The Meaning of Leadership and Influence

In our coaching office this morning, three of us had a lengthy dialogue around the meaning of “leadership,” “power,” and “authority.”  Multiple events triggered the conversation, but the central themes were school improvement and collective responsibility.  In a nutshell, many teachers have asked themselves (and others) what it means to be a school/instructional leader.

Is it about titles?  Is it about a job description?  Is it about responsibility?  Is it about vision? Is it about values and beliefs?  Is it about policy?  Is it about accountability?  Is it about fidelity?  Is it about collaboration?  I could go on and on, but the answer is both yes and no.

I found the following words on the Education Portal website:

“Remember that power is the ability to do something the specific way you want to do it by any means necessary. Leadership is painting a vision for others to follow. Authority is when a person has the right to give you an order or direction. And finally, influence is having an impact on someone's character, their development or even the way they think.”

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/differences-between-power-leadership-authority-influence.html#lesson

I like this piece, because within it, every teacher is a leader.  Certainly, within our own classrooms, we do paint the vision for our students.  But within our school, or our district, how might we paint a positive vision for others to follow?

Our School Improvement Framework tells us that school leaders can be formal or informal.  One teacher might be a member of the School Success Team, while another is not.  However, both can be leaders.  The title is not what makes the leader.  It’s about action and conviction.  For example, each time we stand up for what’s best for kids, we are painting a positive vision for others to follow.  We are leading, whether we mean to or not. 

What about leading our colleagues in other ways?  How might we paint a positive vision for others to follow?  Some ideas I have are as follows: instead of participating in negative conversations or piling on when something goes wrong, working together to construct a different way to try to achieve a goal; instead of ignoring a colleague who is struggling, offering to mentor or assist them; and instead of writing off the kids who are failing, create a one-on-one, long-term, life coaching relationship and tell your colleagues about it.

Maybe it all goes back to why we became teachers in the first place.  Certainly not for the fame, glory, or money, but because we share the fundamental belief in the inherent value of our influence – the “impact on someone’s character, their development or even the way they think.”  If we believe this about our students, why not believe this about our colleagues?