As a fairly young educator, I was
very new to the field of leadership theory at the start of this subject. When I
began reading about leadership styles, I believed that you had to choose one
and that was the way you operated. Planning out a concept map and a reading by Stewart
(2006) has helped me to see that highly
effective leaders will employ multiple leadership styles in order to
successfully lead their teams towards their desired outcomes. This task has
enabled me to see leadership through a new lens.
When exploring the many different
styles of leadership, I was immediately drawn to the idea of servant leadership
(Marzano,
Waters, & McNulty, 2005). The concept of leading from the
middle of an organisation, in my case a primary school, was completely new and
in many ways reassuring. Teacher librarians (TLs) act in leadership roles when
they support their colleagues and their students achieve particular goals. As a
servant leader, one can act as a mentor, confidant, tutor, resource guide,
cheer squad, and possibly even inspiration. It is a role where it is possible
to make a real difference, without the added responsibilities of being part of
the school executive.
The leadership skills required
for all styles of leadership resonated with me. In my short time in the
classroom and the library, I have seen examples of strong leaders and weak
leaders. The thing that really differentiates the two are the strength of their
interpersonal skills (BenBrocker,
2012, March 22). Teachers and TLs generally have great
technical skills in the fields of educational theory, pedagogy and curriculum
knowledge. Most also have solid conceptual skills, such as problem solving and
decision making. But the one area that some have a serious deficit in are the
interpersonal skills, primarily those of trust, authenticity, honesty, and
clear communication (Avolio,
Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009). Without a solid foundation of these
skills, people do not follow leaders completely which can cause barriers and
complications on the path to making the school a better place for its students.
Transformational leadership hold
a lot of promise. I really like the idea of ensuring that a school begins
moving towards the future with a vision that will surpass a single solo leader (Avolio
et al., 2009). A goal of the ideal school
environment is admirable, however only really functional if there are
achievable and realistic steps set out to make it a reality. I feel that
transformational leadership is likely to be difficult to attain when there are
so many external pressures and limitations imposed upon schools by government
bodies and other external parties. Therefore, I view transformational
leadership as only one of the pieces of the leadership puzzle that fit together
for TLs and the school environment.
Through the extended reading into
servant leadership and transformational leadership, I have become more inspired
by the impact I may have on my colleagues and the overall school environment. I
think I will be happy to lead without any other formal title than that of ‘Teacher
Librarian’.
References
Avolio, B., Walumbwa, F., & Weber, T. J. (2009). Leadership:
Current theories, research, and future directions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(Paper 37), 421-449. doi:
10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163621
BenBrocker. (2012, March 22). Leadership theory and critical skills
[video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzAzhiEsZtY
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). Some
theories and theorists on leadership. School
leadership that works : From research to results (pp. 13-27). Alexandria,
Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.csuau.eblib.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/patron/Read.aspx?p=280397.
Stewart, J. (2006). Transformational leadership: An evolving concept
examined through the works of Burns, Bass, Avolio, and Leithwood. Canadian Journal of Educational
Administration and Policy, (54). Retrieved from: http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/pdf_files/stewart.pdf
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