A Reflection on Leadership

I have never been one to reflect on leadership; I have been in the same job with the same manager for approximately eight years and have yet to think about the different aspects a leader can bring to a team, nor have I thought about what kind of leader I could be. These last few exercises allowed me to reflect on what attributes, characteristics and values I would look for in someone in a leadership position. After completing the first activity, where I ranked different leadership attributes from 1-20 and then discussed them with my cohorts, I found my opinions on specific characteristics shifting in importance. 

After reading Workman and Clevland-Innes’ (2012) article on leadership versus management, a phrase that stood out to me in this reading was that “management affects outcomes for efforts, while leadership affects outcomes for people” (p. 319). I looked at this as managers trying to get favourable results from the workers, whereas a leader would try to see how they can help the team members reach their goals. Once I reflected on that and discussed it with my cohorts, my views on leadership characteristics somewhat changed, but not too drastically. For instance, one of my values when looking at leaders was that they were to be dependable, fair-minded, and cooperative, and while I still think that is true, they are no longer my top priority for leaders. I believe that what I would look for in a leader now would be that they are caring, communicative, and competent. Castelli (2016) discussed reflective leadership practices and the value of a leader being open to dialogue and feedback, which are attributes I would look for in a leader.  These attributes are essential when working in an early childhood setting where we must discuss the children’s abilities, interests and needs. As for leadership characteristics in a digital learning environment, I think leaders must be adaptable, as technology constantly changes.

 Khan (2017) discussed the concept of adaptive leadership in a higher education context. In the case of digital leadership, someone who is adaptable is vital as well. Adaptive leaders are flexible, recognize change, and find solutions that best fit their current challenges. As Shenigner (2022) pointed out in their definition of digital leadership, there is a lot of change, and schools constantly shift how technology is used to help students as new software and tools become available. Furthermore, in their seven pillars of digital leadership, Shenigner (2022) had communication in their first spot. In this context, communication would be a means to discuss with stakeholders in various ways, not just one way. For example, they could communicate through email and social media. Communication, whether in person or digitally, is essential for a leader. If they cannot communicate clearly, then issues could arise due to miscommunication.

Moreover, an adaptive leader could communicate differently depending on what others prefer (Khan, 2017). Another pillar that can connect to adaptive leadership would be to motivate students to be engaged (Shenigner, 2022). Both the pillar mentioned above and adaptive leaders find ways to encourage students to move beyond their capabilities and provide means to develop essential skills. Thus, the attributes I discussed, in the beginning, can also fit within digital and adaptive leadership, as I value a leader who can communicate and is caring and, after reading some articles, adaptable. 

References 

Castelli, P. A. (2016). Reflective Leadership Review: A framework for improving organisational performance. Journal of Management Development, 35(2), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd-08-2015-0112

Khan, N. (2017). Adaptive or transactional leadership in current Higher Education: A brief comparison. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(3). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i3.3294

Sheninger, E. (2022, October 29). 7 pillars of Digital leadership. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. https://www.hmhco.com/blog/pillars-of-digital-leadership-in-education

Workman, T., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2012). Leadership, personal transformation, and management. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(4), 313. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1383