A Reflection on Leadership Philosophy

3/25/2022

by Cait Fitzpatrick

Introducing My Leadership Philosophy

This past year has brought many challenges and moments of uncertainty for Higher Education. As classes, campus resources and communities began to shut down, many universities and colleges looked to their own leaders to make decisions in the heart of a painful pandemic. Now more than ever, Higher Education needs leaders that are adaptive, transformational and transactional. Leaders should be able to put all three of these leadership theories into action in order to adjust to ever-changing, challenging situations and motivate their followers to accomplish the goals at hand. Leaders must be prepared to support their followers in an ethical way, guided by their moral compass and past experiences but also have the transactional skills to complete tasks. An experienced leader should show all of these theories in their daily work, and be prepared to act as adaptive leaders when the situation arises.  

    Assumptions and Beliefs About Leadership

My personal leadership theory focuses on three models: transformational, transactional and adaptive leadership. Transformational leaders are needed to help guide followers through professional and institutional growth and to inspire them to create a healthy, efficient work environment where diversity, inclusion and teamwork are welcomed. They are a catalyst for change and efficiency at the individual and organizational level, and therefore extremely important (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.11). Adaptive leadership is crucial to inspire, but also to analyze challenges, barriers and outdated behaviors so that an organization can grow and improve. Adaptive leadership has been a relevant topic for many this past year as the world struggled with a pandemic, but adaptive leadership can be identified in other areas other than top-level leadership. In fact, it is my belief that with the correct training and access to leadership theory, that anyone can obtain the skills of being an adaptive leader. Finally, although not as commonly addressed, Higher Education needs transactional leaders to maintain stability and inspire followers through contingent reward in order to address the goals of the institution. This combination of transformational and transactional leadership in Higher Education can be referred to as a full-range leadership model and can be used to address lower-level and top-level challenges in an organization. (Brown et al, 2019)

At the heart of all these theories, I believe, is a common theme of motivation and inspiration. It is my assumption that without motivation and inspiration, followers will not associate with the missions and values of the institution. It is my assumption that more charismatic, dynamic personalities tend to be natural transformational leaders and those individuals feel a calling to lead. In other words, there is such a thing as a “natural leader,” and therefore I believe there exists a personality that is not inherently or naturally cut out for transformational leadership.

Comparing and Contrasting

           Leaders and partnerships can be classified as transformational or transactional, and both are necessary for interactions within Higher Education. Transactional interactions and partnerships within Higher Education are driven by the pursuit of each individual’s purposes and goals (Butcher, et al 2010). Relationships such as this often exist between a high school or school system that needs a particular expertise or professional development, and they approach an institution of higher learning for those needs. Likewise, universities and colleges need practicum places, research sites and of course, future students (Butcher, et al 2010). I believe these relationships are necessary for the logistics and operations of the school and institution, and even though they may lack creativity or charisma, they are necessary to get things done. Transactional leadership, in most cases, seeks to maintain a level of stability and “normalcy” rather than instilling creative, ground-breaking change. Transactional leaders tend to utilize reciprocation with their followers that involves using contingent rewards or negotiation to accomplish the organization's goals (Brown, et al, 2019). To contrast transactional leadership with transformational, there are immediately several differences to identify.

Transformational partnerships are rooted in a moral dimension, where the two parties come together for a common purpose or mission. They work diligently to enact change, growth and improvement through mutual interest and collectively apply their resources to address complex issues (Butcher, et al 2010). Many institutions have long-term collaboration projects and partnerships with community partners and cultural organizations, and these partnerships certainly need to be transformational at their core in order to achieve success. Transformational leaders focus on a strategic plan that will change the framework of the organization or institution. They possess an idealized influence, or more commonly known as charisma, so they are able to motivate their followers through an emotional connection (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.2). They use inspirational motivation to encourage their followers to work at a high level of efficiency and dedication and intellectual stimulation to instill a sense of innovation and creativity. Finally, they are able to grasp the concept of individualized consideration, which allows them to interact with their followers on a personal level and express emotions of empathy and understanding. As a result, they are able to act as a supporter and coach as well as a leader (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.2). In my opinion, this type of leadership style is important to engage followers and instill a shared vision for success within the organization.

           Returning to transactional leadership, there are two defining factors in this type of leadership: contingent reward and management by exception (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.3). While these factors focus on the follower in some sense, they mostly focus on how to entice or incentivize (not inspire) followers to complete tasks at their fullest capacity in order to increase efficiency. Contingent reward may be presented in a positive form, such as a performance bonus or other professional benefits. It can also be presented in a negative way, such as a poor evaluation or negative feedback (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.3). Depending on the organization, these contingent reward factors are generally popular and remain widely practiced. This leadership style, also referenced as the “carrot and stick” approach, may be difficult to sustain in the long run and there is some scholarship to believe that employees are starting to need more than an extrinsic reward to stay motivated and efficient (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.3). The second factor is management by exception, which is also commonly practiced in the modern workplace. While this style of transactional leadership can take a passive or active form, the approach consists of the manager or leader observing the followers for any acts of non-compliance or violations (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.3). If there are any issues, the followers are notified instantly, and only then will the leader step in to help with corrective behavior. Both of these transactional factors can have serious shortcomings, but I believe there is a time and place for contingent reward and management by exception.

These transactional factors contrast greatly with a third leadership style known as laissez-faire, or “non-leadership.” A leader using this theory would not assume any responsibility for the actions of their followers and does not provide feedback, professional or emotional support (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.3). My perspective on the laissez-faire style is that the leader assumes no sense of duty or responsibility, and therefore shouldn’t be considered as a leader at all. This is obviously a stark contrast from transformational leadership, where the leader is heavily involved at a personal level and purposefully involves themselves in the personal affairs of their followers in order to create a shared vision and connection. Even though laissez-faire may increase levels of self-reliance and self-efficacy among followers, I believe it is a catalyst for the rise of unethical and uninvolved leaders. In this sense, it could be considered as the exact opposite of ethical leadership.

Ethical leadership and transformational leadership closely align with each other because of the importance placed on a moral compass that should guide decision making and leadership actions. However, the characteristics that encompass an ethical leader are much more complex and focus on the internal “good” character and values of the leader, rather than their charisma and ability to personally connect with followers. Although it’s difficult to define moral, ethics or the definition of “right” and “wrong,” there are defining factors involved in the practice of ethical leadership, such as ethically using their power for positive objectives and always demonstrating honesty and transparency within their followers (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 4, p.7). This is one connection I can make to the interview I conducted with Karen Francis-Begay, who specifically mentioned that she considers transparency and honesty as important factors that contribute to her leadership style. In hindsight, I would have also considered her an ethical leader in addition to a transformational leader.

My Leadership Action Plan

           As I reflect on my own leadership philosophy and my plans to implement these concepts into my leadership style, I found myself focusing specifically on adaptive leadership and how it pertains to being a leader in Higher Education, a sector of education that is constantly evolving. My philosophy is primarily focused on the ability to inspire and motivate followers to achieve goals, but my plan is also focused around how to analyze challenges, manage unforeseen conflict and collaborate with others to find creative solutions. My action plan will be guided by a principle that consists of five leadership responsibilities: direct, protect, orient, manage conflict, and shape norms (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.14). As a leader, my actions will differ depending on what type of challenge I am facing such as adaptive or technical. For every responsibility, I will first assess what type of challenge I am facing and then put into practice the correct action. For example, if my leader's responsibility is to shape norms, I must maintain the status quo if I’m facing a technical challenge. If the challenge is adaptive, I am expected to challenge unproductive norms (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 3, p.13).  These principles will guide me as I witness and enact change within an organization, and help me to identify challenges in a very purposeful way. I believe this is a primary pillar of adaptive leadership.  

Additionally, I plan to practice environment readiness. Understanding environmental readiness as a leader can help me navigate through change because I will not be focusing on previous experiences alone to address a challenge. Instead, I will look at the current challenges to determine the best solution. As an adaptive leader in Higher Education, it’s vital to understand the internal and external factors that cause conflict and to recognize the best solution based on current realities rather than previous actions or plans (Khan, 2017).  As a transformational leader, I will also practice in order to have a heightened awareness of how your employees react to conflict and how you can make connections with them at an emotional level to solve those conflicts together.

In regards to transformational and transactional leadership, my action plan is to use a balance of contingent reward, individualized consideration and inspirational motivation to effectively engage and inspire my followers. I believe that I am a strong transformational leader, and I work very hard to ensure that my followers in my daily work feel valued. As a leader, it’s important for me to create a sense of belonging and establish positive cultural norms within my organization. I do so by checking in on my students about things that aren’t necessarily related to work, such as getting a new car, having their family come visit town, adopting a dog, etc. By staying connected in this way, I have found that my students find me more approachable and dedicated. 

Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses

After completing the Adaptive Leadership Questionnaire from Unit 3, I was able to reflect on my gap analysis, or the differences between my perceived leadership skills and how others see me as a leader. For my self-ratings, I gave myself the highest score for regulating distress change in my followers and getting on the balcony. These two characteristics go hand in hand from my perspective, because you are able to share a vision of the bigger picture with your followers when they become discouraged about change or stressed. Regulating distress is something I do often in my daily work because I directly lead our Student Recruiter Program in the Office of Admissions at the University of Arizona. Many current students have other commitments like relationships, internships, clubs and of course, their classes. I have purposefully sequenced several changes this year to not overwhelm my students all at once and it has truly had an effect on their ability to adopt new policies and other changes. I kept all my students on track this year by sharing with them the grander vision for the work they do and the projects they are involved in, even when they felt like their impact was minuscule. I believe this is a very important part of adaptive leadership and I value these strengths of mine. 

Those who participated in the questionnaire rated my highest skills as my ability to regulate distress change and identify adaptive challenges. I was pleased to see that my ability to regulate distress change was not just a self-perception, but also a perception of my followers. Identifying adaptive challenges is one of the pillars of adaptive leadership in my opinion (how can you lead through change if you cannot identify the challenges?), so I was pleased that others saw this attribute in my leadership style. However, I gave myself a much lower score for this factor. This tells me that I really do possess this factor, but I just need to be more confident in my abilities and my decision making.

           Other areas I plan to improve on based on the questionnaire include giving work back to the people and protecting the leadership voice from below. As a leader of college aged students, I need to have more faith in their abilities and really practice transactional leadership by delegating tasks and monitoring progress with contingent reward and genuine feedback. I have already tried to enact this skill this semester as I begin to train new student employees. I can look to my current, veteran student employees to help train the next cohort of students by giving the work back to them and trusting their knowledge and skills. Protecting voices of leadership from below is something I believe I do every day! Front line student employees that I work with always have concerns and feedback, but it’s not always positive. I can do a better job of determining when it’s appropriate to take that feedback to my supervisors or when to directly deal with the situation myself.

 

Applying Leadership Principles to Challenges Involving Ethics and Diversity

Aside from my leadership philosophy and plan that I have stated about being an adaptive, transformational and transactional leader, it is also important to consider ethical leadership, diversity and inclusiveness. In alignment with my goals to be a transformational leader, I plan to practice altruism in my position. Altruism is described as a leader’s willingness to act in the best interest of others, even when the decision may not be in the best interest of the leader (Guerriero, 2021, Unit 4, p.8). There is reason to believe that ethical leadership factors such as altruism and universal rights are strongly associated with transformational leadership (Mitchell, 2012), so I plan to define my leadership style around those factors. When considering ethical leadership, there are five main ethical responsibilities to consider: responsibility as a human being, as a citizen and public servant, as an educator, as an educational administrator, and as an educational leader (Mitchell, 2012, p. 64). Each responsibility has its own key elements that link leadership with ethical values related to the common good rather than the benefits that the individual might gain. My leadership action plan will include focusing on these ethical domains and placing my energy into actions that will help my followers or the greater good of the organization rather than actions that are best for me personally.

           As a leader that directly works with diverse groups of undergraduate students, I also plan to develop my understanding of privilege and access to education as it pertains to institutions of higher learning. To most people, white privilege is a familiar term, but privilege in regards to college-going behaviors can vary. Financial and socioeconomic privilege can play a huge role in the Admissions process. As part of my leadership plan, I will continue to introduce my followers to ideas such as privilege and bias in order to create a more common understanding of how diversity and inclusion pertain to organizations in Higher Education.

 Conclusion

           My leadership action plan is guided by my leadership philosophy, which suggests that a good leader needs transformational, transactional and adaptive characteristics in order to successfully lead in Higher Education. After comparing and contrasting these three leadership styles with others throughout the course and external research, I believe that the combination of transformational, transactional and adaptive styles allows a leader to be benevolent, realistic, task-oriented and capable of taking on unforeseen challenges. The combination of these styles paired with a strong understanding and dedication to diversity and inclusion will produce a healthy, productive work environment. To me, these are admirable characteristics to continue to develop as leader at the University of Arizona in the Office of Admissions.