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While reading through the suggested readings, doing the activities and finding my own articles about leadership in our LRNT 525 – Leading Change in Digital Learning course, I found myself contemplating on what type of leader I see myself being, the types of leaders I admire and what traits are needed when working in a digital environment.
First, when thinking of a leader, I think about someone who is more than just managing or supervising a team. As Peter Senge describes in the video, leadership is not about the role, it is about how we create something with passion and having the human contributions to achieve a purpose. His definition of human contribution is the “capacity of a human community to shape its future” (Sarder, 2015). Senge studies “decentralizing the role of leadership in organizations, so as to enhance the ability of employees to work productively toward common goals” (Sarder, 2015, para. 2). This concept relates to what Huggins (2017) describes as building leadership capacity. A leader develops leadership in others by giving them the opportunity and/or the right tools and then letting them take over the project or initiative. For example, positions were delegated to my colleague and I by one of the professors looking after the community field placements for our students. She felt that since I had the experience of working in a hospital, I would be suitable in working with our offsite clinics located in community health centres. My colleague was given the responsibility to look after the elementary school settings. At the onset of the projects, short overviews which included the history, expectations and goals of the partnerships were given. She also taught us to self-assess and self-reflect on what we are doing, what is working for us, what is not working for us and what needs improvement. Through this practice, we will learn more about ourselves as an educator and as a person. Since then, she has encouraged and supported us and has recognized and shared our accomplishments with the rest of the faculty. She is a leader that I would like to emulate.
I have had the opportunity to work in a few different settings: dental offices, hospitals and educational settings and encountered many leaders who had different approaches and various qualities. Some of the characteristics that come to mind are supportive, passionate, fair, trustworthy and good communicator. The leaders that have these traits are people that I admire and consider them as role models. Nonetheless, as I read more on leadership, I realize that there is more to learn. Castelli (2016) introduces the term, reflective leadership, which depends on intrinsic leadership traits such as self-awareness, mindfulness, wisdom and good judgement. Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) claim that emotional intelligence is needed in complex environments and add that leaders who “are aware of their own emotional makeup” (as cited in Fullan, 2002, p. 3) can inspire and are able to handle issues as they arise. This is supported by Khan (2017) where she describes adaptive leaders as being flexible and supportive as situations change or are complex. Alternatively, both adaptive and reflective leadership has been known to “challenge beliefs, assumptions, values and norms” (Yukl, 2010, as cited by Khan, 2017, p. 179; Castelli, 2016) which may have people oppose concepts and changes made by using these approaches. When a leader challenges their own beliefs and assumptions, it gives them the chance to look at what is working and what is not and shows that they are willing to change (Castelli, 2016). This provides an opportunity for them to grow as a leader. All things considered, we must keep in mind that not everyone will like a leader’s approach. So, when things don’t go well in any given situation, a leader should aim to be fair, transparent and accountable. A leader should also be willing to learn from others and from their own mistakes. When looking at these values and characteristics, would this be enough in a digital environment?
The digital environment as we have learned in our previous courses is quite complex and is ever-changing due to factors such as diverse instructional designs, diverse learners, various development models, and faculty and learner engagement. Reiser (2001) supports this by stating that “technological advances, new ideas and theories regarding the learning process, and new views of how to promote learning and performance in classrooms and in the workplace” (p. 53) has influenced the field and demonstrates the ever-changing environment. When thinking of an appropriate leadership style in digital environments, Castelli’s (2016) thoughts of establishing safe environments where open communication is valued, and confidence and supportive relationships are developed. Leaders must also respect diverse cultures and challenge beliefs and assumptions. This coincides with Sheninger’s (2014) thoughts on digital leadership which entails a leadership style of trust, support, empowerment and acceptance – all of which are essential for sustainable change and a tolerance of risk. Therefore, a leader in this environment must have the ability to adapt and be flexible to this change.
There are many different values and characteristics of a leader. The leader that I admire possesses the following qualities and values (which are not in an order of importance): supportive, passionate, trustworthy, fair, good communicator, flexible, inspiring, transparent, emotionally intelligent, risk-taker, accountable, respects diversity, reflective, willing to learn from others and willing to learn from their own mistakes. A leader should not be afraid to give someone an opportunity to lead. This shows the element of trust in the team and will develop into respectful and supportive relationships. This, in turn, will have a positive impact on achieving the goals of a project/program. These qualities tie in with the adaptive and reflective leadership styles which work best in leading change within the complex and ever-changing digital learning environments.
References:
Castelli, P. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236.
Fullan, M. (2002). Principals as Leaders in a Culture of Change [Special Issue]. Educational Leadership
Huggins, K. (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).
Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or Transactional Leadership in Current Higher Education: A Brief Comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3).
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part I: A history of instructional media. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49(1), 53-64.
Sarder, R. (Producer). (2015). What makes a great leader? [Video File]. Retrieved from YouTube https://youtu.be/1aYaj2-GZqk
Sheninger, E. (2014). Pillars of digital leadership. International Centre for Leadership in Education.