Most Important Characteristics of Leaders – A Complex Topic!
I believe that leadership is a calling and a responsibility of servanthood to a community, but this statement is rife with personal values, and I wonder if there is an element of idealism within it. I identify with many of the values noted in Aboriginal and reflective leadership such those expressed by Wright and Zinni (2010) and Castelli (2016). I find the challenge of determining the “most important attributes of a leader working in digital learning environments” remains a work in progress for me, and is also complicated by semantics. While I agree with the findings of Kouzes and Posner (2011) that the characteristics of being honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent rank very high for me personally, these exact terms may be representative of general characteristics or even categories that others may label differently. In my experiences, there are complex and powerful connections between values, identity, perspective, and leadership, both on an individual and corporate level.
Servant and reflective leadership models have many commonalities to characteristics of Aboriginal leaders (Wright & Zinni, 2010). Some of these include humility, being called to leadership as opposed to seeking it, egalitarianism, pursuit of the best interests of the community, and inspiring others to growth (Castelli, 2016). However, some of the leaders interviewed in Wright and Zinni’s research indicated that “Aboriginal leadership is more than servant leadership” as it incorporates a holistic perspective that includes spirituality, “connecting the community with the past”, and “responsibilities in the community” (Wright & Zinni, 2010). I see cultural values reflected in the characteristics of these forms of leadership.
It was interesting to work through the process of group consensus in ranking characteristics of leaders as a team, as the influence of perspective became evident. Each of us shared that our perspective shifted in some areas due to the course readings we completed between our initial rankings and group meeting. Some shared that our understanding of the meaning of certain terms impacted our rankings, and that understanding may have been influenced by cultural background and personal experience. We felt that certain words such as visionary, forward-thinking, and broad-minded could be grouped together, and our personal interpretations of some terms simply came down to semantics. It was valuable to spend time together mulling these over and understanding new perspectives.
I am intrigued to learn more about the connections between personal and organizational values, identity, and leadership, particularly in regard to impact on members of a community if values are unidentified or misaligned. I have encountered ideas that I associate with the concept of moral injury twice in recent months: once in researching health and wellbeing in online learning and work, and then again in discussion on an introductions thread with regard to misalignment of personal and organizational values. Research on employee burnout and engagement by Van der Vaart and De Beer (2021) indicates that “Burned-out individuals can also not connect emotionally with the organization because they no longer identify with the organization (Knoll et al., 2019; Meyer et al., 2006).” Such disengagement, or disintegration of the individual from the community, has grave implications that might be mitigated through leaders who possess key characteristics.
References
Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. The Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112
Julien, M., Wright, B., & Zinni, D. M. (2010). Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(1), 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LEAQUA.2009.10.009
Kalkman, J. P., & Molendijk, T. (2021). The Role of Strategic Ambiguity in Moral Injury: A Case Study of Dutch Border Guards Facing Moral Challenges. Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(2), 221–234. https://doi.org/10.1177/1056492619892693
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). The characteristics of admired leaders. Credibility : How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from Books 24×7 e-book database.
Matziari, A., Montgomery, A. J., Georganta, K., & Doulougeri, K. (2017). The relationship between organizational practices and values with burnout and engagement. Current Psychology : Research & Reviews, 36(2), 276–285.
Van der Vaart, L., & De Beer, L. T. (2021). Engaged but exhausted: Work-related wellbeing profiles of South African employees. International Journal of Wellbeing 11, 4, 88–105. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v11i4.1823
Hi Alisha,
There has been a lot of discussion in the post-secondary environment about burn-out and disengagement – thank you for sharing two recent resources on this work. In your conclusion you propose that leaders have a role to play in mitigating some of the effects of this misalignment and resulting disengagement. From your reading, or experience, what role can leaders play, within an organization, to help re-engage their employees (and/or students (and their families))? It seems like transparency, authenticity, and open communication would be key elements…but I wonder what steps organizations (and leaders) can take to help re-establish trust and a shared identity. As you point out this is such a complex topic!
Hi Michelle,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment. I must confess that I am just scratching the surface of this topic, but it intrigues me so much that I think I will continue digging. My thoughts around mitigation initially are more in the preemptive realm, meaning ensuring that values and healthy organizational culture and practices are in place and maintained in order to minimize burn-out and disengagement. My word choice may have been poor with the concept of mitigation perhaps implying post-injury.
It feels like we are playing in a whole new game with the explosion of remote, digital work in present times, so I wonder if a new play-book is in order that includes clear strategies to avoid burn-out plus restore or heal. Destigmatizing mental health concepts are an important piece of this, in my experience, and expanding social connection in distributed communities is another.
Hi Alisha
I am also interested in how personal values influence leadership and have worked with people who seemed to say their values were one thing and then acted in ways that were different. I am not sure I can say I have not done this myself honestly. I say I have a lot of room for student mistakes because mistakes are learning opportunities but sometimes I feel boundaries being crossed (repeated plagiarism for example) and my students might perceive that my values are not aligning with my response to their mistakes suddenly.
Is this what you mean by moral injury? I am just heard this term for the first time last month while attending a trauma informed education workshop. It’s taking me some time to get it. Can it result from a misalignment between explicit and then acted out values that impacts other people? I guess it coul but it must be something more too right?
Hi Karen,
I love your thoughts around this, Karen! Perhaps there are conscious and subconscious levels of misalignment of values and actions? I agree that we have all likely acted in this way at times.
Moral injury is a concept that was originally associated with people who are forced into situations where they have to act in ways that conflict with their values. The most common example is members of the military who see, experience, and act in very violent situations and may suffer PTSD from this. There has been some more recent exploration of the concept, sometimes termed moral conflict instead of moral injury, in which people become burned out or disengaged while working in remote, digital work or learning environments for organizations that espouse values such as healthy work/life balance, relationships, and physical fitness. Participants may esteem those values as well but find that the reality of their workload, perhaps social isolation, insufficient training and support result in personal conflict and/or adverse impact on mental health. My thoughts are circling around some of Dewey’s (1938) theories about continuity of experience and dis-integration of thought, values, and experience if one is experiencing moral conflict repeatedly, day in and day out.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and Education (The 60th Anniversary Edition). Kappa Delta Pi.
I appreciate your interest in learning more about the different connections around values, identity and leadership. Moral injury is an experience I am currently struggling with at my work place. Completing our reflections on what makes a strong digital leader really highlighted how far apart my employer and I are when it comes to what I look for in a leader and what I am met with; polar opposites.Your quotes around lack of connection with the organisation and disengagement and its impact on community resonated deeply. I found this activity and the blogs from yourself and some of our colleagues, reassuring. I am not alone in wanting more or something different from those in a position of leadership in an online universe. I wonder if COVID 19 has pushed these issues to the top more quickly than we would have otherwise seen? I believe so and I’m curious about what future studies will show around the 2020’s and digital leadership.
Thank you, Alisha, and Karen, for this illuminating thread.
Alisha, we had a conversation around moral injury and creating boundaries regarding my work and burn out at the beginning of our MALAT journey that was helpful for me. In my experience over the pandemic, I feel a lot of moral conflict has been normalized in our organization in the name of survival and keeping our school afloat. As I continue to refine my thoughts for my applied research project, I seem to be pointed increasingly in this direction. I can say that many of my peers are suffering from PTSD and that my organization’s actions have strayed from our values. We are in a new time in education and there will be many studies about this as we adjust to the new realities of digital leadership. Thank you for sharing!
Warmly Sam
Sam, I am so excited to see the direction you are going in with this (while also saddened by the difficulties, frustrations, and weight that you and many of us bear under it)! I am only scraping the surface of this topic but am excited to learn more.
I have had your post on leadership open on my computer for almost a week now as I mull over it and try to find time to express my thoughts in response. You identify that one cannot lead people if one does not understand them, and knowing one’s self is prerequisite to this – so powerful! To me, this circles back to values, identity, authenticity, and then relationship and successful leadership.
That’s so hard, finding yourself in a conflicted position. I think perhaps it’s more common that I might have previously thought, particularly under the stress of the past two years. Great thoughts and questions about the impact of the pandemic. I makes me imagine COVID-19 like a magnifying glass that has, well, magnified the intensity of some factors that might have previously simmered at a more manageable rate. A secondary analogy might be that of refinement of metal by heat and pressure. In spite of fatigue, I am excited by the potential of positive outcomes!
I appreciate your interest in learning more about the different connections around values, identity and leadership. Moral injury is an experience I am currently struggling with at my work place. Completing our reflections on what makes a strong digital leader really highlighted how far apart my employer and I are when it comes to what I look for in a leader and what I am met with; polar opposites.Your quotes around lack of connection with the organisation and disengagement and its impact on community resonated deeply. I found this activity and the blogs from yourself and some of our colleagues, reassuring. I am not alone in wanting more or something different from those in a position of leadership in an online universe. I wonder if COVID 19 has pushed these issues to the top more quickly than we would have otherwise seen? I believe so and I’m curious about what future studies will show around the 2020’s and digital leadership.
Katia
Hi Alisha,
I am a strong believer in the alignment of personal and organizational values in order for the work to be meaningful and minimize frustration. In the past, I have had my dental hygiene student formulate a mission or values statement. What does their class represent? What do they stand for? What are their goals? What are they committing to? I found that it keeps everyone aligned as they all worked collaboratively to create this mission statement.
I also found it interesting to see a mission statement at a dental office in their staff room so that they could always see if before going into the clinic. I have never seen or heard of a dental office with a mission statement! That was an amazing temp working experience because everyone was aligned and were committed to working with the client’s best interests in mind.
Have you had an experience where your personal values did not align with the organization’s values? Any lessons learned from that experience? Would love to hear your thoughts.
What a brilliant exercise to lead your students in, Gail! I feel guilty admitting this, but there have been times in my career when I might have glazed over and started daydreaming when my leaders have trotted out mission, vision, and values for review and input. I would like to humbly apologize to some of my prior leaders, and promise that I have learned and grown from them, and perhaps from time and experience in general.
I have not had experience of being directly in conflict with official organizational values, as I tend to examine those before joining an organization, but I have definitely experienced conflict when actions or processes drift from official values; for example, perhaps an organization changes over time and some new values develop. I wonder if there are recommended routine reviews, perhaps even external, in order to maintain currency and alignment of organizational values?
What a fantastic post and thread here. Chapeau everyone! In reflecting upon our cohort’s ability to connect, as evidenced by threads like this one, do we think our online discussions change based on the specific MALAT course, or does it continue to develop as we move through the program? Are there specific actions the professors and the activities are promoting that help us stay connected and develop the courage to share with one another, in the pursuit of greater collective understanding?
Great questions, Ben! At the heart of it, I see engagement, and in a single word, that is actually the topic of my final project. So, I guess that’s my informal waiver – stating that I have much research yet to do on it. From personal experience, I believe that relationships are a major, possibly even the major, factor. I also believe that a leader, in this case our course instructor, plays a key role in selecting content and learning activities to create a positive, inclusive culture and support engagement. In its own peripheral and conductive way, even technology contributes. I’m sure there are many other factors, and would also echo your appreciation!