Assignment #3

William Griffin

College of Education and Human Services, University of North Florida

EDA 6196: Leadership for Learning Organizations

Dr. Phyllis Kalifeh

March 9, 2021
 Effective leadership is comprised of many things. Among them include being able to

listen and act, being an example of what you are asking others to be, and being able to empower

those you are leading. As a leader one way to get buy-in is to create ways that allow others in the

organization opportunities to contribute ideas and in some cases implement those ideas. Creating

those opportunities can be difficult, but one way is asking open-ended questions to elicit

responses that can help your school grow. Asking questions is also a “fundamental characteristic

of organizations that learn” and a practice that is central to renewal (Preskill & Torres, 1999, p.

60). The answers to these types of questions can help bring fresh ideas and bind people to the

success of the organization. A leader should also balance autonomy with guidance to assist

subordinates in bringing those new ideas into action.

Delegating is another way for a leader to help build strong leaders within their

organization. My current Principal often says, “Y’all, I can’t do this work alone.” I have learned

that is code for I’m about to put something on your plate that I need taken care of, so get ready. It

is his way of delegating and shifting responsibility to some of the stakeholders at the school. He

has done it with administration, teachers, staff, and students. He is also fond of putting you in

charge of any, “I think we can do this a different way” statement that comes out of your mouth.

Whenever a problem is brought up, he will put it back on those that recognize the problem to

come up with a solution. Instead of being the problem solver, he is looking for shared leadership.

My current Principal is responsible for me coming back to school to get my Masters

Degree. He has empowered me as a Dean of students, to be more of an Assistant Principal, even

though I actively expressed to him that it wasn’t my goal to be an AP. He asked me to go on

classroom visits with the administrative team and document what I saw. We would then compare

notes and he would ask me why I gave the answer I did. He would challenge it at times and he
has even changed his opinion based on how I read what was happening in the classroom. This

simple act, which he has done for years as a Principal, sparked something in me that said maybe

I would like to be in education administration. Thus I’m typing this paper.

In retrospect, I see that some of my former school leaders didn’t empower us as

educational leaders, but instead kept information and power concentrated at the top. As teachers,

we didn’t have a big voice in how our school was run, instead we were dictated to and felt

marginalized. As such, I recall a lot of teachers leaving, complaining, or doing the bare

minimum. In all honesty, I did those last two more often than I care to admit and I was seriously

contemplating leaving if a change hadn’t been made.

As a school leader I have begun taking steps to master this competency. I too recognize

that I can’t do this work alone so I empower my teachers to assist with discipline. Give me ideas,

critique any decisions that I have made, and I offer up instances to shadow me to see how I

handle discipline. As a future Assistant Principal, I want to give teachers an opportunity to assist

in their evaluations. Ask me to look for something specific. Once I do the evaluation, if there is

an area you feel you were unfairly judged, I’ll come back and evaluate you again. If I’m a

Principal in the future, I want teachers to have as much a say in how the daily operation of the

school looks as I do. They are doing the work, so I want to hear what they have to say and then

act on their suggestions. Most of all I want to be a servant-leader. I will not ask anything of my

stakeholders that I am not willing to do myself. If there is one thing that I can