Activity 1.4 | Developing Leadership Skills

Attributes of a Leader

Building on your reflections about allyship from the previous activity, you will now be invited to explore the qualities and attributes of effective leadership, particularly how values such as humility, respect, and collaboration can guide your actions as an early childhood education leader committed to reconciliation. 

“What happens when we all start working together?

That’s what I ask people, all the time...” Haida Artist Lyle Campbell

“What does work is looking inside yourself and your practice as a full-time endeavor and at the same time learning to relate to other people’s realities while fostering collective capacity and identity.”  

(Fullan, 2011 p. 6)

Attributes of a Leader (Senge, 1990)

How do you consider yourself a leader? 

In the pre-course reflection, you listed leaders' attributes, qualities, and characteristics. You also thought about leaders that you have admired. Look back on your journal reflection and consider the following: 

• Do those leaders share similar attributes? 
• Do you try to emulate the leadership skills that you admire? 

Next, explore the five descriptions provided for some of the common types of leadership:

Fullan, M. (2011). Change leader: Learning to do what matters most. Jossey-Bass.

Senge, P. [WOBI]. (2015, October 22). My definition of leadership [YouTube]. https://youtu.be/68unIDHgWhY?si=7Nus3dprWvvBRd9x

Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators

Time to consider leadership more deeply:

• Which of the leadership styles discussed in this activity resonated with you? Why? 
• Which Leadership styles do you encounter most often? How do they affect your performance?

Note. People are inspired to action by intrinsic or extrinsic motivators (Fullan, 2011).

Intrinsic: Belonging to the real nature of something—it is valuable because of its basic nature; not dependent on external (outside) circumstances; essential; inherent (necessary part of a quality or attribute).

Intrinsic Motivators

Once basic needs are met, most people want to do something of value that feels meaningful to them. They usually find satisfaction in getting better at something that is important to them. A degree of autonomy is needed so that people can exercise judgment in moving forward. It is also important to be well connected with colleagues to accomplish a purpose.

Extrinsic: Something that comes from outside of oneself. We may be motivated because of a reward or a punishment to do or not do something.

Extrinsic Motivators

Unfortunately, extrinsic motivators can extinguish intrinsic motivation, diminish performance, crush creativity, crowd out good behavior, encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior, become addictive, and foster short term thinking. We would like to receive rewards such as a pay raise but deeper satisfaction in our work is found in doing something meaningful. 

Reference

Fullan, (2011). Change Leader: Learning to do what matters most. Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

Distributed Leadership

Author Manjula Waniganayake, from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, wrote about the theory of distributed leadership and how it may be used in the early childhood sector. The approach is based on valuing the collective knowledge of the group of educators who work together in a sharing environment and is often perceived as relational.

Leadership skills are learned and need to be supported within the team. 

According to Waniganayake, there are five assumptions to consider: 

1. Every staff member can lead. Educators who lack formal preparation or self-confidence may find it too stressful to be consistent leaders until they have increased knowledge.
2. Every staff member wishes to lead. Some educators resist leadership roles, but they may change their minds at different times in their career.
3. A leadership role is legitimized solely by the head teacher or manager. Peer approval and recognition of leadership capabilities can make a difference in implementation of leadership.
4. A distributed perspective occurs naturally. It takes time and planning and some reconceptualizing of the roles of positions.
5. A distributed perspective is unproblematic. Tension points have been identified such as teacher identity and autonomy, lack of a shared definition of what is distributed leadership, and other factors such as gender, ethnicity, age and differences in qualifications. Staffing ratios, inadequate work policies, differing philosophies, and lack of monitoring may also impact distributing leadership.

After considering all you have encountered in this activity, reflect on your understanding of the different leadership styles in your journal.

Reference

Waniganayake, M. (2014). Being and becoming early childhood leaders: Reflections on leadership studies in early childhood education and the future leadership research agenda. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 3(1): 66-81.  https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/being-and-becoming-early-childhood-leaders-reflections-on-leaders