Personal Leadership Blog, Part Two
Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Currently, I’m taking EDL/500 through the University of Phoenix. This is the second blog entry that serves as a type of reflection journal for class.

Strength-based leadership is a forward-thinking approach to problem-solving as well as master teaching in the school environment. In my experience, this kind of leadership implementation takes on a type of specialization that should be more prevalent in the professional education setting. School and site-based leadership are not that unlike working on a project. Roles for a project are given and the task is carried out. In many ways, per the successful completion of each task and component, each member becomes a type of expert relative to each project component.

In the school setting, the analogy cannot be any more clear. Teachers take on a type of role for school functions, initiatives, programs, or extra-curricular activities that speak to their strengths. This is easily likened to a team-based project with the exception that there are no project members. Rather, there are stakeholders. These stakeholders exist as administrators, co-workers, parents, students, the school system, and the community at-large.

The practice of working to one's skills and strengths and improving them with time is not a novelty. However, in the long term, this aids in the fostering of expectations and standard practices as a school entity. The successful and above-board implementation of strength-based leadership and election of leadership roles reinforces a school's mission, allows for shared responsibility, and most importantly creates a model with which to build on both in the short and long term. It is a highly preferable practice at the inception of ideas, the beginning of initiatives, and a worthy consideration while setting goals and benchmarks. We learn best from our teachers and strive to duplicate the magic they create in and out of the classroom, reinforcing the need for skill and strength-based decision-making and leadership.

 

Folks - Book One: History Repeats Itself