A successful leadership approach is needed for digital leaders to lead changes required by the increasingly complex nature of digital learning environments (DLEs) (Khan, 2017; Castelli, 2016; Sheninger, 2014). In evaluating my career experiences and the Unit 1 readings (Castelli, 2016; Huggins, 2017; Khan, 2017; O’Toole, 2008; Sheninger, 2014), I identified my personal leadership approach as reflective leadership. Reflective leadership fits within Huggins’ (2017) definition of leadership as a process, specifically “an internal thought process” (Castelli, 2016, p. 219). In this process, the defined attributes from Castelli (2016) of self-awareness, mindfulness and personal wisdom work together to form the reflective leadership approach. These attributes underpin reflective leadership as a successful approach that results in sustainable changes for digital learning. In this context, a sustainable change is defined as a change that sustains a digital learning culture where DLEs are “learning spaces and environments that support essential skill sets” for learners (Sheninger, 2014, p. 4). As someone working towards becoming a digital leader, I plan to use the reflective leadership approach due to its proven effectiveness in leading sustainable changes that are necessary for DLE projects.

 

Reflective Leadership Approach and Attributes in My Context

   I admire the reflective leadership approach that my current team lead (TL) uses to lead digital changes on projects for clients, mostly in the corporate sector. Reflective leadership is defined as a “consistent practice of reflection, which involves conscious awareness of behaviors, situations and consequences” (Castelli, 2016, p. 217). Our organizational context is a small private Canadian learning consulting firm consisting of five employees and less than fifty contractors. In this context, I have observed my TL apply the three reflective attributes of self-awareness, mindfulness and personal wisdom to achieve outcomes for successful change. These outcomes are defined by Castelli (2016) as specific to reflective leadership and include improved organizational performance, a motivated workforce and the renewal of interest in a project.

Self-awareness and performance.

   A digital leader requires self-awareness to correctly evaluate their environment and recognize potential change (Khan, 2017; Castelli, 2016). As a reflective leadership attribute, self-awareness is defined as the ability to focus on aspects of the self (Castelli, 2016). A leader from Huggins’ (2017) study emphasized that self-awareness allows leaders to be secure enough to let their followers take on initiatives that may potentially fail. In reflecting on my experience, some of my greatest achievements have been when my TL has had the self-awareness to allow me to take risks where I may fail. While leading change, it is often crucial for leaders to take appropriate risks to allow for organizational success (Huggins, 2017). In my example, the risk I took ended up resulting in a change that increased organizational performance. In general, awareness is integral to successful change and the second reflective leadership attribute is mindfulness, another form of awareness.

 Mindfulness and motivation.

   Mindfulness is essential for the reflection required in reflective leadership to evaluate potential digital learning changes. Mindfulness is defined as being mindful “of one’s thoughts or feelings” (Castelli, 2016, p. 219). I’ve observed my TL exhibit mindfulness when a stressful event occurs on a project and the TL keeps calm during our discussion. In reflecting on this, I realized that my TL’s mindfulness motivates me to continue to focus on the work rather than the stress. In this way, mindfulness allows leaders to ensure their actions help “their followers realize their true needs” and “realize their goals and potential” (O’Toole, 2008). This regard for a follower’s needs also ensures that reflective leaders consider what motivates followers to performance (Castelli, 2016). This supports what I experienced in feeling motivated when my TL was mindful in our discussion. Mindfulness ensures that leaders become aware of “new approaches and solutions to existing problems” (Castelli, 2016). These new solutions can then be evaluated by personal wisdom, as a reflective attribute that would consider empathy for others in each solution.

Personal wisdom and renewal.

   Personal wisdom is a reflective leadership attribute that allows leaders to provide meaningful change in reflecting on how differing solutions may affect others. Personal wisdom is comprised of multiple components including “superior knowledge, understanding and acceptance of life and human nature”, “the capacity to perceive events from multiple perspectives” and “an individual’s consideration and empathy for others” (Castelli, 2016, p. 220).  These abilities related to personal wisdom align with O’Toole’s (2008) assertion that leaders need to discern the common needs of multiple stakeholders to refine a vision that cuts “through the complexity of diverse interests” (p. 3). My TL demonstrates personal wisdom when a change creates a problem for a project that can affect multiple stakeholders in different ways. In meetings where we discuss solutions for these types of project challenges, I’ve observed that my TL has demonstrated personal wisdom by representing differing perspectives for each identified solution. Huggins (2017) asserts that taking on multiple perspectives is crucial to faster, more reliable and helpful learning experiences as leaders don’t rely on just their own contexts to resolve the problem. This may also contribute to reflective leadership’s outcome of renewed interest, as the leader’s personal wisdom provides potential new contexts for followers to evaluate in the project.

 

Why Reflective Leadership is the Best Approach for Leading DLE Change

    The reflective leadership approach works best for digital leaders leading DLE changes because it parallels the definition of a digital leader, contains the attributes required by change management and fulfills the requirements of a digital leadership style. First, a digital leader is defined as a leader that initiates sustainable change by establishing direction and influencing others (Sheninger, 2014). As described through applied examples in my context, reflective leadership fits this digital leader definition as it utilizes three specific attributes in a reflective process to establish direction and influence others. Castelli (2016) also found that reflective leadership can result in meaningful change, a qualifier that was defined by Sheninger (2014) as necessary for digital learning change. Second, change management, a process to manage change that “involves undertaking large cultural shifts”, relies heavily on the same three attributes of reflective leadership – self-awareness, mindfulness and personal wisdom (Castelli, 2016, p. 218). This supports reflective leadership as a successful approach to leading change. Third, the reflective leadership approach is representative of the leadership style required for sustainable change that is described by Sheninger (2014) as “grounded in empowerment, support and embracement” (p. 2). This is supported by Castelli (2016) that identified building a follower’s self-esteem and confidence as a component of reflective leadership. Lastly, I have had many experiences in observing how my TL uses a reflective approach to succeed in leading change in DLE projects. This evidence all supports that reflective leadership is the best approach to lead change in DLEs.

 

Summary

   In evaluating different approaches to leadership (Castelli, 2016; Huggins, 2017; Khan, 2017; O’Toole, 2008; Sheninger, 2014), I’ve determined that reflective leadership is the best approach for leading change in DLEs. The reflective leadership attributes of self-awareness, mindfulness and personal wisdom support leaders in a process to reflect on solutions that result in sustainable change (Castelli, 2016). The reflective approach provides leaders a way to balance the consideration of multiple stakeholders with the sustainable change requirement for digital learning to provide learners with the most up-to-date skills. This balance is crucial to creating successful change that is required by the ever-changing landscape of DLEs.

 

References

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236. doi:10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112

Huggins, K. S. (2017). Developing leadership capacity in others: An examination of high school principals’ personal capacities for fostering leadership. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 12(1) doi:10.22230/ijepl.2017v12n1a670

Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief comparison. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 18(3), 178.

O’Toole, J. (2008). Notes toward a definition of values-based leadership. The Journal of Values-based leadership, 1(1), 10.

Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of digital leadership. International Center for Leadership in Education.