Today, it
seems everyone is interested in leadership, and
developing effective leaders is priority
one. The interest
in leadership is exciting and well-intentioned. Without
a doubt, leaders
make a difference to student learning.
But
interestingly, most of the attention on how to improve
today’s education leaders involves improving skill or
technique. I'd like to depart from that point of view
and ask you to join me in considering another way to
develop as a leader.
In his book,
The Courage to Teach, Parker Palmer says “you
teach who you are.” He asks readers to remember
that teaching is a personal endeavor, and who you are is
as important as what you do. I’d like to offer the
same idea for leadership.
You
Lead Who You Are
Warren Bennis
says that becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming
yourself. For this reason, personal assessment is
important in leadership development, and the
most important question becomes
Who am I?
Perhaps for
you, like many teachers, the journey to become
a leader is new and unexpected. Undoubtedly,
you've spent a considerable amount of time reflecting
on who you are as a teacher. Have you considered
the question:
Who am I
as a leader?
As you go
about answering this question consider the following
factors:
-
your
assumptions about education
-
your career stage
-
your
skills, knowledge, and passion
-
your beliefs about your
colleagues
Exploring the question "who am I?" is important
because leading cannot be reduced to technique.
Technique Is Not Enough
Concerning
yourself solely with the technique of leadership is
limited. Why? Because skills won’t help a leader
- believe in
the untapped potential of others
- facilitate
the process of sharing leadership with others
- act with
emotional integrity
- recognize
the times when you need to be a follower
- be humble
when others are more expert than you
- shift away
from always having all of the answers
Improving
technique or skill is all about doing
leadership. Of course, skill is important but it's not
enough. There’s also the matter of being a leader.
Doing
vs. Being
Leadership
cannot be reduced to accomplishing tasks or checking off
items on the “to do” list. Leadership is a complex
endeavor that unavoidably integrates actions with who
you are.
Leadership
involves integrating doing [leadership] with
being [a leader]. Consider the following
examples for principals:
-
leading better staff
meetings (doing) vs. engaging
teachers in planning & leading staff meetings
about instruction (being)
-
conducting walkthroughs
(doing) vs. partnering with teachers
as instructional leaders (being)
-
evaluating compliance
(doing) vs. looking for the greatness
in teachers & recognizing their untapped potential
(being)
-
knowing and giving all the
answers (doing) vs. asking questions
& enlisting others in finding possible answers
(being)
-
getting teachers to "buy
in" to the change (doing) vs.
creating opportunities for teachers to have ownership
over the change (being)
In the
examples above, notice that doing leadership is
a matter of technique, and accomplishing these tasks
involves learning or improving skills. On the other
hand, being a leader is much more complex and
cannot be reduced to skills. Being a leader also
involves values, beliefs, and assumptions.
Leadership is
a matter of doing and being. We
seem to focus most of our leadership energy
on doing. So here's your chance.
Go ahead...Focus on being.
Lead who you are!
