FUTURE-PROOF YOUR LEADERSHIP

?Leadership is changing, isn’t it? The way your Head led the school where you first began teaching was very different from the way you are instinctively or intentionally choosing to lead your school in this third decade of the 21st Century!

Sure, Covid changed the ways we led pre-pandemic, but effective and successful leading in organisations like our schools was already shifting and changing before the virus struck. Professor of Leadership and acknowledged expert in Gen Z, Karina Ochis, says, As a professor to leaders, I'm seeing at first hand the shift in leadership theory, in ?Four leadership lessons every leader needs to know for the future, in Forbes, 22 Aug 23). She goes on to say that as our fundamental leadership frameworks morph in different ways, the way we practice leadership also needs to change.

But, she observes, most leaders still want to continue to lead by looking to the past rather than the future.

Leaders matter greatly, Ochis affirms, but in searching so constantly and zealously for even better leaders, we tend to lose sight of the people these leaders will lead. What about followers? What do contemporary followers want and expect from their leaders? What about your followers, the hard-working teachers and non-academic support staff in your school? Are they willingly and contentedly following you at the moment? Have you glanced over your shoulder lately to check? If your followers are not following you, are not really a leader after all, as Ochis somewhat harshly reminds you: Without his armies, after all, Napoleon was just a man with grandiose ambitions.

Ochis offers contemporary leaders four cogent insights that will assist you to future-proof your leading, which she considers every leader needs to know for the future.

1. From Focus On The Leader To The Follower

All of us are followers in several dimensions in our lives, Ochis points out, but while leadership has been the focus of extensive theory and practice over the past century, followership has received much less attention.

Your complex institution has several layers of leadership, many of which probably did not exist when your teaching career began. On your way to headship, I imagine you would have had a number of roles that involved taking responsibility for a project or a program, then of a year group in your subject and then of a whole teaching department. You might have served in a senior leadership role if you worked in a large school, perhaps even as a Deputy Principal somewhere. ?Movement from classroom to Headship in schools these days generally involves a gradual process of promotion to greater levels of responsibility and accountability, which Ochis commends as being a positive trend in the way patterns of leading are evolving.

Especially on your way up a promotional pathway, however, you might have taken on what Ochis describes as a dual role as both a leader and a follower. You led a small team, but you were also a follower of a more senior leader. Ochis says organisations should offer younger workers – young in experience as well as in age - the opportunity to lead at appropriate times while practising followership at other times. The opportunity to lead offers young employees a perception and experience of personal and professional development and advancement which they desire.

An organisation that prioritises giving opportunities for relatively more junior staff to serve as leader-followers demonstrates an important underlying principle – and that is that leaders and followers have equal status, or if not equal status, then equal value. Years of service is no longer the criterion by which we judge a person’s suitability to lead. Contemporary leadership thinking recognises that every member of your team has something to offer, and a wise and forward-looking leader draws what each person has to offer from them by giving them the opportunity to show what they know, what they can do, and how they would do it. ?This pairing of team members as both leaders and followers engages them by giving them a shared common purpose that binds the organisation’s mission and vision together, Ochis argues. A wise leader in a school will recognise the powerful professional learning that stems from providing rising talent with the opportunity to lead authentically and accountably

2. From Masculine And Feminine Leadership Styles To Gender-Neutral

Ochis cites Alice Eagly and Blair Johnson’s 1990 research, which compared models of leadership as they relate to gender. There used to be two perceived models of gender in leadership, the masculine and the feminine model, Ochis explains. Researchers believed that followers expected their leaders to behave according to their gender, or at least to their gender stereotype. Furthermore, Ochis adds, female leaders were thought to "need" to exhibit masculine traits in order to be perceived as being effective. In other words, it appeared that the role of gender used to be significant when contemplating leadership roles and in describing leadership[ behaviours and attributes.

Masculine-style leadership characteristics, as described by Eagly and Johnson in Gender and Leadership Style: a Meta Analysis included: imposing Unemotional hierarchical control; preferring Analytical problem solving; promoting Competitiveness; and clinging to a high level of control as leader. By contrast, Feminine-style leadership characteristics included: fostering Cooperativeness; Collaboration between leaders and subordinates; relatively Less control for the leader; and approaches to Problem solving based on intuition and empathy as well as rationality.

Last century, Ochis asserts, many people used to believe in these gendered stereotypes about how men and women "should" lead, but she crucially observes, this is becoming less prevalent in younger generations currently. Younger leaders are "genderbending," Ochis avers, refusing to define themselves according to gender stereotypes. Therefore, a leadership style applicable to the future will need to be gender-neutral.

It is salient that in 21st Century school leadership, there has been a substantial shift from centralised hierarchical leadership to more collaborative, consultative approach, as contemporary Heads recognise they are not expert in every aspect of running the school, and do not pretend to have all the answers. They widely draw upon the expertise around then amongst their team members, and strive for problem solving and decision making approaches that lead to the best solutions, not merely imposing their own. Best practice leading is taking the place of gender-based stereotypical leading.

This segues neatly into Ochis’s next lesson for today’s leaders:

3. Moving Away from Mere Charisma To Authenticity

In his book,?Authentic Leadership, Ochis points out, Bill George attests that authentic leaders lead with their hearts as well as with their heads, and strive to express their values and convictions in what they say and how they act. Old-style, last-century charismatic leadership alleges that "natural leaders" have a charisma about them that validates and legitimises their leadership. Charismatic leaders shape social realities and construct meaning through how they communicate, Ochis explains.

By contrast, according to George, the five dimensions of authentic leadership include passion, values, building relationships, demonstrating self-discipline and showing heart, qualities authentic leaders develop over the course of their lifetime. This combination of personal qualities, leadership behaviours, and personal capabilities that foster ethical and sincere conduct in their followers means that authentic leadership provides more favourable and enduring results for leaders, through affirming and engaging their subordinates and imbuing the organisations they lead.

4. From The Great Man Theory To Servant Leadership

The most popular leadership theory in the 19th century was Thomas Carlyle's Great Man Theory. The prevalent question at the time was to ask whether leaders were born or made. Great Man Theory proposed that the world could be understood through studying the biographies of "Great Men."

Ochis explains that Carlyle classified Great Men into four categories: divinities, kings, priests and intellectuals. Noting that the research on the Great Man leadership theory analysed the British aristocracy, who had acquired their power mainly through birthright, Ochis says it was not surprising that leadership was viewed as an inherent ability. Simply being in the presence of great men was regarded as an invaluable experience for acquiring a sound work ethic, relevant skills and appropriate knowledge. Ochis is relieved that this theory has now become obsolete and a newer set of leadership theories has emerged—amongst them Servant Leadership.

Ochis outlines that Servant Leadership states that leaders should be deeply aware of the issues their followers experience. Servant leaders should and do display empathy towards them and provide in their workplace an environment that facilitates the ongoing development of their personal and professional capabilities. From this perspective, the individual follower is valued most, and the leader sees their role as advancing the gifts and talents of each member of their team. In Robert Greenleaf’s original conception of Servant Leadership, he wrote that the Servant Leader is servant first.

Become A Leader For The Future

Ochis reminds us that it is in the nature of humans that we will always seek leaders. But, she cautions, to lead is to change with the times; otherwise we risk becoming obsolete. When we as leaders do not change, and when our models of leading do not change, we risk making our followers redundant and our organisational missions will cease to be applicable.

So, she concludes, as a contemporary leader, shift your focus from yourself and onto your followers. Renounce outdated, stereotypical, gendered leadership styles and aspire to lead in ways that draw on the proven strengths of both formerly masculine and feminine approaches to leadership. Recognise the irrelevance and inadequacies of trying to assert your charisma, and strive instead for authenticity. And finally, ensure that in all your actions, you serve the best interests of those who follow you to help them reach their full potential, and by so doing, you shall excel at achieving your organisational goals. By following these four leadership modifications, you will become a leader for the future.

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