Leadership needs to be transformative

Every true leader aspires that he creates leadership skills in his team so that together they form a formidable team. He desires that his vision and mission is shared and ascribed by all with equal passion and all are dedicated to achieve those milestones. To achieve this, he sets out empowering his colleagues to discover their potentials and pushes them to excel beyond their limits.

The global scenario today demands such leaders and as committed educators we have an onus of creating these transformational leaders. A good example of such a leader is Nelson Mandela who in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1993, urged the rest of the world to “fight racism, wherever it occurs and whatever guise it assumes” (Nelson Mandela-Nobel Lecture). 

Nevertheless wherever I go or have opportunities to meet many present leaders, I observe that the leadership is more centered towards them. Most are wary of giving acknowledgements to their team counterparts, offer enhanced training to team leaders for the fear of losing their positions to others. This insecurity prevents them from empowering others and the scenario is miserable as they miss out on the possibility of taking their leadership to greater heights. They could become leaders of leaders.

In this struggle for internal power and politics and lack of transaction of leadership skills, more often the teachers lack the headship skills themselves. When these teachers are expected to create leadership skills in their own students, they lack the knowledge and understanding of the concept 'leaders'. To most of them, inculcating leadership skill in students is synonymous with making monitors, or offering captain ship or making project Heads. They feel that giving responsibility and making students accountable will make them leaders which are alike to scratching surfaces but creating no deep impacts. 

Few simple tips to create transformational leadership which transcends from Head to teachers to students are:

1.    People believe what they see and not what they hear. Thus be a living example of your beliefs and vision and abide by it.

2.    Encourage participative leadership during meetings allowing teams to justify their perspectives. Being like a ball at a height gives you a 360 degree vision of the scenario and aids you to better decision making.

3.    Be a lifelong learner. Regularly update yourself with new technology, methodology, techniques so that you bring something constructive on the table. Encourage your team to be the same by enrolling them in summits, conferences, workshops, online learning and books.

4.    Allow yourself to be wrong at times. You are not a ‘be it all’. Appreciate the strengths others demonstrate and add it to your learning curve.

5.    Give tasks with deadlines to your teachers without formatted structures, offer guidance when asked and wait patiently for the result. You might get surprised with the creativity or you might have to recreate strategies. In both cases there is learning for all parties.

6.    Have it mandatory that all learning by the teachers is to be shared to entire staff on regular basis with regular monitoring.

Once your team is made powerful, the same power will flow to the students and from them to the community which once again powers you to excel. 

More tips could be achieved through the books mentioned below.

Also every situation is unique and may demand leadership which is more adaptive than technical. Thus one has to tread with a very open mindset and sometimes rely on gut and instinct.