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Leadership Style and Philosophy

Wendy Gilbert

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD 501: Educational Administration: Foundations for the Developing Leader

Dr. Mary Murray

March 23, 2022

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Leadership Style and Philosophy

As I have embarked on my educational journey in pursuit of certification in educational

administration, I have had several opportunities to thoughtfully consider my personal values and beliefs

that drive my thinking, decision making process, and interactions with others. I have also researched a

variety of leadership styles. In exploring servant leadership, I reflected on my current competencies and

received feedback from a colleague regarding my leadership behaviors. I have spent time considering

how I will act with integrity and fairness when I am a school leader. Reflecting on each of these has led

to the development of my emerging leadership philosophy.

“In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord,

not for people,” (The Holy Bible, New Century Version, 2005, Colossians 3:23). This Bible verse has been

very impactful as I carry out my everyday activities, both at work and in my personal life. I want to live in

such a way that others can see Christ in me. My faith truly drives my thinking as well as my worldview.

While I cannot always openly profess my beliefs, I hope to live in such a way that others notice that

there is something different about me. I hope to live in such a way that I am above reproach and am

known as a person of great integrity.

When I make decisions, I do so prayerfully and with the guidance and input of respected friends

and colleagues. I solicit opinions from others, but ultimately the decision I make is my own. I accept

responsibility for any missteps, and I try to always give credit to those who gave input when there are

positive outcomes. I believe that being transparent and willing to admit when I am wrong help me to

gain credibility as a leader in my school.

I value humility and work to prioritize others above myself. As a Christian, I believe that all

people are image-bearers of God, and as such deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. This can

only be done by working to find the good in everyone I meet. I do my best to truly listen to people I
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encounter each day. I avoid looking at my phone or watch while I am interacting with others, opting

instead to maintain eye contact and pay close attention to my body language. I believe people

remember how you make them feel more than any other detail about you, and I want them to feel

valued.

I have kept my principles in mind as I have researched a variety of leadership styles. I want to

keep my identity as a person and as a follower of Christ as I determine the type of leader I will strive to

be. My research so far has led me to find that I most closely align with servant leadership. Based on a

self-evaluation, I found that I score in a medium to high range on each aspect of servant leadership. The

fact that this leadership style is characterized by building relational capacity to bring out the best in

one’s subordinates resonates with me. “Servant leadership emphasizes that leaders be attentive to the

concerns of their followers, empathize with them, and nurture them. Servant leaders put followers first,

empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities,” (Northouse, 2018, p. 293). In

addition, “A servant leader can be counted on to provide resources and opportunities that are just and

fair,” (Chaudhry et al., 2021). These ideals embody the leader I hope to be.

Transactional leadership was the style I found to be least fitting with my personality. Instead of

focusing on relationships and bringing out the best in people, transactional leadership is characterized

by, “exchanges that occur between leaders and their followers,” (Northouse, 2018, p. 217). This style of

leadership is characterized by punitive and positive consequences, based on performance of

subordinates. There is little focus on relationships in this style of leadership.

According to a study by Khan et al. (2021), a transformational style of leadership was seen to

have a more positive effect on the culture of an organization than transactional leadership.

Transformational leadership was seen to be more supportive, whereas transactional leadership was

seen as more rigid. Transformational leadership approaches allowed subordinates to buy in to the
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mission and vision of the organization while also expressing their own ideas and values. The same was

seen to be true in a study by Van Dijk et al. In this study, it was found that a transformational leadership

style facilitated team work more effectively than transactional leadership. “In order to facilitate these

effective team processes, leaders must minimize actions and language that signify transactional

leadership, and create teams whose members have a strong chronic-promotion focus,” (Van Dijk et al.,

2021).

Because of this focus on collaboration, there are elements of transformational leadership which

also speak to my leadership style. “Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of

influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them,” (Northouse,

2018, p. 216). Strong leaders have a way of inspiring their subordinates to work hard towards a common

goal. They do so by building a culture where work is rewarding and fulfilling, and staff is motivated to

work together because they enjoy the benefits of collaboration.

My foundation in my personal values and beliefs as well as the focus on relational capacity and

collaboration that I am taking from the servant and transformational styles of leadership will help me to

act with fairness and integrity as a school leader. I will make sure to maintain professional boundaries

while also taking time to get to know each staff member. I will build relationships with staff and students

so that I know their strengths and understand their backgrounds. I will model a growth mindset as I

work to constantly grow and develop professionally while encouraging and enabling my subordinates to

do the same. I will lead with integrity and by example, making sure that observations and evaluations

are opportunities for development rather than an intimidating or punitive endeavor. By making sure I

live up to these things, I will make sure that I am a servant and transformational leader rather than

transactional.
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Just as I will strive to constantly grow and develop as a school leader, I know that I am in a stage

where I will be consistently evolving in my leadership style and philosophy as I learn more throughout

my coursework. While I am confident in my current ideals regarding my leadership philosophy, I also

know that it is a work in progress which will evolve as I gain experience in my internship and continue to

research as a graduate student. I will use this work as a baseline which will help me to stay grounded

and true to the leader I hope to one day become.

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References

Chaudhry, A., Xiaoyun Cao, Liden, R.C., Point, S., & Vidyarthi, P. R. (2021). A Meta-Review of Servant

Leadership: Construct, Correlates, and the Process. Journal of Comparative International

Management, 24 (2), 59-99.

Irfan Ullah Khan, Muhammad Saqib Khan & Muhammad Idris (2021) Investigating the support of

organizational culture for leadership styles (transformational & transactional), Journal of Human

Behavior in the Social Environment, 31:6, 689-700, DOI: 10.1080/10911359.2020.1803174

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership (8th ed.). Sage Publishing.

The Holy Bible, New Century Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/

versions/New-Century-Version-NCV-Bible/#copy (Original work published 2005)

Van Dijk, D., Kark, R., Matta, F., & Johnson, R. E. (2021). Collective aspirations: collective regulatory focus

as a mediator between transformational and transactional leadership and team creativity.

Journal of Business & Psychology, 36(4), 633-658.

https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09692-6