The Principals Role as a Leader of Service -Critical Element Paper #2 Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary

Education University of Northern Iowa -In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Advanced Studies Certificate -by Leicha M. Scranton Taylor Elementary School Cedar Rapids, IA August 26, 2013 -Timothy W. Gilson, Ed.D.

Building leaders who lead by the traditional form of leadership, tend to lead by a top down approach. The decisions that are made by the principal are brought down the ranks and need to be followed. Whereas a person who leads through a servant leadership approach, develops a shared leadership environment that puts the needs of others first and helps the staff to develop the ability to perform at their individual highest levels. Shared or collaborative leadership is the foundation of servant leadership. An administrator needs to be willing to put time into helping develop individual staffs abilities to become leaders within the building or district. Servant leaders encourage teachers to do their best and are supportive and help individuals unfold their potential for being a leader. This way of leading pushes a leader to delegate different responsibilities to teacher leaders and engages other individuals to be part of the decision making process. The vision of a leader can be shared with others to produce wonderful outcomes, but unless the vision is that of the staff, it is unlikely to outlive the tenure of the leader. When one has established leadership throughout his or her organization, whether or not he or she is identified with that change over the years, that individual has created the most meaningful legacy a leader can have. (Culver, 2009, p. 16) A servant leader has to have the ability to see the strengths and weaknesses within each staff member. Then help them to develop those strengths even more or improve on their weaknesses, even if the person does not believe they possess the ability to become a leader within their building. The leaders role is to see that everyone has access to whatever they need to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to do their jobs (Culver, 2009, p. 32). Part of the role of a leader is to build capacity within the staff, so when a building leader leaves, the building

has the ability to continue to function at high levels and no steps are lost when a new leader comes into the building. Building leaders need to first gain the staffs trust and begin developing relationships with everyone (faculty, parents, students, and central office staff). Relationships and trust all need to be in place before the leader is able to instill the power of collaboration between colleagues and later collaboration between building leadership and the building staff. When leaders become so convinced of their abilities that they feel no need for additional information before determining the course of action, they cripple collaboration, destroy innovation, and halt their own development as leaders. Is it any wonder that humility is a key factor in servant leadership? To move others in any direction, you must be mobile yourself. (Culver, 2009, p. 22). If leaders get to a point where they believe there is no need to get additional insight from staff prior to making a decision they have begun to breakdown the trust that has been built between the individuals in the building and the administrative team. As a servant leader you need to be willing to continue to move in the direction that is best for the students and staff in the building. The leader cannot push staff to move and develop further if they are not willing to move forward as a leader. Building leaders need to always be willing to change and grow based on the needs of the building (students, parents and staff). Wilmore (2002) stated in relation to Iowa Standards for School Leaders (ISSL) two, Principals must model this behavior for the learning community by developing, implementing, and assessing their own. This is letting your walk match your talk and being a true role model (p. 38). Part of the administrators jobs is to bring research of best practices to the staff. The only way to do this is to continually read and stay up to date about the

most current research practices. Another way is to participate in book studies with the staff, to become a part of their learning community so everyone is learning together. Wilmore (2002) acknowledges in ISSL 3 that building leaders need to have Knowledge of research-based theories and concepts, and of local policies and state and federal laws, is essential for a successful administrator (p. 53). Collaboration is the core of servant leadership. One person cannot be expected to know everything about every topic. Leaders need to be willing to pull in the expertise of the staff when making decisions that affect everyone associated with the building. A leader needs to believe that by seeking expertise in areas they do not have as much experience in, is the right thing to do. Leaning on the experts within the building, does not mean a person is not a good leader. As a leader it shows how much you value the expertise of the staff. Showing a staff that you believe in them goes a long way. Teachers like to know that the building leader values their opinions and what they have to say. Teachers will respect a building leader more for coming to them instead of making a judgment call about something the leader does not know much about. A servant leader develops a leadership team by pulling together all areas of expertise. Having the core group of teacher leaders at the table will aid in the teams ability to make the best decisions for the building. Wilmore (2002) suggested the best way to carry the momentum of the organization forward is to fill it with the best people available, then empower them to do what needs to be done to reach the communitys goals (p. 39). A building leader needs to not just provide professional development to the staff about the practice of collaboration. They need to truly instill the skills needed to work collaboratively with others. Leaders cannot just expect staff members to work collaboratively, they need training to develop the skills needed to work as a collaborative team. Collaboration is not

something that just happens, people need practice and training to develop effective collaboration skills. A staff does not need to sit through hours of professional development on the topic of collaboration. As a leader there needs to be modeling of collaborative skills through the way meetings and professional development are conducted. Leaders need to model and practice what they expect from the staff. A leader cannot just say there needs to be collaboration and then not collaborate themselves. When building leaders are a part of a collaborative team and teachers can see that the team is truly working collaboratively, then the building leader is able to begin to build teacher leaders within the building. When teachers feel they have a say in what happens within the building they are more empowered to take on more leadership roles. As Culver (2009) reminds us: Empower your leaders with the tools and resources they need to serve fully in their expert role. Nurture their passion for serving and see that they feel the rewards for their efforts, and you will have a sustainable and renewable source of continual servant leadership throughout your school. (p. 60) Collaboration is also a key component of the ISSL standards. Building leaders need to have the ability to collaborate with a number of different stakeholders on several different topics. Several of my internship hours have led to multiple situations to collaborate with different stakeholders. Working with outside agencies to create a science night for families to participate in or working with a team of teachers, counselors and central office staff to revise the districts Individual Response to Intervention Plans and protocol for filling them out. With each of these teams, the group set out with a common outcome and worked backwards to achieve that goal. This is something that benefits collaborative teams, by each team working towards a common

goal. Teams need to ask themselves, what our teams outcomes are and how that outcome affects student achievement. For servant leadership to be successful the leader also needs to have the ability to communicate effectively with the staff and outside agencies. Communication is a key component to effective leadership. A servant leader needs to possess effective communication skills. When developing relationships among staff (teachers and teachers, administration and teachers, administration and parents, teachers and parents, etc.) communication plays an important role. Leaders need to determine how they can communicate effectively with their staff, keeping in mind what worked with one building may not work with another. The same is true for different teams. Each team needs to determine the most effective way for them to communicate with each other. Each member of the team may have a different communication style, so as a team they need to discover what method would work the best for them. Building leaders also need to determine what is the best way to communicate with different teams and organizations. The communication style that works for teachers might not be the same style that works for parents. Whatever the style, communication needs to take place consistently between groups and individuals. Communication is also an important part of the ISSL standards. Building leaders need to have the ability to clearly communicate with all stakeholders in a number of different ways. Through my internship experiences there have been opportunities to communicate with various different stakeholders. From communicating with students and staff within the building about test results to communicating with central office staff about Individual Response to Intervention Plans to presenting in front of the school board about the roles and responsibilities of Instructional Coaches. All of these experiences with communication were approached in

different ways because of the stakeholders that were being addressed at the time. Preparing to speak for the school board was more of a formal presentation compared to composing an email about student data analysis to the building staff. Servant Leadership is putting others first by serving them, instead of them serving you. One way to do this is by providing the staff with the resources necessary to improve and achieve at their highest levels. Building leaders need to be able to help guide teachers by being a resource for them to bounce ideas off of. Before being able to be a resource, leaders need to build trust and relationships with the individuals with whom they work. Without those aspects leaders are not able to effectively serve the staff in their building because they wont feel comfortable coming to that person for help and ideas. The team approach to servant leadership appeals to the style of leading Im attracted to. The more leadership opportunities I have experienced through the internship hours have only deepened my appreciation for taking a collaborative approach to leading. When you bring the expertise of several to the table, you are able to make a better decision because you have heard from all of the sides. Over the last several years, we have seen how strong a leadership team can be when they have a similar outcome and work as one team.

References

Culver, M. K. (2009). Applying servant leadership in todays schools. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education. Wilmore, E.L. (2002). Principal leadership: Applying the new educational leadership constituent council standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press Inc.