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Introduction

The most vital assets in any organization are the human resources, and the leader is responsible for managing these resources. The task of cultivating, organizing, and motivating people to improve an organization’s productivity holds much importance, especially for school leaders, who seek improvement to ensure that students grow, develop, and reach their maximum potential, the key to a community’s prosperity. Leading school improvement is serious business, indeed!

Research shows a general consensus that schools can improve, but how to improve schools remains a topic of much research and heated debate both politically and intellectually. On one hand, many argue that school systems should take a corporate approach; they should use data to monitor performance, rewarding the productive educators and removing the ineffective ones. The other school of thought suggests that leaders should provide educators with a supportive and nurturing environment, trust them with a high degree of professional autonomy, and assume that they will make good, professional decisions. In this book, we argue that school leadership has much more complexity than either of these two approaches; leaders must do more than simply order change or nurture a warm organizational climate and hope that people will change. Effective school leaders must develop specific skills—a balance of both having assertiveness and encouraging autonomy—to engage those they lead in the change process.

Richard DuFour and Michael Fullan (2013) perfectly sum up our argument in the following passage from their book Cultures Built to Last: Systemic PLCs at Work®:

How should leaders engage people in the complex process of cultural change? Should they be tight—assertive, issuing top-down directives that mandate change? Or should they be loose—merely encouraging people to engage in the change process, but leaving participation optional? The challenge at all levels of the system is to navigate this apparent dichotomy and find the appropriate balance between tight and loose, between assertiveness and autonomy. If we know anything about change, it is that ordering people to change doesn’t work, nor does leaving them alone. (p. 33)

The delicate balance between loose and tight, as DuFour and Fullan (2013) describe it, requires that a leader have a comprehensive set of leadership skills. Without these skills, trying to differentiate between the right time to nurture and the right time to demand performance can lead current and aspiring school leaders down a slippery slope. People cannot logically expect that this collection of delicate skills would come naturally to everyone seeking to lead schools. In fact, we contend that people rarely have the instincts necessary to naturally strike this balance, and without proper guidance, every school would need a superhero to create the conditions for improvement. Fullan (2003) acknowledges that the goal should be to make leadership “more exciting and doable. It cannot require superwomen and supermen or moral martyrs because, if it does, we will never get the numbers necessary to make a system difference” (p. xv).

Our goal with this book is to provide leaders with a logical and duplicable process so that anyone who wants to become an effective school leader has a road map for success. We begin by exploring what we know about good leadership.

Leadership as a Skill

Leadership represents the ability to use influence to improve organizational productivity. Leadership is not a position; it is a set of actions that positively shape the climate and culture of the working environment. In essence, leadership is a verb, not a noun. We know a good leader is present when those whom he or she influences have become more effective and productive at their given task because of the impact of the leader. Consider this: most would agree that a reading teacher lacks effectiveness if his or her students don’t improve their reading skills after being exposed to the practices and influence of a reading teacher. Wouldn’t the same standard apply to a school or district leader? He or she is not a successful leader if those he or she leads do not succeed. For this reason, isolating and evaluating individual teachers as the sole indicator for school progress, using their students’ test scores to determine success or failure, is doomed to fail as a public policy and school-improvement method. The teacher does not work on an island; the teacher is a product of his or her leaders, just as the teacher influences a student. In fact, no one truly works in isolation. Educators are a part of an intricate web, each contributing to the success or failure of their system. All educators are leaders, yet they all need leadership. The question each educator should ask becomes, “What responsibility do I have for influencing and improving those I have to guide?”

In a school, productivity is measured in terms of this influence and improvement in both student learning and personal growth. Productive schools shape the future in positive ways. Education is a high-stakes business, not because of a ranking or accountability rating given by a state or government agency, but because educators only get thirteen years to help shape the future of young human beings. This shaping process requires profound care and skill. This makes school leadership one of the most critical positions in a progressive society.

Too often, people assume that because someone has shown promise or experienced success in a particular area, he or she has the ability to guide others to that same level of greatness. This is simply an inaccurate assumption. Andrew Munro (2005) warns:

Wrapping up attributes, behaviours, tasks and outcomes into a package of competency dimensions might seem an economical way of summarising leadership and management requirements, but by bundling cause and consequence there is a risk of confusing who is currently effective (displaying the achievement of outcomes) from who might be effective in the future (evidence of those attributes predictive of outcomes). (p. 65)

Schools cannot ensure effective school leadership by simply promoting a good teacher to the role of principal or promoting a good principal to the role of superintendent. The skills required to lead other people differ from those personal and professional skills required to perform other tasks. In 2002, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) reported that by 2012, 40 percent of the United States’ principals would retire, and qualified candidates would not replace most of them. We are now years beyond that stark warning. The NASSP (2002) report also notes that few school districts have structured recruitment programs that systematically seek out the best principal candidates, or implement training programs that grow future leaders.

Unfortunately, the crisis predicted in 2002 was even worse than anticipated. In a stunning report titled Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover, the School Leaders Network (2014) confirms that 25 percent of principals leave their post each year and 50 percent leave after three years. That same report also highlights the impact that principal turnover and effectiveness have on students. It concludes that a 10 percent drop in principal turnover in high-poverty communities, coupled with district investment in principal effectiveness, would translate to an increase of $30,024.07 in lifetime earnings for students enrolled in those schools (School Leaders Network, 2014). Therefore, it is imperative that school systems recruit and retain leaders who understand how to lead and sustain school improvement. This requires that school and district leaders possess a set of diverse skills that can impact both the technical and cultural dimensions of organizational change.

Technical change involves the manipulation of policies, structures, and practices. Organizations really need this form of change, but when used exclusively, it ignores very important aspects of organizational reform (Muhammad, 2009). Cultural change refers to addressing the beliefs, values, motivations, habits, and behaviors of the people who work within the organization. People often overlook this form of change because it is challenging and complex (Muhammad, 2009). In this book, we will establish that changing the culture of an organization is essential to improving outcomes, and it provides the context to make technical innovation effective. Technically savvy but culturally ineffective leaders will find little success in transforming schools.

Human beings are complex, so leaders need a skill set as diverse as human beings themselves in order to cultivate better practice. To begin our discussion of the skills that effective change leaders require, we first look at the transformational leadership model and what it means to become a transformational leader.

Transformational Leadership

James MacGregor Burns (1978) originally introduced the transformational leadership model in a book titled Leadership. Burns (1978) describes transformational leadership as a process where “leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality” (p. 20). The clarity and specifics of this model have advanced since he first introduced it in 1978. His original model provided a paradigm for transformational influence but very few specifics. Bernard M. Bass (1985) significantly contributed to the study of this model when he introduced eight characteristics of transformational leadership.

1. Model integrity and fairness.

2. Set clear goals.

3. Have high expectations.

4. Encourage others.

5. Provide support and recognition.

6. Stir people’s emotions.

7. Encourage people to look beyond their self-interest.

8. Inspire people to reach for the improbable.

A scholarly paper that Langston University (2016) published, titled Transformational Leadership, includes the most compelling and vivid description of this form of leadership that we have found:

Transformational leadership is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. Enacted in its authentic form, transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms. (p. 1)

We believe that schools will have the best chance to significantly impact student outcomes if they develop transformational leaders—leaders who understand that their behavior significantly contributes to their schools, districts, families, communities, and world. Leadership is serious business; an ineffective leader can make a lasting negative impression while an effective leader can positively impact lives for generations. We believe that every school and every district deserves transformational leaders.

The evolving definition of a transformational leader has led us to a question: What skills must a leader possess to positively influence those who are subject to his or her leadership? The previous works have heavily described the outcomes but lightly described the specific skills needed to achieve them. Because effective change leaders are not born, but rather evolve from experience and training, we seek to provide a concrete and duplicable guide for becoming a transformational leader. We don’t need superheroes to get this right. We need to focus on four essential skills that transformational leaders need—skills that focus on the why, the who, and the how of change—so that leaders and those they lead can ultimately do the change, making it a reality.

1. Leaders must effectively communicate the rationale—the why of the work: People tend to resist change to practice and lack motivation to improve when leaders have not skillfully communicated the rationale or case for improvement. To embrace a vision, people have to clearly understand the vision and feel personally compelled to contribute to the vision.

2. Leaders must effectively establish trust—the who of the work: A transformational leader needs the very essential ability to connect with others’ emotions. Facts and objective evidence alone do not inspire people; people need to connect with their leader on a personal level and know that their leader has not just an intellectual connection but also an ethical connection to their purpose.

3. Leaders must effectively build capacity—the how of the work: People will more willingly take a risk and try a new idea if leaders have prepared them professionally. Leaders must invest in training, resources, and time if they want educators to enthusiastically embrace new ideas and practices.

4. Leaders must get results—the do of the work: Ultimately, improvement cannot be optional. A transformational leader must skillfully assess and meet the needs of those he or she leads, but eventually, he or she has to demand full participation in the change and improvement process.

In addition, we want to clarify that transformational school leadership is not only synonymous with administration. Teachers, counselors, and classified staff (secretaries, custodians, and paraprofessionals) may actively help promote change initiatives that benefit a school’s core purpose. Throughout this book, we provide a variety of experiences in the form of scenarios that leaders—not just administrators—might find themselves in, along with skills and strategies to utilize during the change process.

Chapter Overviews

We have designed this book to serve as a practical, research-based tool for anyone looking to improve his or her leadership skills to achieve more favorable results. We will examine research on effective leadership, current and past obstacles to progressive change, and philosophical and concrete tools designed to maximize educational professionals’ performance.

Chapter 1 provides a theoretical case for transformational leadership. We will examine the history of trying to effect change in schools by looking at the scholarship and the methods and determine why they failed to achieve the desired change. We establish our model’s mechanics as we explore the advantages of taking a balanced approach to change by blending the principles of support and accountability. A leader’s ability to address the why, the who, and the how and then do makes up the core of the transformational leadership concept.

Chapter 2 addresses leaders’ need to communicate the rationale—the why. Communication involves more than the simple transfer of information. When leaders address the why with their followers, they connect to the rational side of human nature essential in the quest to improve performance and outcomes. It is the ability to create, articulate, and inspire other people to invest in an organizational vision larger than themselves that makes a leader transformational.

Chapter 3 addresses leaders’ need to build trust—the who. In this chapter, we examine the development of a leader’s ability to successfully create meaningful professional relationships. A leader must have the ability to connect with human nature’s emotional side in the quest to improve performance and outcomes. Sometimes, people are motivated by a change concept because it resonates intellectually with them, while others commit to a change because they believe in the person who leads the change. The ability to communicate without the ability to appeal to people emotionally and build trust leads to only partial transformation.

Chapter 4 addresses leaders’ need to build capacity—the how. A leader must know how to diagnose his or her followers’ professional and material needs in the quest to improve performance and outcomes. No matter how much a person recognizes the need to change and connects with his or her colleagues in a deep, emotional way, he or she can’t effectively participate in change without the skills to execute the practice and the resources to do so successfully. Leaders need to engage in capacity building to close the skill gaps that cause some people to disengage with the change process.

Chapter 5 addresses leaders’ need to get results—the do. After a leader makes significant investments in the needs of the organization’s members, a moment of truth occurs where preparation meets execution. A leader who does not have the courage to demand execution just turns a vision into a suggestion. A good leader must anticipate that even with the sincerest of support efforts, a small party of individuals will probably only respond to authority. At that moment, a transformational leader has to be willing to demand compliance.

Chapter 6 further discusses the components of the transformational leadership model by tying them all together with tips for implementation. We provide a call to action and challenge school leaders to move from talking about substantive change to creating a plan that leads people through this process.

Throughout the book, we provide scenarios constructed from the experiences of real school leaders along with tools for reflection so that you can practice thinking and acting like a transformational leader. Like any other skill, leadership has to be practiced, so we have described and highlighted some compelling dilemmas faced by real leaders. These exercises will allow you to sharpen your skills so you can avoid making mistakes in real time with real people.

Conclusion

Past school leadership models have lacked balance and the proper insight into human motivation, which has resulted in little change and little progress in raising overall student achievement and closing academic achievement gaps. The need for quality education is dire. By the year 2020, 65 percent of American jobs will require some form of postsecondary education (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). The evidence from reliable achievement data demonstrates that U.S. schools have not academically accelerated students who live in poverty and the United States’ black and Latino students to meet this job market’s demands. A 2014 U.S. Department of Education report finds the following regarding U.S. schools.

▶ Among high schools serving the highest percentage of African American and Latino students, one in three do not offer a single chemistry course, and one in four do not offer a course more advanced than algebra 1.

▶ In schools that offer gifted and talented programs, African American and Latino students represent 40 percent of students, but only 26 percent of those students enroll in such programs.

▶ African American students, Latino students, and students living below the national poverty line attend schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers than do middle-class white students.

▶ African American students are suspended and expelled from school at a rate more than three times as high as white students (16 percent versus 5 percent).

These data reinforce the fact that school leadership, at every level, needs to improve. Student academic success and skill development are matters of survival for many, especially in a world that is quickly moving away from the industrial model into a knowledge-based economy. The needs of society are changing faster than many schools’ ability to create positive momentum, especially for our most vulnerable populations. If effective leadership is judged by positive impact on performance, these data suggest that there is a huge need for positive influence and change in our school systems. Improving the skill and effectiveness of leadership is essential in the quest to provide every student with a quality and useful education. As we work with school leaders, we do not observe a lack of sincerity and desire to improve the effectiveness of their environments. What we observe are sincere, hardworking people who lack an understanding of how to properly cultivate an environment of change. We believe that the transformational leadership model, and the essential skills attached to this model, is the best solution to this problem.