Leadership+Skills

We feel that Listening is the most important skill as it sets the foundation for the other leadership skills. Without good/effective listening skills there is no purpose in engaging in inquiry or dialogue. Lambert (2003) stated that "the purpose of dialogue is understanding: when we truly listen and build on each other's ideas, we construct meaning and knowledge together" (Lambert, p.23). Listening allows for dialogue, inquiry, and reflection, which are the three most critical skill dimensions for improving schools (Lambert, p.22). Teacher leadership starts with initiating conversations, not just one person doing the talking. Listening is the key to effective communication which impacts other skill areas such as decision making, problem solving, managing conflicts engaging reluctant teachers. Effective listening is something that could be used in an in-service or training workshop for all staff, not just leaders. Through taking a semester class in effective listening, one of our group members was able to learn more about the importance of listening and how it helps people understand that listening is not just hearing. We all need to remember that once in a while.
 * Corn Flower Blue Team - 12 Leadership Skills**
 * 1. Listening:**

// This relates back to the Human Resource Frame with empowerment as the image of leadership. Lambert also discusses how empowering others can help to break dependencies by encouraging members to take ownership for their own decision making and problem solving. // // We rank empowering others // as among the top three because this skill is central to building leadership capacity in others. Having this skill also supports collaborative decision making and encouraging group problem solving. On page 50 of the text, Lambert states that one of the skills required for leadership capacity is that of developing leadership capacity in others which as was explained in earlier chapters include "road-based participation in the work of leadership" (Lambert, p. 4). Such broad-based participation leads to "collective responsibility". A leader must be willing to share with and empower others, from staff to students, and the community. In reference to community, we might consider the experience of one team member who when opening a new business in a new town, held “Community Advisory Board” meetings. Those meetings were to inform the community of our business, solicit community support and involvement, and connect in a social manner with our clients, workers, and neighbors. Those were very effective in opening and keeping open a line of communication - we all know how valuable that is. Those meetings also helped to empower others involved in the project by giving them an arena for that communication.
 * 2. Empowering Others:**

// In the field of education or business being a visionary will make your company more successful. It can be considered as thinking outside the traditional classroom approach. Our belief is that being a visionary falls in the same realm of Inquiry or Reflection. Both allow us to transform inquisitiveness into practice (Lambert, p. 23). // // It is important for leaders to have vision, and be visionary because having vision translates to having hope, and hope is a driving force for a lot of good work. Lambert discusses the emotionally intelligent principal as one who "holds on tightly to hope" (Lambert, p.44). // // As Lambert states,"the vision is the touchstone for all other actions." (Lambert, p. 50) // This quote is so true. A school cannot get where it wants to be without a clear vision. A leader definitely needs to have a clear vision in order to be successful and get others on board.
 * 3. Being a Visionary:**

A capacity-building leader “encourages skillful participation” and will involve as many relevant staff as possible in decision making (Lambert, p. 44). This ties in with inquiry – find out what needs addressing, and decrease dependency on the formal leader, and encourage sustainability in the long-term. A leader who empowers will most likely encourage collaborative decision making. Decision making, managing conflict, and problem solving are related and should probably be close in rank. When one is able to problem solve, the leader can begin to take ownership of his/her actions and don't need to ask permission and/or assign blame to someone else (Lambert, p. 37). The rankings for these skills may change according to the situation that a leader may be in. If a new leader goes to an environment that is unstable and filled with staff conflicts, managing conflicts would then become top priority. Managing conflicts (and many other skills on this sheet) would be in a different ranking depending on the environment and circumstance. That is part of what Jim was saying when he mentioned that will be a ‘trick’ to see how we view things considering our various backgrounds. If some have experience in dealing with union grievances, as one of our members does, conflict management/resolution would rank as a top concern.
 * 4. Decision Making:**

Lambert suggests that leaders manage conflicts through creating "opportunities for dialogue that deepens understanding of issues (p. 37), and confronting "conflict and challenge norms through communication" (p. 52). Managing conflict is a role leaders will have to take on but not one that they have to do alone. As conflicts involve more than one party, and as the leader himself or herself may not be directly involved at times, conflict management and resolution requires that a leader uses effective communication skills to address the situation. for example, staff attending a meeting may not be happy with a recent decision made, or a group may be skeptical about a training session being conducted and display negativity. Both occasions call for conflict management skills. This is very similar to problem solving in that one needs to think of the best possible way to approach a problem that will minimize conflict.
 * 5. Managing Conflict/Problem Solving:**

The leader of an organization has the power to present information in whatever manner he or she prefers, which could be a good or bad thing. He or she could present in a style that is not favorable to the staff. For example, one of our members recalled a principal in an elementary school setting who was an absolute favorite with the staff and students. It was not long until he moved on to a bigger school district. His replacement was one that had a nice personality and good commitment to the school, but he was not as gregarious and flamboyant as his predecessor. He had kind of a monotone voice when it came to the announcements. He didn't have any enthusiasm when he gave out student awards. It took a while for the new principal to be appreciated (then he moved on as well). The way that the leader presents information of any kind can be a big factor in how he/she is supported by staff. The reason we did not place this higher in the ranking was because we saw it as a pre-requisite skill that one should have in a leadership position.
 * 6. Presenting Information:**

New and experienced teachers benefit from mentoring and coaching for different professional and development needs. Both of these are extremely important for working towards a clear vision and ensuring sustainability within institutions. Coaching intertwines both dialogue and reflection so that one may develop into a leader. According to Lambert, "Coaching stems from the same principles as dialogue, but entailes an even more personal approach," (p. 34), which we feel is extremely important especially for new teachers. Although we grouped these together, the Lambert text distinguishes the two by making one a subset of the other. Thus, coaching is one aspect of mentoring, which is the whole process of "coaching, feedback, modeling, provisions, for leadership experiences, training and pariticipation in arenas outside of the classroom and school" (p. 38).
 * 7. Mentoring/Coaching:**

Our team believes this skill could be linked to empowering others. By providing any of our fellow teammates, students, or employees with positive reinforcement it empowers them to continue doing a great job. It also increases the likelihood that whatever positive behavior occurred will happen again. The saying "catch students being good" is something that we would like to have as more of a focus rather than having students be “caught red-handed”. It's easy to criticize others or point out when someone isn't doing what they should be, but when we provide people with praise for doing an excellent job or just doing what is expected without being asked reinforces that behavior. Effective leaders are able to strike a balance between instructing/giving constructive feedback with reinforcing the positive things that people do well, too. Implementing a “policy” to praise staff and students can be very beneficial. Remembering the ‘non-money motivators’ like saying ‘thank you’, ‘great work’, ‘I appreciate what you do’, etc. can make a big difference in the climate and attitude in the work place. Emphasizing how much your associates are appreciated makes a difference by itself. Everyone needs to feel appreciated. How often do you find happy workers where there are no compliments given?
 * 8. Positive Reinforcement:**

By being creative a leader is able to find opportunities for dialogue that deepens understanding (Lambert, p. 37). Those who are creative get others who may not have gotten involved to participate more. Creativity can serve as a springboard for inquiry and innovation. Problem solving sometimes requires new ways of thinking rather than traditional modes, especially in current times. One of the skills that Lambert states a principal would have to develop for leadership capacity is the ability to "establish the leadership team as a design team" (Lambert, p. 50), to "convene and sustain the conversations about teaching, learning, and leading and create and facilitate reciprocal learning" (Lambert, p.51). Creativity is required in all of these instances. While it may not be as essential as listening skills, being creative is a great quality to have if you are in a position of leadership. For one group member, being creative has been called upon during staff training. "I have had to consider the different learning preferences and modes of different members and then construct the training to cater to needs".
 * 9. Being Creative:**

We had a difficult time determining where to rank this skill on our worksheet. It does take somewhat of a leader to facilitate a meeting in order for the group to accomplish a goal. However, we could not agree that it is critical for a successful leader. We agree that as long as the group (team of staff) knows the purpose of the meeting, or the agenda, leaders don't need to necessarily have great meeting facilitation skills.
 * 10. Facilitating Meetings:**