Analysis of Leading collective capacity in culturally diverse schools by Allan Walker & Geoff Riordan
There are 5 lenses offered for looking at leadership styles in International/ Intercultural contexts. These 5 categories are considered essential to successful leadership. Below, I discuss them.
Leadership lenses
Idea summary
Why I agree/disagree
Possible challenges in implementation
Positioning
how leaders position themselves within the cultural milieu of the school.
This is about knowing thyself - which is a great place to start if you hope to lead by example. It is also important in understanding one's own strengths, weaknesses, and blind-spots. One can't really interact well, or lead well, interculturally if that one doesn't understand his/her own cultural and individual tendencies, biases, strengths and weaknesses - and those that are perceived about them by others. AGREED
The biggest challenge is that we never fully know ourselves, and it is hard to see oneself clearly. This is especially true when entering a new culture. It takes time, openness and humility.
Structuring
how leaders structure schools’ and teachers’ work for collective capacity.
Star Trek fans will understand why this reminds of the borg. There is strength in numbers - and when a collective works together as a hive of leadership, there is greater strength and action. AGREED
It is important to empower individuals when creating such a collective, and not to simply get them to all 'sing the same tune'. This takes a leader that had both the right ideas, and probably the right charisma, to get a group 'on board' together!
Expectations
how leaders and teachers understand collective work within their own cultural and professional heritage.
Leadership 'hierarchy' and 'how to' are not things that should be implied, left to imaginations, assumed. They need to be analyzed, explained and understood with some flexibility and plenty of respect. When a leader works in a culture that has leadership expectations matched that leaders style - there is success. When working in a culture of many cultures, it is worth taking time to sort this out so that there is understanding and clarity. AGREED
I have seen leaders that do this very well, who know themselves and explain to those they lead how they lead, what to expect, and how to respond. I have seen even better leaders do this while having wisdom and humility to make adjustments as needed. I have also seen leaders who neglected to to this - trainwreck leadership.
Expression
how leaders and teachers give expression to their cultural understanding and professional formation through their actions in the school.
This is the trickiest of all, because it is the most nuanced of the bunch. How one communicates (which can be broken into several distinctives like formal/informal, humor, organizational skills, pacing, power structure, personal openness, etc) has a wide spectrum of cultural and personal styles. This can be critically important. AGREED
Those that navigate this field well, in my experience, are those that hold genuine love for others. Love covers a multitude of sins. I have found that when there is love, there is peace, kindness, patience and eventually, better understanding. Even when there is not understanding - there is still love. Those who do not genuinely love others are pretty hopeless leaders.
Profiling
how leaders need to be aware of the dangers of stereotyping and essentialising culture to the exclusion of other important factors that shape collective work.
This is an important area to consider. Profiling is probably as dangerous as it is useful. While it is important to recognize cultural norms, it is also important not to pigeon-hold others into those norms. Prejudice is a word that can be broken into two words: pre and judge. One should not pre-judge anyone or anything unless they want to miss a lot and serve up some damage in the process. AGREED
I have seen otherwise great leaders blunder in these areas. They might not know better, or they might steam-roll an individual in the rush of convenience that comes from profiling - but I have found that this seldom builds bridges or helps the community. I have also seen attempts towards tokenism - which is another form of pigeon-holding. When it comes to cultural/social engineering - it is a mess - and honestly, nobody I have seen ever gets it globally right (however, as a globe, we have all the right ingredients).
Source:
Allan Walker & Geoff Riordan (2010) Leading collective capacity in culturally diverse schools, School Leadership and Management, 30:1, 51-63, DOI: 10.1080/13632430903509766 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13632430903509766
There are 5 lenses offered for looking at leadership styles in International/ Intercultural contexts. These 5 categories are considered essential to successful leadership. Below, I discuss them.
Leadership lenses
Idea summary
Why I agree/disagree
Possible challenges in implementation
Positioning
how leaders position themselves within the cultural milieu of the school.
This is about knowing thyself - which is a great place to start if you hope to lead by example. It is also important in understanding one's own strengths, weaknesses, and blind-spots. One can't really interact well, or lead well, interculturally if that one doesn't understand his/her own cultural and individual tendencies, biases, strengths and weaknesses - and those that are perceived about them by others. AGREED
The biggest challenge is that we never fully know ourselves, and it is hard to see oneself clearly. This is especially true when entering a new culture. It takes time, openness and humility.
Structuring
how leaders structure schools’ and teachers’ work for collective capacity.
Star Trek fans will understand why this reminds of the borg. There is strength in numbers - and when a collective works together as a hive of leadership, there is greater strength and action. AGREED
It is important to empower individuals when creating such a collective, and not to simply get them to all 'sing the same tune'. This takes a leader that had both the right ideas, and probably the right charisma, to get a group 'on board' together!
Expectations
how leaders and teachers understand collective work within their own cultural and professional heritage.
Leadership 'hierarchy' and 'how to' are not things that should be implied, left to imaginations, assumed. They need to be analyzed, explained and understood with some flexibility and plenty of respect. When a leader works in a culture that has leadership expectations matched that leaders style - there is success. When working in a culture of many cultures, it is worth taking time to sort this out so that there is understanding and clarity. AGREED
I have seen leaders that do this very well, who know themselves and explain to those they lead how they lead, what to expect, and how to respond. I have seen even better leaders do this while having wisdom and humility to make adjustments as needed. I have also seen leaders who neglected to to this - trainwreck leadership.
Expression
how leaders and teachers give expression to their cultural understanding and professional formation through their actions in the school.
This is the trickiest of all, because it is the most nuanced of the bunch. How one communicates (which can be broken into several distinctives like formal/informal, humor, organizational skills, pacing, power structure, personal openness, etc) has a wide spectrum of cultural and personal styles. This can be critically important. AGREED
Those that navigate this field well, in my experience, are those that hold genuine love for others. Love covers a multitude of sins. I have found that when there is love, there is peace, kindness, patience and eventually, better understanding. Even when there is not understanding - there is still love. Those who do not genuinely love others are pretty hopeless leaders.
Profiling
how leaders need to be aware of the dangers of stereotyping and essentialising culture to the exclusion of other important factors that shape collective work.
This is an important area to consider. Profiling is probably as dangerous as it is useful. While it is important to recognize cultural norms, it is also important not to pigeon-hold others into those norms. Prejudice is a word that can be broken into two words: pre and judge. One should not pre-judge anyone or anything unless they want to miss a lot and serve up some damage in the process. AGREED
I have seen otherwise great leaders blunder in these areas. They might not know better, or they might steam-roll an individual in the rush of convenience that comes from profiling - but I have found that this seldom builds bridges or helps the community. I have also seen attempts towards tokenism - which is another form of pigeon-holding. When it comes to cultural/social engineering - it is a mess - and honestly, nobody I have seen ever gets it globally right (however, as a globe, we have all the right ingredients).
Source:
Allan Walker & Geoff Riordan (2010) Leading collective capacity in culturally diverse schools, School Leadership and Management, 30:1, 51-63, DOI: 10.1080/13632430903509766 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13632430903509766