Effective communication and listening in educational leadership

Framing realistic goals for change is a critical component of success for all educational leaders. Dynamic assertives often act as change leaders but they are most effective when their vision of change is securely grounded and articulated in a specific way. Dynamic assertives can motivate people to exceed preconceived limitations but this does not mean they can bulldoze change through. They must be able to understand the perspectives and the concerns of those whom they are trying to encourage to actualize their potential. Leadership is always about dialogue and communication. No matter how positive the traits of a dynamic assertive, he or she still needs to sell those ideas to listeners. The risk of a dynamic assertive is to assume because he or she sees the change as necessary, everyone else does. Thus, I think one of the greatest virtues of an educational leader is that of a willingness to listen.

Student

I agree that creative assertive leaders are more likely to be present in industries such as advertising or the arts, in which 'like attracts like' -- i.e., highly creative leaders are likely to be best in industries where employees thrive on change and dislike predictability. Also, there is a problem that these types of leaders can be so instinctual that deadlines and policies are not adhered to in a rigorous fashion. However, I do think that a creative assertive leader would be willing to listen to your ideas and one of the advantages of such a leaders is that he or she would be more likely to judge people based upon the merits of high-quality ideas than by the positions of the people articulating those ideas.

Student #3

No matter how talented someone may be, if someone is cutthroat and aggressive, to me it is simply not 'worth it' to work for them. Such people tend to be apt to engage in unprovoked rages and the fact that the person you describe was unable to tolerate mistakes indicates that he was incapable of fostering an environment of growth and learning. The true test of a great leader is being able to operate under adversity.

Student #4

The problems you had with your first boss illustrate what can arise when a supervisor tries to apply the principles which worked at his original organization to a new one. Not all organizational cultures are the same and the military has a very unique hierarchical worldview that is not necessarily to the dynamic and creative climate of most businesses today. Being extremely numbers-driven is also not necessarily conducive to good business practices, given that this can generate a fixation on short-term rather than long-term growth.