leadership

Dollarhide, C., Saginak, K. (2017) Comprehensive school counseling programs:  K-12 delivery systems in action Boston, MA: Pearson. 

These are pages 93-95 and there can be NO DIRECT QUOTES

In a model describing transformational leadership practices, focused on leaders as change agents who inspire innovation, leaders who create and articulate a clear vision for an organization. These leaders focus on empowering others to exceed their own expectations to achieve, engender the trust of others, inspire extra effort, and give meaning to organizational life. Juxtaposed with the four frames of leadership discussed in this section, it could be said that both transformative and transformational leaders specialize in human resource leadership and symbolic leadership, using referent power with interpersonal influence as their primary power source. Participatory Leadership and Distributed Leadership Leadership, as defined above, is framed in the context of individual leadership actions. However, several models of leadership involve more than one person with leadership responsibility: participatory leadership and distributed leadership (see Figure 5.1). The paradigm shift is from the single leader (the Lone Ranger myth) to a new paradigm: the leader as conductor of an orchestra, where everyone has a critical role to play. Whether you are talking about music or change, the effort is the same: One person alone cannot or should not be the sole driving force. For change to last, the effort must include multiple perspectives, multiple inputs, and multiple talents. Participatory leadership is when one person takes initiative for engaging in the change process, and she or he recruits others with similar vision and dedication to work together toward shared goals. Participatory leadership is the intentional inclusion of carefully chosen others in decision making, policy making, program design, and efforts toward a socially just school environment. As stated on the webpage for Participatory Leadership (2008), participatory leadership is founded on respect and engagement in the change process, and it presents a more democratic model of leadership. This approach has been said to be more effective because it embraces diversity while concurrently strengthening a sense of community, and it creates a shared sense of responsibility for change (Torbert & Rook, 2005). Often used to describe the leadership style of principals (San Antonio & Gamage, 2007), this concept resulted from the view that all participants—leaders and followers—have energy, insights, and potential to offer on behalf of shared goals. So in this perspective, leadership is not a top-down, compliance-oriented effort; rather, it is a web of relationships and efforts that are orchestrated by the leader, who engages all others in a collaboration-oriented effort. It is indeed a more egalitarian, respectful way to engage others in attaining common goals—in this case, healthy schools, healthy classrooms, and healthy students. Similar to participatory leadership, distributed leadership also views leadership as a shared endeavor (Janson, Stone & Clark, 2009). In this perspective, multiple leaders exist in the schools, and “leadership practices are ‘stretched’ over them” (p. 101). The practice of leadership is the focus, rather than the leader him- or herself, and the leadership process is seen as the interactions among multiple leaders, their followers, and the situation. The emphasis is on interdependence of all persons in the situation, and their shared goals become mutually beneficial as they explore ways to collaborate and coordinate their activities, as can be seen in Figure 5.1. Myths about Leadership Kouzes and Posner (1995) described the outdated myths about leadership that discourage capable people from seeing themselves as leaders. Contrary to popular belief, leaders arise not from maintaining the status quo but from finding new ways to address old problems. They are not renegades who attract a lunatic following; they attract followers with their deep faith in the abilities of others. Rather than focus on the short term, they are able to maintain a long-term approach to problem solving, knowing that change is incremental and slow. But their future orientation is not superhuman; it evolves, as all good ideas, from reflection on what could be improved and the inspiration to act. According to Kouzes and Posner (1995), the “most pernicious myth of all is that leadership is reserved for only a very few of us” (p. 16). Are good leaders born, or are they made? Dollarhide, Gibson, and Saginak (2008) and Mason and McMahon (2009) found that leadership in school counseling appears to be developmental. Specifically, Dollarhide et al. found new school counselors attempting leadership needed a leadership mentor to show them ways to navigate formal and informal power, and Mason and McMahon found that older, more experienced school counselors with longer time in their schools self-reported higher ratings on leadership practices than did younger, less experienced peers. Most authors agree that it is a combination of innate qualities and leadership skills that make an effective leader (Bolman & Deal, 1997; H. Gardner, 1995; Hersey, Blanchard, & Johnson, 1996; Kouzes & Posner, 1995) but that anyone can become a leader with training and practice. Leadership is an “observable, learnable set of practices” (Kouzes & Posner, 1995, p. 16) that enhances certain qualities. So what are those qualities and practices? Personal Qualities of Effective Leaders In Chapter 1, we talked about personal qualities and professional skills that are needed by effective school counselors. In that discussion, we listed both intuition and training as necessary to this profession, and we defined intuition in terms of creativity and imagination, flexibility, courage and belief/faith, passion, and commitment to social justice and equity. It is interesting to note that the qualities of effective leaders include those same qualities (Bolman & Deal, 1997; H. Gardner, 1995; Hersey, Blanchard, & Johnson, 1996; Kouzes & Posner, 1995). In addition, many other qualities are necessary, including vision, strength, commitment, adaptability, social awareness, achievement orientation, assertiveness, cooperation, decisiveness, dependability, energy, persistence, self-confidence, tolerance for stress, responsibility, intelligence, creativity, diplomacy and tact, persuasiveness, ability to be organized, charisma, originality, honesty, forward-looking (visionary), ability to be inspiring, competence, fairness, supportiveness, credibility, and broadmindedness. In a recent study, Young, Dollarhide, and Baughman (in press) found that when school counselors were asked to name two characteristics that are essential for school counselor leaders, they named advocacy; effective communication, collaboration, and listening skills; empathy; expertise in school counseling; being a role model; creativity; confidence; passion; and optimism. It is important to note that this list is not exhaustive. It is not a list of qualities that only leaders possess, it is not a list of qualities that someone aspiring to be a leader must have, and it is not a list of qualities all leaders have. However, these qualities will serve any counselor or any school counselor well; in fact, we believe that we see these qualities in most school counselors in our training programs. The purpose of presenting this list is to challenge you to think about which of those qualities you currently possess and which qualities you might want to develop as you move into leadership in your school. Reflection Moment What are the qualities you see in yourself? What qualities do others see in you? Which qualities would you like to develop more fully? What can you do now to begin your development in that area (or in those areas)? Leadership Roles and Skills Another way to understand leadership is to examine the roles and skills that are part of leadership. The roles of a leader include role model, advocate, communicator, educator, organizer, collaborator, consultant, and motivator. According to Bolman and Deal (1997), the following are the most effective leadership skills: Establishing a vision for the program Setting standards for performance of tasks or excellence of endeavors Creating focus and direction for collective efforts Caring deeply about what the organization or group does Believing that doing the group’s work well is important Inspiring trust Building relationships and empowering others Communicating the vision with passion to others It is important to note that these skills are among the professional skills of counselors. Accepting that school counselors are leaders is not so much of a stretch when you think of the professional skills that you have developed and are currently developing. These skills and leadership skills are not so different after all. In fact, in a recent study, Dollarhide, Gibson, and Saginak (2008) studied the leadership efforts of five new school counselors and found that success in leadership resulted from the following (p. 265): Taking responsibility for change Having courage in the face of doubts Focused and clear school-based goals (as opposed to districtwide goals) Self-defined role of school counselor (as opposed to other-defined) Support from administration and others after some successes are demonstrated Growth from self-reflection Efforts that included and balanced all four leadership frames Persistence in the face of feeling isolated