Leadership, like many concepts, is difficult to define. One common element is having followers, however even leading by example doesn\u2019t necessarily require followers. Despite this, successful leadership is an imperative part in any culture, organization, business, project or community. I personally have only had one position of leadership, but the environment that I worked in was vastly different than a digital learning environment. That being said, I began to wonder, \u201chow is leadership in digital learning environments different than leadership in other environments?\u201d In this blog post, I intend to reflect on my own leadership ideology, determine some theories, frameworks, and models that are well suited for change in digital learning environments, and discuss what makes leadership in digital learning environments different as compared to other contexts.<\/p>\n
My previous role as a leader was in sales and marketing, therefore I felt it necessary to determine what makes leadership in digital learning environments different.<\/p>\n
In their book Competencies in teaching, learning and educational leadership in the digital age<\/em>, Spector, Ifenthaler, Sampson, & Isaias (2014) discuss the continuous changing environment of leadership in digital learning. Leaders must continuously learn as new innovations, frameworks, technologies, etc. are developed, and the leaders must have the imagination to be able to determine their utility for the learners (Spector et al., 2014).<\/p>\n This level of vigilance and strategy is not something that can be maintained alone, it requires collaboration with \u201call stakeholders\u201d (Spector et al., 2014, p. 26) as part of the planning process. This requires that the stakeholders, such as teachers, also be versed in the subject and provide \u201cjob-embedded personal growth\u201d (Spector et al., 2014, p. 27) to ensure they have the capacity to become knowledgeable in the newest innovations.<\/p>\n Reflecting on my sales and marketing leadership experience, I wonder if it was so different. The training and topics for evaluation were certainly different, however, ensuring your staff have the capacity to embrace continuous improvement by learning new technology and marketing innovations; involving all stakeholders to ensure strategic planning on prioritizing and meeting the needs of our clients; and ensuring vigilance to stay on top of new analytics, innovations in user experience, and marketing frameworks are all very similar to the challenge faced by leaders in digital learning environments.<\/p>\n The determinants of how well leadership succeeds or fails could then possibly be established by a leader\u2019s personal leadership style.<\/p>\n It was in my early 20s when I took my first leadership role and unfortunately wasn\u2019t really aware of leadership styles or frameworks. To this day, I only understand what specific traits that work for me and what I like to see in the leaders whom I work with. I have personal leaders I admire, however as I think of leaders of renown, I find myself unable to find a particular example. Therefore to find which leader I should admire, I need to know what leadership style I represent myself. To determine my leadership style, I actually took to Google to see what leadership assessment tools exist. After taking three tests I have been branded as a democratic participative visionary.<\/p>\n These assessments informed me that as a diplomat I \u201cprize interpersonal harmony\u201d (Leadership QI, 2018, para. 1) and my kindness, aptitude to collaborate, and interpersonal skills create bonds with employees (MindTools, n.d.). According to the test, I can be a driving force when times look bad and I am very capable at settling tensions that arise among subordinates and peers. I am concerned with people\u2019s emotions and try to ensure that employee satisfaction is met (Psychology Today, n.d.). Others who share in this leadership style are \u201cMohandas Gandhi and Sheryl Sandberg\u201d (Leadership QI, 2018, para. 1). I always did admire Mohandas Gandhi and now it seems I will have to do some research of Sheryl Sandberg and see what frameworks, theories, and models she used when she needed to manage change in Facebook\u2019s digital environment.<\/p>\n Looking at the challenges outlined by Spector et al. (2014), I\u2019ve identified some leadership theories that could be well suited to ensure positive outcomes as enviroments change.<\/p>\n Adaptive leadership is a model that focuses on the relationships that leaders develop with their subordinates as well as account for external variables that may impact the work, organization, or goals he or she is attempting to complete (Khan, 2017). Awareness of the environment and concentration of relationships correlates well with Spector et al., (2014) who determined that innovation vigilance and stakeholder involvement are two imperative factors in successful leadership.<\/p>\n Many of the concepts outlined by Sheninger (2014) are applicable to ensure positive change management. As Spector et al., (2014) \u00a0stated, leaders must know \u201chow to leverage appropriate technologies for communication as well as instructional and administrative purposes most effectively\u201d (p. 26), so too does Sheninger (2014) affirm \u201cit is important for leaders to consistently seek out ways to improve existing programs, resources, and professional development\u201d (p. 3).<\/p>\n Finally, we cannot mention change management without addressing the current de facto standard of change management, ProSci and the ADKAR\u00ae model. ADKAR stands for Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement (Hiatt, 2006).<\/p>\n Awareness addresses concerns around communications, ensuring that stakeholders understand all aspects and reasons for the change. This ensures all the changes are mutually agreed upon (Spector et al., 2014). Desire motivates employees to embrace change by each person\u2019s intrinsic motivations. Knowledge ensures stakeholders have the understanding and training to ensure capability. Ability is the transference from understanding to implementation. Finally, reinforcement rewards stakeholders either extrinsically or intrinsically (Hiatt, 2006).<\/p>\n Leadership may not be wholly different between roles. Leadership requires vigilance, relationship building, motivation, understanding, and vision. However, by determining your own leadership styles, you increase probability of successful change by linking your style to existing frameworks and theories. Once the perfect combination of style and framework is discovered, you can ensure preparedness for the future as it comes second by second.<\/p>\n Hiatt, J. M. (2006). ADKAR: A model for change in business, government and our community. Fort Collins, CO: Prosci Learning Center Publications.<\/p>\n Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current higher education: A brief comparison. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning<\/em>, 18<\/em>(3), 178\u2013183. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.19173\/irrodl.v18i3.3294<\/p>\n Leadership QI. (2018). Quiz: What’s your leadership style? Retrieved from https:\/\/www.leadershipiq.com\/blogs\/leadershipiq\/36533569-quiz-whats-your-leadership-style<\/p>\n MindTools. (n.d.). What’s your leadership style? \u2013 Learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the way you like to lead. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.mindtools.com\/pages\/article\/leadership-style-quiz.htm<\/p>\n O\u2019Toole, J. (2012). Notes toward a definition of values-based leadership. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership<\/em>, 1<\/em>(17), 44\u201353. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2307\/2929117<\/p>\n Psychology Today. (n.d.). Leadership style test. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/ca\/tests\/career\/leadership-style-test<\/p>\n Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of digital leadership. International Centre for Leadership in Education.<\/em>, 1\u20134.<\/p>\n Spector, J. M., Ifenthaler, D., Sampson, D. G., & Isaias, P. (2014). Competencies in teaching, learning and educational leadership in the digital age<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction Leadership, like many concepts, is difficult to define. One common element is having followers, however even leading by example doesn\u2019t necessarily require followers. Despite this, successful leadership is an imperative part in any culture, organization, business, project or community. I personally have only had one position of leadership, but the environment that I worked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0058\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Reflection on my Personal Leadership<\/h6>\n
Theories, Frameworks, and Models<\/h6>\n
Conclusion<\/h6>\n
References<\/h6>\n