From Leadership for School Improvement (2000)

Effective leadership is a key component of lasting reform efforts. But what is leadership? More to the point, what are the characteristics of leadership that help create and sustain worthwhile reform? Nadler and Tushman (1995), who have studied leadership and change in business organizations, note that the leadership skills required to facilitate fundamental change (what they call discontinuous change) differ from those required to facilitate the kind of ongoing, step-by-step changes that are familiar to most executive leaders. In light of the systemic reform efforts that so many schools and districts are undertaking, this discussion must be expanded to encompass the role of leadership during periods of transformation.

A review of leadership and change literature by educators and noneducators alike leads to the following guidelines that appear crucial for leading organizations through fundamental change:

• Recognize that leadership is not the same as management
• Give up the notion of the "hero-leader"
• Develop broad-based leadership
• Encourage and nurture individual initiative
• Build a learning organization
• Take a balcony view

These resources can help leaders develop these leadership strategies.

Resources

Leadership for School Improvement (2000)

Creating a School Reform Team

Leadership Folio Series: Guiding Comprehensive School Reform

Developing Organizational Learning in Schools, by Susan Toft Everson