Sunny Dawn Shiner

EDA 612

National University

Oct. 30, 2018

Leadership Survey Reflection

Assignment:

“What this means in your role as a leader. What should you consider about your leadership from the information you learned from the survey? Think about your role as a collaborator, and how do these strengths and weaknesses support or hinder you? Think about someone whom you find challenging to work with currently, does the information from the survey help you to better understand why this person may be a challenge for you? What can you do make this a better situation? These are just some ideas to consider. You may reflect on other areas that you would also find helpful for you as a leader.”

Leadership IQ from Mark Murphy: Result: “Steward”

https://www.leadershipiq.com/blogs/leadershipiq/36533569-quiz-whats-your-leadership-style

“Stewards are the rocks of organizations. They’re dependable, loyal and helpful, and they provide a stabilizing and calming force for their employees. They value rules, process and cooperation. They believe that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and they move only as fast as the whole chain will allow. And they take care to help those who struggle. Working for Stewards offers the chance to be part of a well-oiled machine. It offers security, consistency and cohesion. It may not offer great opportunities for individual glory or an adrenaline rush, but it does provide great opportunities for team success. Stewards can often be found in mission-critical areas of the organization and they are often relied-upon by leaders in other divisions. For the appropriate people, it’s a great situation.”

I resonate with the quote from this leadership survey that states my style can be characterized as, “rock of the organization”. As an Assistant Principal only in this position for the past 3 months I have had so many staff members say things are so different with me in place. I know that I truly believe and support my Principal’s vision but I feel one of my largest roles is grounding that vision and being his back up. As my survey results also state about my “Steward” style, “Working for Stewards offers the chance to be part of a well-oiled machine. If offers security, consistency and cohesion.”

When I came to my current site, consistency was a major problem with the past Asst. Principal. The pattern of lack of follow thru and poor communication with teachers really tainted many relationships in leadership and I needed to really build up trust and show that I am trying to make many entry points for us all to succeed with discipline and new systems that I implemented including but not limited to Restorative Justice curriculum/strategies, Trauma Informed Practice, and implementing Coaching models of communication with teachers.

When I think of my role as a collaborator I know that with sound vision I will implement with 110% my full effort to what I perceive as “mission critical areas”. However I also know that at times that if rules are broken and students suffer for it, I get very upset and disappointed in staff and feel like they are letting us all down. For example, last week a teacher was so late to lunch her 2^nd graders were only allowed less than 15 minutes to eat their lunch. I was and am very frustrated with this pattern of disorganization that this teacher consistently displays and its negative impact on students. I know the teacher can sense my frustration and has avoided me all together including not scheduling our Preconference for her observation cycle. In my past leadership positions I know I struggle with staying committed to struggling teachers and this is also a point for me to note as my growing edge. I have passed off administration obligations as her evaluator and am trying to focus on the coaching aspect of our working relationship.

Additionally, I am also trying to seek out feedback from some of the programs I am implanting in PBIS, PD and new discipline practices. I think putting out transparent communication via surveys and looking at data as a team will continue to increase trust in various spaces and circles as well keep the essence of a “well oiled machine” as referenced in survey I took.

One of the last points in my leadership survey I want to highlight is the last statement, “…they are often relied upon by other leaders in other divisions.” I find this to be true in my small town district of Lakeport, CA. Although I am an Assistant Principal I seem to have the Superintendent’s ear on really important district wide initiatives. I see that I need to consistently model professionalism as it pertains to representing the district because the community relations are extremely strained. The decisions I make seem to come to the public quickly as statements of LUSD (district) and I see that they are backed up by other departments and leaders in the community such as Lakeport Police, LUSD maintenance, and LUSD Safety committee. Although at times this feels intimidating I know that it is healthy for students and families to see a unified leadership in various community teams.