{"id":427,"date":"2022-02-06T14:37:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-06T22:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/?p=427"},"modified":"2022-02-06T14:37:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T22:37:30","slug":"reflecting-on-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/reflecting-on-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting on Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite MALAT readings thus far was Weller\u2019s (2020) <\/span>25 Years of Edtech<\/span><\/i>. Time and time again, I have returned to Weller\u2019s book, and for good reason. While this book examined the historical evolution of educational technology from 1994 to 2018, I am drawn to Weller\u2019s consistent reminder that education is an inherently human experience. True folly would be failing to acknowledge the human complexities of learning, even as society operates increasingly in digital spaces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we have started to explore leadership in the first weeks of LRNT 525, I have also reflected on the challenges of leading people and organizations, in both formal and informal roles, through two years of a global pandemic. With my middle school context in mind, I pondered the multifaceted nature of leadership in K-12 public education. Students lead other students, teachers lead students, teachers lead teachers, administration leads schools, trustees and superintendents lead systems, and so on. Regardless of the various configurations of leaders and followers, the constant in every situation is people. It can be argued that leadership, like learning, is also a foundationally human activity. With this in mind, it would be wise for leaders operating in both analog and digital spaces to adopt a people-first philosophy of leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the readings I was particularly enthralled by was Julien, Wright, and Zinni\u2019s (2010) exploration of Indigenous cultural views of leadership and their focus on the necessity of understanding leadership through various cultural lenses. The finding that Indigenous leadership takes a holistic perspective and is mindful of the \u201cphysical, mental, spiritual and emotional well-being of their employees and the community they serve\u201d (p. 121) is refreshing. As I have gotten older, become a spouse, a mother, watched relationships within my family dynamics change from cared-for to care-giver, the fatigue that has resulted from constantly sprinting from role to role has at times been overwhelming. Leaders would be wise to adopt an open-minded, holistic leadership approach based on Indigenous perspectives that considers the overall well-being and the personal and professional lives of followers. This sense of responsibility and connectedness to others (Julien et al., 2010) would undoubtedly inspire followers to trust in their leaders and have the confidence that they will be valued, supported, and cared for by those in leadership positions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our cohort was challenged to individually rank the characteristics of admired leaders and then work with our teams to come to a group consensus on the ranking of each characteristic. My team\u2019s ranking placed human-centered characteristics at the top of our list. To us, admired leaders are competent, honest, broad-minded, dependable, courageous, inspiring, supportive, and caring (Messier, 2022). Interestingly, Kouzes and Posner\u2019s (2011) research supports the notion that people \u201cwillingly follow the direction of someone who is attuned to their aims and aspirations, worries and fears, ideals and images\u201d (para. 7). Although their research resulted in rankings that were somewhat different that our team\u2019s, they concluded that admired leaders are consistently perceived to be honest, forward-looking, inspiring, and competent. I was glad to observe the high value of honesty, both in my team\u2019s ranking and in the research. As Kouzes and Posner (2011) argued, \u201cemployees must know they can trust their leader – as they can only do when someone is honest with them\u201d (para. 23). The reciprocal dynamic of trust and honesty can in turn foster a relationship of respect between leaders and followers.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I continue to study leadership and change in digital environments over the coming weeks, I will be curious to see how my thinking evolves. If I had the ability to see into the future, I predict (and hope) that a human-centered holistic approach to leadership is widely adopted in K-12 education systems and other industries. As Castelli (2016) argued, admired leaders have the potential to change the lives of their followers and \u201cthe legacy of the leaders\u2019 influence is perpetuated through the followers\u2019 incorporation of legacy principles into their lives as they become leaders\u201d (p. 220). Separated physically by time and space, humans will increasingly meet, interact, and work behind screens in digital spaces. To successfully navigate this complex environment, it is critically important to remember the human nature of learning and leading, and ensure that leadership decisions are driven by a people-first mentality.<\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/b><\/p>\n

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. <\/span>The Journal of Management Development, 35<\/span><\/i>(2), 217\u2013236. <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/JMD-08-2015-0112<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Julien, M., Wright, B., & Zinni, D. M. (2010). Stories from the circle: leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders. <\/span>Leadership Quarterly, 21<\/span><\/i>(1), 114\u2013114.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2011). The characteristics of admired leaders. In <\/span>Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it <\/span><\/i>(2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass. <\/span>https:\/\/royalroads.skillport.com\/skillportfe\/main.action?path=summary\/BOOKS\/43184#summary\/BOOKS\/RW$564:_ss_book:43184<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Messier, S. (2022, January 5). Team C leadership attributes ranking result. <\/span>Stephanie\u2019s Blog: A MALAT Student Blog<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0225\/team-c-leadership-attributes-ranking-result\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Weller, M. (2020). <\/span>25 Years of Ed Tech<\/span><\/i>. Athabasca University Press. <\/span>https:\/\/read.aupress.ca\/projects\/25-years-of-ed-tech<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of my favourite MALAT readings thus far was Weller\u2019s (2020) 25 Years of Edtech. Time and time again, I have returned to Weller\u2019s book, and for good reason. While this book examined the historical evolution of educational technology from 1994 to 2018, I am drawn to Weller\u2019s consistent reminder that education is an inherently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt525"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0202\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}