servant-leadership in elt: feeble drivel or natural fit?
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Servant-Leadership in ELT: feeble drivel or natural fit?
Barbara Craig
Specialist Teacher, Student Learning Centre, Flinders University
Sandra Pitronaci
Associate Director ELC Programs, Macquarie University English
Language Centre
English Australia Conference 21 September 2018
Intentions
• Review some leadership and management theories
• Examine complexity theory and systems thinking
• Consider the notion of servant-leadership
• Discuss as leaders how we can survive and thrive in changing times
• Hear your thoughts and ideas throughout
Task 1: GTKY
• How many of you have come to ELT leadership through your role as:
teacher
student advisor or welfare officer
administrator in a school system
marketer
accountant or other financial role
ownership of the business
other
• How many have had formal leadership training?
Task 2: Culture & Leadership
• Write 3 adjectives to describe your workplace culture
• Write 3 adjectives to describe yourself as a leader
• Share with partner
• Can you articulate your key leadership principles? What are they?
• What commonalities can you see between your teaching in the classroom
and your leading in the staffroom?
Theories & styles
Great Man Theory & Trait Theories
Leaders are born, not mad
Behavioural Theories
Leaders can be made by learning the
‘right’ behaviours
e.g. Blake & Mouton’s Managerial/Leadership Grid
Theories & styles
Contingency Theories
Leadership style is
contingent on presenting
constraints
Least Preferred Co-Worker Scale (Fiedler’s Contingency Theory)
Situational Leadership
Where does ‘service’ fit?
Aristotle 384-322 BC
What is the essence of life? To serve others and do good.
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.
Peter Senge
No one in the past 30 years has had a more profound impact on thinking about leadership [than Robert Greenleaf].
• Underlying approach/philosophy – a constant base – from which leaders can move between leadership models as required, in a principled, eclectic way
• Supports many current leadership models and theories
Task 3: Complexity Theory
i. Complex Dynamic Systems
ii. The New Science
iii. Systems Thinking
iv. The Mess
• Have you heard of any of these theories?
• What do you understand about them?
Complexity Theory
i. Complex Dynamic Systems – Diane Larsen-Freeman
Chaos/complexity theory and SLA
• Theory originated from biology, maths, physics
• More recently applied to business management and SLA
Complexity theory aims to account for how the interacting parts of a complex
system give rise to the system’s collective behavior and how such a system
simultaneously interacts with its environment. (Larsen-Freeman & Cameron 2008)
Complexity Theory
Examples of Complex Dynamic Systems:
• Living organisms
• Weather patterns
• The stock market
• The human brain
• Schools/Organisations
Complexity Theory
Characteristics of Complex Dynamic Systems:
• Open and respond to feedback
• Change over time (dynamic)
• Change is non-linear and unpredictable
• Components interact and behaviour is emergent
The New Science
ii. The New Science – Margaret Wheatley
Systems thinking and chaos theory in learning
organisations
Learnings from the New Science:
• An organisation ≠ machine, people ≠ cogs or parts
• Envisage the organisation as a living system
• Relationships are the key determiner of everything
• Leadership is a behaviour, not a role
Complexity Theory
How is this related to my college/organisation?
Consider linear systems versus complex systems:
Linear
Hierarchical org chart
Chain of command
Siloed teams
Prescriptive curriculum
Unilateral decisions
Complex
Matrix org chart
Egalitarian interactions
Cross-functional teams
Descriptive curriculum
Pool of knowledge
Systems Thinking
iii. Systems Thinking – Peter Senge
The Learning Organisation
Living systems have integrity. Their character depends on the whole. The same
is true for organizations; to understand the most challenging managerial issues
requires seeing the whole system that generates the issues. (Senge 2006)
Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking for Leaders:
• We are part of the system
• Integrate reason and intuition
• Look for patterns rather than react to events
• Be committed to the whole
The Mess
iv. The Mess - Adrian Underhill
ELT Teacher, teacher trainer, author, consultant
What can Leaders make of the mess?
• Find out more about how the system works
• Do something different and see what happens
• Look for unintended consequences
Finally there is the increasingly urgent call that leadership should actually
serve people. (Underhill 2005)
Task 3: Ideas and behaviours to consider Ideas and behaviours to consider
Thoughts?
Do you have lunch with your staff in the staff kitchen?
Is your office door generally open? What do you say when you answer the phone?
Do you practise daily in MBWA, asking people if they are ok, what they need, how you can help?
Do you ask your staff how you can improve their workloads?
Do you stop in the corridor when asked a question, and give people serious time?
Do you ask your staff how you can improve systems and processes?
Do you ask your staff what they would like for PD?
Do you encourage your staff to actively participate in meetings?
Do you look for opportunities for your staff to grow?
Do you develop leadership capabilities in your staff?
Do you ask your staff how you can help when they are ill or in a bad place or not performing well?
Do you happily jump into any role across the organisation if needed, such as sitting at reception, buying milk, or
packing the dishwasher?
Do you fall into the trap of proclaiming busy-ness or harbouring secret martyrdom when asked for help or when
interrupted, or do you consider supporting staff to be a core function of your role?
Do you tackle the difficult conversations in order to help your staff develop, or do you shy away?
Do you give praise and credit where praise and credit are due?
Do you hold back and let your staff speak and acknowledge their expertise?
Are you genuinely open to taking on ideas, suggestions and feedback?
Do you model courtesy, equity, humility, openness, and preparedness to lend a hand?
Servant Leadership
v. Servant Leadership – Robert K. Greenleaf
• 1904 – 1990, USA
• Believed the ‘command and control’ leadership approach was creating a national leadership crisis
• 1970 essay “The Servant as Leader”
Servant as leader – the paradox
Spears 2010
Servant leadership is strongly based in ethical and caring behavior, and enhances the
growth of workers while improving the caring and quality of organizational life.
Director
Senior Managers
Teachers and Admin Staff
Students
Students
Teacher and Admin Staff
Senior Managers
Director
What is Servant Leadership?
• Draws on principles rather than processes • Recognises that to achieve organisational goals, a leader needs to first work on:
• themselves How do my beliefs and actions impact upon those in my care?
• the work environment How do my staff relate to each other, to their roles and to our purpose?
• the needs of staff What do my staff need in order to perform well and to belong to this community?
• Takes holistic view of organisation, including staff, customers and stakeholders
What is Servant Leadership?
• Emphasises power of persuasion and consensus over top-down
management (seeks to convince rather than coerce)
• Values voice and leadership of all staff
• Involves others in decision-making
• Seeks to “draw out, inspire and develop the best and highest within people
from the inside out” (S. Covey 2001)
• Works with intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivators
• Promotes community
Key behaviours (Spears 2003)
1. Listening
• to staff – to what is said and unsaid
• to self – honest reflection
2. Empathy
• accepting, non-judgmental, appreciates others
• gives credit generously
• works with diversity to create strengths
3. Healing
• demand high (Underhill)
• humility – we are all a little bit broken
• mistakes are part of the learning process – make it ‘safe’
• extends trust, delegates
Key behaviours (Spears 2003) 4. Awareness
• self-awareness – grows in own competence
• views situations from systems perspective
• models
5. Persuasion
• seeks to convince others rather than force compliance
• effectively builds consensus within groups
6. Conceptualisation
• concept-thinking (dream great dreams)
• provides and models vision and inspires following
7. Foresight
• understands lessons from past, what is currently happening, what is likely in future
Key behaviours (Spears 2003)
8. Stewardship
• views leadership as position of trust and service to organization, to those within it and to
society
• has commitment to serving needs of others – resources, information, time, attention
• works with integrity and honesty – builds own competence
9. Commitment to growth of people
• believes in intrinsic value of all – beyond their contributions to organisation
• nurtures personal, professional and spiritual growth of employees
10. Building community
• workplace culture? We are integral in building this, we set the scene
Task 5: Reflection
• Matching pairs task quite straightforward - let’s reflect on our own practice:
1. Which of these behaviours have you observed or experienced from leaders
you have known?
2. Where do you most of your own workplace behaviours naturally fall?
3. Are there any areas you would like to develop in?
Feeble drivel…?
• Personal/professional status?
• Losing power and authority?
• Being regarded as weak or servile?
• Devolution of power will go in wrong direction?
• Too meek an attitude for a complex, dynamic world?
…or natural fit?
• A return to your ‘teacher calling’?
• Humility, openness and authenticity can build staff trust (as it did in the
classroom with our students)
• Associated behaviours can slowly permeate culture on many levels
• Leaders actually take the lead in self-reflection and growth
• Serving can take many forms – coaching, modelling, or being autocratic –
but putting the good of others and the organisation first
• …and because it’s simply a good way of doing leadership…a natural fit for
educators?
Surviving and thriving
How does complexity theory help my organisation survive and thrive?
How does servant leadership help my organisation survive and thrive?
Some ideas…
• In the face of environmental change, a living organism will either…?
• Remember that your organisation is a living organism, reacting and adapting, and you can have an influence on the emerging behaviours
• SL is a stance of humility – once you decide to take the ego out of your role, you can react less subjectively to change
• Spears #8 key behaviour of stewardship – once you reconcile yourself to your role of stewardship, you might react more objectively to change
Contacts
Barbara Craig barbara.craig@flinders.edu.au
Specialist Teacher, Flinders University
Sandra Pitronaci sandra.pitronaci@mq.edu.au
Associate Director ELC Programs, Macquarie University
References
Coombe, C. et. al (eds) (2008) Leadership in English Language Teaching and Learning. The University of Michigan Press.
Christison, M. & Murray, D. (eds) (2009) Leadership in English Language Education. Theoretical Foundations and Practical Skills for Changing Times. Routledge, New York.
Covey, S. (1989) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Powerful lessons in personal change. Simon & Schuster, London.
Global Definitions of Leadership and Theories of Leadership Development: Literature Review, Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/final_leadership_composite_report_with_references_26-06-17.pdf
Greenleaf, R., (1977) Servant Leadership. A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Paulist Press, New York.
Greenleaf, R. (2003) in Spears et. al (eds) The Servant Leader Within. A Transformative Path. Paulist Press, New York.
Keffard, R. (2004) ‘Robert Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership – an evaluation’, Independence, 29(2).
Larsen-Freeman, D. & Cameron, L. (2008) Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Russell, R.F., & Stone, A.G. (2002) ‘A review of servant leadership attributes: developing a practical model’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(3).
Senge, P.M. (2006) The Fifth Discipline. The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, (2nd ed), Crown Business, New York.
Spears, L. (1995) (ed.) Reflections on Leadership. How Robert K. Greenleaf’s theory of servant-leadership influenced today’s top management thinkers. Jon Wiley & Sons.
Spears, L. (2010) ‘Character and Servant Leadership: Ten Characteristics of Effective, Caring Leaders’, The Journal of Virtues & Leadership 1(1).
Spears, L. The Understanding and Practice of Servant-Leadership. Available at: https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/.../spears_practice.pdf
Spears, L. The 10 Gifts of a Servant Leader. Available at: http://www.dailygood.org/story/447/the-10-gifts-of-a-servant-leader-larry-spears/
Srinivasan, A. & Kurey, B. Creating a Culture of Quality. Available at: https://hbr.org/2014/04/creating-a-culture-of-quality
Underhill, A. (2005) ‘Learning Leadership and ELT Today’, Humanising Language Teaching, 7(1).
Underhill, A. Reflective Practice, Action Inquiry and Deep Values. Available at: www.eltj.org/oxford%202007/Action%20Inquiry.pdf
Underhill, A. ‘10 Questions for Adrian Underhill’, English Australia Journal 29(1).
Wheatley, M.J. (2006) Leadership and the New Science. Discovering order in a chaotic world. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco.
White, R., Hockley, A., et. al (2008) From Teacher to Manager. Managing Language Teaching Organizations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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