Topic: Introduction to Leadership

 

Weekly Reflection                                                    

Week 2 (24 October 2021)                                                          

I would like to start my weekly reflection by stating the definition of leadership. Dr Roslizam shared with us PPT slides describing characteristics of world leaders such as Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. As for me, leadership may be defined as someone who possesses certain characteristics and personalities which he enables to hold, move or direct certain group members to achieve a target or goal.  A good leader can somehow control, or even instruct his group members to work ‘with’ not ‘for’ him. It is a skill to influence others that not everyone could acquire. According to Al-Shamsi et all (2018), leaders are a  key source of influence on organizational variables as well as productivity. It is the ability to persuade others to achieve the targeted objective. I’m very much attracted by the slides shown by Dr Roslizam on Adolf Hitler, the chancellor of Germany. Although he had committed genocide by destroying a certain group of people, still ‘his people’ elected him to be their leader. I presume he had skills that enabled him to lead his country. 

As I was a teacher; technically a leader in my organization; leading my students to accomplish what has been planned at the end of our journey. The concept of teachers being a leader is now widely accepted as the aim and goal is to enhance the teaching quality as well as students learning. Wenner and Campbell (2017) supported this concept as teacher leadership aims to promote student learning and achievement, including to develop the school organisation altogether.  

Why leadership is important? Dr Roslizam mentioned the key elements why being a leader is crucial in our society. Some factors are :

 

■      For crises

■      For organizational performance

■      For employee job satisfaction

■      For successful management

To be precise, to handle a critical situation, a leader must develop a strong team because it does not work one way. To achieve top-notch performance, without trust and cooperation between the ‘captain’ and his ‘crew’, the ship will be doomed. 

I was also fascinated with Dr Roslizam explanation of the characteristics of Manager vs Leader. It is very clear cut that managers and leaders possess slightly different personality traits

Managers ■      Administer ■      Maintain ■      Control ■      Short-term view ■      Ask “how & when” ■      Imitate ■      Accept status quo ■      Do things right

Leaders ■      Innovate ■      Develop ■      Inspire ■      Long-term view ■      Ask “what & why” ■      Originate ■      Challenge status quo ■      Do the right things

 

In reflecting upon the differences between manager and leader, I remember back in 2003 just being posted as a new young teacher in one of the schools in Kuala Lumpur, I often denied the important role of being a teacher leader. I felt it was not important back then without realizing that it was the most crucial element regardless of how young you were. I was teaching the Upper Six students who were just 5 years younger than me. I kept my distance and had my own space. Shondrick, Dinh, & Lord (2010) proposed that, when leaders’ behaviours are not aligned with followers’ expectations (either higher or lower), followers may evaluate them as being laissez-faire. Technically I was a laissez-faire! 

I could manage to control them but not inspire, maintaining the bond but unable to develop new rapport, and I always thought I did things right without knowing I must do the right things with my students by challenging or even motivating them. In a leadership context, Wills (2015) identified three main areas why leadership is important. Firstly, it is important for a leader to display his competence in working professionally with their colleagues; in my situation with my students which I did not demonstrate especially when handling the critical situation. Secondly, Wills emphasizes the importance of collaborating with colleagues and lastly, participating in decision making. These are the important elements that make a leader effective. If you don’t possess any of these then you are incompetent.    

To sum up, towards the end of the lecture, Dr Roslizam asked a question for us to ponder. What is the best leadership style? People; teachers specifically; have their preference and style of leadership. For me, sticking to one style could be effective but not in the long term. As we grow and become more mature, we tend to change and broaden our leadership styles. I hope one day, I could find the style that enables me to make difference in someone’s life. 

 Reference:

Al-Shamsi,  R.,  Ameen,  A.,  Isaac,  O.,  Al-Shibami,  A.  H.,  &  Sayed  Khalifa,  G.  (2018).  The  Impact of Innovation and  Smart  Government on  Happiness:  Proposing  Conceptual  Framework.  International Journal of Management and Human Science (IJMHS), 2(2), 10-26.

Shondrick, S. J., Dinh, J. E., & Lord, R. G. 2010. Developments in implicit leadership theory and cognitive science: Applications to improving measurement and understanding alternatives to hierarchical leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 21: 959-978.

Wenner, J. A., & Campbell, T. (2017). The theoretical and empirical basis of teacher leadership: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 20(10), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316653478 

Wills, A. (2015). A case study of teacher leadership at an elementary school. Unpublished Certificate of Advanced Study Thesis. Sacred Heart University. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/edl/6