my leadership philosophy
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Dec 6, 2023
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My Leadership Philosophy
EDU501: Leadership, Worldviews and Contemporary Issues
Dr. Nehrbass
California Baptist University
Shawnta Martinez
August 1, 2023
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My Leadership Philosophy
Leadership. It is so many things to so many people. It is ever changing
and ever evolving. It is influence. It is power. It is connection, empowerment,
change, love, hope, and risk all at once. Some say it looks the same in all
situations. Others say there is no one way to do it. Most agree that it results
in a positive change. Few claim it to be easy. In fact, there is a rumor it is
only for a select few. Over the course of the semester, it has been a
combination of all of these things in some way, shape, or form for me. Back
in August, I know that leadership consisted of these elements. In fact, on the
first day of class, we filled out an information sheet, and on it I vividly
remember writing down most of these words. They were in no particular
order and for many of them, I did not have the context to understand where
they came from. But nonetheless, I knew that this is how I saw, felt, and
practiced leadership. Over the course of the semester, I have slowly but
surely begun to string these words and concepts into an understanding of
leadership based on my own values, best practices, and research. To me,
leadership is the process by which people empower one another to create
positive change through connection that is grounded in shared values.
Within this understanding, there are multiple concepts that stem from
a variety of
leadership theories, including transformational leadership, authentic
leadership, and the Social Change Model of Leadership Development. The
first of these concepts is the idea that leadership is a process. Northouse
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(2012) explained that over the course of the last century, leadership has
been defined a variety of different ways by a number of different theorists. In
the early twentieth century, leadership b control and centralization of power,
moving into a focus on specific traits that made someone a leader, and then
to how a leader influences others to meet goals. Still today there is no one
shared understanding of leadership amongst academics or practitioners.
However, many, including me, do agree that leadership is a process rather
than a trait or perfected skill. For me, how could it be a perfected skill or
trait? We are constantly interacting with different people with different
identities and values, who because of this different view and receive
leadership in different ways. Leadership is many times situational,
demanding different approaches, styles, and strategies when working to
make a positive change (Northhouse, 2012, p. 99). For this reason, it is also
something that must be constantly and intentionally practiced. As we come
to understand more and more about ourselves, those around us, and the
society in which we live, we must evolve and grow in our understanding and
practice of leadership.
The second component of my leadership philosophy is that of
empowerment, specifically the process of empowering one another to create
positive change. It is essential to recognize that ‘empower’ is the verb in my
leadership philosophy. Empowerment is the interaction that is happening
between two or more people. Throughout the semester, I have gone back
and forth considering the differences between empowerment and influence.
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At the end of it, I feel that empowerment is about growth and development,
whereas influence can be about those things but does not have to be.
Empowerment is an exceptional form of influence and is cornerstone of
transformational leadership. It “raises the level of motivation and morality in
both the leader and the follower” (Northouse, 2012, p. 186). Empowerment
is about reaching one’s fullest potential. I believe empowerment is personal
and thrives most when a connection exists between the leader and followers.
This brings me to another key component of my leadership philosophy.
Connection is the force or commonality that binds two or more people
together. It is also a piece of transformational leadership as it is the driving
force behind raising people up and empowering them to act. It is also a
component of the Social Change model of Leadership Development.
According to Wagner (2009), connection with others, particularly when
aiming to create the
same positive change, is an essential piece to leadership. Connection fosters
self-meaning and
one’s ability to see their impact in the world around them. It reinforces that
idea that leading is not something that occurs in a vacuum. Rather,
leadership, and therefore positive change, can only occur when people
connect and empower one another. True connection, however, demands a
level of authentic leadership. Leading authentically means that one does not
negotiate personal values (Northouse, 2012, p. 259).
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Personal values are the final component necessary to create positive
change. Values and beliefs are key pieces to transformational and authentic
leadership, and particularly central to the Social Change Model. Specifically,
the Social Change Model identifies seven components essential to leadership
development, two of which being an awareness of one’s own values and
beliefs as well as shared community beliefs (Cliente, 2009). In alignment with
this notion, I firmly believe that the ability to identify and act on one’s own
beliefs and finding others who share those values is at the foundation of the
ability to build connection and therefore empower others toward positive
change. Identifying and acting on personal and shared values is also an ode
to the idea that leadership is a process rather than a reachable skill. Personal
values are deeply rooted and central to understanding how we relate to
others. As we come into new environments, contexts, and interact with new
people, our values may show up differently. Shared community values may
change. We must do the continuous work needed to understand our values
and how they relate to others’.
This is where the positive change happens. The process of
empowerment through connection grounded in shared values is the catalyst
for the final component of my leadership philosophy- positive change.
Positive change addresses a larger issue that improves a function, system, or
situation. Positive change is also identified collectively, not just by those
privileged enough to deem something “good.” Most importantly, positive
change can also be an outcome that reaches far beyond the efficiency of an
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organization, ensuring deadlines are met, and even creating buy-in for a new
way of thinking. Much like the Social Change Model, I consider positive
change deeply rooted in issues of inequity and injustice (Cliente, 2009).
However, when aiming to create this type of change, it is essential that I also
consider the ethical and social justice impacts of my leadership philosophy.
Before adopting this philosophy, or any philosophy for that matter, into
practice, it is necessary to take a step back and recognize the extent to
which a leadership practice is inclusive. First and foremost, critical self–
reflection is a tool a consistently incorporated within my philosophy. Critical
reflection, according to Preskill and Brookfield (2009), is the practice of
reflecting on and in our practice. In the case of my philosophy, critical
reflection can be applied in a variety of different ways. When connecting with
others, you might ask “Who am I choosing to connect with? Do they hold all
the same identities as me? What am I connecting with them over?” When
considering shared values, you might ask “Why do I value this? How did this
become a value? Why do others value this? Are there people who do not
value this? How to my identities impact what I value? Most importantly, when
considering creating positive social change, you might ask “Who says this
change is positive? What is this changing? For whom is this changing
something? By whom is this changing? What are the intended and
unintended impacts of this change?”
In addition to utilizing critical reflection, a pluralistic leadership
approach is also incorporated into my leadership philosophy. Pluralistic
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leadership is defined as a framework that seeks to “truly honor and engage
the diversity of experiences and perspectives that enrich our campuses”
(Kezar, 2000, p. 7). At a time when there are more voices of
underrepresented population on college campus than ever before, there
needs to be an approach to ensuring that those voices are not only heard but
listened to. Again, critical reflection can be used as a tool to incorporate
pluralistic leadership into my own leadership philosophy. First, it is important
to step back and consider who we are choosing to empower on our
campuses. What are their identities? What are we empowering them to do?
Are we acknowledging and addressing that leadership looks different
depending on our identities? In our leadership development programs, what
students are we recruiting and how? Are we allowing space to determine
shared values as a whole community?
Using pluralistic leadership as the foundation of my philosophy, I can
now begin to develop strategies for implementing this understanding into
practice. My philosophy, that leadership is the process by which people
empower one another to create positive change through connection that is
grounded in shared values, can be implemented as a general approach to
working with students or colleagues, as well as adopted to drive a formal
leadership program. For me, when I work with students whom I advise, I am
incorporating this philosophy through the lens of challenge and support
depending on their perceived stage of the Leadership Identity Development
Model (LID). Specifically, how I empower students through challenge and
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support. The LID is a model comprised of six development stages that
describe the increasingly complex ways that students view leadership and
their own identity as a leader (Komives, Dugan, Owen, Slack, Wagner, &
Associates, 2011). Depending on how my students view leadership and their
own ability to lead, I can utilize different approaches of challenge and
support in order to empower. For example, a student came to me with an
issue within the organization but expressed that she did not feel like she
could do anything to change it since she did not hold a leadership title in the
organization. She seemed to be in the “leadership identified” stage, wherein
leadership is titular and hierarchical. Those with titles are the ones who can
implement organizational changes. In this conversation, I asked her what a
leader does for the organization that makes them a leader. She talked about
organizational improvement and helping other members develops their skills.
I then supported her definition and challenged her to think of ways she does
that without having a formal leadership title. She walked away from the
conversation recognizing that she was also a leader, considering the
initiative she takes in working toward carrying out the group’s shared vision.
In this situation, guided by my philosophy to empower others to create
positive change through connection, I used a challenge and support
technique that aligned with her stage within LID to empower her to create a
positive change.
Positive Change. This is the result of leadership. The result of a process
by which
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people empower one another though connection that is grounded in shared
values. The words
that once were doodled on a paper now form an understanding based in
theory and in practice.
Practicing this philosophy means it guides my work with students, but also
within my personal
spheres. Behind this philosophy is a lot of love, compassion, hope, and
yearning to foster deeper relationships with those around me.
References
Cilente, K. (2009). An overview of the social change model of leadership
development. In S. R.
Komives, W. Wagner, & Associates (Eds.),
Leadership for a better world:
Understanding the social change model of leadership development
(pp. 43-
78). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kezar, A. (2000). Pluralistic leadership: Bringing diverse voices to the table.
About Campus
,
5(3), 6–11.
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Komives, S. R., Dugan, J. P., Owen, J. E., Wagner, W., Slack, C., & Associates.
(2011).
Handbook for student leadership development.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.
Northouse, P. G. (2012).
Leadership: Theory and practice
(6
th
ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Preskill, S., & Brookfield, S. D. (2009).
Learning as a way of leading: Lessons
from the
struggle for social justice
. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Wagner, W. (2009). What is social change? In S. R. Komives, W. Wagner, &
Associates (Eds.),
Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of
leadership
development
(pp. 7- 42). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.