From my teenage years onward, I’ve consistently embraced the concept of servant leadership, a philosophy instilled in me during my high school years. My school actively encouraged its leaders to serve others and cultivate growth within the school community, aligning with the definition of servant leadership that emphasizes establishing a serving connection for the development of others (Secretan, 2004, p.152, as referenced in Workman & Cleveland-Innes, 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe servanthood leadership also necessitates charisma, with leaders involving individuals in the team’s vision to secure genuine commitment. Liu et al. (2015) characterize such leaders as possessing the capacity to “convey positive emotions and a beautiful vision to their employees who will be unconsciously influenced” (p. 147). Although this may sound deceptive ,I think the key to good leadership is the leader’s capacity to inspire the team with a compelling story or vision that ignites the team and gives it direction. These servant leaders also monitor and reflect on themselves, gathering and evaluating constructive feedback to improve their effectiveness and general performance (McDaniel & Dibella-McCarthy, 2012, p. 669).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>While working on<\/span> our team activity, we agreed that the three paramount qualities crucial for an effective leader were the ability to inspire, competence, and a forward-looking perspective.<\/span>I believe these<\/span> qualities are also crucial for a \u201c digital leader,\u201d where one has a competency and understanding of technology and the ability to use it to propel creativity, productivity, and constructive change inside a digital learning environment. Per Castelli (2016, p218), reflective leadership incorporates a forward-looking aspect involving the contemplation of past experiences and their consequences, with the objective of \u201cimproving future organizational performance.\u201d An inspiring leader within the digital learning environment cultivates a shared vision, encourages creativity, and empowers individuals to reach their full potential. They create an environment where people are motivated to work towards common goals, and their energy and charisma leave a lasting impact on those they lead. Such leaders are also transparent and self-aware, with the ability to evaluate their strengths and stretches and also being able to be open of their shortcomings, making them more \u201c human\u201d and accessible\u00a0(Castelli, 2016. 219)<\/em>. I believe a digital leader should also possess an \u201c open door policy \u201c that makes them more approachable, thereby encouraging trust building, especially in an online environment where one cannot entirely rely on face-to-face interactions and non-verbal cues to build trust\u00a0(Castelli, 2016, p222)<\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a student learning within an online digital environment, one thing I found surprising in the readings was the notion that the educational setting can be seen as a form of transactional leadership where a student gets rewarded for their work by getting a passing grade from the teacher (Khan, 2017). I had never thought of this before, but looking at it now, the educational setting does create a transactional leadership that may lead to a more centralized decision-making structure, limiting the autonomy of teachers and students by having set standards of teaching and assessment that must be adhered to. This lack of autonomy can hinder teacher\u2019s ability to tailor their teaching methods to the unique needs of their students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/span>In my work<\/span> setting, which is also an education setting, the continuous assessment of technology\u2019s impact on students\u2019 learning outcomes is necessary to improve our implementation. Our organizational leaders have started reflecting on this, evaluating and fine-tuning strategies, and identifying areas for improvement in technology integration for children with learning disabilities. With the constant rise of new technologies, forward-thinking approaches are necessary for the organization to \u201c plan for a changing world\u201d and have a visionary approach to helping students (Khan, 2017) .<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n\n I believe digital leaders need to be visionary leaders who venture into uncharted territories, creating a different narrative and collaboratively providing innovative online environments that foster growth (Gardner,2011, p. 10, as cited by Workman & Cleveland-Innes, 2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n References<\/p>\n\n\n\n Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: a framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development<\/em>, 35<\/em>(2), 217\u2013236. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/jmd-08-2015-0112<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or Transactional leadership in current Higher Education: A brief comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning<\/em>, 18<\/em>(3). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.19173\/irrodl.v18i3.3294<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Liu, Y., Jing, Y., & Gao, M. (2015). Transformational leadership: From the perspective of neurological leadership. Open Journal of Leadership<\/em>, 04<\/em>(04), 143\u2013152. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4236\/ojl.2015.44013<\/p>\n\n\n\n McDaniel, E., & Dibella-McCarthy, H. (2012). Reflective leaders become causal agents of change. Journal of Management Development<\/em>, 31<\/em>(7), 663\u2013671. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/02621711211243863<\/p>\n\n\n\n Workman, T., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2012). Leadership, personal transformation, and management. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13<\/em>(4), 313-323. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.19173\/irrodl.v13i4.1383 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From my teenage years onward, I’ve consistently embraced the concept of servant leadership, a philosophy instilled in me during my high school years. My school actively encouraged its leaders to serve others and cultivate growth within the school community, aligning with the definition of servant leadership that emphasizes establishing a serving connection for the development … <\/p>\n