This week I have been part of over 15 different interviews for open administration positions in our district with another 10 still on the horizon for next week, so needless to say my mind has been on leadership. However, when thinking of leadership I can’t seem to get away from the importance of relationships and the “one consistent lesson that emerges from studies of the change process... that no one leader has all the energy and expertise to reform...a district, improve a school, or meet the needs of students in the classroom each day” (DuFour & Fullan, 2013, p. 24) which leads to valuing the strengths of those with whom we work. In fact, there is actually an evolutionary connection to the power of relationships with a set of chemicals that rewards our brain for reaching out and working with others.
Oxytocin helps us form bonds of love and trust which lead to relationships so strong we can make decisions with complete confidence that those who care about us will stand by our side. It is why it feels good to be part of a group. The more we learn to trust the group and earn their trust in return the more oxytocin flows in our body. The second chemical, serotonin is what motivational speaker Simon Sinek, in his book “ Leaders Eat Last” calls the Leadership Chemical. He states, serotonin is “responsible for the pride we feel when those we care for achieve great things or when we make proud the people who took care of us and do right by those who lead us.” Serotonin chemically reinforces this bond between ourselves and the group to which we belong. It actually encourages us to serve those for whom we are directly responsible.
So, being human means we are exposed to these leadership chemicals on a daily basis. It also means that we ALL, thanks to oxytocin and serotonin, have the natural tendency to want to belong and serve. Therefor positional leadership, such as being a principal, should be looked at as form of servant leadership or stewardship. (see also Entitlement:Stewardship as Oil:Water) Being a steward is basically being a servant to others by taking care of something that is not yours. In my opinion, public service, and especially leadership, should be looked at as a form of stewardship because it is not about “me” or “mine”, but rather “us” and “ours”.
However, just because we select someone to serve as a positional leader today, doesn’t mean we, as a member of the school community, relinquish our responsibilities to lead as well. Even if we do not serve in a positional leadership role, we all have the opportunity to serve in some form of dispositional leadership. (also see The Power of Dispositional Leadership)What that looks like is going to be different for each one of us as we all bring our strengths and weaknesses to the group. Think about your own talents as if they are along a continuum with one end being weak and the other being strong. If we were to self-asses these skills we would each come up with a sort of jagged profile. As an example, part of my own profile set would be:
WEAKER--------------------------------------------------------------------------STRONGER
+Strong in Science
+Weak in Grammar
+A little stronger in Writing
+Weaker in learning a Second Language
+Fairly competent in Mathematics
+Higher in Social Sciences
+Low in Art even though it runs in my family
+Stronger for Athletics
(Although I find “The older I get the better I was”.)
+But, even today I struggle to play an instrument
+And you definitely don’t want me to sing.
So, you could do this for yourself and I suspect you would see each of us bring this jagged profile to the group and therefore all of us bring strengths and weaknesses. It is these strengths that we have the ability and responsibility to use to help the school community. This is the power of dispositional leadership.
The smartest person in the room is the room. Together, with our jagged profiles, we
each bring something that makes our school more impactful as a whole than any one individual. Remember that no one positional leader has the ability to lead alone, but a leader who acts as a steward serves the group. These positional leaders should seek out group member input based on the member’s strengths and therefor model how to nurture a collaborative culture. A positional leader which promotes such a culture will provide more avenues for dispositional leadership based on the skills and knowledge of each member.
Looking at leadership as a form of stewardship, I believed, allowed me to transition from working with my colleagues as a teacher to working with them as a principal. I also was able to nurture a culture that provided opportunities for others to use their strengths to contribute to the group and that is the path I would encourage school leaders to follow. However, don’t forget we each have the natural disposition, thanks to our serotonin, and the ability through the strengths in our jagged profile to take on a dispositional leadership role and contribute as well. We all were made for leadership, in our own way, and I would encouraged each of us to use it.
References
DuFour, R. & Fullan, M. (2013). Cultures built to last: Systemic PLCs at work.
Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
Sinek, Simon (2014). Leaders Eat Last. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
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