Week Seven

Why are all five components of leadership necessary for success in leading through change?

We've all been in school where the teacher leaders, principals and/or superintendents are not successful leaders. You could look to the five components (listed below) and pretty quickly pick out the qualities that they lack. I will talk about each component and list them in order that I feel is the most important quality to have as a leader. The five components of leadership are necessary for success because all "together [they] operate in a checks and balance fashion." (Fullan) 

The first component is moral purpose and I believe this is the most important quality to have as a leader. As a leader you must act with intention and be aware of your surroundings. 

The definition of moral: "concerned with the principals of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character" (google dictionary) speaks to what I believe in. 

Next comes relationship building. If you do not build relationship with teachers, students, parents and community members, as a leader you are going to have a hard time inserting change; "if relationships improve, things get better." (Fullan) A strong relationship helps to improve the overall feel of the school climate and therefor helps with coherence making. Coherence "the quality of forming a unified whole." (google dictionary) 

Next on my list is knowledge creation and sharing. As new policy gets pushed down onto the schools by the state, leaders have to know how to shift through the information. Leaders must bring each party member (teachers, students etc.) together to come up with the best way to move forward.

The last component of leadership is understanding the change process. To be effective, a leader must understand that change is challenging and it will bring up emotions among the people they are working with. "For better or worse, change arouses emotions, and when emotions intensify, leadership is key." (Fullan)

Having checks and balances is essential when it comes to change. All leaders are not perfect, they "improve their style over a period of time due to experiences, education and training." (Bradshaw) Finding the best way to implement change with the people you work with is an essential skill and remembering that "not all plans work out, but [to] have the structure to go back and consider all the factors to determined what [was] missed." (Bonde)

Leadership is hard work, we all know that. In my classroom, I teach with the "intention of making a positive difference in the lives of [students]." (Fullan) I do the best with the knowledge that I have and that is what we can hope for in our leaders.

Bonde, Elijah. “Leading Change in Schools for 21st Century Teaching and Learning.” Atlas, 22 Oct. 2018, www.rubicon.com/strategies-lead-change-management-schools/.
Bradshaw, Robert, et al. Leadership and Knowledge Sharing. 2015, pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f4ff/44a040fc64efb1de223f5902bbe4248340ef.pdf.

Fullan, Michael. “ED467449.” Jossey-Bass, 2001.