Lesson Leadership Skills and Styles

12

Learning Outcomes • Identify leadership skills and styles of members

that contribute to the development of an
educational organization;
• Examine the characteristics of leaders and their
impact on the organization.

Introduction
In the previous lesson, you are introduced to the nature of leadership and
other related concepts. You also explored the individual characteristics of who do
you think has the potential of becoming an effective leader in the future. While
moving forward, always remember that one critical element in the success of an
organization is effective leadership. This lesson focuses on the concept of
leadership skills and styles. You will explore how people become leaders, as well
as the skills and methods of effective leadership and their impact on organizations.
You will also have the opportunity to determine your current leadership style and
practice your leadership skills in a variety of interactive learning activities. Are
you excited? Now, let’s start by letting our imaginations work.

Activity

Recalling the Past. While you are in your most comfortable learning
place at home, think of a team activity that you were once engaged
in. What’s the nature of the activity? How did your team perform
during the activity? Feel free to write what you can recall in the box provided.

The nature of the activity is to provide 1 by 1 idea about their opinion

on the given situation after that we will evaluate which one is the best
way to solve that kind of problem, my team perform the activity by
brainstorming we provide ideas in which we come up into a very best
answers to the given situation.
 Analysis

Based on the above activity, answer the questions below as a guide for
reflective thinking. Use the space after each question for your answer.
1. What actions work in favor of achieving the group’s goal? If the group failed,
what actions do you think didn’t work well?
_______________________________________________________________
Favor action is the cooperation of each member while if it is failed to reach the goal
the approach and the leader rules might didn't work well.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Did your team choose a leader? How the decision was done?
Yes, by her achievement and popularity
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. If no leader was initially chosen, did a leader emerge as the activity took
place?
_______________________________________________________________
Yes, as if everyone of us in a team have different ideas to share that make every
one of us can be leader
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. How did the group’s leader influence the members?
By her amazing idea on how to deliver the given situation
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
5. How does the activity relate to what you think as leadership?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Abstraction

How You Become Leaders

The following are the categories that can be used to illustrate how
people attain leadership positions. Examples are given for each category
described below.
 ❖ Qualified: Some people become leaders because they achieve the necessary
certification or credentials for a position. They may otherwise meet
established criteria or prerequisites that persons in authority over them
associate with the leadership position. Examples: a teacher with the highest
degree of educational qualifications

❖ Merited: Some people become leaders primarily through faithful and

enthusiastic participation and competent performance over time. These leaders
may be considered to have “paid their dues.” Examples: a teacher that was
once a qualifier in the national competition during college years

❖ Captured: Some people become leaders by campaigning for a position, being

“political,” or otherwise maneuvering themselves into a position. Leaders in
this category may also take possession or seize the position through positive or
negative means. Examples: school principals.

❖ Identified: Some people become leaders because they possess personal or

professional qualities that are recognized as beneficial and undeniable, and are
appropriate for meeting the team’s needs at a particular time. Examples:
project manager of a business, military general

❖ Defaulted: Some people become leaders simply because other team members
are unwilling or unable to accept the position of responsibility. Example:
someone in a small discussion group needs to lead the discussion.

Regardless of how you were selected or designated as leaders, the

important is what you can contribute to the organization.

Skills Demanded of Leaders

There are three broad types of leaders skills according to Prieto, et al (2019).
These are:
1. Technical Skill. This refers to any type of process or techniques like
sending emails or preparing PowerPoint presentations.
2. Human Skill. This is the ability to work effectively with people and to
build teamwork. This is also known as people skills or soft skills.
3. Conceptual Skill. This is the ability to think in terms of models,
frameworks, and broad relationships such as long-range plans.

Ideally, school leaders must know how to deal with ideas and people. They are
also expected to have psychomotor skills.
Leadership Styles

A leader is someone who has a goal or focus/belief and can convince or

influence others to follow it. It would then seem logical that leaders have some form
of power by which they can persuade or convince others to achieve the same goal or
adopt the same focus/belief.

The following are the different leadership styles (Prieto, et al,2019) :

1. Autocratic leaders are those who do decision making by themselves. This
happens when memorandum is already issued on the implementation of the
policies even without the knowledge of the members on how the policies are
crafted.
2. Consultative leaders allow the participation of the members of the
organization by consulting them but make the decision themselves. This
happens during consultation meetings called by the school when there are
changes in the curriculum, an increase in tuition fees. However, even with
the consultations, decisions are still made by leaders.
3. Democratic leaders allow their members to fully participate in decision
making. This happened during faculty meetings wherein the concensus of the
group is considered as the final decision.
4. Laissez-faire leaders avoid responsibility and leave the members of the
organization to establish their own works. The advantage of this leadership
style is allowing each member to reach a level of maturity wherein the
members will work for the good of the organization even in the absence of
their leaders. However, chaos will be inevitable if members will work only as
they please even if it’s against the common good.

As a future leader, what do you think would be your leadership style?

Democratic leadership style should be follow

Application

What’s your leadership styles? When you lead for the first time, you might adopt a
style of leadership that you've experienced from someone else, or that you've heard or
read about. If it seems to work, you'll likely stick with it – in effect, it becomes "your"
style. This quiz will help you to identify the style that you naturally lean toward, and
introduce you to alternative approaches that you might find it helpful to develop, and
the occasions when they may be appropriate. Read the following statements and
indicate how you would most likely behave if you were the group/team leader,
choosing from the following rating: A = Always, F = Frequently, O = Occasionally, S =
Seldom, N = Never. Write letter only before each item.
If I were the group/team leader . . .
_____1. I would most likely act as the spokesperson of the group.
_____2. Policies would be determined by majority rule.
_____3. I would allow members complete freedom in their work.
_____4. I would encourage all members to follow the rules.
_____5. I would permit members to use their own judgment in solving problems.
_____6. I would stress being ahead of competing groups.
_____7. I would use group brainstorming as a way to come up with new ideas.
_____8. I would expect input from everyone on how best to get a job done.
_____9. I would try out my ideas in the group.
_____10. I would let the members do their work the way they think best.
_____11. I would be working hard for personal recognition.
_____12. Meetings would be chaired in rotation, so everyone had a chance to chair.
_____13. I would let people work out their own differences.
_____14. I would keep the work moving at a rapid pace.
_____15. I would turn the members loose on a job and let them go to it.
_____16. I would settle conflicts when they occur in the group.
_____17. People would sign up for tasks depending on what they enjoyed doing.
_____18. I would represent the group at outside meetings.
_____19. I would be reluctant to allow the members any freedom of action.
_____20. I would decide what should be done and how it should be done.
_____21. I would push for increased productivity in assigned tasks.
_____22. I would give authority to only those members I felt I could control.
_____23. Things would usually turn out as I had predicted.
_____24. I would allow the group a high degree of initiative.
_____25. I would assign group members particular tasks.
_____26. I would be willing to make changes.
_____27. Problem solving would be handled by the group as a whole.
_____28. I would trust the group members to exercise good judgment.
_____29. I would schedule the work to be done.
_____30. I would refuse to explain my action.
_____31. I would persuade others that my ideas are to their advantage.
_____32. I would permit the group to set its own pace.
_____33. I would urge the group to beat its previous record.
_____34. I would act without consulting the group.
_____35. I would ask that group members follow standard rules and regulations.

* Source: Gray, John W., and Angela Laird Pfeiffer. Skills for Leaders. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School
Principals,1987. 34–37. Copyright 1987 National Association of Secondary School Principals.

When you are done completing the questionnaire, place check mark (✓) on the following items 1, 4, 6,
11, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, and 35 that were answered with “Frequently”
or “Always” while asterisk (*) beside numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 24, 26, 27, 28, and 32
that were answered with “Frequently” or “Always”. Those with several check marks lean toward an
authoritarian style of leadership. They take control and like things to be done their way. Those with
several asterisks tend toward a team (democratic or participative) style of leadership.
Now, answer the following questions briefly.

1. Cite some situations in which democratic leadership would be more effective

than autocratic leadership?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

2. What are some situations in which autocratic leadership would be more

effective than democratic leadership?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

3. How each leadership styles impact the development of the organization?

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

Leader Identification. In this activity, I want you to identify a person you regard as a
great (effective) leader. This leader could be someone you know, or someone you
have heard of or have read about. Write his/her name on the circle in the center, then
write down the qualities/characteristics or skills/abilities you believe have made this
person an effective leader on the outside circles.
Closure

You have just finished Lesson 12.

In the next lesson, you will continue learning concepts about
leadership. This time you will be exposed to leader’s roles, leadership
approaches, and models that you can apply in the various context, and in
dealing with different personalities of team members that you will be leading
soon. Are you done with your short break? Now, you may start Lesson 13
Leadership Theories and Models.