Organizational Change

Leadership is multi-faceted. As the video program “The Many Hats of Leaders” shows, a leader has to fulfill many roles. In my ten years as a teacher, I have encountered many different types of leadership, some extremely effective and some not so much. In ‘Reframing Leadership’ Bolman and Deal (2008) discuss various types of leaderships such as political, symbolic, human resources and a few others. I believe that a good leader possess a combination of those skills, although their leadership may lean towards any one of them. Unfortunately, every organization has a Wayne (Beach, 2006, xi) that assumes that being a manager is the same as being a leader.

One of the best leaders I encountered was an Assistant Principle of Instruction (API). She was the epitome of leadership. She made it a point to introduce herself to new staff members, spent time with teachers at lunch time, consistently praised people and knew how to approach people if they were not fulfilling their roles.  She went beyond her job description to help people as she discussed health issues with people and recommended doctors. Her motto was that a “happy and healthy staff is a successful staff.”  Anytime she introduced any new changes, she always discussed the big picture and “saw the need to cultivate understanding and acceptance of major decisions” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, 360). People such as this API do not struggle to make changes in any organization. However, no matter how good a leader is with her team, she must also have “the skill in managing relationships with all stake holders, including superiors ( Bolman & Deal,  2008, 348) Although our API was apt at dealing with conflict between people, she was unable to deal with conflict between herself and higher management and this led to her taking a job in another organization. I think had she been able to resolve this conflict our school would have continued to benefit from her leadership.

Leaders do not always have to be people of position (Bolman & Deal, 2008). Leaders are people who take initiative and work for the greater good of the organization. They are people who become leaders because a situation requires it. Two years ago, a teacher suddenly left our school, in the middle of the school year, without any notice. With just a few weeks left to the state test, her students were left in the lurch.  Different substitute teachers were placed with the students. These substitutes had little understanding of the state TAKS and so were unable to assist the students. The school district has a lengthy process for hiring teachers and so the students were left to the mercy of untrained substitutes.  During that time, one of the teachers decided that she would take the extra students herself. She placed the needs of the students first and instead of teaching thirty five students each period, she started teaching seventy. When the other teacher’s in the team saw this, they were inspired by her and wanted to help. The students were then divided between three teachers. Each one of those teachers did this without any incentive; they simply put the needs of the students first; “Authentic leaders put the interests of their organizations before their own” (Beach, 2006, xvii).  Like the case of Giulliani,  (Bolman & Deal, 2008). True leadership is highlighted in the times of crises.

            True leaders also see themselves as team members. A good example of this is the specialist of our English department, who always maintains that a department can only be successful if everyone works as a team. Even when she held the position as head of the English department, she held true to the belief that Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM). To an outsider this may seem a childlike idea but it became an important part of the culture of our department and continues to bind the members. The secret to her success is her belief in “horizontal leadership” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, 361) in which there are no hierarchies and an innate culture of trust. Due to this she is able to bring changes into the department without resistance from the teachers.

            In many organizations, the belief is that leadership is synonymous with position. I think this is the cause of resistance during the process of change. When new managers take up their positions they think “that the only way to lead is to be tough, make massive changes, and force recalcitrant subordinates to do things a new way” (Beach, 2006, xvi). They forget that first they must earn the trust of their subordinates by proving that they understand the culture of the organization and that they too work for the success and survival of the organization.

            The examples I have used to illustrate my idea of leadership are all from a school point of view. It would be interesting to see if this idea transpires in other organization too.

The many hats of leaders. Laureate Education Inc

Bolman, L. G. & Deal T.E., (2008). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership (4th Ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc

 Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2003). Tipping point leadership. Harvard Business Review, 81(4), 60–69.