Fullan discusses five components of leadership in a culture of change, in the book Leading in a Culture of Change (2001). The first component is moral purpose – making a positive change on the life of employees. “To strive to improve the quality of how we live together is moral purpose of the highest order (Fullan, 2001, p. 14). The second component is the understanding change process. Fullan list six ideas that help understand the change process 1) the goal is not to innovate the most; 2) it is not enough to have the best ideas; 3) appreciate early difficulties of trying the best ideas; 4) redefine resistance as a potential positive force; 5) reculturing is the name of the game and 6) never a checklist, always complexity (Fullan, 2001). The next component of leadership is relationship building. The fourth component is knowledge creation and sharing of information. The last component is coherence making. “Moral purpose is concerned with direction and results; understanding change, building relationships, and knowledge building honor the complexity and discovery of the journey; and coherence making extracts valuable patterns worth retaining (Fullan, 2001, p. 6-7). These five characteristics balance each other in that they must all work together for an effective leader.
The first component of effective leadership is moral purpose. “Moral purpose is about both ends and means (Fullan, 2001, p.13).” Moral purpose is how people treat others and how they evolve over time by working together. Fullan states that in order to have moral purpose the other four components of leadership have of be present (Fullan, 2001). Moral purpose is natural, but it will only flourish if leaders cultivate it (Fullan, 2001). Leaders have to have strate...
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...rpose have great cohesive power built in; with such powers in place, what we have left to worry about are complacency, blind spots, and groupthink, so we thus seek new diversity and new disturbances (Fullan, 2001, p.118-119). These five components create a complex process when dealing with change. Leaders can use these components to develop a process for change in their school building.
Works Cited
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T. & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School Leadership that Works: From Research to Results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Wagner, T., Kegan, R., Lahey, L., Lemons, R.W., Garnier, J., Helsing, D., Howell, A., Rasmussen, H. T. (2006). Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Shcools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ms. Hall has had many years of public education experience and higher education training in which to hone her leadership style and framework. She started her career as a teacher in the Kirkwood School District. She then served as an assistant elementary principal at both Ritenour and Pattonville School Districts before being selected to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in 2008. Throughout her career she continued to pursue her education as a means o...
Bass, B.M., & Avolio, B.J. (1993). Transformational leadership and organizational culture. Public administration quarterly, 17(1), 112-121.
With this mindset in place change can happen without any problems. Having transformational leaders being viewed as change agents, the culture within an organization should transform smoothly. Effective leadership is enhanced when leaders can inspire their followers to accept change by communicating a compelling vision of the future and motivating willingness to work in the new manner (Jones & Rudd, 2008).
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
Frank, V. V. (2009, September). Framework for Improvement: Effective School Leadership Translates into Increased Student Learning. The Learning Principal: National Staff Development Council , pp. 2, 6-7.
The last issue to address is leadership. This role is challenging, but with commitment and determination it can be done. Strategies that I can take to encourage great leadership is to first build trust and confidence by fulfilling the school’s mission, vision, policy, and working environment (Drexler, 2007) on a daily basis. To be involved in school activities, in the classroom, at PTO meetings, and community affiliations will establish strong leadership skills. Providing valuable feedback, strategically planning to improve the school, and encouraging community support are other strategies that can be used to enhance leadership.
As an emerging leader whose desire is to see progress in his/her organization change is inevitable and necessary. Although change is an important component of moving forward and growing a lot of people resist change, this resistance can be contributed to our fear of the unknown which is what change represent to many people. Hence, when it comes to implementing change it would be best to start off by recognizing and identify what needs to be change ad how to bring about that change. You can’t convince others to go on a journey if you are not aware where you are going.
Change is something that is necessary for the survival of a company, but can sometimes be difficult to instate. That is what is discussed in the book A Sense of Urgency by John Kotter. The central theme of this book is leadership, and how it is required to initiate change.
Change is inevitable and bound to happen in all aspects of life including business. Although change is important in an organization, it can also be seen as a strength and weakness. Effective leadership is about mastering change. One must be willing to change in order to grow and be successful. This paper will compare and contrast Kotter and Kurt Lewin step in their change management models. Furthermore, it will elaborate on the concepts and explain whether these methods can be used at the same time. In addition, this paper will include a Christian worldview of the information discussed and how it relates to the change management models.
Leadership is necessary for a group to accomplish goals. Leadership according to Lamberton and Minor (2014), is the ability to impact people to attain a goal. A leader according to Gaiter (2013), sets direction and influences others to accomplish goals and directs cohesiveness. A leaders’ goal is not just the success of the team but, also the success of individuals on the team, a leader must motivate, inspire and empower others for success (Gaiter, 2013). To accomplish these goals a leader will utilize a leadership style.
This paper will describe two studies, one quantitative and the other a mixed method, which dealt with aspects of educational leadership. The studies chosen for review were conducted by Bush, et al. (2005), a study that reported participant results in a Leadership Academy, and another by Somech (2005) in which the results of an investigational study of leadership styles, participative and directive, with regard to their impact upon managing school effectiveness. To offer a deeper understanding of the respective studies, a discussion follows that details the design rationa...
Thomas Sergiovanni (2015) describes three essential dimensions of leadership as “the heart, head, and hand of leadership.” The heart describes those characteristics within the school leader that reflect personal “beliefs, values, and dreams.” The head of leadership refers to the practice of teaching and educating. The hand of leadership reflects actions taken by school leaders with respect to management behaviors. (p. 5) Within these elements, there is room for personal choice in how leadership is practiced and it is incumbent on new principals to find an individual leadership style that responds to the uniqueness of each school.
Leadership has evolved dramatically over the one hundred years. From its early stages of endowed personality characteristics, leadership has evolved to a more dynamic and fluid process that surrounds itself in a more inclusive environment. While many leadership theories compare and contrast one another, the immersion of transformational leadership has truly projected the thinking of leadership into a new form of logic and context.
“Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail” is an article written by John P. Kotter in the Harvard Business Review, which outlines eight critical factors to help leaders successfully transform a business. Since leading requires the ability to influence other people to reach a goal, the leadership needs to take steps to cope with a new, more challenging global market environment. Kotter emphasizes the mistakes corporations make when implementing change and why those efforts create failure; therefore, it is essential that leaders learn to apply change effectively in order for it to be beneficial in the long-term (Kotter).
Every good leader has successful skills to accomplish a common goal within an organization. Although the term leader is often intertwined with the manager; a leader’s characteristics are rarely the same in responsibilities. Leaders are developed by the type of organizational cultured that they are derived in. Thus, bringing the skills to designed changes rather than only promote changes as often may be seen in managers. Leadership is then the support of employees by offering a clear concise understanding of an organization needs and therefore brings balance to the task and the relationship of the employees. So what is the purpose of the leadership? To serve others while transforming the company’s mission into actually obtainable goals while all the while overcoming situational