Educational Leadership

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, list, Matthew Lynch

3 Reasons to Consider Adopting an Emotional Leadership Style

When we look at all the data available on cognitive, intellectual, and philosophical views of leadership, and their combination with other frameworks, we see the power of emotions. Simply put, emotions generate knowledge, and emotionally acquired knowledge is strongly influenced by teachers’ and leaders’ understandings (or lack thereof) of their emotions. There is hope of a shift in school culture from one of emotional silence, to one of emotional engagement. Such a change would likely impact leader confidence, focus, well-being, and effectiveness, and could challenge leaders to redefine their schools. Let’s look at how adopting an emotional leadership style—where a leader taps into his or her own emotional center to lead—can affect you and the people around you.

  1. Emotional leaders develop positive emotions in their followers. Emotional Intelligence (EI) in leaders enhances thoughtful choices and unselfishness in their followers. As a result, leaders who are able to identify and manage their emotions and those of others develop sincerity and helpfulness among their followers. The expression of emotions is a vital component of charismatic leadership, and is linked to the leader’s ability to inspire and motivate followers through the emotional contagion process; that is, shared feelings encourage cooperation among everyone involved.
  2. Emotional leaders may be able to express a fuller range of emotions without negatively impacting their followers. It has also been shown that the expression of positive emotions has a positive impact on groups. However, there is a lack of research on how leaders express negative emotions such as disapproval, anger, and disappointment, and how this expression affects group performance.

One practical suggestion is that skilled and controlled expression of so-called negative emotions is important for leaders, so as to avoid decreasing workers’ motivation, or building up resentment and resistance.

Since practiced emotional expressiveness is necessary, effective expression of the leader’s negative emotions requires skills in expression, emotional control, and emotional sensitivity so as to gauge how these negative emotions are received by followers.

  1. Emotional leadership gives insight into how your followers are feeling. There has recently been considerable interest in the role of emotional sensitivity, which is the ability to “decode” emotions in the work setting. In some of the research studies, measures of emotional decoding skills have been used as a substitute for emotional intelligence. Other studies have examined the notion of emotional “eavesdropping,” where leaders decode followers’ emotions even when they are not intending to convey them directly. Emotional eavesdropping involves an acute awareness of follower’s body language, tone of voice, and other unspoken indicators to understand their true feelings.

The reason there has been so much interest in emotional decoding is that there are a number of measures available for researchers to study. Also, it makes sense to study the ability to “read” others’ emotions in the workplace. Although effective leaders must possess good skills in emotional control, especially during crises, individuals who are particularly good at controlling and masking their emotional expressions usually seem distant and aloof.

Any imbalance in the possession of emotional and social skills is linked to poorer psychosocial adjustment in teams and, therefore, to poor leadership. In summary, we find that, across most of the research, emotional intelligence improves effectiveness in organizational settings. Effective leaders must make serious efforts to detect, analyze, and understand the feelings of their followers. As a part of this effort, leaders must also be careful of how they express their own emotions to their staff. A thoughtful leader will listen to their followers’ concerns, and speak with care and conviction about their own.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

How Leaders Indirectly Influence Teachers’ Emotions

The indirect influences leaders have on teacher emotions have much to do with teachers’ working conditions in the classroom and school. Leaders influence many of the working conditions in significant ways, leading to  an indirect form of influence on teachers’ emotions through their efforts.

The amount and complexity of the teachers’ workloads have a significant effect on their emotions. Teachers overall attitude about the workload  is dependent on their views of five features in their environments. When teachers perceive their workload as unfair, commitments to the school and morale decrease, and feelings of stress/burnout increase.

Excessive paperwork and other bothersome non-teaching demands, like hall monitoring, bus duty, and lunchroom supervision add to teachers’ feelings of stress. This increases likelihood of teachers moving on to other schools or other lines of work.

The intensity of teachers’ workloads also produces negative perceptions. Difficulties reduces job satisfaction, especially when teachers are ill-prepared, or students are uncooperative and achieve poor results. Complexity can become manageable when teachers are given freedom over classroom decisions so that they can do their best work. Creating an atmosphere that encourages learning throughout the school, where instructional resources are readily available, also increases manageability.

Teachers feel the pinch when they are given insufficient preparation time, unreasonably large classes, and complex class composition (e.g., grouping high-performing students with those with special needs). Disruptive students and unmet student needs add to teacher stress. Students’ aspirations, behavior, and readiness to learn are negatively influenced by dysfunctional family environments, which then influences teachers’ emotions.

Four sets of working conditions have a significant influence on the emotions of teachers – school cultures, structures, relations with the wider community, and operating procedures. School cultures have a significant effect on most teacher emotion sets.  The goals and expectations for teachers’ work should be clear, explicit, shared, and meaningful. As a result, teachers are sure of their roles. In such cultures, teacher collaboration is encouraged and supported.

Management of student behavior is an important factor, having significant positive effects on the time required of teachers for instruction. It also has an impact on student performance, because more instructional time means better student performance.

Efforts to handle student misbehavior directly effect the teacher’s job satisfaction, stress, and attendance. Negative results are reduced when school leaders and teachers set and  enforce rules for student behavior. Teachers often respond positively when their leaders value and support teacher and student safety, and where high standards are required of students.

When it comes to school structures, the main purpose is to enhance the development and maintenance of cultures that support teaching and learning. However, not all school structures can be altered easily or quickly. For example, positive teacher emotions are associated  with relatively smaller schools in suburban areas.

All the other structural aspects of schools that affect teachers’ emotions are quite flexible and can easily outweigh the negatives of large school sizes and urban locations. These include positive contributions to teachers’ internal states of efficacy, satisfaction, and commitment, as well as reduced stress/burnout, morale, and engagement. Other overt practices that give teachers opportunities to work together, such as common planning times, work well. Positive effects are also associated with adequate lesson preparation time.

The school’s goals are a true source of direction for teachers’ professional learning. The students provide challenges that stimulate learning, and the school’s resources are the only limitations to learning. Forms of professional development that contribute most to sustained teacher learning are study groups, coaching, mentoring arrangements, networks linking teachers to explore challenges, and asking questions of students.

Empowerment and participation in school decision-making is also important for teachers. This enhances commitment in staff by making them the main causal agents of their own performance. There is also a need for physical facilities that allow teachers to use the instruction type they deem most effective, to increase their engagement in their schools and their desire to continue teaching.

Community relations form part of school conditions that influence the teachers’ job satisfaction, and the chance of school and professional commitment. Positive contributions only occur when the school’s reputation in the community is good, and its efforts are supported by parents and the extended community.

School operating procedures are the last condition that influence the teachers’ sense of individual efficacy, satisfaction, and school commitment. Under these procedures there are three sub-conditions. The first is the quality of communication in the school. Second are teachers’ opinions on school improvement planning, and third is whether the priorities fit.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

The Principal’s Role in Improving Student Learning

Increased attention at both the local and national levels on improving student learning has resulted in a growing expectation in some states and districts for principals to be effective instructional leaders. Consider these statistics: nearly 7,000 students drop out of U.S. high schools every day and, every year approximately 1.2 million teenagers leave the public school system without a diploma or an adequate education. There are 2,000 high schools in America in which less than 60% of students graduate within four years after entering ninth grade.

The situation is not much brighter for students who do earn a high school diploma, and enter a two –year or four-year institutions. In community colleges, approximately 40% of freshmen (and approximately 20% in public, four-year institutions) are in need of basic instruction in reading, writing, or mathematics before they can perform in college-level courses. It is vital that principals advocate for these students and provide leadership to reverse this appalling educational outcome.

The failure of many public school districts to provide the working conditions that well-trained principals need to prosper is often a central reason for these ongoing graduation and future preparation issues. By having access to resources and being committed to school reform, principals are able to work with teachers to create school environments that facilitate excellence in learning.

The issues that principals need to work on with teachers include aligning instruction with a standards-based curriculum to provide a good measure of achievement, and improving both student learning and classroom instruction by effectively organizing resources. Principals must use sound hiring practices, ensure professional development is available at their schools, and keep abreast of issues that may influence the quality of teaching in schools.

While having good leaders in place is crucial, it is not always enough. If principals don’t have supportive work environments for their improvement efforts, then even the most talented and best-trained individuals may be discouraged by the challenges they face on a daily basis. Districts where no major high school improvements have been made don’t have a cohesive agenda for improvement. Such an agenda would specify clear goals, research-based practices, improvement-focused accountability, and strategies to support implementation. In practice, schools without such an agenda can often be characterized by disjointed actions. Many of the principals in such schools report that they are not involved in defining existing instructional issues in their schools.

The district (or state) makes these decisions , meaning that principals have little ownership of their problems or the proposed solutions to them. They also report having little support or motivation to find solutions, and that they do not feel there is a well-designed system of improvement. Rather, they feel that “improvements” are undertaken in a series of random acts.

When decision-making is shared, leadership roles are redefined at all levels. Principals are supported by district staff members, not blocked by them. District staff members make frequent visits to schools to provide coaching, technical assistance, and staff development. Teachers benefit from continuous professional development;principals have sufficient autonomy and resources to engage and develop staff. Professional development may target groups or individual teachers, and the teachers are given opportunities to work together on curriculum and instruction.

In contrast, many districts focus on educational management instead of educational leadership. The support provided to improve instruction in these districts is not grounded in research on effective teaching. In addition, these districts lack a systemic approach to improvement and fail to provide principals with the guidance and support they require to reform processes and put effective instructional practices into place.

Many principals spend much of their time finding ways to work around the district office, rather than with them. To obtain the support they need, they often decide to avoid hiring protocols and develop “underground” relationships with individual staff in the district office. Supportive district leaders understand the challenging work principals must do, as in many cases they have been successful principals themselves.

These district leaders support principals’ focus on instruction and acknowledge that priority by publicly focusing on curriculum and instruction in school board and superintendents’ meetings. Rather than micromanaging staff, they routinely involve school and teacher-leaders in developing and using tools such as walk-throughs, pacing guides, and research-based instructional practices.

The best districts have developed a collaborative “lattice” approach between the central office and the school. This entails districts providing good principals with the support they need to enable their schools to succeed. When given the space by the district to focus on improving their schools, principals can then support their teachers to do the same. The focus of districts must be on raising standards and achievement, and improving instruction by supporting and enabling principals to develop their ability as instructional leaders.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership

Educational leadership: Tips for inspiring students and making a difference

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.**

A guest column by Anita Ginsburg

As a teacher, you do your best to plan every lesson and prepare every lecture several days in advance. You follow the curriculum to the letter, and you only use the best textbooks when planning your assignments. But as a teacher, you want to do more than just hand out grades and percentages. You want to inspire, encourage and motivate students. You recognize that a complete education doesn’t always come from a textbook or essay. If you truly want to make a difference in the classroom, you’ll need to implement the following steps:

  1. Set High Expectations

At the beginning of each school year, you probably establish a few ground rules for expected behavior. You let students know that you want their homework in on time, and you tell them to turn off their phones when they enter the room. But your expectations should go beyond basic classroom guidelines. You need to communicate that you expect them to not just listen but to absorb, and that you want them to not just pass a test but to remember what they’ve learned. At every opportunity, let your students know when you see an improvement in their progress. Give your students examples of what a successful assignment, paper, or test looks like, so they can work toward that goal.

  1. Show Your Enthusiasm

You likely spent several years studying specific courses to earn your degree, so clearly you have a passion for certain areas of education. When you share your enthusiasm for your favorite subjects, you can spread that energetic spark to the rest of your students. Even if students don’t seem initially engaged in science, math, or social studies, your own excitement can often pique their curiosity. They’ll feel intrigued about your enthusiasm, and they just might want to do a little research of their own to find out more. To develop better teaching techniques and leadership skills to keep students engaged and excited, consider getting a master’s degree in education. The experience and knowledge you can pass on to your students can be very beneficial.

  1. Let Your Students Take Control

While you shouldn’t let your students push you around, you can give them a degree of choice about what they do in your classroom. Rather than reigning supreme and assigning what you think best, let your students choose their own topics for papers and projects, so long as they relate to the course content.

For example, if you teach history, you could let a student write about his or her family’s historical immigration experience, rather than restricting an essay to the immigration act of 1924. Or if you teach physics, you could let an athletic student compare the spin and rotation of a soccer ball versus a football. When you let your students connect their assignments to their own personal interests, you give them the opportunity to engage in and explore their work more deeply.

Of course, these are just a few ways you can make a difference in the classroom. It’s important to keep learning yourself to continue inspiring your students. From small seminars to higher education, every step counts to making a difference in the lives of your students.

 

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

7 Things that Schools Can Learn from Entrepreneurs

When school administrators are looking for places to find inspiration, one rich source of knowledge is the world of entrepreneurship. There is so much that can be gleaned from the successful pursuits of entrepreneurs that educators would do well to have a look at the techniques used as they seek innovation and success.

Here are seven things that schools can learn from entrepreneurs.

Drive has been the main focus of many research studies, and has been described as “the will to conquer” and “the joy of creating and of getting things done.” While these phrases accurately describe an entrepreneur’s zeal to succeed, they can also accurately apply to the educational arena, where that same spark of fire to get things done is often at the heart of the mission. Educators are compelled by a deep seeded need to change the world, and school leaders must both feel this same drive themselves and also harness it in their followers.

The need for entrepreneurs to show leadership stems from the fact that they are founders of their ventures and, as such, there are no established standard operating procedures or even organizational structures that they can fall back on while starting from scratch. This is the main difference between entrepreneurs and corporate managers, since the latter often have more well-defined goals, objectives, structures, and work procedures to guide them. Too often, educators fall into the trap of becoming corporate managers and are wary of stepping out into innovation. But innovation is how change happens! If the school environment isn’t working towards the goals of educating its students, then it’s time to make substantive, fresh and exciting changes. Unlike entrepreneurs, educators have to jolt themselves into innovation.

Another attribute of entrepreneurs is the ability to lead their business and to be able to allocate resources. So too must leaders in education be able to lead their schools and to allocate resources. The difficulty here is that, while entrepreneurs and schools both face the same tight budgets, schools live with the knowledge that there will be always be a baseline of funds available. Again we come to the innovation that entrepreneurs bring to the table, but this time in the light of resource allocation. Educators must be creative with the limited resources at hand, and must be willing to work diligently to figure out how to squeeze each dollar out in the most effective way. They would do well to learn from entrepreneurs who face the loss of a business for failed resource allocation rather than simply waiting another year for new funds from the state.

Entrepreneurs are required to observe and interpret labor market changes to position their enterprises as players in the market. Schools don’t always realize it, but they’re facing those same labor market changes and would do well to make the application and recruitment process as attractive as possible through outreach and communication, just as entrepreneurs must do. For both educators and businesspeople, getting the right people is THE key to success.

Research has shown that the information and communication strategies within a business are strong determinants of service quality and the organizational culture. Entrepreneurial leaders therefore have to carefully conceptualize and implement practical channels and instruments of communication if they are to achieve meaningful results. This same thing is true for educators. Accurate and effective communication are essential factors in employee retention and happiness, and can help schools to keep those good staff members around.

It has been proven again and again that satisfied employees in business enterprises increase customer satisfaction. In education, satisfied teachers and staff increase educational outcomes for students. This is why leadership tasks should include workplace design and implementation of some sort of reward and incentive scheme that is geared toward improving teacher’s service. Administrators have their hands tied in the case of monetary compensation, but there are other opportunities for educators to create effective incentives for staff through innovation and partnership. Empowerment for educators comes from their sense that they are heard and valued members of their school community.

A school setting with a traditional top-down, heavy-handed approach to management does not generally have the structures in place to listen to new ideas. An entrepreneur is on the other hand open to all new ideas, regardless of how out of the box they might seem. The biggest threat facing any company is the failure to open the doors to the creativity that’s right there in house. The same is true for a school environment. Instituting a policy of being open to any and all ideas, no matter how far afield they might be, is perhaps the greatest lesson that schools can learn from the entrepreneurial world.

The entrepreneurial spirit and the educational spirit are two sides of the same coin, with each having the same necessity of innovation, creativity and open mindedness in order to create success.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

The Eight Principles of Ethical Leadership in Education

While there has always been a requirement for ethics in leadership, the last hundred years have seen a shift in the paradigm of leadership ethics. Leadership for the 21st century is grounded in moral and ethical virtues, but the challenge is to define what exactly moral and ethical virtues are and how they should be measured and implemented. What qualifies as ethical in the educational context? What character traits are associated with ethical leadership? What is the application of leadership ethics within the U.S. school setting?

George Marshall’s Eight Principles of Ethical Leadership offer a strong scaffold for administrators who seek guidance on how to implement ethical practices in their schools. These principles add to the significant conversation about ethical leadership happening within the educational community, and in fact across the public domain. Ethics are a key domain in public administration, in particular, the school setting thanks to the vast number of schools in the United States, their community integration, and their importance for society as a whole.

Read on to learn about how the Eight Principles of Ethical Leadership can be effectively applied to the school environment.

  1. Personal Courage – While it seems that the challenges that schools are facing increase by the day, it’s still the case that in order to create a positive educational environment, administrators must be willing to stand up against policies that they feel are not helpful for their students, rising against both local, state and national interests as needed. Dissenting opinions are must essentially be expressed, even in the face of the administrators own superiors.
  2. Public Interest Ahead of Self – What is best for students and staff must be placed ahead of the needs of the individual leader. In this case the public interest is understood to be the interest of the school community, and the stakeholders therein. Their opinions and needs should always precede the self interests of the school leader.
  3. Self Control, Self Discipline and Integrity – All types of leadership essentially include these three traits in order to be considered ethical . Followers in the wider community look to leaders in all capacities, and as such, it’s necessary for leaders to be a positive role model and force in the lives of the stakeholders. Relationships between leaders and followers should not rely too heavily on trust, but rather should be built on mutual respect and ethical actions.
  4. Task and Employee Centeredness – School leaders must create a foundation of success that draws from the strengths of the teachers and staff who interact with students. Successful school leaders focus on both the needs of students and the needs of staff when they make decisions. The key is balancing energy between the current task while also creating unity by building on the varied needs of students and teachers.
  5. Recognizing Talent – Ethical leaders recognize the talent of their followers. This means that administrators identify both staff and students who display the qualities of excellence and then go on to recognize and promote those individuals in ways that create goodwill among all of the members of the school community. The other side of recognizing talent is maximizing it – so placing people where they’re talents are most useful to everyone. This affords opportunities to both individuals and to the organization as a whole.
  6. Requiring High Ethics From Everyone – Administrators need not only concern themselves with their own ethical standards but also with the ethical standards of others in their organization. That includes not only teachers and staff, but extends to students and parents. These standards must be communicated clearly and enforced without exception in order to be effective.
  7. Sensitivity and Understanding – This applies to the political, social and economic environment of the stakeholders in the school settings. Sensitivity and understanding are necessary in order to practice equity among members of the school community. One of the most challenging areas of the ethical picture, this practice must be implemented through educational as well as institutional policies.
  8. Inclusiveness – A sense of belonging is key to gaining trust within an organization, and trust a driving factor in success in any context but most especially within the educational context. Inclusiveness requires that all stakeholders be brought into process of making and implementing decisions. Consideration of, and respect for, members of the organization has been shown to motivate followers and lift morale, thereby increasing school performance and effectiveness.

When school leaders follow these eight points of ethical consideration, they are far more likely to gain a higher degree of success in their school environment. Schools are uniquely charged with not only affecting the people who walk through their doors every day, but the transitory nature of the population means that administrators and staff have that much more of a responsibility to execute their jobs ethically. Solid ethical practices are inspiring to followers, earning respect for instructional authority and leading by example.

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Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch

Becoming a Transformational School Leader

Though community-building takes time, its impact is long-lasting. In order to implement change in a school environment, creating a common vision is paramount. The biggest challenge for school leadership is handling different kinds of people, with various goals and interests. A school leader has to ensure that students are following curricula, excelling academically, and becoming outstanding members of society. In comparison, teachers’ are focused on meeting curricula deadlines and ensuring that students keep up with class work. The leader must confront student deviance , as well as teachers’ possible cynicism and lack of motivation.

A transformational school leader ensures students focus on their studies by being considerate of individuality, being charismatic in influencing them, and inspiring them. Instead of using set problem-solving techniques, he or she involves students and teachers to come up with solutions to problems as they arise. Transformational leaders in a school setting quickly identify areas in need of improvement, seeking out-of-the-box solutions. The leader identifies cynicism and intentions to quit among teachers, through consultation and individualized consideration. Realigning their values and goals to resonate with those of the school, the leader reassures teachers that they are needed and valued.

Emphasis in a transformational school shifts from “leadership” to “professionalism.” Direct leadership and professionalism do not mix. Studies show that professionalism cannot develop when stifled by command and instruction based leadership. Professionalism is more about competence than skill. It involves a higher degree of trust, and ensures a teacher’s commitment to caring, excellence, and to professionalism as a given.

T. J. Sergiovanni, proposed five alternative approaches to full transformational leadership in schools. These are:

• Technical leadership: sound management of school resources
• Human leadership: networking; establishing social and interpersonal bonds
• Educational leadership: expert knowledge on educational matters
• Symbolic leadership: role-modeling and behavior
• Cultural leadership: regarding the values, beliefs, and cultural identity of the school

The first three approaches—the technical, human, and educational aspects of leadership—are the primary influences on a school’s effectiveness. The symbolic and cultural aspects add the most value and are responsible for the overall excellence of the school. The traditional concept of direct leadership places an enormous burden on a school leader to run almost every aspect of leadership. Substituting a community-based approach, coupled with professionalism and cooperation, can produce speedy results. Transformational leadership can change the mindset of staff and students. Emphasis is placed on the school community, not just the leader’s interests.

Transformational leadership also brings about professionalism in the teaching staff by allowing them the autonomy and room to improve. Because a leader allows followers to meet and overcome challenges on their own, teachers are more involved in school affairs. Cooperative relationships are most likely to develop when challenges are surmounted together, without supervision from the leader.

Clearly, transformational leadership improves job performance through the four pillars of charismatic/idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation. Studies have now shown that it also positively affects the psychological well-being of employees.

Transformational leadership helps in individual goal-setting and goal commitment, by transferring responsibility- making the individual feel part of a whole. In a shift of focus, the leader no longer offers rewards, but empowers followers to become leaders through mutual responsibility and trust. This inspires staff performance beyond leader expectations. Transformational leaders help their followers maximize performance, by finding and emphasizing common ground.

Research studies suggest that highly effective leadership styles positively influence student performance. Transformational leadership can bring about a wide range of results at a personal level (i.e., followers’ empowerment and identity) and at the group or organizational level (cohesiveness and collective power to make changes). It produces these positive effects primarily by shaping the followers’ self-worth and promoting identification with their leader.

What distinguishes a transformational leader is the combination of head and heart, and the ability to understand and apply emotions effectively to connect with and influence followers. Transformational leadership results in wide-ranging changes wherever it is introduced and is effective in solving problems in the school environment. It would be prudent for school leaders in the U.S. to utilize it in their school communities.

 

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