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September 21 SUCCESSFUL LEADERSHIPLEARNING ABOUT EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
The following is a summary of a study done at University level in Australia. The extracts are from An Exploration of University Leaders' Perceptions of Learnign about Leadership by Glenys Drew, Lisa Ehrich and Brain Hansofrd from QUT Kelvin Grove Campus Brisbane Queensland
Transformative leadership is about motivating and inspiring staff as well as satisfying their higher needs. It is also stimulating and encouraging thinking and bringing out high performance in staff, beyond normal expectations. A key aspect of transofrmational leadership is the idea of 'enabling others to act' which refers to leaders who encourage and empower others to act, take ownership and strengthen their performance. Building an inclusive culture that supports genuine collaboration and effective team work has been identified as an important leadership practice within organisations.
Pounder (2001) argued that transformational leadrship is necessary to bulid interpersoanl relationships, morale and team work while transactional leadership is necessary for planning-goal setting and producitivity-efficiency. London 92002) claims that 'self insight is a prerequisite for understanding others and the foundation for development' for leaders within organisations. An understanding of self is a critical feature of 'authentic leadership', where authenicity refers to discovering the self through relationships with others and has a focus on trustworthiness, genuineness and ethics. Academic leaders play several roles and these include motivating and inspiring staff' bringing about high performance in colleagues; credible leadrship that stimulates and encourages thinking; filtering out bureaucratic demands so that academics are free to get on with their jobs; leading from behind as well as from the front; facilitating the work of others rather than focusing on their own work; and balancing open ended problems while acknowledgin goals, constraints and expected outcomes. Scott, Coates and Anderson (2008) findings highlight the important attributes or capablitilities such as emapthising, self-regulation, self-organisation, decisiveness, commitment to learning and teaching, strategy, diagnosis, influencing, flexibility and responsiveness.
A recent study in Australia of senior level university leaders found that effective leaders were persons who have people skills; who promoted an environement that fostered growth of leadership in others, opened doors for staff and helped create opportunities; were credible and engendered trust; acted as role models; were ethical, inclusive and collaborative in their practices; were strategic and took responsibility for decisions; communicated the goals and vision of the organisation; understood organisational priorotiies; and had adequate resources and connections. "To foster the growth of leadership in others...using delegation to foster a sense of wondership and responsibility in others and hence to "grow" the leadership skills and capablitities...Leaders should provide autonomy and allow others to do the job in their own way; not to micromanage. If they are new to the role..the leader puts the other person in the driver's seat and provides the conversation and back up support needed. It is not enough to have the structure right; the personal dimension needs to be right. You need the capacity to delegate to people; something that is possible in the presence of mutual trust."
"Someone whom you can respect in terms of having a vision, demonstrating intellectual capacity...creating opportunities and helping you take advantage of opportunities. Good leaders force you out of your comfort zone, have confidence in you for a new role and then back you in that role. It is giving people the opportunity to succeed."
"He didn't demand respect, he earned respect. He was a humble person and he had credibility. People follow a person like that. The environment that he created was one of trust...The leader must have the trust and respect, from supervisor, staff and peers in order to have credibility...Unless you have gained people's trust, people are not going to come to you with issues and items which need resolution...One needs to blend sincerity with orgainsiational skills, as one can genuinely mean to do something but if they can't organise themesleves it won't get done despite their sincerity." Credibility was viewed in terms of leaders who followed through, were trustowrthy and 'walked the talk'. Trust was seen as essential in the presence of integrity and a 'hallmark of environments in which people feel respected, valued and appreciated'.
"I expect to be led by example; to be led by someone who is dynamic, intelligent, visionary, and truthful. ..For me leadrs are inclusive, transparent and have a collaborative approach...Integrity is most important...Decision maker-an ability to seek advice appropriately and to weigh up that advice...they have to own the goals and vision for others to own them. Leaders provide guided thinking. They don't solve problems for people but engage people in solving problems; they ask them to come with a possible resolution in mind."
"Crisis situations are those from whcih I have leaned most. One aspect of that is learning to disengage when needed and still to remain in control of your life. Going through difficult times shores up ability to lead."
Leaders are viewed as those people who build and nurture conncections with others. Crisis situations and difficlut times provide opportunities for self-understanding, empathy, self-regulation and self-insight. Leaders are chellenged to reflect upon themselves as leaders, their strengths and capacities come into full view at moments such as the above.
This Australian study has that demonstration of interpersonal, relationship-building, inspiring trust in staff and motivating and enabling attributes lie at he heart of successful leadership. Consequently, transformational leadership got the thumbs up at University level context. May I add that it is critical to all educational enviroments.
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