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Professional Development for School Counselors

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Professional Development for School Counselors

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This cohort of support and learning is designed for counselors who want to create a comprehensive counseling program that impacts all stakeholders. The structure and focus of the cohort will include the following:

Collaborative Learning Sessions - Two in the Fall; Two in the Spring

Optional Coaching for State Recognized Program Awards - CREST/LSSSCA Bronze Award

Capacity Synergy Session - Administrator attends a Fall Session with RCL Counselor

Connection with other RCL Counselors throughout the year

Certified School Counselors with a minimum of 5 years of school counseling experience or former Rising Counselor Leaders are encouraged to join our learning cohort.

Customized Coaching:

Throughout the year, Region 13 Counseling Services will offer additional 1 on 1 coaching times and virtual collaboration opportunities for continued personal growth and support. Those dates will be shared with the counselors who register for the Rising Counselor Leaders series of workshops.

The 2022-2023 cohort includes four workshops and a retreat:

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This cohort of support and learning is designed for counselors who want to create a comprehensive counseling program that impacts all stakeholders.

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The Global Emotional Intelligence Test uses 40 questions which are derived from, the Global instrument, which contains 158 items. These are based on Goleman's four quadrant Emotional Intelligence Competency Model (2002). Click EI Capability Assessment here for more details. Short EI quizzes such as this are meant to be fun, and to give you a guide to which EI areas you are doing well in and those which perhaps you need to focus on for development.

This Test, is a forced-choice psychological test which requires you to choose Instructions for the FREE EI Test one statement in each pair of statements that describes you best. For each pair of statements, select the statement that best applies to you. Do not over-analyse the questions, or try to think of "exceptions to the rule." Be spontaneous and choose the statement that comes closest to the way you are.

Occasionally there will be questions that ask you to make a close call between two choices. This is because the Test is trying to distinguish between specific areas. If a question is very close and you can't decide which statement applies to you best, you can come back to it after you have completed the other questions.

The Test usually takes about 10 minutes to complete. At the end of the test, click on the Score Test button, and wait for the computer to generate an EI profile of your scores. If you have answered honestly and accurately, your scores will reflect your capability level within each of the EI quadrants.

We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the results of this Test - only that it can help you begin your journey of self-development!

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Emotional Intelligence Test - Global Leadership Foundation

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Free emotional intelligence test developed by Global Leadership Foundation

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Far from simply setting up student schedules and administering placement and academic evaluation tests, school counselors are leaders who can have a huge impact on the acceleration and the enhancement of learning. They must possess the ability to negotiate, persuade others their ideas are worthwhile, and collaborate with principals and other school officials.

School counselors have many responsibilities, including counseling students, working with teachers and parents, referring students to outside agencies, participating in student welfare and learning support communities, and evaluating and improving their own school counseling program.

Listening

First and foremost, a school counselor needs to be a good listener. Often, they have several students they work with and may get very few chances to converse with them in a one on one setting. "The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood," said Ralph G. Nichols. "The best way to understand people is to listen to them."

To listen effectively, counselors must be fully in the moment, not thinking of their "to do" list but rather giving their full attention to the issue at hand. Reflecting back to the person, your perception of what they said helps show understanding, and lets them make corrections. The counselor must also keep an open mind, being careful not to make any judgments until they have heard the entire story. ¹

Being Empathetic

Often a part of listening, putting themselves in the shoes of the person speaking, whether that is a student or another school official, helps counselors truly understand the underlying issues.

"Without the ability to understand what the student is experiencing, a counselor cannot truly do an effective job," says Helen A. Hatridge, past president of the Missouri School Counselor Association. "Empathy leads to good listening and a better ability to help the client come up with solutions. It also helps the student feel more comfortable and willing to open up to a counselor." ²

To be more empathetic, it is essential for a counselor to put aside their viewpoint. At the same time, they need to validate the student's viewpoint, which does not always mean agreement. Instead it means acknowledging their right to have an opinion, and that they have valid reasons for it. Asking how that person thinks a situation should be handled or what they would do opens up an even deeper understanding. ³

Building Relationship

It takes time for a counselor to build a relationship with any student or even their peers. However, through listening and being empathetic, that process can be accelerated.

To feel free to talk to a counselor, a student must often "break the ice," and needs to feel trust, comfort, and acceptance. Students need to accept that the counselor is a professional caregiver, and someone they can turn to without fear of judgement.

A counselor who develops this trusting relationship with students can get a lot more done, An understanding of the kid culture and what they care about can go a long way toward providing that environment of trust and understanding.

Performing Assessments

Assessment skills are essential for any school counselor in a number of areas. From academic and skills assessment to personality testing and career advisement, the ability to discern the intersection of talent and desire is essential to offering good counsel.

Assessment also includes determining if a student has special needs and interpreting test and non-test data to decide where the student should be placed, and what programs will most benefit them.

Regardless of the reason for assessment, the steps often include, but are not limited to the following:

Choosing what tests should be administered and when.

Scheduling, preparing, and administering tests.

Scoring tests or sending them out to be scored.

Advising students, teachers, parents, and other staff on test score interpretation.

Evaluating the testing process, results, and subsequent recommendations.⁴

Assessments involve some testing but must also be combined with listening, empathy, and the relationship that has been built to determine how testing outcomes relate to personality, desires, and the goals of the student.

Coordinating Efforts and Activities

Efforts and activities can fall into a couple of different categories. A counselor will have to coordinate Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for students, and other student specific plans as well. Along with coordinating individual student plans and interacting with teachers and other school officials, the school counselor often coordinates other activities and projects as well.

In many cases, the school counselor is in charge of parent newsletters, school announcements, managing social media accounts, and other community outreach and event planning efforts.

The ability to coordinate and manage these efforts and activities requires strong leadership and organizational skills. Teaching these skills to students by allowing them to take responsibility for their own educational goals and other efforts enables a counselor to show leadership by example.

Exercising Authority

In order to be able to implement programs, direct student activities and coordinate tasks, a counselor must exercise a certain amount of authority.

This means first of all that the counselor must be granted the authority to handle certain tasks by other school officials such as principals and administrators. The more their authority is validated by their actions, the more the counselor will be perceived as a leader by parents and students alike.

Secondly, the school counselor must be willing to wield the authority they have been granted, taking charge of tasks and situations, setting expectations, and holding those responsible to deadlines.

The counselor must also know in any given situation when to cross the line from friend to professional. If a student is being abusive or abused, a more professional response is ethically and legally mandated. It is the counselor's obligation to take charge and follow through, ensuring that student safety comes first.

Being Flexible

If one thing is certain in the field of education, it is that things will change. Interruptions, schedule changes, new programs, and new responsibilities all interrupt a counselor's daily routine.

Student needs and the needs of the school overall often take priority over scheduled meetings. Parent phone calls, staff concerns, talks in classrooms, and unexpected counseling needs can all be disruptive.

A successful counselor should:

Leave gaps in their day for unscheduled needs.

Use good time management techniques.

Set reasonable boundaries. Know what is worthy of an interruption, and what can wait.

Communicate clearly. Inform students, parents, and faculty of schedules and boundaries.

By remaining flexible, a counselor can better manage the stress inherent in the job and be more responsive when needs arise unexpectedly.

Having a Sense of Humor

Being able to see things from the side of humor has a number of advantages. It lets students see that the counselor is human and can not only laugh at situations but laugh at themselves as well.

This is frequently one of the biggest assets in building student trust and developing a relationship with them. It is often how those students relate to adults, whether through jokes or humorous anecdotes that illustrate a point the counselor is trying to get across.

Humor is also a stress reliever. Being able to see the humorous side of interruptions and other daily situations allows a counselor to relax and keep anxiety from taking over many scenarios.

It takes a combination of many leadership traits to make a school counselor effective. They must use listening skills and offer empathy in order to build relationships. A counselor must also perform assessments and coordinate activities and educational efforts. These duties mean they must remain flexible and exercise authority when appropriate.

Not one of these traits alone is enough, and no one is equally adept in all of them. They are taught and can be learned in a Master of Arts in Counseling with an emphasis in school counseling like the one offered by Wake Forest University. This graduate degree will prepare you for a career as a school counselor in almost any setting.
Sources: 1 2 3 ⁴ American Counseling Association, Assessment Skills for School Counselors Mind Tools, Empathy at Work Education World, School Counselors Reflective On What Makes Them Effective Fast Company, 5 Ways To Improve Your Listening Skills

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Leadership Traits Every Counselor Should Have

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Far from simply setting up student schedules and administering placement and academic evaluation tests, school counselors are leaders who can have a huge impact on the acceleration and the enhancement of learning. They must possess the ability to negotiate, persuade others their ideas are worthwhile, and collaborate with principals and other school officials.

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School counselors are uniquely equipped to bridge the gaps between administration, teachers, parents, and students. As the demands placed on everyone in a school community increase, it's vital that we view and include school counselors as part of our leadership teams. Let's make sure we recognize all they do and put their strengths to work for our students! Here are 11 ways school counselors serve as leaders in your building.

1. School counselors recognize and showcase diversity.

In many buildings, school counselors are considered the "heart" of the school. They help create an inclusive environment that is respectful, welcoming, kind, and open to all.

2. School counselors develop community partnerships.

Counseling staff work collaboratively with universities, community colleges, technical schools, local unions, military reps, and apprentice programs to provide a variety of opportunities for students. They are especially vital in ensuring underserved and first-generation students have access to and the tools to reach all possible post-high school options.

3. School counselors help during difficult situations.

Strengths such as listening, reflecting, and high emotional intelligence make school counselors valuable allies when trying to get buy-in from staff or the greater community on difficult issues. Counselors foster a culture of change via strong lines of communication and valuing input from all parties involved.

4. School counselors maintain strong home-school connections.

Counselors tend to be the liaison for parents when it comes to communicating with the school. This leadership role is especially important when assisting families who are not familiar with the school setting or have issues trusting staff.

5. School counselors maximize educational success.

School counselors can help to maximize the educational attainment of all students by providing students with mental health services (school or community-based) and developmental guidance that takes a proactive approach in helping students set and reach academic goals.

6. School counselors lead staff trainings.

Administrators who use their counseling staff (rather than outside contractors) to lead building-wide trainings can save a lot of money and gain quicker buy-in from staff. School counselors are experts on topics such as student engagement, positive discipline, suicide/self-harm, students-as-leaders, peer mentoring programs, and academic/social interventions for low-performing students.

7. School counselors protect and advocate for disadvantaged students.

Counselors identify and amend policies and practices that negatively impact disadvantaged students and advocate for equitable services for all students.

8. School counselors use expertise to bring data to life.

Like administrators, counselors are trained in data collection and analysis. They are skilled at using this information to drive decisions about placement, intervention, and overall student health and wellbeing.

9. School counselors mediate difficult situations between parents/students and staff.

Counselors are consistently looking for ways to support the relationship between school staff and parents. Acting as a mediator when one or both parties are upset about a situation is a critical way in which school counselors serve as leaders.

10. School counselors organize and lead crisis response.

Counselors are on the front lines after a tragedy has happened in a school or community. Staff, students, parents, and community members look to the counselors for guidance and support immediately following an event. Because of their training in emotional/mental, the counseling staff is critical in advocating for and teaching self-care to staff, parents, and students during a crisis.

11. School counselors empower and inspire.

School counselors inherently believe in people and work tirelessly to communicate that. By being visible and accessible at all times, their calming, caring, and encouraging presence helps support and empower staff in the building.

School counselors serve as leaders in many ways and we need to value their perspectives and strengths. They are vital to building positive learning environments in which students thrive.
Join our Facebook group Principal Life for more conversation about and insights into the challenges of school leadership.

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11 Ways Your School Counselors Serve as Leaders - WeAreTeachers

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School counselors are uniquely equipped to bridge the gaps between administration, teachers, parents, and students. As the demands placed on everyone in a school community increase, it's vital that we view and include school counselors as part of our leadership teams. Let's make sure we recognize all they do and put their strengths to work for our students!

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When it comes to the success of students and positive outcomes for whole families and communities, educational leadership can play a critical role.

Communities and whole societies are changing at a rapid pace, creating a tremendous need for practical-minded leaders who can innovate new ways of learning and meet the needs of diverse communities. Whether in traditional school settings, nonprofit organizations, or large corporations, thoughtful and skillful educational professionals in leadership roles can make all the difference.

Take Danielle Keane, a principal in the South Bronx, who dedicated herself to making the school "a place that people wanted to be" when the 2021 school year began. Throughout the summer, she hosted small in-person middle school graduations and facilitated "homecoming" sessions twice a week where families could come back to the school building and hear about safety measures, scheduled comedy nights and literacy classes. She hosted a movie night in the park and a back-to-school carnival. And when school started, she welcomed back 90% of the school's students to in-person learning, well over the city's average.

Educational leaders like Keane can transform whole communities through their meaningful work.

If you're looking to take on an educational leadership role, you must first envision what is involved. There are many key qualities and skills a leader must incorporate into the many situations of the workplace. Depending on your skillset, you will be eligible for different career paths, salary levels, and opportunities.

No matter which academic or career path you choose, there are few callings more rewarding than that of a leader in education. In this blog, you can learn:

What is educational leadership?

Educational leadership is built on the premise of constructing and applying knowledge in ways that make a positive difference. Through collaboration and communication, professionals in educational leadership work with diverse communities and build partnerships to promote positive outcomes by setting and meeting transformative goals.

While many educational leadership professionals have advanced degrees and can work in academic settings, they are practitioners who work in applied positions. By connecting theory to real-world projects and contexts, educational leaders take a comprehensive, evidence-based, relational approach to problem-solving.
Request Your Free EdD Program Guide
Why educational leadership is important

The impact of educational leadership is felt throughout schools, nonprofits, and private sector organizations.

School Principals

A recent study by The Wallace Foundation reported that effective school leaders make both a stronger and broader positive impact on the schools they lead than research had previously shown. The study:

Estimates that replacing a school principal in the 25th percentile of effectiveness with one in the 75th percentile of effectiveness would result in approximately three months of additional math and reading learning gains each year for students in that school

Suggests that the impact of an effective principal on student learning is nearly as great as the impact of an effective teacher

Finds that the way school principals approach educational leadership has a direct relationship with school outcomes and test scores

Higher Education Administrators

Leaders of educational institutions stand to influence everything from curricular decisions to public perception of their campus. Studies have found that the approach higher educational leaders take in making various decisions can have a powerful ripple effect throughout their faculty members, students, and even the broader community. For example:

Nonprofit Leaders

Studies show that nonprofit organizations with poor leadership negatively affect the staff working with them, the clientele they serve, and even the public at-large. Poor leadership in the nonprofit sector erodes public trust.

Conversely, nonprofit executives who receive relevant training in the knowledge and skills they need in order to effectively lead an organization experience positive personal outcomes (such as their mindsets) and improve their organization's practices. Likewise, nonprofit leaders who guide their organizations in accountability, communication, and advocacy can help bring about more positive public perceptions of nonprofit organizations.

Human Resources Directors

HR professionals with a post-grad education degree are especially skilled at strategic collaboration with diverse audiences and stakeholders and promoting change across diverse organizational settings. Those abilities can promote meaningful change in human resources roles.

Effective human resources directors can make a noticeable difference in company culture, employee morale, and even the bottom line. Check out just a few statistics from McKinsey on the benefit of good human resources professionals:

Organizations with human resources departments that facilitate a positive employee experience are 1.3 times more likely to report that they outperformed their organizational goals.

Companies with cultures that rank in the top-quartile of the McKinsey Organization Health Index post a return to shareholders that is 60 percent higher than median companies and a staggering 200 percent higher than companies that rank in the bottom quartile.

Educational leadership qualities

While anyone can strive to become a successful educational leader, there are some common qualities that are found in professionals who tend to gravitate toward educational leadership: compassion, vision, and perseverance.

Compassion

The role of an educational leader is, at its core, a role that seeks to meet the needs of others. Rachael George, an elementary school principal, spoke to the role of compassion in educational leadership in " Leading with Compassion," a blog post for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in which she discusses the impact of two colleagues in leadership roles:

"Creating bonds and intentionally fostering relationships with your community is the foundation for academic achievement. As three educational leaders, we strive to show genuine love for those in our community. That deep care is likely one of the reasons why our students have been successful, with each of our schools blasting through average scores on state assessments."

Leadership roles involve goals and metrics, but they're also about culture, creating a sense of belonging, and empowering people through connection. People who naturally come by compassion and seek to cultivate it in their lives have one of the key qualities of educational leaders-and, as George's example shows, an emphasis on compassionate care for others often leads to positive outcomes and impressive metrics, as well.

Vision

Successful educational leaders tend to be people who can evaluate past challenges and policies where they work and develop a better way forward. Not only that-they can see, or collaborate in seeing, what it will take to get to that future place. Their ability to imagine and creatively plan, for example, can directly correlate to student success.

Take a look at a few examples of visionary leadership in an academic setting, nonprofit organization, and the private sector:

Perseverance

Educational leaders are faced with many challenges. They are often called upon when social and cultural issues arise, when injustice dominates current events, and when individuals and communities are suffering. Attempting to develop long-term fixes for systemic problems while responding to immediate, pressing needs can be a tightrope to walk.

That's why perseverance matters so much for educational leaders. For example, DonorBox ranks "resilience and stamina" as the number one quality of a successful nonprofit founder:

Hardship is a daily reality for most nonprofit leaders. The Greater Good Science Center defines resilience skills as being able to minimize the impact of stress, which in turn helps us avoid burnout. Nonprofit founders need to be flexible, willing to adapt, and able to move forward despite setbacks- demonstrating persistence.

Educational leadership skills

Professionals who are trained in educational leadership are equipped with many of the top skills that employers are looking for in the modern workplace. Some of the most important educational leadership skills, which correlate with some of the most-wanted skills among recruiters, schools, and companies, are analytical thinking, collaboration, and leadership.

Analytical Thinking

The World Economic Forum named "analytical thinking and innovation" as the number one skill for 2025 in "The Future of Jobs Report 2020." As more and more data becomes available in every sector, from education to the corporate world, leaders with strong analytical thinking skills are more necessary than ever when it comes to asking the right questions of the data set before them.

Consider just a few examples of how analytical thinking has made a positive difference in organizations led by educational leaders:

Collaboration

Educational leaders often spend a great deal of time speaking to others-whether those they are serving, those who work within their organizations, or community partners. By collaborating with diverse audiences and stakeholders about organizational research, practices, and theories, educational leaders can make collaborative strategic plans that lead to positive outcomes.

Here are some examples of how educational leaders have fostered collaboration to create positive effects:

The top considerations of an educational leader

Professionals in educational leadership roles will perform a multitude of tasks based on their specific positions, which is to say that a superintendent's day may look quite different from a human resource director's day. But, if we peel back the layers just a bit, we'll see that many of their decisions and approaches are likely shaped in similar ways and based in similar issues faced by educational leaders, including:

How to answer questions of equity, ethics, and social justice

What it looks like to bring about solutions to complex problems

The way to make a positive difference in a community or culture

How to make and measure a positive impact in a given setting, person, or group

Equity and educational leadership

One of the highest callings of educational leaders is fostering diversity, inclusion, and equity among the people they lead. As a practitioner, the role of the educational leadership professional is not one of theory or distance from real communities. As people who work with people, educational leadership professionals are embedded every day in real-world circumstances that deal with questions of social justice, ethics, and equity.

Educational leaders may pursue greater equity for the people they serve through community partnerships, advocacy, or educational opportunities.

Educational leadership jobs

Careers in educational leadership range from small schools to huge corporations. Educational leadership often refers to administrative positions in schools, school districts, and universities. Many educational leadership professionals work as principals or assistant principals, instructional coordinators, and academic deans. These individuals help to meet the needs of students, families, and teachers so that each person has the opportunity to reach their goals and experience positive outcomes.

But, as we've discussed, school settings are not the only place where educational leadership is important. Educational leadership is also put into practice in the corporate setting, such as in the case of human resources directors, chief learning officers, and trainers. In the nonprofit sector, educational leadership professionals work as program directors, executive directors, and community organizers. Educational leadership professionals who are interested in policy may work as education policy analysts for school systems, in think tanks, or for lobbying organizations.

Educational leadership doctoral programs: PhD vs. EdD

For those who are interested in educational leadership programs, there are several options. Some people will go with a masters degree, others a PhD, and others an EdD. While professionals with master's degrees can have successful careers in educational leadership, those with doctorates will experience more open doors and greater potential for the careers they want.

So then, what are the differences between a doctorate of education and PhD in education? Before we get there, let's note the similarities. Both degrees

Are terminal degrees (the highest a student can go on that academic path)

Focus on enhancing professional knowledge in various environments

Make candidates more marketable and increase their salary potential

Benefit graduates' employers

Prepare candidates for roles in administration, supervision, training, development, curriculum, instruction, and teaching

From that common ground, some differences emerge. Let's take a look at what they are.

PhD

A PhD usually pursues a teaching career in academia and does first-hand research to help inform best practices. This allows candidates primary exploration of their field.

A PhD is likely to take on the role of an academic in higher education. PhD candidates are likely to publish original research in academic journals and present research papers at conferences.

EdD

An EdD program is designed to develop scholarly practitioners for applied positions in real-world settings. The research is oriented around making a local impact and developing a better understanding of a local context. An EdD will feature a substantial core curriculum in leading an organization, ethical leadership and social justice, and implementing organization change.

Because of its emphasis on real-world application, the EdD leads to more opportunities for its graduates. While PhD graduates will largely work in research and theory, which may limit the workplace opportunities for them, EdD graduates can apply their leadership knowledge in nearly any setting. It's difficult to think of any workplace that wouldn't benefit from visionary leadership, an emphasis on meaningful change and transformative partnerships. With an EdD, leaders can bring about impactful change in schools, nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses that support whole communities.

Become an effective educational leader with an EdD from Marymount University Online

Are you ready to foster strategic collaboration, empower meaningful change, and innovate in ways that make a direct, positive impact in schools, communities, or organizations? If so, an EdD from Marymount University Online may be an ideal fit for you.

The degree program is designed for working professionals who want to bring elevated skills to their current organizations or find new opportunities for leadership. With no GRE requirement and a path to completion that's less than three years long, active professionals can prepare for educational leadership while maintaining their current personal and professional responsibilities.

Imagine your future in education administration, corporate leadership, nonprofit management, or policy analysis. You can take a step toward that future today. Prepare to use transformative leadership to promote change across diverse instructional and organizational settings. With our rigorous, practitioner-focused degree, you'll be ready to effect change that matters.

Learn more about the EdD from Marymount University Online from our students.
Request Your Free EdD Program Guide

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Educational Leadership: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

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When it comes to the success of students and positive outcomes for whole families and communities, educational leadership can play a critical role. Communities and whole societies are changing at a rapid pace, creating a tremendous need for practical-minded leaders who can innovate new ways of learning and meet the needs of diverse communities.

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Educational leaders play a pivotal role in affecting the climate, attitude and reputation of their schools. But what makes a truly effective leader? Here we offer insight on 10 educational leadership qualities that make for a truly effective school leader.

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The ASAP® course catalog has been published and includes information on all our standards-based ASAP® course modules, as well as the ASAP® assessments, workbooks, case studies and academies. Download the ASAP Catalog today!

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The ASAP® course catalog has been published and includes information on all our standards-based ASAP® course modules, as well as the ASAP® assessments, workbooks, case studies and academies. Download the ASAP Catalog today!

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Authentic leadership is a theory that is still forming in the business world. The idea of authentic leadership is that leaders are seen as genuine and "real." This theory was created by Bill George in his book Authentic Leadership, published in 2003. This book takes on the entire theory that for leaders, being themselves is key to finding success. There are other important leadership skills, but being yourself helps you hone those skills. But does it work? It appears that the answer is yes. In fact, research shows that authentic leadership is the biggest predictor of an employee's job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and workplace happiness.

If you're studying to become a business manager or leader, it's important to understand the variety of leadership styles and theories, as well as understand authentic leadership and how being yourself could be your best option. Learn more about the authentic leadership theory, how you can develop it, and how it could benefit your team.

Bill George's Authentic Leadership model focuses on five distinct qualities that leaders that are authentic have, or may develop. It's important to note that these aren't unnatural characteristics that would make a leader less genuine, but are general ideas that leaders that are authentic fill with their own real intentions and beliefs.

Being a leader that is authentic involves demonstrating sense of purpose in order to seem real and approachable. Often, having a sense of purpose will come out as a sense of passion in practice. Passionate leadership involves caring about the work they are doing, and seeing leaders care makes employees more interested in caring about their work too. Leaders that have authenticity connect to their employees by showing interest in what they do, an interest in the large picture for the organization, and a passion for helping create success.

For example, leadership that shows authenticity is seen when a manager is assigned a new project from upper management, and will then hold a meeting for employees about this new role. They share the things that they are excited about, the structure of the project, and how everyone will be involved to create a good result. They demonstrate a good attitude to followers and show positive behavior as part of their leadership and passion. When an employee sees a passionate leader, they can catch the vision for what success can look like. A sense of purpose can look different based on the leader, but ultimately authentic leaders won't need to fake a sense of purpose, they already are passionate about their work, and followers can see that in their behavior and in their practice.

Authentic leaders have specific values, and they don't compromise on them for anything. This is also known as integrity. Integrity is crucial behavior for leadership to truly be successful. A leader behaves in a way that is always in line with their values, and expect high ethical standards and integrity in employees as well. Employees that see leaders who have values and things that are important to them will find respect and appreciation for their leader. The values of an authentic leader will vary based on their specific beliefs and morals, and they can be shaped by their company policy as well. Ethical leadership and authentic leadership goes hand-in-hand. This kind of leadership means that a manager will have their own personal standard of ethics and values that they will stay by no matter what.

For example, an authentic leader has standards for how work is done and values that work is done correctly. They articulate regularly that they won't tolerate shortcuts, they won't compromise the rules, and that they themselves would never do that either. This can be in regards to work, coworker relationships, management, and more. Values are a crucial element to this kind of leadership. Followers see this ethical behavior and have trust in the organization as a whole, and begin to grow more self-aware of their own ethics and discipline.

Authentic leaders build relationships with their employees and colleagues, and try to establish real connections with the people around them throughout the organization. They are willing to share things about themselves, communicate, and actually listen to others. Employees react better to managers who they believe really care about them and remember things about their lives. When an employee has a manager that they know actually cares about them and their life outside the office, they're more invested in staying and having a good relationship with that manager.

For example, authentic leaders ask employees about their family. If an employee says they have to leave work early to take their spouse to the doctor, the manager can politely ask if everything is ok, if they need any help, or if there's anything they can do. Management that is genuine and real will always listen, as well as make connections by sharing details of their lives as well. This can be as simple as talking about a game or show they watch, or go deeper in sharing about their children or family. Team members are much more likely to respect and like leaders who they can connect with in a real way.

Goals and self-discipline helps authentic leaders have the focus they need to move forward, no matter what comes their way. Consistent, cool, calm-that is the kind of leader you want during a storm or stressful times. Having goals in mind, and the self-discipline to get there is what makes an authentic leader easy to follow. Employees feel confident and calm when they see a leader that has that self-discipline as well. It also encourages their own self-awareness for their reaction and response, encouraging them to be calm and relaxed as well. An organization can thrive when leadership demonstrates patience and calm no matter what.

An authentic leader will communicate specific work goals to the team and then help provide a path and a plan to accomplish those goals. When things come in that add stress to the situation, authentic leaders don't freak out or complain. They set the tone for their employees by keeping their cool and adjusting the plan when necessary, all the while encouraging the team that they can still reach the goal. Staying focus, adjusting when needed, communicating, and moving forward are key for authentic leaders.

Authentic leaders are willing to show compassion to their employees. They are sensitive to the needs of others, and are willing to help them get what they need. This self-awareness is important to help team members really trust leadership. There are many positive effects that can come from this kind of self-awareness and leadership. This genuine heart helps employees feel that they are more than just a cog in the machine-they know that their leader sees them as a person and cares about them as a person. Mental health, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and sensitivity are all important to this kind of leadership.

An authentic leader shows their genuine heart, self-awareness, and compassion in many ways. One way they show this is by checking in on employees regularly. For example, during a busy time in the office an authentic leader will check in with their employees often for one-on-one time to ensure they are feeling OK, and find out if they can do anything for them. An authentic leader will make sure relationships between coworkers are going well, be sensitive to personal issues employees may be facing. Authentic leaders show genuine concern and ask because they want to know and help, not out of politeness.

There are many things leaders can do to develop their authenticity and become more genuine leaders. Some of the things they can do include:

Explore their life story. Authentic leaders can learn about themselves as a good way to become more true to themselves. They need to process their experiences, understand the things they've gone through, and discover who they really are. When you dive into your own understanding of yourself, you're better able to be yourself and let others see that side of you.

Take time to reflect. It's important to take a step back in our 100-mile-an-hour world and be introspective. Taking time for reflection helps you understand what's important to you, allowing you to be a better leader. Set aside time without your phone, task lists, and just reflect. Examine how you're living your life and engaging with people around you to be more true to yourself.

Seek out feedback. Authentic leaders know that they need to understand how other people see them in order to be effective. Seeking out honest feedback and then taking that feedback to heart is important for leaders to grow and develop. Authentic leaders want to get better and change for their employees, so surrounding themselves with people who will give honest feedback is key.

Understand their leadership style. Authentic leaders understand what kind of leadership styles comes naturally to them. They understand the situation they are in, the people they manage, and they can adapt their style as needed to fit that situation while staying true to themselves. Flexible styles aren't inauthentic, because they come from a genuine place and are part of the compassion and heart leaders have to make the best connection with their employees.

There are lots of critiques for the authentic leadership theory. Some people argue that employees and followers don't need an authentic person, they need a true leader. They need someone who is more than just themselves to lead and guide them. They argue that faking it until you make it is the key to a strong leader. While there are pros and cons to authentic leadership, overall the theory is focused on leaders being strong, but genuine and true to themselves which helps employees feel connected to and confident in them. Seeking to understand their flaws helps authentic leaders become stronger, and forging those real connections with employees helps them feel better about their work and their management.

Overall, the authentic leadership theory is a solid foundational way to be a good leader. Coupled with a business degree, authentic leadership can help you work to become the manager that you truly want to be.

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Authentic leadership is an up-and-coming theory about leadership and management. It looks into how genuine a leader is, and how their perception of being genuine impacts their ability to lead. Learn more about authentic leadership and how you can develop it in your career and life.

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Businesses around the world are working hard to adapt to a new way of life brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some are struggling to plan for long-term success in a professional landscape riddled with uncertainty. When conducted a survey on COVID-19 and the workplace, they found 54% of respondents believed workplace disruptions will extend beyond 2020. Many companies made the switch to remote work at the start of the global pandemic, and it's likely remote collaboration will continue for the foreseeable future.

As such, the demand for good virtual leadership skills is more important than ever, which is why we made inclusivity and transparency our top priority when defining our virtual leadership skills.

Here's why you should, too.

In this post, we'll look at how important virtual leadership skills mirror good non-virtual leadership skills (but with a few key differences.)
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What is virtual leadership?

The definition of virtual leadership is a form of leadership in which teams are managed via a remote working environment. Like traditional leadership roles, virtual leaders focus on inspiring workers and helping teams accomplish their goals.

Overall, virtual leaders must take a different management approach than they would with collocated workers, as team communication isn't done in person. As such, virtual leaders need to have great writing skills that translate important things like empathy and understanding into written words shared within a virtual context (as this is how much of cross-team communication is done.)

Virtual leadership focuses heavily on boosting collaboration through regular communication, transparency, and accountability. An effective virtual leader should:

Deploy tools like a Work Operating System to maintain an open line of communication and to share everything from status updates to digital assets with team members

Be transparent about company goals and desired outcomes, as this can boost engagement and help members take ownership of the work they're producing

Give workers autonomy and hold them accountable for the work delivered

Virtual leadership, remote teams, and autonomy

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, companies were already starting to embrace virtual teams . Back in 2014, the consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight surveyed 1,700 knowledge workers and found nearly 80% of them belong to distributed teams. As virtual work has grown in popularity, the need for virtual leadership emerged as well.

Remote employees have more autonomy due to the nature of virtual work. As such, virtual leaders can't check in with workers the same way in-office managers do, so they have to put their trust in workers' capabilities.

But for increased autonomy to work with remote teams, there must also be a culture of accountability. That requires virtual leaders to be clear on their expectations.

You can do this by:

Assigning work to specific workers (or teams)

Agreeing upon a deadline and putting that date in writing

Create checkpoints and use software wherein you can review work, offer guidance, and provide feedback

At monday.com, we ensure everyone at the company has a strong understanding of our goals and objectives. We give all team members access to metrics to help them measure progress when working towards our common goals, which increases worker autonomy. We've found that this helps our teams make informed decisions about how their work should be managed, which leads to greater agility across the organization.
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3 Essential virtual team leadership skills

We believe that strong leadership and people-oriented values are instrumental in creating a business culture that's productive, innovative, and able to adapt to an ever-changing professional landscape.

When building our own virtual team leadership skill set at monday.com, we prioritized three important elements that are similar to traditional leadership roles:

Transparency: Don't keep relevant company data locked away in departmental silos--make it accessible so workers can have a better understanding of your goals and desired outcomes

Inclusion: Allow employees to participate in the planning phases of your projects, as they're the ones with the technical know-how and practical skills (meaning they can offer valuable insight when you're creating an action plan)

Trust: Leadership and workers should be upfront and completely honest when sharing data and status updates (even unfavorable information) in order to maintain credibility and preserve the integrity of the data being shared

We've identified these elements as essential leadership skills for managing virtual teams and have integrated them into our company culture. While the daily practice of these skills can look slightly different when our leaders are communicating virtually, we've found that overall they've resulted in more agile teams that can quickly adapt to unexpected change without experiencing significant setbacks.

Overall, being inclusive and open with company information makes planning and problem-solving more effective, as it increases the resiliency of the entire company.

How do I create a virtual culture that lasts?

Being an effective virtual leader is challenging , and there will probably be a number of hurdles you'll have to overcome as you become comfortable with collaborating online. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges may feel magnified due to uncertainty.

You may have traditional command-and-control managers who will struggle with unfamiliar concepts like transparency, worker autonomy, and accountability. This is normal, and it will take some time for them to adjust to a new leadership style that values agile traits like responsiveness and adaptability over long-term planning.

There are some steps you can take that will foster a virtual culture that thrives, regardless of location:

Ensure your

s and workers embrace good virtual leadership skills and incorporate them into their day-to-day activities. You can do this by making transparency and inclusion part of your company culture.

Senior leadership should make it a priority to transform the company into a virtual-ready organization by holding routine virtual leadership training sessions. The initial training session will teach managers how to adapt to the virtual workplace , and subsequent training can be aimed at helping them get acclimated to their new role as virtual leaders.

Keep an open dialogue. Virtual team members might feel isolated sometimes, so be sure to foster regular, open communication through meetings, one-on-one chats, and tools that make cross-team collaboration simple.

Master virtual leadership

Want to learn more about becoming a remote company during the global pandemic? Download our ebook "Working from home amid COVID-19" to get a better understanding of the challenges teams face when working remotely. That way, you can use your virtual leadership skills to help your teams transition smoothly to remote work.
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3 Essential virtual leadership skills that create a thriving remote culture

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Businesses around the world are working hard to adapt to a new way of life brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are struggling to plan for long-term success in a professional landscape riddled with uncertainty. When conducted a survey on COVID-19 and the workplace, they found 54% of respondents believed workplace disruptions will extend beyond 2020.

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Research by the respected Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in the U.S. found that the primary causes of executive derailment involve deficiencies in emotional competence. Each year, CCL serves more than 20,000 individuals and 2,000 organizations, including more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies. It says the three main reasons for failure are difficulty in handling change, inability to work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations.

International search firm Egon Zehnder International analyzed 515 senior executives and discovered that those who were strongest in emotional intelligence were more likely to succeed than those strongest in either IQ or relevant previous experience. Research that has been done on the relationship between emotional intelligence (EQ) and IQ has shown only a weak correlation between the two.

The Carnegie Institute of Technology carried out research that showed that 85% of our financial success was due to skills in "human engineering", personality, and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. They found that only 15% was due to technical ability. In other words people skills or skills highly related to emotional intelligence were crucial skills. Nobel Prize winning Israeli-American psychologist Daniel Kahneman found that people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don't, even if that that person is offering a better product at a lower price.

People would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don't, even if that that person is offering a better product at a lower price.

To test out his findings, think of the last time you purchased a major item, a home, automobile, or large appliance where you had to dealings with a salesperson. Was the person someone who you liked and trusted? In my talks, I have found that whenever I asked that question, inevitably the entire audience answered that, yes, the person they bought a large item from was someone they liked and trusted. This theory about why salespeople with the right people skills do better than those who lack them is borne out by a study carried out by the Hay/McBer Research and Innovation Group in 1997. In a study carried out in a large national insurance company in 1997, they found that sales agents weak in emotional areas such as self-confidence, initiative, and empathy sold policies with an average premium of $54,000, while those strong in 5 of 8 emotional competencies sold policies on the average worth $114,000.

Much of the research that has been done on emotional intelligence has been at the executive leadership level. The higher up the organization, the more crucial emotional intelligence abilities are as the impacts are greater and felt throughout the entire organization. There have been some studies, however, that show impacts at all levels.

The higher up the organization the more crucial emotional intelligence abilities are as the impacts are greater and felt throughout the entire organization.

For example, a study by McClelland in 1999 showed that after supervisors in a manufacturing plant received training in emotional competencies such as how to listen better, lost-time accidents decreased by 50% and grievances went down from 15 per year to three. The plant itself exceeded productivity goals by $250,000.

The same principles apply in all areas of life, whether at work or in relationships. Everyone wants to work with people who are easy to get along with, supportive, likeable, and can be trusted. We want to be beside people that do not get upset easily and can keep their composure when things do not work out according to plan.

Self-awareness. The first thing that is essential for any degree of emotional intelligence is self-awareness. People with a high degree of self-awareness have a solid understanding of their own emotions, their strengths, weaknesses, and what drives them. Neither overly critical nor unrealistically hopeful, these people are honest with themselves and others. These people recognize how their feelings impact them, other people around them, and their performance at work. They have a good understanding of their values and goals and where they are going in life. They are confident as well as aware of their limitations and less likely to set themselves up for failure.

We can recognize self-aware people by their willingness to talk about themselves in a frank, non-defensive manner. A good interview question is to ask about a time that the interviewee got carried away by their emotions and did something they later regretted. The self-aware person will be open and frank with their answers. Self-deprecating humor is a good indicator of someone who has good self-awareness. Red flags are people who stall or try to avoid the question, seem irritated, or frustrated by the question.

Ability To Self-Regulate Emotions. We all have emotions which drive us and there is nothing we can do to avoid them. People who are good at self-regulation, however, are able to manage their emotions so that they do not control their words and actions. While they feel bad moods and impulses as much as anyone else, they do not act upon them. People who act upon their negative feelings create havoc, disruptions, and lasting bad feelings all around them. We feel before we think and people who constantly react from an emotional state never wait long enough to allow their thoughts to override their emotions.

People who self-regulate have the ability to wait until their emotions pass, allowing them to respond from a place of reason, rather than simply reacting to feelings. The signs of someone who is good at self-regulation are reflection, thoughtfulness, comfort with ambiguity, change, and not having all the answers. In an interview, look for people who take a little time to reflect and think before they answer.

Empathy. Empathy is another important aspect to look for when hiring. Someone who has empathy will have an awareness of the feelings of others and consider those feelings in their words and actions. This does not mean that they will tiptoe around or be unwilling to make tough decisions for fear of hurting someone's feelings. It simply means that they are aware of, and take into consideration the impact on others. They are willing to share their own worries and concerns and openly acknowledge other's emotions. A good way to look for empathy in an interview is to ask a candidate about a situation where a co-worker was angry with them and how they dealt with it. Look for a willingness to understand the source of the co-workers anger, even though they may not agree with the reasons for it.

Social skills. Social skill is another area of emotional intelligence that is highly important in the workplace. To have good social skills requires a high level of the other skills aforementioned as well as the ability to relate and find common ground with a wide range of people. It goes beyond just friendliness and the ability to get along with others.

People with social skills are excellent team players as they have the ability to move an agenda along and keep focus while at the same time remaining aware of the emotional climate of the group and possess the ability to respond to it. These people are excellent at making connections, networking, and bringing people together to work on projects. They are able to bring their emotional intelligence skills into play in a larger arena. To look for social skills in an interview, ask questions related to projects and difficulties encountered around varying agendas, temperaments, and getting people to buy in.

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Why Emotionally Intelligent People Are More Successful

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Research by the respected Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in the U.S. found that the primary causes of executive derailment involve deficiencies in emotional competence. Each year, CCL serves more than 20,000 individuals and 2,000 organizations, including more than 80 of the Fortune 100 companies.

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Nurture an Engaged and Satisfied Workforce | Vantage Circle HR Blog

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The Leadership Practices That Should Not Be Overlooked

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This blog talks about the leadership practices in an organization that must not be overlooked. To be a good leader, it is vital to understand these practices.

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Consider the following laments that I have heard recently from school leaders: "We can't change the grading policy-it's part of our culture." "Public displays of data won't work here-the culture won't allow it." "The parents just don't understand-you can't change the culture by passing a law." Each of these statements includes the word culture, but the meaning of the term ranges from policies and procedures to personal preferences to deeply embedded belief systems.

Cultural change, although challenging and time-consuming, is not only possible but necessary-especially in organizations in which stakeholders use the word "culture" as a rhetorical talisman to block leadership initiatives, stifle innovation, and maintain the status quo. In the last decade, the education standards movement has taught us that policy change without cultural change is an exercise in futility and frustration.

How do you change the culture of schools? When it comes to lasting cultural change, four essentials are consistent across many leadership contexts.

First, define what you will not change. Identify specific values, traditions, and relationships that you will preserve. Rather than make every change a battle that exhausts political capital and diminishes trust, effective leaders place change in the context of stability. They take care not to convey the message, "Everything you have been doing in the past was ineffective, and your experience and professional judgment are irrelevant." A more thoughtful message is, "I am only going to ask you to engage in changes that will have meaning and value for you and every stakeholder we serve." For example, many schools have cherished traditions of excellence in athletics, music, or art-traditions that can be threatened when the leader says that academic achievement must be the top priority. Effective change leaders identify and build on traditions rather than compete with them. The trophy case bursting with evidence of athletic championships can share space with exceptional student artwork, outstanding science projects, and superb essays.

Second, recognize the importance of actions. Speeches and announcements are not enough. To lead challenging reform efforts, you must be willing to make personal changes in decision-making policies (Who has the authority to decide what?); personal time allocation (Which meeting invitations do you accept and which do you decline?); and collegial relationships (Do you make time to listen to the personal stories of your colleagues?).

The greatest impediment to meaningful cultural change is the gap between what leaders say they value and what they actually do. Staff members are not seduced by a leader's claim of "collaborative culture" when every meeting is a series of lectures, announcements, and warnings. Claims about a "culture of high expectations" are undermined when school policies encourage good grades for poor student work. The "culture of respect" is undermined by every imperious, demanding, or angry e-mail and voice mail coming from the principal. Leaders speak most clearly with their actions. When staff members hear the call for transformation from a leader whose personal actions remain unchanged, their hope turns to cynicism.

Third, use the right change tools for your school or district. Christensen, Marx, and Stevenson (2006) differentiate culture tools, such as rituals and traditions; power tools, such as threats and coercion; management tools, such as training, procedures, and measurement systems; and leadership tools, such as role modeling and vision. Leaders must choose the appropriate change tools on the basis of a combination of factors, including the extent to which staff members agree on what they want and how to get there. Leaders who approach reform determined to apply a particular change method are making the mistake of the person holding a hammer who therefore sees only nails.

Fourth, be willing to do the "scut work." In Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder (2004) describes a renowned infectious disease specialist and leader in international health care. Farmer has revolutionized the beliefs and practices of stakeholders ranging from the poorest rural villagers in Haiti to the faculty of Harvard Medical School to policymakers at the United Nations. Combining his extensive field experience with sophisticated research and medical analyses, Farmer has upended traditional notions of health care. What does Farmer cite as one of his secrets? The willingness to do "unglamorous scut work."

Although education leaders must make speeches and attend board meetings, leaders aspiring to change school cultures will take the risk, as Superintendent Stan Scheer of Murrieta Valley Unified School District in California has done, of taking a turn as a substitute teacher or spending time with bus drivers at 5:00 on a frosty morning. When the school leader puts down the briefcase and picks up a stack of trays in the cafeteria or a pile of writing portfolios for personal review, then everyone knows that the leader takes every job in the school seriously. If you believe that every job has value and there is no such thing as unimportant work in schools, then demonstrate that belief through your actions.

Meaningful school improvement begins with cultural change-and cultural change begins with the school leader.

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Leading to Change / How Do You Change School Culture? - ASCD

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Consider the following laments that I have heard recently from school leaders: "We can't change the grading policy-it's part of our culture." "Public displays of data won't work here-the culture won't allow it." "The parents just don't understand-you can't change the culture by passing a law." Each

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Effective school leaders are key to large-scale, sustainable education reform. For some time, educators have believed that principals must be instructional leaders if they are to be the effective leaders needed for sustained innovation. Newmann, King, and Youngs (2000), for example, found that schoo

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When most people imagine intelligence, they picture a mathematician solving equations, a novelist writing great works of literature or a philosopher expounding on wise principles.

But brilliance takes many forms, not least of which is the ability to comprehend and manage emotions. Known as emotional intelligence, this trait is often overlooked, yet crucial for success as a business leader.

Here's what having emotional intelligence provides you with:
Acute Awareness
One of the defining features of emotional intelligence is the ability to comprehend the effects of your feelings. This is crucial for making sound, objective decisions when your pride and self-esteem are at stake. All leaders must face situations where their emotions make a decision seem better than it is.

If you previously expressed support for a certain strategy, for example, your pride will be tied up with that strategy, making it harder to recognize if it isn't working. Leaders who have emotional intelligence are more likely to realize when pride and other emotions are influencing their thinking, allowing them to make more rational, impartial choices.
Impact Interpretation
In addition to reigning in your own feelings, emotional intelligence makes it easier to anticipate and respond to others' sentiments. As much as we may want for it to be objective, business is an emotional experience.

Bad news from work can shock or dismay your employees, while good news may make them unreasonably optimistic. Emotional intelligence means you can tell ahead of time how others will react and develop a strategy to keep them grounded.
Mental Health Management
Those with emotional intelligence have an easier time assessing the emotional and psychological state of their employees. This makes it easier to determine if someone is suffering from:

* Anxiety

* Depression

* Grief

* Trauma

* Eating disorders

By recognizing threats to your employees' mental health, you can provide them with the support and professional resources they need to recover. Not only is this good for their health but it promotes a more harmonious, productive workplace.
Cultivated Communication
Leaders with emotional intelligence have an improved ability to gauge others' responses to their words and actions. This makes it easier for you to tell if your employees really understand what you are saying or are confused but unwilling to say so. You can then refine your messages accordingly, developing reliable ways of communicating with everyone who works for you.

Emotional intelligence also makes it easier for you to listen to what other people are saying clearly and without judgment, ensuring that others can always give you the information you need.
Helpful Humor
Never underestimate the value of humor in business. A good joke or clever play on words can cheer up dismayed employees, win over skeptical customers and draw positive attention to your brand. If you have emotional intelligence, it will be easier to tell what people will find funny. You can also determine in which situations humor will be appropriate, finding the proper balance between serious work and lightheartedness.

While intelligence is important, emotional intelligence is a key to success in leadership and in being able to relate to others. When dealing with others, truly try to place yourself in their situation. It will help you choose the best method to solve problems and achieve your goals.

How has emotional intelligence helped you to make sound and informed decisions?

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Council Post: Why Emotional Intelligence Is Indispensable For Leaders

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When most people imagine intelligence, they picture a mathematician solving equations, a novelist writing great works of literature or a philosopher expounding on wise principles. But brilliance takes many forms, not least of which is the ability to comprehend and manage emotions.

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With regard to emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman was not the first to articulate the concept. However, in the double role of psychologist and journalist, Goleman made the elements of emotional intelligence accessible to broad segments of society. His best-selling books - beginning with "Emotional Intelligence"(1995) - have already changed how some businesses interact with clients and some managers recruit employees. His impact has been even more profound on education.

Thanks to Goleman, educators now recognize that emotional intelligence is every bit as important to learning as intellectual prowess or IQ. As a result, tens of thousands of schools throughout the world currently incorporate "social and emotional learning" in their curricula. In some schools, courses geared toward developing emotional intelligence are mandatory.

The history of emotional intelligence

For decades, researchers have studied the reasons why a high IQ does not necessarily guarantee success in the classroom or the boardroom. By the 1980s, psychologists and biologists, among others, were focusing on the important role other skill sets - needed to process emotional information - played in promoting worldly success, leadership, personal fulfillment and happy relationships.

In 1990, psychologists John Mayer (now at the University of New Hampshire) and Peter Salovey of Yale theorized that a unitary intelligence underlay those other skill sets. They coined the term, emotional intelligence, which they broke down into four "branches":

Identifying emotions on a nonverbal level

Using emotions to guide cognitive thinking

Understanding the information emotions convey and the actions emotions generate

Regulating one's own emotions, for personal benefit and for the common good

As a science reporter for the New York Times, Goleman was exposed to Mayer's and Salovey's work and took the concept of emotional intelligence a step further. In his eponymous book from 1995, he argued that existing definitions of intelligence needed to be reworked. IQ was still important, but intellect alone was no guarantee of adeptness in identifying one's own emotions or the emotional expressions of others. It took a special kind of intelligence, Goleman said, to process emotional information and utilize it effectively - whether to facilitate good personal decisions, to resolve conflicts or to motivate oneself and others.

Goleman's five domain components of emotional intelligence

Goleman broadened Mayer's and Salovey's four-branch system to incorporate five essential elements of emotional intelligence - or EQ, the shorthand he sometimes uses:

Emotional self-awareness - knowing what one is feeling at any given time and understanding the impact those moods have on others

Self-regulation - controlling or redirecting one's emotions; anticipating consequences before acting on impulse

Motivation - utilizing emotional factors to achieve goals, enjoy the learning process and persevere in the face of obstacles

Empathy - sensing the emotions of others

Social skills - managing relationships, inspiring others and inducing desired responses from them

Applications for educators

There are very practical reasons to promote social and emotional learning in schools, from kindergarten through college. According to Goleman, bullying, disciplinary problems, violence and drug abuse are reduced in schools with a high EQ. With a solid basis in emotional intelligence, academic performance - as well as behavior - improves. There is an obvious connection to Goleman's third, motivational component: learning stimulates curiosity and promotes feelings of satisfaction, even joy, when students immerse themselves in the process of assimilating new information.

The EQ of children starts developing long before they ever enter a classroom. But EQ levels will vary widely, depending on each child's home environment. Thus teachers must be able to recognize those children whose emotional literacy needs a boost. Teachers should be ready to talk about feelings in the classroom. The message is that no emotion is "wrong," but certain ways of expressing those emotions or acting on them are indeed inappropriate.

In 2002, UNESCO launched an international campaign to promote emotional learning in the classroom. The U.N. body sent a statement of 10 basic EQ principles to education ministries throughout the world. Those principles drew heavily from Goleman's exposition of emotional intelligence.

Rating emotional intelligence

PositivePsychology.com has created a guide to help people assess their own levels of emotional intelligence. Discover exercises ranging from classifying facial expressions, emotional articulation tools, and communication tasks among other activities. These are suitable for students and adults alike.

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Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Theory: Explanation and Examples | Resilient Educator

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With regard to emotional intelligence, Daniel Goleman was not the first to articulate the concept. But in the double role of psychologist and journalist, Goleman made the elements of emotional intelligence accessible.

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Leadership is the process where someone is able to motivate and inspire others to follow them. Successful businesses and companies need solid leadership to help them thrive, and successful leaders are defined by the behaviors they exhibit as they lead. These behaviors determine if followers are motivated and inspired by their leaders, or merely follow because they have to. Leadership traits are an integral part of how a leader is perceived and how they operate. Because leadership behavior is so important, it is widely studied and discussed. There are entire seminars, trainings, and even degree programs dedicated to teaching leadership.

Leader behavior is the traits and characteristics that make some effective as a leader. Leaders utilize their behavior to help them guide, direct, and influence the work of their team. There are many innate characteristics that enhance leadership behavior, however there are strategies and actions that leaders can work to develop in order to improve their behavior and be more effective. Organizations thrive on leaders who use their behavior to share a vision, encourage teams, and ensure everyone is as effective as possible.

Leadership is extremely important for an organization. Great leaders help improve morale in an organization. Even during hard times, effective leaders can help their subordinates be confident and happy in their position. Great leaders also help retain employees. Turnover is expensive in an organization, and good leadership is key in employees sticking around or jumping ship. As you've probably heard, people don't quit jobs, they quit managers. So great leaders help the company save money and increase productivity by keeping retention rates high. Similarly, great leaders can help nurture future leaders. They mentor and work with team members to help them grow in their role and be prepared for new roles in the company. This is good for everyone. And lastly, great leaders are instrumental in helping the company make money. More productive teams lead to more things being done, higher creativity, and better overall success for the organization. There are many different leadership styles that a manager or boss can adopt, but overall the most successful leaders will develop key traits that help them to thrive.

In practice it's easy to see the benefits of a good leader. Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Queen Elizabeth, Bill Gates, Arianna Huffington, Condoleezza Rice, and Barack Obama are all examples of great individuals who impacted the world around them in positive ways. Looking at their leadership behavior helps us understand the importance of the right traits and actions in a leader.

Great leaders are so important that there are many jobs that are focused on leadership. CEOs, managers, HR representatives, directors, and more are all jobs that are focused on leadership, responsibility, and other skills that involve the ability to help other individuals see the vision for a company. Leaders and managers are needed in absolutely every industry, from healthcare to IT, because they have a direct impact on the success of teams.

While there are many leadership traits, skills, and abilities that a person can and should have to be successful, there are a few that stand out as fundamentally important, including:

Research shows that only 20% of people trust business leaders to tell the truth, a shockingly low number for organizational trust. Now more than ever before, honesty is a crucial responsibility for success as a leader. A successful leader is honest, and will expect their employees to be honest too. If employees feel like their leader is honest with them, they are much more likely to be honest in return. A business leader who exhibits honesty will encourage their employees to trust them, so when they give them information or ask something of them, they will do the right thing with it. This is an important element for a great company culture and organizational success. In years past, honesty and integrity were the mark of organizational success-now as standards slacken being honest in business is more valuable than ever.

An effective leader will display confidence and lead by example. Confidence is a skill you can develop, and in turn encourage in your organization. When they walk into difficult projects or tight deadlines confident that they will be successful, the team will follow their lead. Employees want to feel that their leader is fearless and ready to take on anything-they want someone who is sure they will be successful in charge. So confidence is key for exceptional leaders. Particularly when it comes to making decisions, confidence is important for positive leadership. Good leaders are confident in their choices and move forward, leading their team right along with them.

Open communication means there are less misunderstandings and issues on a team. Good communication skills are key in leadership that is impactful. When leaders have open communication, the team knows exactly what is expected of them, when things need to be done, and the process. Bad communication can create problems that go unresolved, missed deadlines, improper strategy, and more. This often is an indication of poor leadership. Good leadership involves being specific about requests to ensure that team members know they can talk to their leader about anything. Communication channels need to go both ways so employees can connect with their leader if there is an issue and know they'll be heard.

In any organization, issues are going to arise. This can be professional or personal issues-either way good leaders need to know how to address these issues. Problems should be dealt with immediately, not pushed back to a more convenient time. Good leaders know that they need to take issues seriously, not make employees feel like they should handle it on their own or not bother about it. They have the ability to make employees feel heard and respected-self-assurance is an important part of being a real leader. Leadership also involves being open-minded, and utilize positive leadership behavior to help everyone feel at ease. Leadership that addresses problems quickly, professionally, and fairly get more respect from their employees.

Good leaders aren't afraid to make decisions, especially hard ones. They avoid delaying decisions or letting their personal views intervene. They look at things carefully, research well, try and see every angle, and make a decision and then stick to it. This will directly influence employee behavior. When a leader seems to be swayed after making a decision, it can be an issue. But if a leader isn't willing to get feedback before making a decision, that can also be an issue. A good leader finds the balance of making sure they fully understand the choice, and then sticking to it when they make it. They don't shy away from these choices, but rather take them head-on and show their employees that they are confident and sure.

Good leaders don't let personal thoughts or feelings get involved with their team. Their feedback is objective and professional, helping the team know exactly what to expect and where they can improve. Good leaders understand that feedback is essential for growth, so they aren't afraid to help their employees improve. But their feedback is always based on their work performance and how it impacts the team. Straightforward, honest, open communication helps team members receive this kind of feedback well, and be excited about opportunities for growth and development in the workplace.

There are many benefits to recognizing and rewarding employee achievement at work. Employees see that their behavior is appreciated and are more likely to repeat it, others see that they can get rewarded for good work, it increases productivity and morale, and helps employees see that you care about their contribution. Rewards can happen through verbal praise, a gift, or even a bonus or raise. Good leaders understand that positive reinforcement is a great tool for helping employees grow and continue good actions. They work to set up reward systems that are fair for the organization, and be sure to keep their eyes open for any opportunity to reward their students. Leadership traits that focus on helping employees thrive are important to develop, to enhance motivation and create a positive culture.

It's obvious that good leadership traits are key for success in any industry and organization. Leaders need to be prepared for the skills they'll need in their job with a degree, but they can also learn important ways to improve their leadership skills so they will be successful in their position.

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Successful Leadership Attitudes and Behaviors

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If you're interested in business, it's important to understand leadership attitudes and behaviors and how they can influence managers. There are successful leaders, and unsuccessful leaders, and these specific behaviors separate the two. Learn more about the qualities and traits of successful leaders, and how you can become one.

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How to Become a Servant Leader

1. Listening.

2. Empathy.

3. Healing.

4. Awareness.

5. Persuasion.

6. Conceptualization.

7. Foresight.

8. Stewardship.

9. Commitment to the growth of people.

10. Building community.

From "Character and Servant Leadership: 10 Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders" by Larry C. Spears, published in "The Journal of Virtues and Leadership," Vol. 1, Issue 1. Reproduced with permission.

Once you've decided to prioritize other people's needs over your own in the long term, you can work on developing your skills in each area. Let's look at how you can do this.

1. Listening

2. Empathy

3. Healing

This characteristic relates to the emotional health and "wholeness" of people, and involves supporting them both physically and mentally.

First, make sure that your people have the knowledge, support and resources they need to do their jobs effectively, and that they have a healthy workplace. Then take steps to help them be happy and engaged in their roles.

4. Self-Awareness

You can become more self-aware by knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and asking for other people's feedback on them. Also, learn to manage your emotions, so that you consider how your actions and behavior might affect others.

5. Persuasion

6. Conceptualization

This characteristic relates to your ability to "dream great dreams," so that you look beyond day-to-day realities to the bigger picture.

If you're a senior leader in your company, work through and develop a robust organizational strategy. Then, whatever level you're at, create mission and vision statements for your team, and make it clear how people's roles tie in with your team's and organization's long-term objectives. Also, develop long-term focus so that you stay motivated to achieve your more distant goals, without getting distracted.

7. Foresight

Foresight is when you can predict what's likely to happen in the future by learning from past experiences, identifying what's happening now, and understanding the consequences of your decisions.

You can use tools such as SWOT Analysis and PEST Analysis to think about your current situation and environment, while Scenario Analysis helps you understand how the future could play out. Use the ORAPAPA checklist when you make a decision, to learn from experience and make sure that you've considered all the angles.

Also, learn to trust your intuition - if your instinct is telling you that something is wrong, listen to it!

8. Stewardship

Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the actions and performance of your team, and being accountable for the role team members play in your organization.

9. Commitment to the Growth of People

Servant leaders are committed to the personal and professional development of everyone on their teams.

To develop your people, make sure that you use Training Needs Assessments to understand their developmental needs and give them the skills they need to do their jobs effectively. Also, find out what their personal goals are, and see if you can give them projects or additional responsibilities that will help them achieve these.

10. Building Community

The last characteristic is to do with building a sense of community within your organization.

You can do this by providing opportunities for people to interact with one another across the company. For instance, you could organize social events such as team lunches and barbecues, design your workspace to encourage people to chat informally away from their desks, and dedicate the first few minutes of meetings to non-work-related conversations.

Encourage people to take responsibility for their work, and remind them how what they do contributes to the success and overall objectives of the organization.

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Servant Leadership - Putting Your Team First, and Yourself Second

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Being a servant leader can boost engagement, increase trust, and build better team relationships. Discover the 10 key characteristics of servant leadership.

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The power of the optimistic leader - Waldencroft

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Are you harnessing the value of optimism in your organisation, as you manage the economic and cultural impact of the Covid crisis? If anyone should be pessimistic at a time like this, it’s Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England. An economy deliberately shut down; an ongoing global pandemic;…

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This paper presents the manufacturing production management system as an administrative structure intimately and interactively fitted into the context of the firm. Drawing on the literatures of organization theory and strategy, a contingent-theoretic view is posed, suggesting that the production administrative structure (PAS), along with its administrative context, must maintain a dynamic fit with the evolving strategy and environment of the firm.

Journal Information

The Academy of Management Review, now in its 26th year, is the most cited of management references. AMR ranks as one of the most influential business journals, publishing academically rigorous, conceptual papers that advance the science and practice of management. AMR is a theory development journal for management and organization scholars around the world. AMR publishes novel, insightful and carefully crafted conceptual articles that challenge conventional wisdom concerning all aspects of organizations and their role in society. The journal is open to a variety of perspectives, including those that seek to improve the effectiveness of, as well as those critical of, management and organizations. Each manuscript published in AMR must provide new theoretical insights that can advance our understanding of management and organizations. Most articles include a review of relevant literature as well. AMR is published four times a year with a circulation of 15,000.

Publisher Information

The Academy of Management (the Academy; AOM) is a leading professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. The Academy's central mission is to enhance the profession of management by advancing the scholarship of management and enriching the professional development of its members. The Academy is also committed to shaping the future of management research and education. Founded in 1936, the Academy of Management is the oldest and largest scholarly management association in the world. Today, the Academy is the professional home for more than 18290 members from 103 nations. Membership in the Academy is open to all individuals who find value in belonging.

Rights & Usage

This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions
The Academy of Management Review © 1982

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The Production Administrative Structure: A Paradigm for Strategic Fit on JSTOR

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This is a preview. Log in to get access This paper presents the manufacturing production management system as an administrative structure intimately and interactively fitted into the context of the firm.

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Are you curious about the meaning of the term stakeholder engagement in business? Find all its official definitions below, as well as why it is important and what actions can you take to make an effective engagement with your stakeholders.
Definitions of Stakeholder Engagement in Business

Stakeholder Engagement Definition in Business

Stakeholder engagement is the process by which companies communicate and get to know their stakeholders. By getting to know them, companies are able to better understand what they want, when they want it, how engaged they are and how the companies' plans and actions will affect their goals. Furthermore, they can improve their communication and rethinking their strategies and operations, having long-term benefits such as brand reputation or first mover advantage.

Other Official Stakeholder Engagement Definitions in Business:

Official Definition of Stakeholder Engagement in Business according to the AccountAbility 1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

Stakeholder engagement is the process used by an organization to engage relevant stakeholders for a clear purpose to achieve agreed outcomes. It is now also recognized as a fundamental accountability mechanism since it obliges an organization to involve stakeholders in identifying, understanding and responding to sustainability issues and concerns, and to report, explain and answer to stakeholders for decisions, actions, and performance. Stakeholder engagement is the process used by an organization to engage relevant stakeholders

Official Definition of Stakeholder Engagement in Business according to Stakeholder Resource Associates

Engagement is an umbrella term that covers the full range of an organization's efforts to understand and involve stakeholders in its activities and decisions. Engagement can help organizations meet tactical and strategic needs ranging from gathering information and spotting trends that may impact their activities, to improving transparency and building the trust of the individuals or groups whose support is critical to an organization's long-term success, to sparking the innovation and organizational change needed to meet new challenges and opportunities.

Definitions of Stakeholder in Business

Definition of Stakeholder in Business

Stakeholders are internal or external groups that can affect, directly or indirectly, the activities and performance of an organization, or vice-versa.

Other Stakeholder Official Definitions in Business

Stakeholder Official Definition in Business according to the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard

Stakeholders are those groups who affect and/or could be affected by an organization's activities, products or services and associated performance. This definition does not, therefore, include all those who may have knowledge of or views about the organization. Organizations will have many stakeholders, each with distinct types and levels of involvement, and often with diverse and sometimes conflicting interests and concerns.

Stakeholder Official Definition in Business according to the International Finance Corporation

Stakeholders are persons or groups who are directly or indirectly affected by a project, as well as those who may have interests in a project and/or the ability to influence its outcome, either positively or negatively. Stakeholders may include locally affected communities or individuals and their formal and informal representatives, national or local government authorities, politicians, religious leaders, civil society organizations and groups with special interests, the academic community, or other businesses. The "stake" that each of these different individuals or groups has in a project or investment will vary. For example, there may be people directly affected by the potential environmental or social impacts of a project. Others may be resident in another country altogether, but wish to communicate their concerns or suggestions to the project company. Then there are those who might have great influence over the project, such as government regulators, political or religious leaders, and others active in the local community. There are also stakeholders who, because of their knowledge or stature, can contribute positively to the project, for example, by acting as an honest broker in mediating relationships.

Examples of Stakeholders

Typical Primary Stakeholders in Business: investors, employees, customers, suppliers, business and local communities.
Typical Secondary Stakeholders in Business: competitors, trade associations, media, labor unions, civil society organizations and NGOs, governments, and policymakers.

Why is stakeholder engagement important?

It gives companies social license to operate, expand and innovate;I

It improves the relationship between companies and their stakeholders;

It gives companies a positive public image and improves companies' reputation;

It avoids costs with litigations or boycotts;

It helps companies identify emerging trends, have a proactive approach to them and act with a first mover advantage towards their competition.

What methods can be used for stakeholder engagement?

According to AA1000SES2015, there are different levels of stakeholder engagement with different tools to engage that can be used:

How to know who to engage with - Stakeholder Mapping

Starting or re-designing a process of stakeholder engagement can be a long run. If many stakeholders have been profiled, it is important to prioritize them and choose carefully the ones to engage with first. This identification will allow the development of a good engagement strategy plan. But how to know who are the (most important) stakeholders? This turns into easier questions if answered by a process known as stakeholder mapping.

Stakeholder mapping is a collaborative process of research, debate, and discussion that draws from multiple perspectives to determine a key list of stakeholders across the entire stakeholder spectrum.

The definition above was made by BSR (Business for Social Responsibility). They broke the stakeholder mapping process into 4 stages that are as important as the final result and where the knowledge of the people participating adds great value:

1. Identifying: listing relevant groups, organizations, and people.

At this phase, stakeholders that cross the mind of the brainstormers in the room, who are ideally people from different areas of the company, are written down without screening. Here, several questions can be done from multiple perspectives in order to remember who the stakeholders might be: Who has an in impact on our business? Who will be impacted by our new product, activity or expansion? Who do we depend on in order to have our business running?

2. Analyzing: understanding stakeholder perspectives and relevance.

Once there is a list of stakeholders, it is useful to go for a deeper analysis, understanding the relevance of each one of them. Questions like the ones below can be asked:

> Contribution: Does the stakeholder have information, counsel, or expertise on the issue that could be helpful to the company?

> Legitimacy: How legitimate is the stakeholder's claim for engagement?

> Willingness to engage: How willing is the stakeholder to engage?

> Influence: How much influence does the stakeholder have? (You will need to clarify "who" they influence, e.g., other companies, NGOs, consumers, investors, etc.)

> Necessity of involvement: Is this someone who could derail or delegitimize the process if they were not included in the engagement?

3. Mapping: visualizing relationships to objectives and other stakeholders

The mapping process has to do with choosing two criteria like the ones made above and answering them in a graphic way, organizing and placing stakeholders in their quadrants. See the example below where SH represent different stakeholders and where we can see that SH1 is the stakeholder with higher expertise and more willing to engage.

4. Prioritizing: ranking stakeholder relevance and identifying issues

It is not practical and usually not necessary to engage with all stakeholder groups with the same level of intensity all of the time. Being strategic and clear about a company is engaging with and why, before jumping in, can help save both time and money. In this way, the stakeholders that more often perform HIGH in each axis of the stakeholder mapping graphics should usually be the ones to focus on in first place. Using the example above, if willingness and expertise were the only criteria that mattered, SH1 and SH2, both performing high on the two axes, would be the ones to prioritize. But there are several criteria that can matter and therefore other graphics and analysis that should also be done before jumping into conclusions, considering the materiality topics for the organization as well.

For more information on stakeholder engagement issues, we suggest you take a look into the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standart and the BSR 2012 report.
[Images credits for Shutterstock on stakeholder meeting and AA1000SES2015]

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Stakeholder Engagement - Meaning, Definition and Strategies

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Are you curious about the meaning of the term stakeholder engagement in business? Find all its official definitions below, as well as why it is important and what actions can you take to make an effective engagement with your stakeholders. Stakeholder engagement is the process by which companies communicate and get to know their stakeholders.

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Additional Articles:
- https://www.wgu.edu/blog/leader-vs-manager-difference2005.html#close

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View Abstract View PDF Share Article

Les Stein, Ed.D.

Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Education Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts Concordia University Portland, Oregon l.stein@neu.edu
Abstract

In the world of public school education everything depends on good leadership. Sadly, many of our schools administrators can't differentiate the difference between leading and managing; far too many of them don't know the first thing about fundamental leadership principles. In short, they don't understand the fundamentals of Mission Oriented Leadership, the need for top-down leadership, or the critical differences between leadership and management. A cursory review of the selection process for school administrators, and the graduate level curriculums for those who seek a degree in school administration, clearly supports the contention that policymakers and educators are under the misconception that anyone can be taught or trained to be an effective school leader.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Introduction

This paper begins and ends with a fundamental premise: in order to become more competitive with their global counterparts American schools need to be led rather than managed. In a 2010 report to the Wallace Foundation, Karen Seashore Louis and a team of researchers argued that, "In developing a starting point for this six-year study, we claimed, based on a preliminary review of research, that leadership is second only to classroom instruction as an influence on studentlearning. After six additional years of research, we are even more confident about this claim. To date we have not found a single case of a school improving its student achievement record in the absence of talented leadership" (p. 9).

Children are often told by parents and teachers alike not to be completely satisfied with their accomplishments until they can honestly say that they have done their best. Why doesn't this apply to our nation's public school system? Why are we settling for second place against countries like Finland, South Korea, Canada, Singapore, and more than twenty other industrialized nations? In short, is the United States truly committed to a first class educational system? If so, then we need to take the Wallace Foundation's report seriously and begin to look for ways to locate, cultivate, and mold the most talented people into educational leaders.

Our K-12 schools are being led by people who can readily recite and clearly espouse management principles; unfortunately, this is not enough to effectively run a school. School leaders

need to understand the crux of human nature and what motivates people; they need to have a firm handle on the true meaning of collaborative working relationships; and they need to understand the differences between participative, directive, and autocratic leadership styles. In essence, they need to know which style works best under which circumstances.

The unstructured process currently used for locating and selecting school leaders, coupled with the mediocre quality of education leadership courses provided by our colleges and universities make it clear that policymakers and educators are under the misconception that almost anyone can be taught or trained to be an effective school leader. This goes a long way in explaining why so many of our public schools are either failing or simply not performing at acceptable levels.

In his seminal work on leadership, James McGregor Burns (1978) said that, "Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth" (p. 2). Far too many people in education and business believe that leaders and managers are interchangeable. It is not surprising, therefore, that our public school systems often seek good managers rather than good leaders. What they fail to understand is that management is the application of social scientific principles with a focus on planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. Leadership, on the other hand, is an art that certainly includes the fundamentals of management but goes much further by taking on the vastly more important and difficult task of influencing people and inspiring them to succeed.

We need to abandon the long held misconception that locating a good manager to run a school is the same as finding a good leader - this mindset is not only erroneous but counterproductive and even dangerous to the future of our educational system. The research clearly shows that failing schools are the result of failed leadership at the institutional levels. Diane Whitehead, executive director of Childhood Education magazine (2009), argued that "School leaders, whether of a preschool, primary school, middle school, or high school, seemed to be the keystone to the school being able to realize and reach its goals...effective school leadership was, in all probability, the sole factor that determined school success or school failure" (p. 32B). In their research on turning around failing schools, Murphy and Meyers (2009) clearly stated that "In nearly all situations, leadership is seen as a central variable in the equation of organizational success" (p. 138).

The Management vs. Leadership Paradox

In their highly regarded study on leadership, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985) argued that "Leadership is what gives an organization its vision and its ability to translate that vision into reality. Without this translation, a transaction between leaders and followers, there is no organizational heartbeat" (p. 20). They make it clear that "The problem with many organizations, especially the ones that are failing, is that they tend to be overmanaged and underled. They may excel in the ability to handle the daily routine, yet never question whether the routine should be done at all" (p. 21).

School principals and even district superintendents generally seek to improve, or even optimize, existing systems and processes; however, many fail to understand that the most critical needs of their schools or school systems often lie in validating their visions and either redefining or reevaluating their organizations' missions, to include the associated strategic and operational objectives. Those who are leaders rather than managers look beyond the present, focusing on laying a foundation for the future.

In his extensive research on the differences between managers and leaders, Toor (2011) concluded that there are three significant themes: "First, leadership pursues change that is coupled with sustainability, while management endeavors to maintain order that is tied with the bottom line. Second, leadership exercises personal power and relational influence to gain authority, whereas management banks on position power and structural hierarchy to execute orders. Third, leadership empowers people, whereas management imposes authority" (p. 318). It is no coincidence, therefore, that America's highest performing schools are the products of good leadership as opposed to effective management.

In discussing the differences between management and leadership, John Kotter (2001) argues that "Management is about coping with complexity...Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change." Using a military analogy, Kotter states that "No one yet has figured out how to manage people effectively into battle; they must be led" (P. 86). Few will argue that today's school leaders must cope with complexity; however, their schools' success will more often depend on how well they deal with change. School leaders must be able to understand and support the needs of a diverse and ever changing landscape of learners; they need to locate and hire the best and most qualified teachers; they need to appreciate the full impact of broken homes and family disputes on their

students' learning; and they must be able to effectively use the various social agencies that often play such an important part in the lives of many urban students. Much of this requires leaders that have a unique and compelling vision for their schools. Kotter also makes it clear that "for leadership, achieving a vision requires motivating and inspiring - keeping people moving in the right direction, despite major obstacles to change, by appealing to basic but often untapped human needs, values,

and emotions" (p. 86).

Leadership from the Top

Burns (1978) made a compelling point when he stated: "One of the most universal cravings of our time is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership" (p. 1). As the former principal of two K-8 schools I can readily say that most teachers - especially those in low performing schools - want principals who are willing to take charge and are not afraid to make decisions.

In recent years, some educators have challenged the notion that principals should bear sole responsibility for leading their schools. For instance, Gordon Donaldson (2006) argues that "The now widespread assumption that public schools need to change has thankfully brought our classical notions about leadership fully under the microscope. As schools have explored empowerment, participatory decision making, teacher leadership, re-culturing, and improving from within, we seem now to be able to appreciate fully the limitations of our past notions of leadership as administration" (p. 43). Much of the recent literature on the subject of school leadership argues that the classical models of leadership, which emerged from the classical theories of management, no longer serve the best interests of our schools, if they ever did. In some circles there is widespread support for leadership through collegiality and collaboration rather than the older hierarchical models that place one decision-maker at the top of the pyramid.

Kenneth Leithwood (1992) makes it clear that schools, not unlike businesses and industries, have shifted from type A to type Z organizations, thereby moving from the more centralized decision-making structures to more participative structures that emphasize a greater level of

collegiality in the decision-making process (p. 8). The full implications of collaborative leadership have also been investigated by Spillane, Halveson, and Diamond (2004), who favor the idea of

"distributed leadership." They argue that "Leadership is not simply a function of what a school principal, or indeed any other individual or group of leaders, knows and does. Rather, it is the activities engaged in by leaders, in interactions with others in particular contexts around specific tasks" (p. 5).

It is disconcerting to think that while we debate the nature of educational leadership the academic gains of our nation's K-12 students, as measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), have been disappointing at best. According to Rampey et al, since 1971 our students have shown little progress in reading, and only marginal improvements in mathematics. Given our limited progress over the past 40 years, it should not come as a surprise that many of our colleges and universities are forced to offer remedial reading and math programs to their incoming freshmen. There is little doubt that these trends are due, in large part, to the poor leadership of our K-12 schools. In his article titled The Impact of Leadership in Primary Schools, Desmond Rutherford (2005) quotes from a 1998 report published by England's Department for

Education and Employment, which states, "All the evidence shows that heads are the key to a school's success. All schools need a leader who creates a sense of purpose and direction, sets high expectations of staff and pupils, focuses on improving teaching and learning, monitors performance and motivates staff to give of their best" (p. 21). In essence, top-down leadership is pivotal to any school's success.

Any discussion about educational leadership needs to take into consideration Burns' (1978) foundational position that most people are followers, and do not aspire to the lofty roles and responsibilities associated with leadership; they do, however, fervently seek good leadership (p. 1). The true value of sound and effective leadership is that it serves to unite people by providing opportunities for meaningful participation in the decision-making process; however, the final decision always rests with the leader. Throughout this discussion it is important to keep in mind that groups, unlike individual leaders, rarely take responsibility for their actions; this is especially true when it comes to failure. How often have we heard of corporate or school boards being replaced en masse due to their organizations' or schools' poor performances? Not often. It is not uncommon, however, to hear that chief executive officers, corporate presidents, district superintendents, and school principals have been replaced. The question, therefore, is not if our public schools should have one leader at the top; more importantly, we should be asking what kind of leaders best serve their needs.

To summarize, schools cannot operate by consensus; they require strong, hands-on leadership from the very top. The challenge, of course lies in locating the right individuals to lead our schools. The criteria for leadership must be both unyielding and uncompromising. Furthermore, we need to do a far better job of selecting and training our institutional and instructional leaders. Once the right school leaders have been selected they must be held responsible for creating a system-wide learning environment that fosters and empowers success in the classrooms. Ultimately, the final responsibility rests with the school leader.

In her review of a 2010 survey, conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of more than 40,000 public school teachers in grades pre-K to 12, Sara Trabuchi emphasized the value of

leadership by showing that "fewer than half of teachers (45%) say higher salaries are absolutely essential for retaining good teachers. More teachers say it is absolutely essential to have supportive leadership (68%), time to collaborate (54%), and quality curriculum (49%)." Sadly, far too many school leaders fail to take their responsibilities seriously. For instance, in the 2008 Met Life Survey of the American Teacher, Donna Markow and Michelle Cooper show that only 19% of teachers said that their principals had observed them in the classroom and provided feedback about their teaching skills at least once a month (p. 93). The bottom line is that there is no substitute for sound, fundamental leadership from the top.

The Need for Mission Oriented Leadership

Those who study organizational leadership and management practices readily agree that responsibility, unlike authority, cannot be delegated. It makes no sense, therefore, to think that a school could be run by committee. This is not to say that participatory leadership is not essential to the success of any school; it does, however, say that responsibility cannot be assigned to four or five different desks. In other words, we must never confuse participatory leadership with delegation of responsibility. At the end of the day only one individual can stand at the top of the pyramid and serve as the institutional leader: an individual whose primary motivation is the success of the school, someone who uses power not for personal gain but, as Bennis and Nanus (1985) said for its

"capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it" (p. 17). Such qualities are essentially embedded in the ideals associated with mission-oriented leadership, whereby "leaders communicate a clear, optimistic and attainable picture of the organization's [sic] future, encouraging subordinates to develop 'beyond the norm' so that the organization [sic] can also grow and develop" (Sarros and Santora, 2001a). These characteristics of good leadership effectively define "mission-oriented

leadership."

Mission-oriented leadership is not a difficult concept to understand - however, it is a difficult concept to apply - that is why leadership is an art rather than a science. Leadership is reserved for those people who have the disposition to work collaboratively with others, are willing to keep an open mind and possess active listening skills. They clearly understand that teamwork epitomizes the definition of synergy and serves as a force multiplier within any organization. Above all, however, leadership should be reserved for those who are not afraid to make a decision, no matter how unpopular it may be. A school principal who is a mission-oriented leader will do the following, in priority order:

Focus on creating a positive school culture: Simply said - a school's culture is the product of its leadership. School leaders must be able to bring together the disparate and often diverse personalities within their schools and mold them into a functional team that is focused on the school's mission and vision. In his famous treatise, The Art of War, Sun Tsu made it clear that "He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious" (p. 83).
Attaining this goal is far from easy - it requires a leader who can unify people in "purpose." A school leader who is focused on creating a culture of success will pay particular attention to the four areas that have the greatest impact on a school's culture: staff morale, student behavior and safety, esprit de corps, and parental support.

Remove the poor performers: There are far too many teachers and staff members working in our public schools who have absolutely no business in education; some do not have the required pedagogical skills, others lack the motivation to be educators, and there are many others who see teaching as simply a job rather than a profession and do only the bare minimum. Teachers that are not meeting acceptable performance standards are not only doing a disservice to their students they are also negatively impacting the school's morale and undermining its culture.

Unfortunately, many school leaders are intimidated by non-performing teachers' often abrasive personalities and tough demeanor. When a teacher or staff member is not performing to acceptable standards they certainly need to be offered an opportunity to take corrective action. They also need to be provided with the kind of support that will help them become productive members of the school. However, if they cannot make the necessary adjustments within a reasonable period of time, they need to be removed from the school.

This demands strong, discerning leadership.

Prepare a clear mission statement: The school leader must communicate a clear and realistic mission - one that every stakeholder can understand and accept. She or he must also establish clear priorities for achieving success, which must be understood by the students, their parents, teachers, and administrative staff. If priorities are not clearly delineated, or if they do not highlight academic achievement and good citizenship, there is little reason to believe that the school will ever achieve real success. The school's mission statement is often the most visible marketing tool (both inside and outside the school), and as such it must answer the following three questions: Why does the school exist? What is the school's purpose? What does the school intend to achieve? The school's mission statement should be: (1) Short, concise, and to the point; (2) Meaningful to all of its stakeholders; (3) Realistic (can be implemented in a reasonable period of time); and, (4) Measurable (qualitatively, but more importantly, quantitatively).

Serve as a change agent: Not unlike any dynamic organization, where no two days are ever the same, schools need leaders who epitomize the importance of change and have the ability to influence it. First and foremost, they need to make it clear to teachers, students, and parents that the status quo is unacceptable. Next, they need to establish clear priorities for everyone in the school, using the school's vision and mission as their guiding light. Last, they need to remove any doubt that change, in the form of continuous improvements, will be the school's mantra and that teachers and staff have a choice - they can either get on the train or be left behind; there is no middle ground.

Empower others: Organize the school so that it is focused on success. Not unlike corporate leaders, school principals must be able to influence as well as manage the staff. They must feel comfortable with empowering staff members to make decisions while never losing sight of the simple fact that they will ultimately be responsible for their subordinates' decisions.

Again, authority and responsibility are not interchangeable concepts.

High visibility: Lead by walking around. This is probably one of the most difficult aspects of leadership because it is not only exhausting but also requires the principal to spend non-

school hours completing administrative responsibilities. In discussing Lee Iacocca's leadership style when he took Chrysler Corporation from bankruptcy to success, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus (1985) say: "Iacocca's high visibility symbolizes the missing element in management today (and much of management theory) in that his style of

leadership is central to organizational success" (p. 17). Although there is nothing new in this concept my experience shows that far too many school principals fail to leave their office for any significant amount of time during school hours. Teacher satisfaction surveys have

clearly demonstrated that the principal's "presence" generally improves staff morale and goes a long way in creating a positive school culture.

Set the right example: Exemplify those traits that have always been the hallmarks of successful and admired leaders: strong work ethic, a positive, can-do attitude, and the highest level of integrity. Today, more than ever before, our elementary and secondary students need the best role models. In essence, every student should want to grow up and be like his or her school principal.

Selecting and Preparing School Leaders

America's educational system is ill served by its current methods for locating and preparing school leaders. For instance, just because someone is a good teacher does not necessarily imply that she or he would make a good institutional leader; people with good organizational skills do not always transition into effective leaders; and managing people is often a far cry from leading them. First, and most importantly, administrators need to identify the characteristics and skills that best support successful school leaders, i.e. which ones are personal, intuitive traits (that can rarely be taught) and which are the trainable skills. In all, understanding the true differences between management and leadership would go a long way to identify the right individuals for training and preparation.

According to Cunningham and Cordeiro (2009) "Educational leadership preparation programs throughout the United States are under intense scrutiny and criticism" (p. 5). It should not come as any surprise that school administration and leadership graduate programs focus on managing rather than leading. This has led to a lack of transformational leaders in education and it explains why so many school principals and district superintendents don't understand the various nuances associated with situational leadership. The process for developing school leaders must be rigorous and selective. The following model is intended to serve as a starting point:

School districts should establish a standing leadership program for their aspiring principals and assistant principals. The program should include an active leadership committee, comprised of assistant superintendents, human resource professionals, school principals, and lead teachers, who would review the background information of qualified candidates that aspire to leadership positions. Individuals who meet the entry level criteria (favorable evaluations, principal and peer recommendations, etc.) would then be placed on a list of potential principals/assistant principals. Throughout their period of observation candidates would be offered opportunities such as chairing committees and serving as instructional team leaders to demonstrate their leadership skills within their schools and districts.
The district leadership committee would periodically evaluate whether the candidates possess the requisite leadership skills to be successful school principals/assistant principals. For instance, candidates would be evaluated on their oral and written communication skills, initiative, motivation, ability to accept constructive criticism, performance under pressure, and willingness to go the extra mile on behalf of their school and students. Additionally, their annual evaluations would include very specific information about their leadership skills and successes. This pool of leadership candidates would then be considered for selection to a one year internship program that would prepare them for assignments as future principals. Only the best and most capable leaders should be offered the opportunity to serve as interns.

The educational leadership programs at America's colleges and universities, where they exist, often lack substance and fail to meet the true needs of school leaders. The overwhelming majority of graduate programs in education effectively teach management rather than leadership principles, often by people who have never led a school or school system. A truly noteworthy school leadership curriculum will include detailed instruction in team-building, time management, effective communication, working with diverse groups, and budgeting. Such instruction can legitimately be provided only by those who have been in the field and had first hand experiences. Today, far too many of our college and university professors that teach classes in educational leadership either lack meaningful and practical experiences in the field or have been out of the field for decades. Leadership instruction is very different from teaching graduate courses in accounting, math, or history. Our future school leaders need to hear from practitioners who have been in the trenches - especially the successful ones.

Leadership instruction should take full advantage of the case study method, and should be taught by both university instructors (those with leadership experiences) and either existing or retired school principals and district superintendents. Second only to the hands-on experiences offered by internships, case studies and role play provide very effective means of bringing simulated reality into the university classroom. Neil Cranston's (2002) varied research in the area of case studies shows that such methods provide professional development opportunities that are, "dynamic and grounded in 'real-life' experiences involving some of the myriad of highly complex challenges faced by school leaders" (p. 4). His research on the value of case studies (2008) as important instructional tools in leadership development also shows that:

cases are grounded in authentic "real world" stories of the challenges facing principals; and

discussions at the workshops lead to creative and constructive exchanges concerning leadership challenges (p. 581).

Conclusion

America does not have the luxury of time when it comes to improving the quality of its K-12 public schools. Most, if not all, of the other industrialized nations have made it abundantly clear that their futures depend on a well-educated populace. Second only to having the best and most highly qualified teachers in the classrooms, America's schools need great school leaders at the helm.

We are in desperate need of leaders who are bona fide visionaries, mentors, coaches, motivators, and team players; people who lead by walking around rather than from the comfort of their offices or desks. The most effective and successful school leaders focus on their institution's mission and vision, with an acute sense for situational awareness. Such leaders build effective relationships within the local community, gain the trust of their staffs, and make every effort to "know" the students and their parents. The hallmark of a true school leader rests with his or her ability to develop personal relationships and to positively influence others.

America is at a significant crossroad relative to its K-12 educational system, and it must act quickly. If we are truly serious about equipping our students to compete globally then we need to locate and train institutional leaders rather than managers. For all practical purposes, our future depends on this.

References

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Cranston, Neil. "The use of cases in the leadership development of principals; A recent initiative in one large education system in Australia." Journal of Educational Administration 46 no. 5 (2008): 581.

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Boston, MA: Pearson.

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Toor, Shamas-ur-Rehman. (2011, October). Differentiating Leadership from Management: An Empirical Investigations of Leaders and Managers. Leadership & Management in Engineering. 11 (4), p. 310-320.

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Author Biography

Les Stein is an Adjunct Professor of Leadership at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts and an Adjunct Professor of Education at Concordia University, Portland, Oregon. He retired from the United States Marine Corps after almost 27 years on active duty and has since been the principal of two K-8 public charter schools. He also works as an education consultant. His scholarly interests are focused on the leadership requirements associated with failing or underperforming schools.

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Schools Need Leaders - Not Managers: It's Time for a Paradigm Shift - Journal of Leadership Education

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Schools Need Leaders - Not Managers: It's Time for a Paradigm Shift Les Stein, Ed.D. Adjunct Professor of Leadership and Education Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts Concordia University Portland, Oregon l.stein@neu.edu Abstract In the world of public school education everything depends on good leadership. Sadly, many of our schools administrators can't differentiate the difference between leading...

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