Having recently completed an assignment that focused my attention on what I think the ideal leadership structure in a school is and it made me realise that I am very blessed in my current school. The model I created is basically the school that I am currently in. One component of my model was the building of trust, collegiality and a shared goal (transformational leadership) and I feel that my school has that in spades, although I pause to wonder if all staff at my school feel the same way.
The current leadership team (principal an executive) are very good at recognising talent within the larger team and letting people lead when they have the expertise (distributed leadership). There is also a focus on staff as learners (instructional leadership) and we all get to be instructional leaders through taking on leadership roles.
I also had to consider the role of the TL in all of this and how the TL fits into the ‘leadership landscape’. After much reflection, I decided on ‘servant leadership’; this focuses on the building of relationships, trust and collaboration and putting the needs of staff at front of mind whenever dealing with them. This aptly describes my interactions with staff and I have had positive responses and an increase in staff seeking support from me as a TL and as a colleague.
This particular assignment also caused me to reflect on leadership teams or people that I have worked under in the past. I have worked for principals who were apathetic, push overs or just downright bullies and the effect that had on the staff, students and the school as a whole was very clear (to me at least). and it reaffirmed my belief that if a workplace has a bad or negative culture/feel/ethos it most certainly comes from the top down.