Distributive Leadership and Capacity Building

Distributive leadership allows other faculty members aside from administration to make important choice when it comes to the school community.  In other words, it passes the decision making torch from Principals and Vice Principals and maybe even Board of Education members to teachers.  Distributive leadership is utilized in my school cite in a variety of ways.  Firstly, we have department meetings weekly.  These department meets allow us as teachers to make decisions about our common assessments and curriculum, instead of the decision being made by a “higher-up”.  I think this particular form of distributive leadership is effective for a variety of reasons.  Firstly, it allows teachers to feel as though their thoughts are valued.  Also, it gives teachers an opportunity to have some say in what they are going to be teaching and how they will approach it. Lastly, it creates a smaller community within the school community as a whole.

This form of distributive leadership lends itself to capacity building because it enables teachers to step up to a situation and develop themselves and their skills.  Allowing people to make decisions for themselves and opening up the door of leadership encourages people to work to their full capacity. 

My Leadership Style

Leadership can be divided into two basic categories: transactional and transformative leadership.  Transactional leadership uses rewards and recognition to encourage and motivate people to preform tasks and get jobs done.  On the other hand, transformative leadership focuses on the positive feelings that one recieves when doing something that is bettering either their school or community.  I believe that I fall into the category of a transformative leader.  As a leader, I want to encourage those following me to do things because it is the right thing to do, not because they are recieving something for it.  I think this enables people to become more emotionally involved and increases autonomy.  As a leader, I do not want to be breathing down my followers backs in order to ensure that a job is being completed.  Transformative leadership is a way to encourage self-motivation of others.

Although I support transformative leadership, I recognize that many people may not respond well to it at first.  I think that in our society, we have become all too accustomed to receiving rewards and recognition for doing things well.  When rewards and recognition have become a part of your daily life, it may be difficult or frustrating to part with them at first.  However, as time goes on people will start to feel good about themselves and the job they are doing, and that will be better than any reward or recognition they could have received.

Using Power Dynamics for Change

Every school has a unique power dynamic. Some work, some do not.  The power dynamic at my school is not typical.  In most schools, power is held by the administration and everyone beneath them must follow their rules.  Essentially, it is there way or the highway.  It is not like this at my school.  My school has a very open line of communication between administration and teachers.  The fact that my administration keeps these lines open does not make them any less powerful.  Unifying the staff as a whole enables more power to be shared amongst all.  This sharing of power and open communication makes our faculty stronger.

I can use this information to implement change at my school because I know that if I am interested in doing something, I can always ask and I will be heard.  I do not fear that my voice gets lost or silenced by administration, in fact it is just the opposite.  Change is something all faculty, regardless of their position, is searching for and working towards, and that open communication helps us achieve it.  The fact that as a teacher, I have a significant amount of power means I also have the ability to implement change when necessary.

Strong Leaders Build Communities

It is an obvious fact that leaders help establish and build communities.  This explains why we have a President and various types of leadership throughout our government system.  Leadership has many faces, and it can also affect a school and it's community.  Having a leader who focuses on the strengths of his/her followers enables all people to have an opportunity for success.  Instead of trying to make each person someone they aren't, a strength based leader allows each person within the community to strive for success where they feel comfortable.  Leaders allow for positive growth, and I believe the best type of leader capitalizes on strengths rather than weaknesses.