Leadership in the Learning Community

Leadership in the Learning Community In any organization, the role of a leader is vital. However, it can be even more significant in a school setting, where both staff and students need support. Leaders must take charge, but they also have to show that they are team players who can work with others to get the job done, so that the entire organization can move forward (Yammarino & Bass, 1990).

Leaders who cannot work well with others will see their followers move on, or those followers who have no choice but to stay will end up resenting the leader (Yukl, 1989). That is not a good situation, and a principal who finds himself in that situation must make changes quickly in order to help not only himself but his staff and students, as well. Leaders who are transformational in nature can provide support to students and adults, and they can do that in several ways that nurture good relationships with others.

One of the best things a principal can do in order to provide leadership to staff and students is to simply make himself available. Staying in one's office, behind closed doors all the time is not a good way to help a staff of teachers and other support personnel. It is also not a good way to help students - especially those who are young and may see the principal as an imposing or even a frightening figure.

Transformation leaders are those who are available to their followers (Yammarino & Bass, 1990). They make sure there is time to talk with others, and they go out of their way to make other people feel included. A principal can do that by talking to students and teachers in the hallways and during lunch and recess times, and by being seen around the school to the point where he just becomes a normal fixture there.

That will cut down on the nerves that some people experience when they see the principal, and it is not good to get a reputation as only showing up when someone (staff or student) has gotten into trouble for a violation of the rules. Being available is not always easy for a leader (Yukl, 1989). Some leaders are far more accessible than others, but principals have many demands on their time that are not related to talking to students and staff.

Operating a school and being responsible for the day-to-day operations is a job that belongs to a special kind of person. Having an open-door policy is good, but principals who want to get out and interact with their students and staff might find their hands tied because they simply have too much to do. They will not have the chance to get out into the hallways as much as they would like to, and that can leave them frustrated.

Principals also face obstacles when they try to befriend their staff and students, because there are rules for interaction that must be followed. It would be inappropriate for the principal to date a teacher, for example, and principals have to be careful about touching students, even if they are trying to console or comfort. Society requires principals to be very careful what they say and do, and that can get in the way of a principal trying to do his job and show students and staff that he cares.

Finding a balance is difficult for principals, because they want to get along with their students and staff, but at the same time they are the ones in charge, and the ones who must hand out discipline as well as praise.