Introduction
We can all recognise leadership when we see it. A person – it’s usually one rather than a group – takes the initiative and through various actions, brings about change. Why do people follow this person?
Is it because they believe in the cause? Perhaps.
Is it because they see a better future? Maybe
Is it because of the nature of the person? Possibly.
Is it because of the organisational role of the person? Likely.
It could be any one or any combination or all of these reasons. But one which is intriguing for researchers and leader-watchers is the nature or qualities of the leader.
In Zammit et al. (2007) frame, quality school leadership is grouped around three key domains: contextual factors, professional practices and attributes and capabilities. In this brief foray into leadership, the third domain, the attributes and capabilities of the leader, is the focus. This is not a re-visit of the trait theory of leadership: it is an inquiry into one of the many facets of successful school leadership. Personal attributes and capabilities of leaders are critical in leading change and successful leaders of schools in challenging circumstances require even greater abilities to turn their schools from underperforming to outstanding.
The study
As part of the Victorian Department of Education’s High Performing Principal’s Program, I set out to study turnaround schools. The investigation was inspired by the work of Michael Fullan (2006), Richard Elmore (2000), Chris Chapman (2004) and Alma Harris (2002). One part of the study involved examining the characteristics, attributes and abilities of the leaders in some turnaround schools. I visited six schools, three primary and three secondary in the north of England in 2007. Each school had shown a significant leap in their achievement data over a relatively short period of time ranging from one to five years. Some were truly turnaround case studies while others showed continuous improvement at varying rates of change.
Personal qualities of the leaders
A key observation from my study, and this was largely subjective, was identifying the personal qualities and attributes of the principal of each of the six schools. Four attributes stood out amongst these principals of turnaround schools.
The first was passion and commitment. All of the principals were clearly passionate about education in general and about ‘their’ school in particular. This passion shone through in their pride, their commitment and in the way they spoke about the achievements of the students and staff. The passion was clearly evident in their vision for change and their desire to move the school upward on its improvement trajectory.
Secondly, extraordinary interpersonal skills were trademarks though the feeling emanating from each varied. One was quiet, authoritative in his own way, adroit in inquiry, steely minded with silky smooth skills. Another, verbose, charming, believable, able to talk on any level, made the interviewer feel at ease, open, and easy to envisage him attending receptions at parliament house or helping the students pick up papers in the yard. The third, quiet, unassuming, determined, spoke easily, good listener, good relationships with his small staff. Another, hesitant at first but warmed to the task, not as skilled as others yet clearly determined and passionate and displayed good interpersonal skills: another, down to earth, passionate, eloquent, warm and personable. They all displayed strong emotional intelligence.
Thirdly, and this is Collins’ (2001) Level 5 leader, the principals displayed ‘personal humility with intense professional will’ (Collins, 2001, p.68). As with interpersonal skills, there was variation amongst the principals in humility and will yet it was clearly evident in all. They each credited other people for the improvement across the schools and each acknowledged the work of the teachers, students, support staff and communities for the improvements and for the endeavour to move from underperforming to outstanding. Yet it was clear that each of these principals had significant impact on their schools and were really the catalysts and drivers of the changes. The professional will was also clearly evident in everything they said and did. They were ‘quiet’ achievers with strength and vision.
A fourth common attribute was intellectual capacity and they ‘demonstrated considerable cognitive flexibility’ (Leithwood, 2005, p.622). Intellectual capacity is difficult to assess during a relatively brief professional exchange however there was clearly imagination, good recall of multiple issues, ability to deal with many issues concurrently, take up of unpopular issues for the benefit of the school, astuteness and the ability to balance big picture with finer detail (Dinham, 2005, p.348). Clearly, I was impressed with the intellectual capacity of these exemplary leaders.
Many more attributes could be identified for each of the principals in this study. The four key attribute clusters identified above form the more common characteristics of the six leaders. All were clearly experiencing ‘exhilarating leadership’ (Caldwell, 2006). Even though there were common attributes, each leader was unique and could be tagged with a word: charismatic; intense will; intelligent; charming. The most identifiable attribute of these leaders was, however, the humility and strong professional will of each principal. The determination to bring about improvement, the quiet belief in self and, after assembling their staff, belief in the professionals to bring about the changes needed to drive improvement. The drive came from a deep-set belief that the students in their care deserved more. They deserved a school which provided high quality teaching, a broad range of opportunities to achieve and pathways leading into employment and further education. These leaders used their unique skill to provide direction for their schools, to influence those charged with delivering change and to ensure their school maintained focus on their core purpose.
The qualities
Many, many more attributes of successful school leaders could be identified. Optimism and persistence (Murphy 2008) or energy, enthusiasm and hope (Fullan 2001), or resilience, flexibility, optimism and high expectations (Leithwood et al., 2006) have all been identified as key attributes of leaders of turnaround systems. There is no magical mixture or formula which can be applied to develop or to identify who will be a successful leader to turn a school around from underperforming to outstanding. But if you have large measures of passion for the job, commitment, humility and intense professional will, superb interpersonal skills coupled with the necessary intellectual capacity, then there is a strong likelihood that the right personal attributes are available for you to be a successful turnaround leader.
Discuss presentationBibliography
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June 2008
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Graeme Holmes is Principal of Camperdown College, in Camperdown, Victoria, Australia.