A511.6.3.RB - A Leader From the Past

     Principal as a Transformational Leader

     I once worked at a school where the boss, otherwise known as the Principal, is what I would consider a transformational leader. The reason I say this is because of four reasons: she worked to build the schools vision and establish goals; she created a productive school culture; she provided intellectual stimulation; and she offered individualized support.

     When Claire first got to the elementary school that I worked at, she stepped into the shoes of a previous laissez-faire leader who was highly ineffective at establishing a common goal for the whole school to work towards and who did not communicate with the staff and teachers. He operated on the premise of “their room, their way” and he let things go at that. Claire rewrote the school’s policy, procedures and revamped the school’s curriculum instructional design. She did this by holding daily meetings with all teachers and getting feedback on what they thought needed to change. She gave them her ideas and allowed them to come up with their own as to how they could incorporate them.

     After the new vision and goals were established, she continued to hold weekly meetings to create a productive school culture. She made sure that the leader of the classroom (teachers) were teaching to their highest quality standard and had improved student learning. She fostered an environment of group thinkers who maintained communication with each section and all shared one common goal.

In one of the meetings they had, some of the teachers mentioned that being able to connect their computers to their televisions so that they could show certain educational websites to the whole classroom at once would be beneficial and would help tremendously in the classroom. Claire provided that intellectual stimulation to them by using some of the school’s budget to invest in Apple TV. 

     But the best example of how Claire was a transformational leader was how she gave each teacher and staff member individualized support to help them do whatever needed to be done in order to stay on track with the school’s vision. The elementary school’s vision is, “Students are engaged individuals who shape their own successful future”. Claire not only helps teacher and staff stay on track with this vision but she does it with the students as well. 

     As for me, watching her stay authentic to the mission while dealing with so many different personalities has shown me that it can be done and done well. When I speak with the teachers, or listen to them in the lounge trying to come up with new and exciting ways to get kids involved, I can tell that they feel empowered. And then when I see those same teachers go to Claire and present their idea to her and she helps them realize their own plan of action by simply providing support, it changes how I myself go about my own work. It makes me want to be a better team player.

A511.5.3.RB - Mid-Term Review

     Relationship-based Approach to Leadership

     Itay Talgam’s video, “Lead Like the Great Conductors” really resonated with me. Having the opportunity to be a part of an orchestra I completely understand the importance of the conductor. To many, he doesn’t look like he provides much in the way of leaderhip. In fact, the last clip Talgam showed was of a Conductor who simply stood there and provided leading facial expressions while the orchestra performed brilliantly. I have had the opportunity to have several different types of conductors and truly understand the feelings that come along with the differences they each provided.

     The conductor is the leader and the player follows. Depending on his conducting/leadership style the orchestra will portray that in their music. Like the conductor who was overly excited, you could see the players moving around in their seats as the excitedly played their parts. The conductor who stood there barely making a move while he turned the pages was a bit boring, showed little interest in the players who were playing, and simply provided a steady beat. It showed in the music. 

     Leadership is like that. You get out of it what you put into it. Like the conductor with his orchestra, the leader needs to have a good relationship with his followers. The conductor also has a relationship with the music; he knows it, feels, it, and shows it through his leadership style. 

     Talgam mentioned how the players rarely looked up. I understand why. Part of it is because they can see his movement in their peripheral; they are watching, just not directly. The other part is because of the trust the player/follower has in their leader/conductor. This was shown to me once while we were rehearsing for a contest that was happening in a few weeks. Our conductor had to take a few days off due to a family emergency so a substitute conductor stepped in so we could still rehearse. We were a mess. We did not know this conductor, his style of conducting, nor did he take the time to get to know us and how we played. There was a lot of looking around at each other, relying more on what our team mates were doing versus listening to our leader. There was a mistrust there and we were all reluctant to follow him. 

     The relationship between the leader and the follower is definitely an important one. It can make the difference in how well the job gets done. When the followers have a better attitude towards their leader, they are more likely to perform their absolute best. 

     The relationship-based approach to leadership may come a little more natural to most of us. We naturally form relationships in life without trying, so when we apply it to our leadership style it has the potential to produce a great team. However, I also believe it needs to be in conjunction with other leadership styles, like transformational for instance, in order for it to not fall into the trap of alienating certain members of a team.

     After learning the different styles of leadership I think the best approach is to apply the leader-member exchange (LMX) along with path-goal theory. This leadership style would take each individual team member into account, what their leadership preference is, and base it on a dyadic relationship. There would be mutual trust and understanding and a willingness to go above and beyond expectations.

A511.4.3. RB - Locus of Control

     

 Locus of Control

     Apparently, I have an External Locus of Control according to Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale Test. That is, if I scored it correctly. I gave myself one point for each number it said too and I received a score of 15; which, out of the 23 questions it asked you to score, is on the high side. I answered the questions honestly, but realized that I was contradicting myself with some of the answers. Nevertheless, the score left me with an external Locus of Control. 

     This really surprised me. I thought for sure there would be no question that I had an internal Locus of Control since my internal dialogue in my head and external dialogue with those I talk too is focused on one simple truth that I live by: The only thing you have control over is yourself.

To me, this statement meant that since I was the one in control of me and I know I work as hard as I possibly can to make things happen, it is ultimately my fault if things work out or not. Since I am in control of me and things didn’t work the way I wanted them to, then it means that I didn’t do something right. However, after typing it out right now and seeing those words in front of me, I realize that statement, “The only thing you have control over is yourself”, is actually a double ententre. 

     To say that I only control me is acknowledging that there are other outside forces at play. I’m controlling me and doing everything I can, but I am not the only factor in the equation – which is external locus of control. After looking at things from this perspective, going over my answers to the questions, and really looking at the mean of both internal and external locus of control, I would have to say that I am not defined by one. I simply have locus of control. I have both internal and external control working and depending on the situation will depend on which type of control I have for that moment. 

     This is something that I have actually been actively working on in the past few years. The reason being, is because I absolutely used to be a person who would beat myself up if something didn’t go the way I was trying to control it to (internal locus of control). For example, I applied for a job where I met all the minimum and preferred qualifications. I had two interviews that I walked out of feeling like I did everything in my power to make it a good one. I felt like I had it in the bag so-to-speak. By all accounts, I did everything possible within my control to get this job – but I didn’t get it. The old me would have beaten myself up knowing that I must have messed up somewhere along the line and I just needed to figure out what I did wrong; however, the new, more introspective me knew in my gut that I did everything I possibly could and if they didn’t hire me it was because of something else. Something that was not within my control (external locus of control).

     I believe that it takes a little bit of both. To balance both internal and external locus of control equally. I recently had an interview that I went into feeling pretty confident. I answered the questions to the best of my ability and felt pretty confident about the answers I had given. Then, they asked me to take a test. This wasn’t something I could control. There was no way to know they were going to ask me to do this, so the only thing I could do was the best that I could. I had to walk out of there knowing that I did everything in my power, but also acknowledging that there were things that were not in my control that will have a determining factor on this interview. That is both internal and external locus of control. 

     As a leader, I think it’s important to have both. To do what is within their power to help their team, but acknowledge that there are variables that will contribute to the overall goal that are not within their control…because that’s what it means to be part of a team.