Building the leader within
As the Spring semester begins, some K-12 professionals will be looking to pursue leadership opportunities. What better way to strengthen your school’s morale and enlarge your span of outreach than to encourage leadership from within your building? One thing to consider is a mentorship process to support growing leaders from within. Authors Vince Bustamante and Tim Cusack (2023) share six essential actions to help leaders tap into the leadership potential within their building in their article titled Creating Conditions to Grow Great School Leaders. They describe the six essential actions as “discovering the feel of the environment; engaging in active listening; determining the skill, will, and thrill of your people; discerning the affective state; leveraging social persuasion; and tailoring your feedback” (para. 2).
- Discovering the feel of the environment asks the reader to take into account specific aspects of the physical environment that are supportive of promoting a positive and psychologically safe school community. Bustamante and Cusack share (2023) that “a school’s culture comprises the values, beliefs, and practices of the learning community” (para. 2). Emerging leaders should observe closely how parents and guests are welcomed upon entering the building, the presence of a morning mantra, interactions between teachers with administrators, peers, students, and families, as well as staff and student celebrations.
- Active listening is also essential. Administrators and principals should pay attention to what their future leaders have to say (Bustamante and Cusack, 2023). Taking the time to listen to new perspectives is a humbling experience that ushers in opportunities for further leadership ideas.
- Determining skill, will, and thrill is an action that is supported through active listening. Administrators need to know the emerging leaders’ passions and strengths. Tapping into specific talents allows administrators to align emerging leaders with projects to suit their abilities and areas of growth.
- Discerning affective state refers to self-concept as well as the mindset of the emerging leader. Bustamante and Cusack (2023) shared, “We need to gauge their level of self-efficacy. We know that people with high efficacy expect to gain favorable outcomes through good performance, whereas those who expect poor performances of themselves conjure up negative outcomes” (para 12). Social persuasion and feedback are essential in developing emerging leaders. A school environment requires a leader who will motivate and inspire.
- The art of persuasion is a critical skill to learn as an emerging leader. Emerging leaders must learn to consistently embody and promote the leadership team’s goals and persuade others to follow suit.
- Lastly, providing feedback is a skill that all emerging leaders should take very seriously. Staff, students, parents, and all those in support of increasing academic performance will require feedback. Bustamante and Cusack (2023) “shared that open, honest, and benevolent feedback is integral to the transparency of process and progress” (para 13).
To access more information from the authors on this topic, please use the information provided below on the Corwin Connect web page.
Reference
Bustamante, V., & Cusack, T. (2023, August 10). Creating conditions to grow great school leaders. Corwin Connect. https://corwin-connect.com/2023/08/creating-conditions-to-grow-great-school-leaders/
For more information, contact Amber Butler, ([email protected]), Program Specialist, T/TAC at