Leadership in Education Innovation
I was struck by the first question – Can leadership be taught? As I reflect on this, I believe leadership to be more of a mentorship process. When I think about my leadership journey, I believe it began in the classroom as the teacher in front of the class of eager and not so eager students. I was very green and did not know everything. (I still am far from knowing everything!) However, I looked to teachers who were becoming masters of their class. I modelled what I liked and what worked and I discarded methods that were adverse to who I was and my own set of values and beliefs.
When I finally chose to enter into the role of principal, I believe that I was mentored along the way. I had superintendents who helped me question and helped me come to understandings. They didn’t just give direction, but they helped me to find direction that would work best for me; yet they also gave advise and suggestions along the way. The Avolioi, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T.J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions is interesting as it provides many forms of leadership. I feel I have bits and pieces of lots of them. Does that make me a poor leader? Indecisive as I navigate? Or does this mean that I change my leadership approach to best meet the needs of the situation I have to deal with. There are times I exhibit authentic leadership, where I encourage those who follow me to provide input and direction. I feel I am also transformational as I do try to inspire others to be stronger than what is merely expected in their jobs. I believe that I have ethical leadership qualities as I believe in the professional conduct of my staff. I also try to be innovative. I accept new ideas as I want my students and my staff to have opportunities that allow them to grow. At times I lean towards a servant leadership approach and then I can be distributive. As I read through this article, I am reminded that I wear many hats in my leadership. I am also questioning whether I now try to narrow my approach to leadership but also wondering if I can even change!
I was also struck by the idea that leadership can be viewed in a romantic way. I think of the leaders on television who are romanticized for fixing an organization, for being the hero and making a huge difference for the company. Avolioi, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T.J. (2009) argue that “leadership is significantly affected by the way followers construct their understanding of the leader in terms of their interpretation of his or her personality, behaviours, and effectiveness” (p. 435). I do believe that I want to be the person who makes positive change. I want what is best for my students and my staff. As I weave my way through the rest of this course, I am sure I will continue to explore my own leadership, my values, my leadership challenges and work to grow as a leader in my school and in my community.
Avolioi, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T.J. (2009). Leadership: Current theories, research, and future directions. Management Department Faculty Publications. Paper 37.