Cultivating
Leadership: Identifying the Trinity
Dr.
Ryan Donlan
Department
of Educational Leadership
Bayh
College of Education
Indiana
State University
Looking for leadership potential from within? Cultivating those in your organization for
future leadership positions? While working with doctoral students recently, I
shared some aspects of leadership sustenance that I called the trinity. Upon further reflection, I believe that these three
intangible qualities or skillsets of those being groomed for leadership are
powerful indicators of their ability to handle the challenges of involved with
that calling, or said differently, are indicators of one’s “having the art”
upon which to refine with “science.” As
you work with leadership cultivation in your organization, consider sharing
with me your thoughts, as continued discussion would be welcome.
The trinity of leadership potential involves Ownership, Model Building, and Story.
As in metaphorical depictions of three flames coming together as one in a secular
sense, they allow leadership potential to burn brightly, indeed.
Ownership
First, Ownership: How is it demonstrated? Educators with Ownership embody a certain
efficacy of confidence and responsibility.
You will see them saying, “If students are not learning, it’s my
fault.” They believe in the natural
abilities of themselves and others to achieve through hard work and effort, not
simply because they have natural abilities.
When they fail, they fail forward, not backward, using their experiences
as springboards for the navigation of future challenges. They are smart with the risks they take and
are not afraid of uncharted territory.
Having the confidence to reach out and ask advice of others, they are
comfortable in their own skin and desire feedback on performance. They “own” the feedback and learn from it.
Ownership also involves using what I call “the wave-off,” a
construct that I borrow from the sport of skydiving. Skydivers working together in freefall enjoy flying
(in actuality, falling) with each other, pushing themselves as members of teams
to accomplish formations, much as teams in schools work together for students
and learning. Yet, in each skydive,
skydivers must eventually “go it alone” to open their parachutes safely. Prior to opening, skydivers typically
performs a “wave-off,” where they wave their arms to signal that all skydivers
must get as far away from each other as possible to open safely. All then move, or “track” as they refer to
it, away from the formation, straightening their arms and legs while increasing
speed and moving horizontally away from others.
They “go it alone,” taking sole responsibility for their safety and
survival. Ownership in school leadership
involves much of the same. Leaders must,
at times, perform a wave-off when the situation demands. They must take the lead, through deep
conviction of personal responsibility, to act with speed and dispatch to make
something happen for the good. In doing
so, they take complete responsibility for the result, good or bad. Does the leader you are cultivating have the
ability to smartly “wave-off” and “track” when the situation demands?
Model
Building
Beyond Ownership, those with leadership potential use Model
Building. They have the ability to take
complicated or ambiguous information and present it visually to others by way
of conceptual diagrams or explanatory pictures (Estabrook, personal
communication, 2005). They can make the
unfathomable, understandable, so that others can grow and learn, using visual
imagery and especially, metaphor. Our
best leaders use metaphor in a way that connects with others’ interests. Consider that we learn from conceptual models
quite often. Authors use them in their
book and articles. Three to note are
Steil and Bommelji’s Listening Leaders:
The Ten Golden Rules to Listen, Lead, & Succeed (2004), Fullan’s Leading in a Culture of Change (2001),
and Estabrook’s article, Constellation
Building: Leadership for Effective Schools (1997). In each example, the
authors take a great deal of pertinent information and present it in an easy-to-digest
model, one of interrelationship and substance.
As we seek to cultivate new leaders, we must look for those who build
models naturally, as well as those who do it in a way that enlightens and
motivates.
Story
Finally, educators with leadership potential use Story. We’ll see them spinning yarns with students’
rapt interest, tying themes within to the importance to academics, school
community, and life lessons. They use the
questions students ask as teachable moments, with artful soliloquy, never digressing
too far from their instructional targets.
They know innately that the human brain is wired for story and that
children of all ages, from 4 to 94, learn through active engagement of personal
meaning. Story, to those with the most
leadership potential, is effortless; they use it to foster amicable relations,
to intervene in times of challenge or distress, and to enhance content delivery.
In school leadership, the best leaders use Story to represent, influence, and
protect positive school culture. If our leaders do not use Story, then the void
will be filled with others, those who may be toxic. One’s ability as a natural, engaging, and
strategic storyteller is inextricably linked to positive leadership potential.
Conclusion
As we seek to identify future leaders who will take our
schools from where they are to a better place, let’s consider that the trinity
of leadership potential involves Ownership, Model Building, and Story, three
flames coming together as one burning brightly.
The degree to which future leaders display the aforementioned influences
the level and intensity of pre-service education and development that must be
provided to them. I wish you the best in your cultivation of leadership. Happy
harvesting.
References
Estabrook, R. (1992). Constellation building: Leadership for
effective schools.
Contemporary
Education, 63(2), 91-92.
Fullan, M. (2001). Leading
in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Steil, L., & Bommeljei, R. (2004) Listening Leaders: The Ten Golden Rules to Listen,
Lead,
and Succeed. Edina, MN: Beaver’s Pond Press, Inc.
______________________________________________________________________
Dr.
Ryan Donlan is a member of the United States Parachute Association, License
A-30362, Member Number 134943.
