Leadership And Effective Leadership For Learning

Who school leaders are – what they do, attend to, or seem to appreciate is constantly watched by students, teachers, parents, and members of the community. Their interests and actions send powerful messages. They signal the values they hold. Above all else, leaders are cultural “teachers” in the best sense of the word. (Deal & Peterson, 1990, p. 201)

Currently, I am not an employee of any learning organization, school district or educational system. However, I am involved and Chair the School Advisory Council (SAC) of Greenland Pines Elementary. This opportunity granted me a unique opportunity to observe the management of two different principals with their individual leadership styles. Furthermore, I contrasted my business practices from my own company and military service to coincide with this case study. The purpose of this paper is a comprehensive written outlining the processes presented by the educational leadership at Greenland Pines Elementary. With this in mind, we need to understand the concept of educational leadership.

In the book, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, the author, Michael Fullan explains how school leadership should

According to the author in the introduction of the book, this work was basically intended to serve as a guide for developing moral leadership in schools geared toward superintendents, supervisors, principals, and any other persons at the upper levels of school management. The author's design was to provoke thoughts and raise questions in the minds of these people to help them analyze the leadership processes in their schools and help them make adjustments to the leadership process that will in the end reduce the need for "direct" leadership in favor of "moral" leadership. He

I find the statement “The effective leader today must be a director and motivator, implementer and innovator, mentor and team builder, expert and moral force, organizer and developer of people” (2015, p.61), to be both accurate and realistic. One reason I believe this to be the case is because of the number of individuals who have been able to facilitate these roles on their way to being considered successful leaders. One example being Vince Lambardi. While the story told of him in textbooks by Willie Davis primarily spoke of his motivating skills, he is a renowned leader (2015, p.30).

When people assume the role of a leader there are important ways that a leader should lead in order to ensure a level of effectiveness and consequently achieve success in the organization. Effective leaders have the ability to promote diversity in their schools. Therefore, the school environment should be welcoming to all students including the students who have cultural, learning, and personal differences and if not it can be very difficult for these groups of students to learn. It is a crucial part of a principal’s duties and responsibilities to promote an environment that embraces diversity. The leadership standards and indicators provided in this course serve as a guide for leaders to follow in order to ensure that they are doing their

There have been many great leaders down through history. Leaders that have influenced change throughout many aspects of society. Great leaders have great influence. The effectiveness of a leader is determined by his leadership style. With so many styles to choose from, and the fact that not one style fits all situations, becoming an effective leader is a challenging task. One reflective note is that it is important to cultivate good leadership skills. One must evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses and consider making changes as the situation demands a different leadership style. (Origitano, 2015)

Leaders influence others toward improvement in educational practices and identify with and contribute to a community of learners and leaders in the teaching sector.

Patrick Sweeney (2010) says there are three important things leaders must do to develop leaders around them: know their people, replace fear with confidence, and create a culture of collaboration. Great leaders have the capacity to express their vision in a compelling and meaningful way in order to get people to embrace that vision and transform it into a reality. Leaders need to understand themselves, their people, and have the ability to motivate and engage them. Most importantly great leaders do not create followers, they create future leaders.

The world of healthcare, its delivery and services are forever evolving; and in the interim so is its infrastructure and workforce capacity (Klienman, 2003). Healthcare executives must be equipped with the proper skills in order to be effective leaders in the field. Dye and Garman (2006) highlight various critical competencies all healthcare executives should harness in order to be influential leaders in their present or future leadership role. Some competences may come natural to individuals, while others have to be developed and strengthened over time. Leaders are faced with challenges such as ethical dilemmas, budgetary cuts and organizational restructuring. Furthermore they are also responsible for sustaining employee morale, being a visionary and a role model within their respective agencies. However, the key to their success in being an effective leader is based upon a foundation of the ability to influence and an understanding of their ethical approach to decision-making (Grenny, Patterson, Maxfield, McMillan & Switzler, 2013).

The focus of this assignment is authentic learning, but more specifically, authentic learning within a Catholic school context. This assignment will put forward leadership approaches that school leaders can employ to help build teachers’ capacities to provide authentic learning experiences in their classrooms. Futhermore, the moral dimension of leadership in this context will be explored as will a transformational leadership style, which can bring teachers together to achieve a common vision for learning.

Effective followership is an essential component of effective leadership in that, without good followers, the leader’s work is difficult and cumbersome. The role of the follower is many times understated. As illustrated by Kelley (1998), “effective followers are thinkers; energetic and assertive, self-starters, independent problem solvers, and carry out their tasks with these characteristics (p. 143). Effective followers also are characterized by their ability to perform tasks with little supervision, their intelligence, and ability to think for themselves. We are all followers, even those who consider themselves leaders; so to encourage this effectiveness in others; we must be role models for those under us, so that they may also be effective at following. Chaleff (2009) observed that “all important social accomplishments require complex

Today, more than ever, organizations are global, extremely technology driven, diverse, and are continually changing which means leaders must adapt to keep up with them. For example, technology has advanced to the point where telecommuting is more commonplace. Additionally, organizations and employees are more diverse both domestically and worldwide. These changes are forcing leaders to become more adaptable in their leadership abilities.

There are always chances and possibilities to become a good leader regardless the odds against you, gender, age, race, education, previous experience, etc. This paper defines what leadership is and it explains the relationship between leadership and influence. It also highlights the importance of finding opportunities to develop skills and creating strong to become a good leader. It is also emphasized the power of influence that comes from motivating your team, to improve performance and satisfaction and that setting a clear goal is mandatory for good leadership. The conclusion summarizes all the topics under discussion.

The idea of leadership as a concept and its practices has evolved from the autocratic and authoritarian styles of leadership since the early 1900’s, to a democratic and employee- centered approach. It is the consequence of this shift that the meaning of a good leader is perspective driven. However, for the purposes of this discussion, I will acknowledge the definition of leadership presented by Clegg, Kornberger and Pitsis (2011, p.126):