0.5 Williams, s., & Jones, f. (july 2009). transformational leadership  (Page 4/4)

We are always saying that aspiring leaders do not get to see enough of what good principals do in the field. This is where the aspiring leaders see how principals handle certain situations and how they treat their students, teachers, and parents. A good idea would be for schools to send aspiring leaders to a particular school one day to let them see for themselves examples of servant and transformational leadership. It would behoove aspiring leaders to go and investigate schools to see if leaders are using either traditional or servant leadership. This would allow them to learn some interesting lessons about leaders and the styles they use while at work. A good activity for interns to use would be to have a questionnaire with yes or no questions which the intern would have to use after following the leader around for a few hours during a school day. This would be part of an activity that would immerse the intern into what would be a great connection between aspiring and practicing school administrators. An activity like this would be of great help to aspiring administrators for a few reasons. One, they would get to see what these two types of leadership truly looks like in the field. Second, they would see that both of these leadership styles allow the principal a great chance to support both students and teachers. The end of the day could be used to go over the questionnaires and time would be given to debrief with the practicing leader to discuss what the aspiring leader saw and what they learned from it. An activity like this is one that could inspire a new leader and allow them to see a new thinking of leadership and what it looks like in action during a school day.

Implications for school leaders

The potential impact on a school which is led by someone who practices one of the theories mentioned could be powerful. Greg Brown, principal of Giles County High School in Giles, Virginia was interviewed and is currently practicing servant leadership in his own school and sees it as a positive tool to be used. Brown said that a leader practicing servant leadership “is only as strong as the faculty” (Brown, 2009). The servant leadership model for leaders can have a far reaching impact, which could affect the leader, the staff, and the entire school. Brown said that he purposefully goes around his school every morning to ask his faculty, “What can I do to help you?” (Brown, 2009). In servant leadership, this line of action is an example of the leader giving teachers the opportunity to give their views and advice about the school culture. The implications of this type of input is important because the staff feels more of a part of the decision making process and empowers them considerably. Brown believes that this type of leadership will empower the teachers and allow the faculty the feeling that they should do more and can do more both in an instructional and management way (Brown, 2009). In today’s schools this type of leadership is vital because the school leader has to have an eye on many different aspects of the building. Brown believes that servant leadership will allow him and other school leaders to take full advantage of the power in numbers that a school’s staff has (Brown, 2009). Brown wants to make sure that every voice is at least heard as he said, “An assertive leader will get more out of the faculty instead of a dictator. This has turned more than an 8 to 4 job for both faculty and administrators.” (Brown, 2009). The fact is that the faculty wants their voice to be heard and servant leadership could be powerful force in a school when used correctly.

References

Bass B.&Avolio, B. (1994). Improving Organizational effectiveness through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications. Burns, J. M. (1978) Leadership, New York: Harper and Row

Giles, C. (2006). Transformational Leadership in Challenging Urban Elementary Schools: A role For Parental Involvement? University of Buffalo, The State University of New York.

G. Brown (personal communication, June 24, 2009)

Greenleaf, R.K. (1977). Servant Leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.

Greenleaf, R. K. (1991). The servant as leader. Indianapolis, IN. The Robert K. Greenleaf Center

Hallinger, P. (2003), Leading Educational Change: Reflections on the practice of instructional and transformational leadership, Cambridge Journal of Education.

Patterson, K. (2003), “Servant leadership: a theoretical model”, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Graduate School of Business, Regent University.

Stone, G.A, Russell, R.F.,&Patterson, K. (2004). Leadership&Organization Development Journal. 25(4), p. 349-361.

Tate, T. (2003). Servant leadership for schools and youth programs. Reclaiming Children and Youth: The Journal of Strength-based Interventions, 12, 33-39.

Yukl, G. (1998), Leadership in Organizations. 4 ^th ed., Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.