Is there a crisis of leadership development in schools? To understand leadership, study followers.

 

 

Education - and the road to leadership in education - is notable for how little attention is paid to developing educators as they advance through the leadership 'ranks'. This is a leadership pathway that is defined more by academic subject expertise (study an academic degree, be a superb teacher, become a head of department, join the management team) than it is by any intentional leadership development. An even shakier leadership progression in schools is the route to leadership via the sporting or pastoral pathway. Here, progression is driven by a passion area (say, sport) which progresses to sport administration and then management and leadership.

 

Both of these pathways, although common, are deeply flawed. They assume that passion and expertise readily translate into vison, communication, and decision-making skills (which are just some of the demands on leaders) and to a large extent reward simply 'being there' at the time of need. neither really require of us winning the confidence of our followers. We are imposed upon them. 

 

This leadership pathway results in leaders 'inheriting' a portfolio. It brings largely positional authority (as opposed to authentic leadership) opportunities. This limits the effectiveness of the individual in the role, can promote mediocrity, and, most importantly, creates a disjuncture of expectation towards our student leaders because they are exploring leadership on a completely different wavelength.

 

Our student leaders are on a completely different channel. Their progression to leadership is not through expertise, to inheritance of positional authority - instead, they are required to lead peers as equals - to motivate and hold accountable their peers (who have often grown up alongside them in the school system) from first principles. They inherit little positional authority once they become 'prefects' (or equivalent) and are subject to multiple (and sometimes contradictory) reporting lines once in the job. 

 

This type of leadership requires a different approach. Klagge (1997) undertook a fascinating study into this type of 'from within' leadership by looking at the various factors that inclined followers to follow. Here are the top three.

 

In third spot is communication - for peers to choose to follow one of their peers requires for that person to be able to connect with them, and this requires communication skills. Good communication is more than expressing one's self - it is about empathy - that one is able to read the crowd and resonate one's message with their thoughts and emotions. As educators guiding a leadership process this is a practical skill that we can develop to the benefit of all learners, remembering that we will encounter a spectrum of 'intro- to extroverted-ness'. We should equip all to express themselves effectively in the style that suits their person. 

 

In second spot is competence - a team will be inclined to follow someone who is good at what they do. Too often we use this criterion in isolation, though, and drift to selecting (say) the best player to be the captain. While we can't directly teach competence in leadership training we can teach our students to have the good sense to draw back and rely on the experts when they are out of their circle of expertise. Part of being a good leader is knowing when to step back for others. 

 

A good communicator who is good at what s/he does makes for a great leadership candidate, but even that combination is subject to a third, more important factor. 

 

The single most important factor that inclines followers to follow is that of trust. Followers must regard their leader as honest and trustworthy, and will forgive lesser failings if they feel they can trust their leader. It is hard to teach trustworthiness, but we can focus on honesty and integrity as part of our overall school ethos. Unlike (say) Newton's Laws, this cannot simply be taught, understood, and practiced - it must seep into our student's consciousness over time and internalised. It is a long term whole school ethos project.

 

Realising that our own leadership trajectory has been systemically different to that which our own students will experience in their context is the first step to creating the authentic, ethical leadership that our society so desperately needs.