Throughout my corporate business career, I have had the opportunity to lead teams and while the personalities of the people varied, my approach to leading them always based on creating open communication and support structure. Looking at some of the core leadership theories outlined by O’Toole (2008), I tend to default to a combination of transformational, shared, and servant leadership philosophies by providing the opportunity for others to realize and achieve their goals and potential. I am currently an educator and also a leader. A leader for my students and my colleagues. I operate within traditional definitions of leadership. Sheninger (2014) indicated “leadership is about action, not position” (p. 1). Leadership is not a rank; it’s about what we do, and I believe that communication is a key pillar (Sheninger, 2014) not only in traditional leadership roles but even more so when utilizing digital learning environments (DLE). I have always looked at leadership through the lens of the follower (now learners) and determined success based on how the capacity transfer occurs and whether capabilities improved.
Kouzes & Posner (2012) found that in the best organizations, everyone, regardless of title or position, is encouraged to act like a leader. They operate in ways to develop and grow people’s talents, including their leadership capabilities. Many people are leaders whether they are aware of it or not. My preferences for leadership traits and what I valued in my superiors have changed throughout the different positions of my life. No matter I had direct underlings or not, the leadership approach depended on my leader role and the situation. I agree with Yukl & Mahsud (2010) that adaptive leaders change their behaviour to address the different situations (as cited in Khan, 2017, p. 2) and they require a different set of leadership values. I concur Brown (2019) who worded that flexibility is crucial and to reflect different characteristics and values in different situations is the backbone of leadership. I aim to be a reflective leader described by Castelli (2016) who “involves conscious awareness of behaviour, situations and consequences [to improve] organizational performance” (p. 217), evaluate a situation and then change or adapt.
According to Castelli (2016), a reflective leader plays a fundamental role “in raising self-esteem and confidence levels of followers” (p. 229). By creating well-being, strengthening trust, and creating participation, leaders support innovation, challenge workforce and integrate the full human potential of their supporters. Castelli (2016) mentions that emotional intelligence requires the skills of self-awareness, mindfulness, and wisdom and notes that mindfulness increases empathy and insight and develops self-awareness and our ability to self-regulate.
Sinek (2009) discusses how leaders can either inspire or manipulate, states that the manipulation tactic is widely used in leadership and “[t]he dangers of manipulations is that they work […] they have become the norm” (p. 33). Sinek (2009) warns that this tactic may not lead to loyalty. Being a leader requires having people to choose to follow, and trust must be established before anyone will make the decision to follow. “People will only follow leaders who […] take them where they want to go” (O’Toole, 2008, p. 3). “Effective leaders […] adopt the ‘unnatural’ behaviour of leading by the inspiring pull of common values” (O’Toole, 2008, p. 3). Sinek (2014b) says lasting movements need inspiring leaders. Inspiration can be energizing and support motivation resulting in superior business outcomes (Castelli, 2016). Sinek (2014b) argues the best leaders are the best followers – they believe they are following a cause bigger than themselves and leaders always work for the people. O’Toole (2008) described that values-based leaders create followers by enabling them to see clearly and effectively achieve their goals. Selfless leaders on any level (even national stage) place their followers ahead of their own needs for fame, power and wealth to create the conditions to develop their potential. Sinek (2009) posits that everyone in an organization knows what they do, some know how they do it, but only a few know why they do it.
A leader does not have to be excellent at everything; one needs to know where the weaknesses lie to fill in those gaps with expert team members. Through collaboration with field experts, leaders only require base-level expertise in specific subjects then build capacity “from the world around them and […] apply [them] to new situations” (Stoll, 2009 as cited in Huggins, 2017, p. 3) moving forward. Kouzes and Posner (2011) describe that “the type of competence that constituents look for does vary somewhat with the leader’s role” (p. 12).
In my field, web development, remote work is already a norm. Blended and online learning is also increasing. Environments are further transitioning to the use of digital technology (Sheninger, 2014), change is ongoing, but leadership within the digital realm requires stakeholders to be grounded in the foundational elements of leadership. The tools are changing yet the tenets of leadership, two-way communication, public relations, branding, learning, professional development, re-envisioning of learning spaces are still valid frameworks (Sheninger, 2014). Leaders must be prepared to adjust/modify these pillars to fit the environment. The important leader attributes working in DLEs are still to create safe space, practice and encourage open communication. A safe, non-threatening environment can motivate people and encourage them to discuss opposing views (Castelli 2016) and promotes intellectual risk-taking, which can improve motivation and learning (Beghetto, 2009). Adaptive leadership through the context of DLEs contains many factors that support flexibility. Successful leaders in DLEs consider external factors, create solutions by changing behaviours when necessary, all while remaining agile (Khan, 2017). I believe that elements of shared leadership through collaboration and social influence can positively impact leadership within DLEs (O’Toole, 2008). Combining the efforts and skills of others to embrace change together, can stimulate alignment from the start. Adaptive leadership can form the basis for leading in DLEs, especially in change where will be unforeseen variables and new concepts.
Illustrations are created by the author.
References
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