Teacher Leader KnowledgeBase

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

The Teacher Leader KnowledgeBase aims to raise awareness of the teacher leader role at the district level and to support teachers aspiring to the teacher leader role through master's degree-level university programs.

Task 2: Explore Leadership Styles and Skills

Guideline: The understanding of leadership styles and traits has evolved throughout the 20th century. As noted in an article on leadership styles at Mind Tools.com, the thinking in the 1930’s focused on autocratic, democratic, and laissez-faire leaders. Currently, leadership styles have expanded to include autocratic, bureaucratic, charismatic, democratic/participative, laissez-faire, people-oriented/relations-oriented, servant leadership, task-oriented, transactional, and transformational. It is also recognized that no single style fits all situations. Effective leadership involves using a range of approaches depending on the situation.

It is important to recognize leadership roles may take on either a formal or informal dimension. Formal leaders are those persons who are fulfilling designated organizational leadership roles with prescribed authority and responsibilities. Informal leaders are persons whose leadership capacities are recognized by others willing to follow them, but they may not have designated organizational leadership authority or responsibilities.

Being aware of leadership qualities, styles, and skills is important to aspiring leaders.

Resources

Tools

Leadership Assessment Tool Inventory

This link is to a series of leadership assessment tools available through the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. The series of eight assessments addresses different aspects of leadership. As noted at the website, "These exercises assess your ability to apply critical management skills to identify and solve key organizational problems. Scores are automatically calculated and compared to reference distributions of the scores of random samples of managers."

References

Leadership Characteristics

This link to the University of Oregon's Holden Leadership Center offers a list of key leadership characteristics.

Leading Gen Y Teachers: Emerging Strategies for School Leaders

This Research and Policy Brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders discusses strategies to recruit, retain, and support Gen Y teachers. As districts and schools formulate teachers in leadership roles, this brief may be useful in addressing the interests and needs of Gen Y teachers.

Mixing and Managing Four Generations of Employees

This link is to a 2005 article in FDU Magazine, published online by Fairleigh Dickinson University. The article, authored by Greg Hammill, former director of intern and student programs, discusses the differences among the four generations of employees currently in the workplace. Though the article's focus is the general business workplace, its concepts might be useful to teachers in leadership roles working with teachers of differing generations.

The Top 10 Leadership Qualities

This link is to an HRWorld article identifying ten character traits of successful leaders. This list may be of interest to teachers aspiring to leadership roles.

Tomorrow's Teacher Leaders: Nurturing a Disposition of Leadership

This article from the Fall 2010 issue of Academic Leadership Journal examines the qualities associated with a disposition of leadership. The authors note, "Teachers with a disposition of leadership exhibit positive self-esteem, feelings of significance, competence, and power, and high self-efficacy. Together, these qualities create a foundation of confidence, motivation, and perseverance necessary for teachers to effectively lead in today’s schools."