Leadership in Education: Five Commonalities

By: Mark F. Goldberg

Reflection by George Atento


The article recalls the 43 interviews done by the author on so-called “educational leaders”. These are principals, teachers and even city mayors. What the author came up is a list of the common qualities of a leader in education.


BEDROCK BELIEF

I believe that this quality refers to the goals set by the educational leaders. When a leader sets goals, he or she believes these can be achieved. These goals are specific, time-bound and measurable. They are also challenging and realistic. If goals are well made, then the only thing needed is the leader’s belief that these goals can indeed be achieved by his/her organization. Change is not only possible among all people. It is a day-to-day necessity. Leaders only need to present the stimulus of change, and the reasonableness of absorbing it.

There are problems that will be met along the way. A man who knows where he is going, who is convinced of the necessity of his goals, will eventually find a way to pull through.

COURAGE TO SWIM UPSTREAM

Mere belief in your own goals does not imply leadership success. There will surely be problems along the way. Hence, courage to swim upstream, or go against the normal flow of things is greatly needed. Again, we are presented the question of change. People are so afraid to change their ways because culture becomes deeply rooted in their lives. Once they got used to a certain way of doing things, they become resistant to change. But change, we must. Therefore, as leaders, we must prepare ourselves with enough courage to go against the tide of the status quo and the hostility of people who got used to the status quo.

Another thing we must be ready to fight with is despair. Most of the times, change takes so long to happen. There are almost an infinite number of given. And most of the time, the innovations we are hoping for are dependent on many things: political moves, economy moves, stock market fluctuations, prices of oil, labor problems, wage disparity problems, results of national and local elections, etc. Here in the Philippines, the most we can hope for is that the one deciding up there in the Department of Education will take up one or two of the most pertinent issues you (as teacher) have proposed fifteen years ago. Fact of the matter is, change does happen. But it requires years, and a big amount of faith. If a leader believes so much in his ideals, he is ready to wait for years, even lifetimes, in order to make his work put to completion. As a leader, he is aware that he is merely passing the torch, making it a little brighter, for the future world to see. “It is better to light just one little candle than to forever curse the darkness.” One does not know how the finish line looks like, but he must take these small steps everyday, to make him nearer to it. When Disneyland was constructed, it is said that one of the older executives of Disney Productions remarked, “I hope Walt was here to see this”. To which, someone remarked, “Walt saw this, that is why we are seeing it now”.


SOCIAL CONSCIENCE


It is a bit of a surprise that again, the consideration of society and the community where the organization operates, is a common requirement of leadership. Whatever we do, we must address the issues of crime and poverty, among the many societal issues and problems. Leadership cannot operate apart from the community. In the Fullan article, the same is being said. In this article, we have no theories being laid down. What we have are matter-of-fact answers of known education leaders from all walks of life. If educational leadership is to be successful, it must address societal concerns and tackle it head-on. Education is for social transformation. If education does not teach children how to behave, we will just leave them to “turn their arithmetic to roguery and their literature to lust” (John Ruskin).

The issues of society are the things we must teach the children today. If they are not ready for them, they will be disillusioned in the future. They will despair to the harsh realities of life: that cognitive food does not satisfy the soul of society. Then, later they will realize that the chasm that separates the rich and the poor for example is too big to handle. We must offer the solution now.


SERIOUSNESS OF PURPOSE

Goals and courage mean nothing without the definiteness of purpose. One seminar I attended maintained that a person who continually changes his goals would not achieve any of them. If you must light pieces of papers with a magnifying glass, you must fix your glass under the sun. Indeed, as was mentioned above, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. You cannot expect the educational system to change in one day, just because you recently became the principal of your school. “We are here for the long haul” (Theodore Sizer).

Napoleon Hill in his book “Think and Grow Rich” mentioned something about this through the concept of bulldog tenacity. He mentioned Edison who broke 10,000 bulbs before he became successful with the light bulb that works. When Edison was asked whether he felt bad about the 9,999 bulbs, he said, “Not at all. I just regarded them as 9,999 ways of not making a light bulb”. Again, we must be serious in our purpose before we can achieve anything. People follow leaders who are serious in their purpose. Gandhi was just 90pounds, yet he rallied the almost 200million Indians with a thousand diverse beliefs, towards independence. Such is the magic of definiteness of purpose. And this requires not a small amount of rigor and integrity. No one follows a leader without honor. Hence, the leadership problems in our country.


SITUATIONAL MASTERY

There is another requirement of leadership, and one that may easily be called the x factor in leadership. If the previous four are attitudes, this requirement is a skill. I believe that most leaders who are goal-oriented individuals do not become leaders, or even fail as leaders because of this. Conjoined to the quest for perfection in leadership is the responsibility of working with diverse personalities and talents. Some will even say that they have to put up with little or no-talent. On the contrary, I believe that all people are endowed with talents and creativity. The challenge in leadership is trying to identify, nurture, and put these to use, according to the needs of the organization as a whole. Also, there is the need of convincing these people to stay.

These are the perennial questions in leadership. How do you maintain a well-oiled organization with people of different talents and inclinations, yet looking towards a single, definite goal you have set? How do you keep them in the organization and help in the reculturing process of the whole association? All these questions have good answers in the theoretical side. But in the practical side of the coin, one is left to wonder.

In the Philippines, the main problem is lack of capital. Sometimes, we cannot hire the best people because we cannot pay for them. Further, there are needs that should be addressed, and most of the times, the means necessary are not far from financial and/or material. All these things, a leader must face, including his own self-esteem and the addressing of his material as well as emotional needs.

Not every one is called for the job of leadership. You must be fit for the job. And what are the requirements? Not a few: great amounts of faith, hope, courage and all the positive attitudes of successful people. And the exact fit of the talents and skills required for the task at hand.