My Philosophy

Emily Burk

Implementing a Leadership Style: 

The Experience, Reflection, and Studies 

EDLD 5311

07/03/2016 (revised 06/29/2017)

 Implementing a Leadership Style: The Experience, Reflection, and Studies

Executive Abstract: A Balanced Leadership Philosophy

"I believe that effective district leadership requires a strategic balance between Transformational Vision and Diplomatic Relationship-Building. By utilizing the Design Thinking process, I move beyond traditional administrative roles to act as a 'Buy-In Architect'—one who bridges the gap between ambitious institutional goals and the human needs of the staff and community. My philosophy is rooted in the belief that transparency, proactive planning, and collaborative decision-making are the essential tools for building the trust necessary to sustain long-term educational innovation."

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First lady Abigail Adams once said, "Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence" (Ten great quotes to inspire renewed and improved investment in education).  This advice states that passion, careful planning and persistence is what drives educational success. School leaders should identify and develop a style to utilize leadership skills that they gain through experience, reflection, and studies because quality decision-making and knowing how to effectively motivate are necessities in order to gain teacher trust and maintain a positive working environment which then leads to fulfilling the end vision of student success.

Throughout my life experience, I have studied and practiced various aspects of leadership. In fact, I taught leadership skills to student leaders. I learned at an early age that the purpose of leadership does not just include having a title by your name. I remember leading organizations and coming to the realization that leading is much more than a title. It is a great responsibility. In fact, it is hard work and takes much effort and diligent planning. I learned through experience and always taught my student leaders that part of the hard work included doing more than most people would want to do. For instance, if you see a need, it is the leader’s responsibility to take the initiative to fulfill that need without being asked to do so. Everyone else may have left to go home, but it is the leader’s job to stick around and take care of whatever needs to be done. Therefore, leaders must be observant and must have a certain yearning for growth and perfection which takes self-discipline as well as self-sacrifice. Putting others before oneself is important, but wanting to do this is a requirement. Not only did I learn and teach these qualities, but I also knew that being an encouraging motivator was really important if you wanted to keep your team members “in the game” so to speak. As a leader, if you did not take time to motivate and encourage before low times or losing occurred, then you can forget about having anyone on board with you on whatever journey you and the team set out to take. Leaders motivate employees by reminding them of their strong moments before they face tough times ahead. This is why I always taught and stressed that as a leader, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive if you want a strong team ready to work.  Although I had much leadership experience prior to my Lamar studies, the skills that I gained through such experiences were only about a fourth of what is needed to be a successful leader. 

Throughout my Lamar studies, I was able to reflect upon valuable things about myself as well as other attributes that leaders need to work on attaining. One area of studies was the self-assessment series and reflection. The self-assessments showed me strengths and areas of growth about myself. According to Keirsey.com, I am an idealist, which means that I am passionately concerned with personal growth and development. As an idealist, the thirst for self-knowledge and self-improvement motivates me. Comfortable atmospheres at work are important to idealists. What is ethical drives many idealistic decisions. According to the idealist, self-sacrifice is a vital part of helping for the greater good of the world. Idealists can be some of the most inspirational leaders. I believe that being an idealist means I would be an inspirational leader (Personality Test - Keirsey Temperament Website).  An idealist and transformational leader have many of the same characteristics, both keeping a transformational vision in mind and inspiring others to attain success. 

Another area of self-assessment reflection was the motivational beliefs analysis. Throughout my reading of the third edition of School Leader Internship, I learned that effective motivation in the workplace includes varying techniques depending on the situation and individual. According to Weiner’s Attribution Theory, motivation is based upon a realization of intrinsic or extrinsic factors. For example, after self-reflecting, people sometimes realize successes and failures and are motivated when they participate in discussions with colleagues trying to determine whether a situation has been caused by outside contributions or themselves. According to Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, if expectancy, rewards, and goals are present, then a person will be motivated (Martin, G. E., 2012). After learning about motivational theories, I realized that the act of motivating people is situational; therefore, requiring a situational or transformational style of leadership. 

A final impacting self-assessment area of reflection was the task vs. people profile. This assessment tested an individual to see if their emphasis was on the needs of people or on completing tasks. According to this test, some leaders are very good at completing tasks but have little people skills; while others are great with people but are unable to complete tasks in the best way possible. When I initially took this test, I didn’t realize the importance of it, but after interviewing two administrators, I started seeing that it was actually one of the more important assessments that is directly related to my transformational leadership style. One administrator said that it was important for leaders to be people-oriented rather than task oriented. In both of these interviews, the administrators kept mentioning how important it was to be people-oriented. They both listed leader-like attributes as being a hard worker, a servant-leader, organized, being a team-player, supportive, visible, encouraging, motivating, sacrificial, and they said that a leader cannot show moods. Being an encouraging and sacrificial servant-leader, is vitally important for my transformational leadership style to work. The interviews re-emphasized what I learned about how leaders focus on people and managers focus on tasks, which is why it is important to have a balance of being both task and people oriented. 

After much reflection, during my case study discussions, I realized that quality and ethical decision-making affects trust. Self-confidence, the ability to analyze a situation, and a strong set of critical thinking skills are all necessary attributes of quality decision-making. It is necessary for a designated leader to at least try to grow in these areas for the benefit of the entire school community. If not, poor decision-making, especially when unethical, may lead to negative campus culture and climate as well has a lack of trust from teachers to administrators. In both the interviews and in the transformational leadership style, collaborative decision-making is so important for quality decisions to be made and for buy-in as well as trust from the employees to occur (Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader).

Reflecting upon my past experience and studies of leadership attributes was beneficial as I identified my leadership style and began coming up with a plan of implementation. My leadership style falls into two categories. One style consistently matches up with being the diplomat, and the second compares to the transformational leader. 

The first of my two leadership styles is closely related to the diplomat. Diplomats value harmony that is interpersonal. They typically serve as the one that keeps groups together and oftentimes have strong relationships with the people who work for them. Diplomats serve as mediators who have the ability and a way to peacefully resolve conflicting situations. People who work for the diplomat may feel like the workplace tends to be more of a fun place to work, but in the end, the employees will feel like they have a sense of belonging and comfort. Diplomatic leaders will not create a competitive atmosphere, but will empower their employees by placing them in situations where they hold to their strengths, thereby feeling successful. Making sure that the employees feel satisfied is high on the diplomatic leader’s agenda. Mohandas Gandhi and Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) are both famous diplomatic leaders (Quiz: What's Your Leadership Style?). 

Other than being diplomatic, the second type of leadership style that I exhibit is that of a transformational leader. The transformational leader will follow four steps of a process to lead by creating a vision of the future, motivating employees to buy into and deliver the vision, managing the delivery of the vision, and lastly, leading the charge by building trust-based relationships with their employees. 

To create and develop the vision, the transformational leader will need to define the purpose by creating a mission statement. After creating the mission statement, this leader will need to analyze the environment and develop a five-step strategic plan. After developing a plan, this leader will need to collaborate with a team of employees to explore ways in which team members can directly contribute to it (Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader). The point of taking the step of developing a vision is to get employees excited and to get potential followers to buy into the end goal (Transformational Leadership). 

After developing a vision with a team of employees, the second step is to motivate people to deliver the vision. To do this, the transformational leader will not only need to present the mission statement, but explain why the vision appeals to the values of the employees. The leader, with the help of team members, will create a call to action so that the employees will see how the vision will help others. The vision must be talked about often and constantly linked to the employees’ goals and actions. Knowing how to encourage and about the various motivational theories is a must for the transformational leader as this motivation will inspire employees to give it their all (Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader).  In order to really sell the vision, the transformational leader must be patient and persistent and must develop trust of all employees, which can sometimes take time. This will take a tremendous amount of energy on the leader’s part, but it is important to constantly sell the vision as well as showing their personal integrity (Transformational Leadership).

            The third step is to manage and oversee the delivery of the vision. To do this, the transformational leader must ensure that the employees stick to a clear plan and understand their responsibility and roles through both short-term and long-term goals. These tasks must constantly be clearly linked to the vision that has been created. Communication of these responsibilities is key as well as the leader being visible to employees by practicing and being a good example. This will help the leader stay connected to the employees as well as the daily activities and to answer any questions that may come up. 

            The fourth and final step is for the transformational leader to continually build trusting relationships with their employees. This will require the leader to regularly meet with each individual employee to check in and get to know how each individual is motivated. The leader will need to understand and meet the needs of each employee. This can be accomplished by interviewing each employee to touch base on problems that arise and helping them to find solutions. The transformational leader essentially is acting as a coach to help their employees build self-confidence that each employee will need to achieve their career goals and the mission statement vision (Transformational Leadership: Becoming an Inspirational Leader). 

            Working for a diplomatic and transformational leader can be an inspirational experience because these types of leaders put passion and energy into everything which can help employees achieve many great things. Employees will follow a leader who motivates and inspires them (Transformational Leadership). 

In order for the vision of educational success to be achieved, the school leader should constantly reflect upon and use their leadership skills and style that they learn through experiences and studies to effectively motivate employees to achieve their goals. Collaborative, analytical, and quality decision-making is essential in order to lead and manage efficiently as well as gaining trust from their employees. In order for the transformational leader to get positive results, they must maintain a balance of being task and people-oriented and must remain persistent, passionate, and patient in reaching the end vision of public educational success.