Over the past two decades, my most impactful personal leadership growth has come from my role as a parent to 2 children, now in their 20s. In addition, my professional experience has been in nonprofit leadership roles, working with vulnerable singles and families in Calgary. And most recently, as co-founder of a child psychology clinic that is leveraging technology to offer parent education workshops and a YouTube Kids channel. Since human potential is at the center of our mission, the notion that contemporary approaches to leadership involve living into values that create organizational cultures that encourage personal growth and lifelong learning resonates deeply with me. The 5 top-ranked values that I feel best support leadership in any environment, including digital environments, are inspirational, competent, imaginative, caring and courageous.
Leadership, it seems, is a vast, and complex topic. Our introductory readings have provided a thorough overview of existing theories that underpin countless frameworks and styles, relevant in past or present-day professional and personal contexts. The earliest leadership theories and approaches from a Western perspective focused more on individual traits, authority, and power (O’Toole, 2008; Julien et al., 2012). Driven partly by the ubiquitous use of technology, our increasingly complex, diverse and connected environments now require theories and approaches that focus on values that support personal and collective growth, shared vision and responsibility, and diversity of thought. One such approach presented to us is Reflective Leadership (Castelli, 2016). Alternative approaches to leadership, such as Stories from the circle, by Julien et al. (2012), indicate that contemporary more relational, wholistic, and integrated approaches to leadership are moving closer to traditional Aboriginal leadership values.
Referring again to our readings, the definition of leadership that I feel best fits within the context of digital environments is from Kouzes & Posner, as cited in Julien et al. (2010), “the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspiration (p. 118)”. Their conscious use of the word ‘art’ implies mastery, creativity and imagination. They further state that the definition “also insinuates that leadership has an air of interpretation and chaos to it, with no one formula for success” (Julien et al., 2012, p118).
A final concept that resonates with me related to leadership in digital environments is the practice of shared leadership. According to Peter Senge in The Firth Discipline, only 30% of change projects are successful (1997). That means that change is hard to implement and sustain. The practice of shared leadership, as introduced in Developing Leadership Capacity in Others, could be very useful in sharing the hard work it takes to implement and sustain organizational change, such as leveraging digital tools to support learning environments (Huggins et al., 2017). In addition to empowering teams to sustain the change, it also taps into areas of expertise and passion, motivating the creativity of new and innovative approaches to learning.
As we join the masses and venture into leveraging technology to reach a broader audience for greater impact, we are faced with challenges. The most significant is the rate of change in the technology that we use is never ending. By the time we set up our products, and related processes, the technology platforms have evolved and to stay competitive, we constantly need to invest time and money into learning and adding new features. In addition, as we hire on new clinicians, we also see tremendous variations in levels of digital literacy.
Learning about the theories behind approaches to leadership has brought some clarity to past significant change projects I have supported, and leadership roles I have held. Moving forward, it will provide a solid foundation to our new digital learning ventures – or should I say ‘adventures’!
References:
Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective leadership review: A framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-08-2015-0112
Huggins, K. S., Klar, H. W., Hammonds, H. L., & Buskey, F. C. (2017). Developing Leadership Capacity in Others: An Examination of High School Principals’ Personal Capacities for Fostering Leadership. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 12(1), n1. https://doi.org/10.22230/ijepl.2017v12n1a670
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
O’Toole, J. (2008). Notes toward a definition of values-based leadership. The Journal of Values-Based Leadership, 1(1), 10. https://scholar.valpo.edu/jvbl/vol1/iss1/10
Senge, P. M. (1997). The fifth discipline. Measuring business excellence, 1(3), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb025496
Hi Lara,
Thanks for your post and reflections. I really appreciated you sharing your experiences of trying to keep up with technology “By the time we set up our products, and related processes, the technology platforms have evolved and to stay competitive, we constantly need to invest time and money into learning and adding new features. In addition, as we hire on new clinicians, we also see tremendous variations in levels of digital literacy.” I think it really illustrates the challenges that are encountered in different contexts – and I wondered – how do you really keep up? Particularly it sounds like training is an ongoing issue as you need to constantly assess the skills that people come with. As we consider change this week – I wonder what strategies you might use to implement the training you need as you continually need to upgrade.
Hi Michelle. Thank you for your engaging comments. Our business relies so heavily on technology. It’s a love hate thing! We wouldn’t be in business without it. Although our child and family sessions are in person, some sessions with adults and youth can be over Zoom. Our patient management system is invaluable, seamlessly managing schedules, case notes and payments. All government program partnerships are managed through their websites. We use apps, like HearMath to teach kids about the connection between their brain and body. We engage with kids and build trust at times though video games, we create digital social stories…and the list goes on and on. They all come at a cost, but we are in many ways, dependent on them. The pieces that we seem unable to keep up with are our social media platforms, newsletters, online community and also our website is terribly outdated. It is too expensive to hire someone, so we just manage them poorly, off the side of our desk. Training is an ongoing thing, but it’s easier to upskill on technology and hire based on alignment with our values and approaches to clinical practice.
Excellent reflection, Lara! The quote by Julien et al. fits perfectly within the digital context; it truly is an art. Finding ways to adopt, integrate, and even combine multiple AI tools and techniques to meet unique needs is no simple task. The term “struggle” is incredibly accurate here, as there’s no clear path to adoption. As Michelle points out, the landscape constantly evolves, and staying relevant is an ongoing challenge.
I also appreciated your analogy of leadership being similar to parenting. It resonates deeply, especially considering how technology, like children, continuously changes as they grow from infancy to adulthood.
As a father who’s a bit anxious about the coming years with my children (currently 9 and 7), drawing from your experience, do you see parallels between raising children and navigating the ever-evolving technological landscape? If so, how did you manage these changes, and what insights from your experience might be transferable to help us adapt more effectively?
Thanks for the feedback, Allie. And, such a great question! When I made the connection between parenting and leadership, it was to illustrate that we can develop great leadership skills through our roles as parents. There seems to be an alignment between the science behind child development and the science behind leadership. The science behind child development (Harvard Center on the Developing Child, n.d.), supports the notion that creating safe, trusting, nurturing, and growth minded home environments where children feel seen and heard, and have access to the resources and opportunities they need, is the best way to ensure optimal health and wellness in adulthood. Sometimes we are managing (budgets, households, meal planning, schedules) and other times, we are leading – modelling behaviour that supports our family values, inviting collective thought and teamwork, focussing on growth and human potential. I would argue that the values that underpin great leadership, such as trust, competency, creativity, accountability or credibility also support healthy child development at every age and stage. I feel that if we lean into the same values within our families, we can raise kids that are future ready to lead and think critically and creatively in the most challenging digital environments. As with everything in life, it’s simple in theory and challenging in practice!