A boss has the title, a leader has the people.
Simon Sinek
The overall topic of leadership in digital learning environments is one that’s fascinating to me. There’s an endless number of books and papers that have been written about the topic, each trying to define, describe, instruct, inspire, and shape what leadership is. This topic is also personal to me. I have been on the receiving end of what I would describe as exceptionally horrible leadership and have wondered how people can become leaders without ostensibly any skill or knowledge of what it means to lead. Perhaps that’s part of what makes this topic so complex and worth ongoing inquiry and study. What or who defines good, effective leadership? Is there a common evaluation or threshold to meet? And is it possible that good leadership in one type of situation or environment would not succeed in another?
In our Unit 1 exercise where we ranked attributes of good leaders, I naturally gravitated to the lens of “What do I need in a leader in order for me to be successful?” This influenced the order of the attributes which I prioritized. For example, my top five attributes (from number five to number one), were fair-minded, inspiring, caring, dependable, and supportive. I see leadership as being fundamentally relational to other people. While it is true that managing or leading change often involves systems, resources, technology, and infrastructure, all of these building blocks of change require people to support an end outcome. And if a leader doesn’t earn the trust of people, and inspire a common vision, then the required systems for change have little chance of succeeding.
According to Latchem & Hanna (2001), “tomorrow’s leaders need to be capable of handling dynamic agendas of possibilities and see the future as discoverable rather than predictable” (p. 60). This is especially true of leading a digital learning initiative when those attempting to lead must conceive a vision that others don’t yet see, or believe in. Drawing on my own experiences working in the public sector, the best intentioned strategic plan almost always requires a certain amount of flexibility to adapt to changing, dynamic conditions. Thus, a leader working in a digital learning environment is constantly balancing loyalty to advancing a common vision, at the same time allowing for new information and situational context to influence their decisions and thinking.
To be a digital leader requires a particular lens and clarity on what one’s personal role is in setting a direction and vision, and also a self-awareness of barriers and challenges to inspiring that same vision in other people. In my sector, there is a high aversion to risk and a general cynicism when it comes to change. Therefore, before initiating change, it would be wise to have an awareness and some empathy to understand the root causes of this risk-aversion and resistance. In my organization, technology initiatives such as electronic health records, have unfortunately been documented to be mismanaged, poorly documented, lacking buy-in from staff, cumbersome, and inefficient. Therefore, those planning future digital initiatives can learn a lot from past experiences and make efforts to avoid similar outcomes. Unfortunately, because of high-profile examples of poorly managed digital initiatives in the public sector, those leading digital initiatives must attain a high degree of confidence in stakeholders in order to build positive momentum.
References:
Latchem, C. R., & Hanna, D. E. (Eds.). (2001). Leadership for 21st century learning: Global perspectives from educational innovators. Psychology Press.