When I look at very influential leaders they all share a common message- relationships matter. You cannot be a leader without the support of others. From Trump to the Dalai Lama, leading is inexistent without building relationships. The statement, “Get the right people on your team, and get the wrong ones off,” holds little truth in our world today. If we only focus on one group of people, we move in a linear direction. As I saw with the election, though Trump has some absurd values, he was able to convince many types of groups that his leadership was ideal-- just as an example.
In chapter four of, Leading in a Culture of Change, it outlines seven attributes to building relationships and supports the statement that, “leaders create relationships.” The seven aspects to developing relationships are as follows (Fullan, 2001):
I truly believe that the best leader is the one who lets the (often) unheard be heard. Leaders give voice to those who may not be able to or feel like the outlier. Looking at this question from a statistical perspective, we see a rise in women leaders. As reported by Forbe, many interesting findings have been revealed with the rise of women leaders. Forbe reports that, “While communication is seen as the most important attribute of good leaders by both sexes, women are more likely to perceive this skill in terms of listening and engaging in two-way dialogue, while men are more likely to focus on broadcasting message (Medland, 2016).” This hits the point that relationship building, rather than dictator-leading, influences the mass. It hears all sides and involves all perspectives. It keeps the “wrong” and the “right” on the playing field so that the best possible outcome can be collaboratively created. Through a study done by 438,000 respondents, the findings were that, “ "Managers with experience building relationships are seen as more effective (Baldoni, 2007).” Just knowing my personal experience with leaders, I had the most respect and favored the ones who I saw care and show respect for each individual person. We teach our students to care about one another and have respect, and it isn’t surprising that even as adults we uphold the leaders who carry these attributes. Baldoni, John. 2007. Great Leaders Build Off Great Relationships. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/2437699/leadership-management/great-leaders-build-off-great-relationships.html Medland, Dina. 2016. Today’s Gender Reality in Statistics, or Making Leadership Attractive to Women. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/dinamedland/2016/03/07/todays-gender-reality-in-statistics-or-making-leadership-attractive-to-women/#44c0b5ea6883 Schaefer, B. 2015. On Becoming a Leader: Building Relationships and Creating Communities. Retreived from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/10/on-becoming-a-leader-building-relationships-and-creating-communities
2 Comments
Tristan
4/1/2017 11:49:39 am
I have also had the most respect for the leaders in my life who have taken the time to build relationships with the staff and actually know what’s going on in their lives and classrooms. They take the time to listen when there are issues in the classroom which need their attention and have time to talk to you about the celebrations in the classroom as well. My present experience in the classroom has now showed me both sides of the coin, administrators who care and those who don’t (or don’t seem to at least). My old job had an administrator who cared, she knew what was going on in our lives, she wanted to hear the good and bad, now that I am in a job without that, I miss it more than ever. There were a lot less students at that school so she had more time, but my current school has 3 administrators and I have only had a conversation once before school started with them, besides the evaluation conversations we must have. I get frustrated often because I feel like I have no support from the people in the school who are supposed to be the leaders. They don’t make you feel important or valued. The district I am in until May is falling apart and I feel like that’s the reason why, importance is put on everything else besides teachers.
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4/2/2017 01:34:19 pm
Jule,
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Author2nd Grade teacher at Keet Gooshi Heen in Sitka, Alaska Archives
April 2017
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