2012, November 28). Effective Teams: The Key to Transforming Schools? Retrieved from Edutopia - What works in Education: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teacher-teams-transform-schools-elena-aguilar

Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. (2009). Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions. Lincoln: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=managementfacpub

Belbin, M. (2010). Team Roles at Work (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK.

Brocker, B. (2012, March 22). Leadership Theory and Critical Skills. Bellevue University. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY&feature=player_embedded

Fullan, M. (1997). Leadership for Change. In M. Fullan (Ed.), The Challenge of School Change (pp. 97-114). Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Hargreaves, A. (2007). Sustainable Leadership and Development in Education: creating the future, conserving the past. European Journal of Education, 42(2), 223-233.

Hough, M., & Paine, J. (1997). Collaborative Decision Making with Teams. In Creating quality learning communities (pp. 110-127). South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia.

Knapp, M., Copland, M., & Swinnerton, J. (2007). Understanding the Promise and Dynamics of Leadership. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Chapter 4 106(1), 74-104.

Kotter, J. (2012). Kotter International. Retrieved April 2013, from Innovate Strategy Implementation Professionals: http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

Lambert, L. (1998). What is Leadership Capacity? In Building leadership capacity in schools (pp. 1-9). Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Law, S. & Glover, D. (2000). Leading effective teams. In Educational leadership and learning : practice, policy and research (pp. 71-86). Buckingham, England: Open University Press.

Marzano, R. Waters, T & McNulty, B. (2006). School Leadership that Works. Victoria, Australia: Hawker Brownlow.

Muzio, E. (2011, June 8). 7 Step Problem Solving. Bnet. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZXDGQSuF9I&feature=player_embedded#!

Schifter, C. (2008). Infusing Technology into the classroom: Continuous Practice Improvement. New York: Information Science Publishing.

Sergiovanni, T. (1984, February). Leadership and Excellence in Schooling. Educational Leadership, 4-13.

Sergiovanni, T. (2005). The Virtues of Leadership. The Educational Forum(69), 112-123.

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four principles for the open world. Edinburgh, Scotland: TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Tapscott&utm_campaign=&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com

Townsend, T. (2011). School leadership in the twenty-first century: different approaches to common problems. School Leadership and Management, 31(2), 93-103. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/abs/10.1080/13632434.2011.572419 

Youngs, H. (2009). (Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 41(4), 377-389.

The TL as Leader

On the tactile love of books and a palpable spirit of OPENNESS

I love the physical open space of libraries and I love books. Not e-books. Not i-books. Actual books. Made of paper. Even though I can’t actually see you, I can tell you are frowning.  TLs of the future are supposed to embrace e-books but I can’t say I love them yet. I have my reasons.

Because I love books, I often go to where books live: bookshops and libraries. As a student, I often go to the university library to get actual copies of books and journals on the ETL reading list. I like seeing their shape and feeling their weight. I wonder about the design of the front cover and what it’s meant to convey. You can also tell a lot about a book’s integrity by how damaged it is: the more dog-eared and well-thumbed its pages, the better the content is sure to be. Well, that's my theory anyway; real books demonstrate a remarkably vivid and accurate tactile history that e-books just don't (beware the book in perfect condition!). I also enjoy the academic environment of the library. I like traversing isles, fingering shelves, mentally mapping dewy decimal numbers to find the book I’m after. When I find it, it feels like I've just won at orienteering.

But greatest thing about physically being in the library is that you’re bound to find interesting things you weren’t looking for. Relevant things. After all, they’re usually sitting along-side the things you were looking for because libraries are so orderly, so purposefully arranged. Anyway, it was exactly in this way that I came across a book called The Challenge of School Change edited by Michael Fullan. I admit it’s a little dated, but there’s an interesting section in it comparing today’s leadership values (in 1997) with those of the future (where we are now). How fascinating to read about what others’ have envisaged about the future, in the future.

Here are some of his key ideas on leading change in schools (paraphrased):

Value 1: openness to participation

Today’s value - employees do what the leader tells them

Tomorrow’s value - actively include participants in decisions which affect them

Value 2: Openness to diversity

Today’s value – employees fall into line with organisational direction

Tomorrow’s value - diversity of perspectives result in deep understanding and enriched decision making

Value 2: Openness to conflict

Today’s value - employees valued only when communicating in harmony with group

Tomorrow’s value - resolving healthy conflict results in a stronger organisation

Value 2: Openness to Reflection

Today’s value – decisions are made without looking back

Tomorrow’s value – organisations value reflecting on own and others’ thinking

Value 2: Openness to mistakes

Today’s value – don’t make them

Tomorrow’s value - learn from them

I’m glad we have moved past 1997 but can really we say we have successfully achieved that culture of openness? 

Fast forward to 2012. According to Don Tapscott, the world is opening up despite us, and the internet is driving it. We can either jump on board, or we can sink. As students of ETL504, we have all seen Tapscott’s powerful TED Talk on ‘The Four Principles of the Open World’ but I have included it here for you anyway. The last part of the video featuring the murmuration of the starlings is mesmerising.

For Tapscott, openness is about endless possibility.  For Fullan, it is a force for positive change. Both believe that collaboration is key to successfully executing change. I suppose if Fullan could have foreseen the power of social media, he probably would have agreed with Tapscott that it is a critical means of intellectual production. I agree. In an open market of qualified minds, ‘every person is a change agent’ p.103

Please see April 5 post for further reflections on leadership J

References

Fullan, M. (1997). Leadership for Change. In M. Fullan (Ed.), The Challenge of School Change (pp. 97-114). Australia: Hawker Brownlow Education.

Tapscott, D. (2012, June). Four principles for the open world. Edinburgh, Scotland: TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/don_tapscott_four_principles_for_the_open_world_1.html?awesm=on.ted.com_Tapscott&utm_campaign=&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_source=direct-on.ted.com