Running head: A WORK IN PROGRESS

A Work in Progress: The Complete Leadership Philosophy of Tiff Hayes

EDAD 570
Dr. Monica Nixon
March 19, 2014
Seattle University

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Leadership is one of my favorite subjects to study and gain new and surprising
knowledge about. This is because there is such a wealth of information about leadership,
leaders, and all of the responsibility, stress, and opportunity for change that comes along with
them. As my leadership philosophy has developed, a few key questions have guided my
exploration of leaders and leadership: what is leadership? What informs my leadership? And
how do I do leadership? I will more fully discuss these questions, my reactions and current
answers to them, and some other issues and questions of my own that have come up along my
journey.
Leadership serves many different purposes in our society, and specifically in higher
education. The number of ways it can look is endless depending on the context we examine.
Effective leaders act in many ways, also depending somewhat on context, but there are some
specific skills that can make leaders effective in many different situations and groups. These are
some of the topics I will discuss within this paper, along with how I see myself fitting into the
role of leader.
First, we need to talk about the difference between a leader and leadership. For me, a
leader is an individual person who may or may not work with others in a team, but who acts in a
way that somehow directs or guides a group of people to accomplish a goal or make progress
towards an objective. Leadership is a process involving a group of committed people who
collaboratively work toward positive change. To that end, Kezar, Carducci, and ContrerasMcGavin (2006) make a great point, that collaboration, networks, and the importance of culture
are all important concepts in this new context of leadership (p. 71). Based on these two
different views, leadership is not something exclusively reserved for people in positions of power

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to exercise; anyone can participate in leadership at any time. It also must be noted that some
leaders can utilize leadership in the way I have described it here, but not all do.
Leadership as a process serves countless purposes, but to me, the most important is to
bring about positive change. Within the social justice community, effective and powerful
leadership is the best way to bring about change within our society. This is demonstrated by
Linder and Rodriguez (2012), who found that for participants in their study, activism included
being informed and raising awareness in various places about issues of oppression (p. 389).
When the group in power, or the positional leaders, continue to lead in a way that further
oppresses marginalized groups, they have no other option but to rely on great leadership
(sometimes coming from within themselves) to bring about social change. Effective leadership
can mean the difference between living on the outskirts of society and being a vital part of it.
Depending on context, leadership can look many different ways. I believe that leadership
can manifest one way when an organization is healthy and thriving and can look quite different if
an organization is in the middle of a crisis. A healthy organization should be filled with a kind of
inside out leadership where employees are free to make decisions without the paralysis that
comes along to stifle all members of an organization (Wheatley, 2000) and leaders that provide
the necessary resources to these employees. Within an organization, employees will produce
their best work when they feel trusted, supported and appreciated by their leaders. In turn, this is
what leaders need to provide to their employees in order to be most effective. If leaders trust
their employees to do a great job and give them the means to do just that, everyone will prosper
and feel validated by a process of leadership that leaves all involved feeling satisfied.
While under normal or expected conditions, this is what I expect good leadership to look
like. However, if an organization is in the middle of a crisis, I have a different view of what

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leadership must look like in order to be most effective. While managing a crisis, effective
leaders should act more like managers, presiding over processes, allocating resources and
making the best use of people within the organization (Gardner, 2000). While in crisis,
organizations will look to their leaders to direct them and help them weather the storm in the best
way possible, and in these moments, the leader must take control with a plan. When people are
involved in a crisis, they need something to calm them, to provide some stability, and a good
leader must be able to provide these things for their employees, in contrast to the process of
leadership that involves collaboration between a leader and their followers. Deal and Peterson
(2000) share the concept of leader as healer, which helps to explain this idea. The discussion
revolves around the need for leaders to provide a space and opportunity for their campuses to
mourn when a loss occurs, to come together as a community to grieve, and to guide their
constituents in a transition as one, using the opportunity as a way to revitalize their community in
a time of crisis.
In my experience, effective leaders must not only trust and empower their employees as
much as possible, but they must also be able to discern what their employees need to be effective
themselves. This involves some aspects of adaptive leadership, including a systematic
understanding of ourselves, individually and within the institutions we work in (Heifetz,
Grashow, & Linsky, 2009) and having a diagnostic mind-set that enables you to accept that
there are different but authentic selves required for you to be effective in each role you play
(Heifetz et al., 2009, p. 185). These skills also show up in the Social Change Model of
Leadership. Here we see the importance of congruence, one of the seven Cs of leadership
development, which is essentially the concept of consistency in beliefs, thoughts, and behavior to
ensure honesty, genuineness and authenticity in a leader (HERI, 1996).

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Congruence is a critical piece of effective leadership in higher education institutions for a

few reasons. Colleges and universities are constantly evolving organisms with countless groups
of constituents to report to. Effective leaders know how to adapt their leadership style based on
their audience or the task at hand, while continuing to act with integrity. For example, an
effective leader would probably not address first-year students in the same way they would
address a group of donors to the institution, but they would act with consistency in each
situation. Leaders must be able to see a situation from all aspects and address it using different
skills depending on the situation itself, the context, and the group they are speaking to or
working with at the time. They must be able to be exactly what is needed in the moment it is
needed, having the knowledge and skills to adapt as necessary. Another reason that consistency
is a vital part of being a leader is to ensure the leaders constituents trust them and do not feel
like they are being used or manipulated, which can easily happen if a leader is inconsistent or
acting outside of their established beliefs.
Leaders can also become more effective in their roles by connecting with their
constituents in a deeper way. Boatwright and Egidio (2003) found that connectedness was the
most important influence on college womens aspirations to become leaders. They also reported
that not only did a national leadership forum reveal collaboration and connectedness as two
primary skills for quality leadership, but that organizations are beginning to embrace the
relational leadership style (p. 664). It seems that with the switch from industrial to postindustrial leadership paradigms, these important relational skills have surfaced as essential for
leaders to possess and be adept at using. This same skill is also found in a discussion of adaptive
leadership, called tuning. Tuning is the idea that each person is powerfully influenced by [their]
surroundings and history (Heifetz et al., 2009, p. 195). A need for connectedness and the ability

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to understand and recognize our own tuning while also paying attention to the tuning of others
are essential for relational leaders to be effective. Both of these concepts suggest and require
that leaders know their constituents on a deep level that can ultimately lead to stronger
connections within an organization, and thus lead to a more trusting relationship between leader
and employee. This is the kind of leadership that can effect substantial change.
I consider myself a leader and have done so for quite some time. In reading different
leadership theories I now realize how my understanding and definitions of a leader and
leadership as a process have evolved over time. In middle and high school, I held leadership
positions in student groups that I was involved in and I thought those positions were what
defined a leader. My view of leadership was a very industrial one; there was a leader who held
some sort of powerful position and their followers looked to them for direction and guidance. As
I have gotten older and my experience has become more diverse, I see that my view of leadership
and leaders has changed. Leadership as a process happens in so many ways, and sometimes it
surprises me when a person I never thought of as a leader begins to show their leadership
abilities and catches me off guard, reminding me that leaders are everywhere and act in many
different ways. The evolution of my thoughts and understanding of leaders and leadership
cements my identity as a leader. Even when I am not in a leadership position, I still act in ways
that I expect leaders to act and I am still working towards effecting change. I am constantly
learning how my unique tuning affects me and the way I see the world and interact with others. I
am building relationships with others to satisfy my need for connectedness. I am developing
skills in different areas so that each time I must fill a different role or provide a different service,
I am able to use a diagnostic mind-set, adapt, and provide whatever is necessary at the time.
Even without an official leadership title, I am still employing skills that leaders use, I am still

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participating in the leadership process, and I am still effecting change, as all good leaders should
do.
As my personal leadership philosophy has begun to take shape, form, flex, and be reshaped, I see that I have progressed along the stages of the Leadership Identity Development
Model to land currently at stage five, generativity (Komives, Longerbeam, Owen, Mainella, &
Osteen, 2006). I have moved through stages, then back to earlier stages, then forward again
throughout my journey, and now that much of my time is spent in class and reading for graduate
school, I have settled in the space where personal leadership philosophies are established, where
I am concerned about the sustainability of leadership organizations and the development of other
leaders, and I can see the growth in myself, even while continuing to learn new skills (Komives,
et al., 2006).
I love learning about leadership because it is constantly changing, evolving, and flowing
into new and different forms. One of the most important reasons for this continuous state of
metamorphosis is that each person leads according to their own personal values, experiences, and
identities. As each of us travels through the process of leadership, we experience significant
milestones that either help to solidify the framework we use to lead or rock our seemingly solid
leadership foundation to the core, leaving us to pick up the pieces and slowly reorganize our
thoughts, beliefs, and truths. Other aspects of leadership that create unique experiences for each
of us are the resources that we engage in the process of leadership and how we engage them, the
context in which we lead, and the framework through which we each use to articulate our
personal practice of leadership. Within this framework there are advantages and opportunities
for improvement that add even more variety to the landscape of leadership. Each of these pieces
are small drops in the vast ocean of leadership that we live and work in.

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All leaders hold identities that affect their leadership in different ways, either consciously
or subconsciously. These identities show up in decisions that we make, assumptions that we
hold, and values that we rely on during our leadership and decision-making process. Kidder
(1995) raises a deeply jarring point about values and their effects on our decision-making
process, musing that, sound values raise tough choices; and tough choices are never easy (p.
1). It follows, then, that when our values are informed by our identities, our identities are one of
the most influential pieces of ourselves as leaders. I value education more than most people I
know, which directly relates to my identity as a first-generation college student. I come from a
family that, though full of love and support, is historically not very educated. Early on in my
life, I realized that the only way I would be able to go to college and be successful at climbing up
the societal ladder was if I worked really hard in school and received scholarships to pay for my
education. This combination of knowledge, prior circumstances, and determination has led to
my identity as a first-generation student who considers education one of my most important
values.
My value of education and identity as a first-generation student have a significant impact
on my leadership because I view others with a belief that they can succeed, even if others do not
see their potential. These have also influenced my desire to advocate for students, especially
those from under-represented and marginalized populations, who sometimes just need one
person to believe in them, one person to tell them they can succeed. The Leadership Identity
Development Model (Komives et al., 2006) stresses the importance of positive adult role models
and mentors throughout the development process, and my identity as a first-generation student
has had a substantial effect on my ability to provide these essentials for students.

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Milestones are experiences or shifts in perspective that profoundly alter ourselves, and in
the context of leadership, alter our perception of or lens from which we practice leadership. In
my life, a leadership milestone that stands out as particularly meaningful to me is when I made
the intentional decision to begin asking for critical feedback of my work and leadership. This
was a very difficult transition to make because encouraging others to evaluate us makes us
vulnerable. For someone whose espoused theory was a commitment to continual learning and
improvement, I sure was not using this theory in action while leading (Bolman & Gallos, 2011).
My intentions in asking for feedback from others (peers, supervisors, and student leaders alike)
were two-fold. Not only is one of my personal values continuous improvement and growth, but I
also wanted to show that I was devoted to opening myself up to others, and that I valued their
input and contributions. Kouzes and Posner (2003) suggest this as one way for leaders to pay
attention to their constituents, positing that asking for constructive feedback shows our
appreciation, and Bolman and Gallos (2011) agree, stating that receiving feedback is the only
way to determine whether our intentions match our actions (p. 42). Thus, my asking for direct
and critical feedback helps me grow as a person and student affairs professional, and also
encourages others to communicate with me in ways that validate their opinions and show that I
value them.
In my leadership practice, there are many different resources that I engage, the most
important being other people, and more specifically, other leaders. There are many ways to
engage others and attempt to persuade them that you are a leader worthy of being followed, but I
have found the most effective and genuine way to do this is to show that you care for them.
Kouzes and Posner (2003) really hit the nail on the head with their discussion of listening with
your eyes and your heart. The idea that people care about others when those others care about

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them is simple, really. This concept is something I have begun to explore more fully recently
with my transition to Seattle University and my graduate assistantship as an academic advisor. I
use this resource, caring for others, equally when working with students and collaborating with
my team members, and I have found it to be extremely effective and rewarding. I am
simultaneously building connections and relationships with others, while also building their trust
in me as a leader. As I have spoken about in weekly discussion reports, I have seen a change in
the people I work with and in myself as a result of my shift in engaging others.
Following the shift in how I engage others in my leadership practice, I believe that
currently, the human resource frame discussed by Bolman and Gallos (2011) is most appropriate
for viewing my own experiences. The combination of learning and practicing leadership skills in
graduate classes, my assistantship, and in my life outside of school, has given me the unique
opportunity to try out different leadership styles and see which one fits best with my experiences,
values, and context.
As I have discussed, I have recently settled into my practice of leadership that focuses on
building relationships and connections with others, and the human resource frame that is rooted
in encouraging and empowering others provides a nice lens with which to view my own unique
leadership process. It is actually surprising that this frame did not resonate with me prior to
beginning my time at SU because my leadership experience outside of school and work with a
community organization has always focused on others and how I can best serve them. This is
contrary to the way I have practiced and viewed leadership in the past. I feel a lot more at peace
with myself now that I see some alignment in these two separate arenas that I lead in, and this
feeling has shaped my leadership identity development in that I see myself leading in a much
more authentic and genuine way now. One of the five elements of the human resource

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framework focuses on support, coaching, and care, which essentially boils down to caring for
individuals and supporting their growth and development (Bolman & Gallos, 2011, p. 100).
This simple sentence articulates much of what I have discussed and for this reason, solidifies my
view and practice of leadership at this stage of my development.
There are some fantastic benefits to using the human resource framework as it relates to
leadership, including that it is very positive and encouraging. From my experience, most people
want their leaders to care about them, encourage them, empower them, and be dedicated to their
growth. These are great aspects of a leadership framework when working with a positive and
healthy organization. The downside to this framework is that when used in unhealthy and
negative organizations, some people might see this as too lofty and unattainable when there are
much larger problems that need to be attended to. I also think that in order for the human
resource framework to really be effective in an organization, the leader must get buy in from
constituents, otherwise they may seem out of touch or focused on change and their own goals
instead of the issues in front of them.
One of the challenges that I have experienced in my experience as a leader relates to the
concept of getting buy in from constituents that we work with. The challenge I am referring to
took place during my time working in residence life at Green River Community College. I
advised a group of students that planned programs and provided feedback to the management
company of the campus housing facility regarding resident satisfaction. My position was live-in
and when I originally moved onto campus, I had been very surprised that the on-campus
apartments did not offer recycling to residents there, even though there was a recycling program
for the rest of the campus. I suggested beginning a recycling program to my student leaders and
they decided to focus on implementing a recycling program for the on-campus apartments that

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year. I had no idea how immense of an undertaking this program would turn out to be. I soon
found out that there were a multitude of issues to consider before implementing such a big
change, including researching best practices of other campus recycling programs, recycling rules
in our area, costs, aspects of the program that would need to be managed, and much more. In
addition, we had to convince the management company, the governing board of the apartments,
and the campus administration to approve the program.
Throughout this several month long process, I led in a very political way, always
remembering that any decision I made must be approved by many groups. Bolman and Deal
(2000) discuss three skills that leaders as politicians must be skilled at, agenda setting
networking and forming coalitions and bargaining and negotiating (p. 166). These are three
of the principles I used to guide my development of the program I presented to the groups and
the way I advised the group of students I worked with. The political frame was the most
appropriate for this situation because of the number of constituent groups that were involved in
the decision making process, and the intricacies of partnerships and alliances that existed among
them. I kept in mind that we must present our vision and a strategy for implementing our vision
to these groups, showing them that a recycling program in student housing was not only possible,
but that it was essential to us being regarded as a part of the campus (something we always
struggled with), feasible in terms of cost and management, and vital to resident satisfaction.
The end result was a positive one; all three groups approved our plan for a recycling
program! I think my leadership approach in this situation was successful because I learned to
determine what questions the people in each group would have and how to answer them
effectively. I also paid attention to the relationships that existed between the folks in each group
that we were working with; knowing the connections that were already there helped me know

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who was going to be easy to convince and who would be a little tougher. Using a political
leadership frame also came in handy when gathering information before presenting our program
plan. For example, I knew that our maintenance supervisor would focus on pieces of our plan
that could impact his responsibilities, so we made sure to include an explanation of who would
physically pick up the recycling items from residents, who would ensure only recyclables were
in the large recycling bins, and who would assess the level of clutter due to recycling bins being
kept beside the apartment front doors. If we answered these questions, the maintenance
supervisor would fully support our plan; we needed to minimize the impact on him and his staff.
I think the leadership stance I took in this situation was appropriate and necessary;
however, I do think I should have trusted my group of student leaders more. In this case, I took
control of developing our program plan because I was able to navigate connections with campus
partners, so I knew what each of them would be looking for in our proposal. In hindsight, I see
that I could still have guided them effectively using the information I had about our constituents,
while giving my students much more ownership of the plan. Reflecting on experiences like this
is essential to my learning process and builds the foundation that my identity as a leader is built
on.
I have given you a glimpse into what motivates my own leadership development and
what my journey has consisted of thus far. As I continue to move along the process, I will keep
in mind that aside from the milestones I have experienced, I have many more ahead of me, and
my leadership framework will most likely change with additional life and leadership
experiences. We can only be content in the calm waters of leadership for so long before another
wave comes along and we begin to cycle through the process again.

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References

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leadership aspirations. Journal of College Student Development, 44(5), 653-669.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2000). The manager as politician. In The Jossey-Bass reader on
educational leadership (164-181). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Deal, T. E., & Peterson, K. D. (2000). Eight roles of symbolic leaders. In The Jossey-Bass reader
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Tough Choices (1-18). New York, NY: Harper.

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Komives, S. R., Longerbeam, S. D., Owen, J. E., Mainella, F. C., & Osteen, L. (2006). A
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