{"id":557,"date":"2022-02-06T19:07:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-07T03:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0223\/?p=557"},"modified":"2022-02-06T19:13:02","modified_gmt":"2022-02-07T03:13:02","slug":"activity-3-blog-post-leadership-reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0223\/activity-3-blog-post-leadership-reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Activity 3 | Blog Post \u2013 Leadership Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day in our newsfeeds we see articles that herald headlines such as what good leaders are made of; the top five traits of successful leaders; or the three biggest mistakes leaders make. So, when I logged on to Moodle and began them, I was not sure what to expect. This was an area of study that was entirely new to me.\u00a0 After 15 years working in a nonprofit organization, I have seen many managers, supervisors and two CEOs (Chief Executive Officer) come or go and can remember many managers or supervisors that were reflective leaders and some who had the title of leader but did not lead. As I began to go a little deeper into the readings, I thought to myself rather than just understand the readings, I would try to internalize them through reflection and create my own examples alongside examples provided by the authors so that I could collect some of the gems I discovered along the way and share some of them in my practice. There were three readings that stood out and resonated with my experiences. Those readings were Castelli\u2019s article Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance, Kouzes & Posner\u2019s The characteristics of admired leaders; In Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it; and Julien, Wright, & Zinni\u2019s Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on these articles I realized that you cannot lead people you do not understand. The things that people are and what they want are always changing, making being a leader no easy feat. I too want to work for a company where I believe in the message being passed down from my top management team (Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. 2011). Increasingly most of my organization\u2019s meetings, lesson delivery and professional development are held online. If we act without consideration and care, these digital environments can easily be isolating and impersonal. For those who were adept at leading before the digital shift, they have become even better leaders and those who struggled to lead have become less visible over the last two years. So as our organization adjusts and reevaluates, I think that if we are not understood or heard then as Kouzes & Posner state, we will not be able to commit ourselves to working harder and more effectively for just anyone. (2011) Do-as-I-say or invisible leadership cannot inspire. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly working in digital learning environments and being tasked with leading my followers who were already overwhelmed in a new country, with new jobs, a new language, and a new culture, I did not have the confidence to lead, and my fear was clearly palpable during my lessons. My organization was unable to provide guidance. A computer was dropped off at my door and a few books I could scan was the extent of my training to lead my new digital community. At that time, I had not yet applied for my masters at Royal Roads University, and I did not know what a learning management system was. I felt very strongly that a good online course would have a lot of dazzling platforms and that I had to use all the latest digital learning tools that were coming out every week to help all of us around the world who found ourselves working via Teams or Zoom but with the help of one true leader I came to understand that digital leadership is not about flashy tools (Sheninger, E., 2014). What was important was to create a safe, flexible, caring, and personal space for my followers to take risks and learn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My leader who helped guide me through the pandemic was my manager, Sandra. Through listening and sharing what she saw, she was able to help me understand that flashy tools were not needed and that as Sheninger says digital leaders must give up control and trust students to use real-world tools to unleash creativity and a passion for learning (2014). A strategic mindset is needed that leverages available technology to improve our practice, while anticipating the modifications required to cultivate a school culture that highlights engagement and achievement. Every teacher has their own way and we do not need to do all things the same, is what she told me. This gave me confidence to start building my digital leadership skills. <\/span>Finally, returning to my initial thoughts that you cannot lead people you do not understand, you cannot understand other people if you do not understand yourself. Leadership can grow out of the leader\u2019s symbiotic relationship with technology but is not defined by it (Sheninger, E. 2014).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance.\u00a0The Journal of Management Development,\u00a0<\/i>35<\/i>(2), 217-236. doi:http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1108\/JMD-08-2015-0112<\/p>\n

Julien, M., Wright, B., & Zinni, D. M. (2010). Stories from the circle: Leadership lessons learned from aboriginal leaders. The Leadership Quarterly<\/i>, 21<\/i>(1), 114\u2013126. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.leaqua.2009.10.009<\/p>\n

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2011). The characteristics of admired leaders. In Credibility : How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Sheninger, E. (2014). International Centre for Leadership in Education<\/i>. International Centre for Leadership in Education. http:\/\/leadered.com\/pillars-of-digital-leadership\/<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo Credit : Origamimii on Instagram\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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