5 Leadership Skills

Leadership and Power are Intertwined

If you have had a job at some time in your life, you may have found yourself wondering, “Who is in charge here?” You may have even found yourself saying, “If I were the boss, I would do things differently!”

Understanding how power is distributed amongst people is an important key to understanding the elusive and often confusing job of a leader. Power sometimes comes with a title and sometimes with a personality, and often both! There are many different types of power and people use power (both personal and professional) to be productive, and sometimes to meet their own personal motives.

Understanding and defining what “bosses” do is an area of study that is constantly evolving and changing. Thoughtful and creative people have been writing and talking about “leadership” for many years.

Leadership in education is a fascinating and complex area of study that is getting plenty of attention in current times! In the field of early childhood care and education, leadership is particularly complex. Why? Because, as we will explore together in this section (spoiler alert), everyone is a leader in early care and education. When we enter the field of early care and learning (just as when medical professionals enter the field of health care) we take an oath to lead, and to be mindful of the ethical responsibilities that require us to lead, no matter how “low” we are in the staff structure.

Let us begin with some groundwork. Think about jobs you have held – the person leading you (manager, parent, lead teacher) had power, and they used different techniques and strategies to get you to do whatever the job required, and earn whatever was offered to you in exchange for your work.

How people in charge use power, and what they believe about the actions their role as a leader requires, is where we can identify a range of leadership skills, styles, and behaviours. Leadership and power are braided and blended together.

In recent years there has been a significant trend towards sharing power in educational settings, rather than creating a “top-down” structure of leadership. This is called the “stakeholder” model in which influence and power is redistributed amongst all and shared with the idea that sharing of power among stakeholders can and will encourage active participation in productive decision-making and increase student achievement in schools.

What does the term stakeholder mean in education? Stakeholders in the setting of early care and education are everyone—parents, children, cooks, licensors, and you. You have a “stake” in working for positive outcomes for the children you teach and families you work with. You know that when you do your part productively the whole community is improved and hence your life and well being is improved.

You are a stakeholder! No matter what your role is with children. Without you leading, (along with others) the organizations we work in would struggle to keep going effectively and productively. In early childhood care and education, everyone is a leader with power and responsibility to practice skills and behaviours that demonstrate a leadership style.

To put it simply, shared models of leadership are the current trend in education and have the potential to improve outcomes for everyone. When power and leadership is shared, people who work in and attend schools, can be more successful, and student achievement can increase.

Pause to Reflect

Think about power—who do you feel has power over you and why?

If you are a manager or leader, do you feel you have power over others?

Think about “bosses” you have had in the past. Reflect on a person whom you liked working for—write down two actions or behaviours they implemented or demonstrated that caused you to feel good about you and your work.

Reflect on a person you did not like working for—write down two things (actions or behaviours) that caused you to feel bad about yourself and your work.

A footnote about power in early care and education: Remember – children are mostly powerless. Aside perhaps from the elderly, children are our society’s most vulnerable population. Have you considered how much power you have in relation to children? How does that make you feel?

In the next two sections we will look at different leadership models.

References

O’Neill, Cassandra, Brinkerhoff, Monica (2018). Five Elements of Collective Leadership for Early Childhood Professionals. Redleaf Press and NAEYC: St. Paul: MN, Washington DC.

Center for Creative Leadership. (2020). 4 Keys to Strengthen Your Ability to Influence Others. . https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/4-keys-strengthen-ability-influence-others/

Center for Creative Leadership. (2020). 4 Sure-Fire Ways to Boost Your Self Awareness. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/4-ways-boost-self-awareness/

Center for Creative Leadership. (2020). Use Active Listening to Coach Others.  https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/coaching-others-use-active-listening-skills/

Center for Creative Leadership. (2020). Why Communication is So Important for Leaders. https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/communication-1-idea-3-facts-5-tips/

Chapter Attribution

Leadership in Early Care and Education by Tammy Marino; Maidie Rosengarden; Sally Gunyon; and Tanya Noland published Open Oregon by under a CC BY-NC-SA license