Improved Effectiveness Through Collaboration - Research Paper Example

Improved Effectiveness through Collaboration Christine M. Gallegos Grand Canyon Building a Community of Scholars in Higher Education EDU-817-0101 Dr. LeRodrick Terry Wednesday 19 November 2014 Improved Effectiveness through Collaboration A leaders values, beliefs, and experience influence the collaborative nature of a leader in many ways. For example, the experience that a leader gains from working as a leader in different organizations helps him/her in knowing the best way to deal with other stakeholders. The experiences of a leader help the leader in understanding the significance of effective communication with the followers/subordinates. It is obvious that poor collaborative skills play the role of the biggest hurdle in the success of a person as a leader. An influential and successful leader is one who frequently communicates with the people following him/her and this approach of a leader makes him/her know the concerns of the followers and it is extremely important in becoming a successful leader. An educational leader is a stable and flexible personality who possesses distinguishing characteristics, such as, visionary outlook, dedication, openness, and good communication skills. A leader needs to have a good understating of the value of establishing good relationships with other people within the organization. Some of the main aspects of a successful leader include reward for good work, increased influence over processes, and enhanced collaboration with others, and tutoring and developing the colleagues (Mulec, 2006). Some of the main behavioral characteristics that influence the thoughts of an educational leader include identifying the needs of all stakeholders of the institute, providing inspiration to their followers, stimulating people to be inventive, respecting the opinions and suggestions of others, and providing people with a suitable strategy to work on. If a person has practiced this approach as an educational leader in a higher education institute and has been successful in achieving the goals, he/she would definitely know the significance of effective communication and group collaboration. The learned values and experiences help leaders in maintaining positive relationships with scholars and learners. For example, the experiences that an educational leader gains from time to time helps him/her in recognizing the unique characteristics of each person in the institute that helps him/her in establishing good working relationships which ultimately results in improved collaboration. When a person joins a new organization, he/she brings a new and unique set of characteristics and behaviors that distinguishes him/her from others (Griffin & Moorhead 2010, p. 3). In such cases, it is the role of the leader to identify the distinguishing characteristics of the new employee in order to be able to work with that employee with full collaboration and conviction. It not only improves the performance of the organization but also plays a key role in increasing collaboration between all stakeholders. Organizational performance is closely associated with the devotion of all stakeholders, particularly, with the leadership (Carter & Greer, 2013). Therefore, we can say that a leaders values, beliefs, and leaned knowledge and experiences definitely influence the collaborative nature of a leader. The values, beliefs, and experience of a leader also influence his/her relationships with parents, learners, and the support staff. The reason is that a leader learns a lot from his/her experiences that help him/her in knowing the ways he/she can develop good relationships not only with the subordinate support staff but also with parents and learners. A successful leader is one whose mind is always set on finding ways to address the concerns of the people associated with the system without breaking the structure of the system altogether (Yukl, 2004). Doing this, a leader succeeds in developing a positive image in the minds of others which is the first and the most important step in developing good relationships with others. Leadership values and experiences refine and enhance a leader’s sense of perception using which the leader becomes able to identify the needs and demands of the people associated with him/her all of which is eventually very helpful in developing good relationships. When a leader will have positive relationships with parents, learners, and the support staff, all of them will see the leader as someone who knows their problems and wants to play a considerable role in resolving those problems. For example, a leader can work towards creating a better learning environment for the students where they should not only learn latest knowledge but also should be able to apply that in self-customized settings within the university. Such efforts by an educational leader create a positive image of him/her in the minds of the learners which is an essential element of the concept of shared leadership. Similarly, from past experiences and practical knowledge of leadership values, a leader can develop good working relationships with the support staff by identifying their needs and working towards the fulfillment of those needs as much as they can be. For example, support staff usually complains about low workload or less admiration of their work by the higher authorities. Increased workload and appreciation for the work increases the job satisfaction level of the support staff (Ferguson & Cheyne, 1995). However, this happens only when a leader has undergone through past experiences of dealing with such problems. That is why we say that the values, beliefs, and experiences hold an important place in development of good working relationships between a leader and other stakeholders. As far as the methods for effective parent, learner, and support staff involvement in the shared leadership of a higher education institute are concerned, an effective method for this cause would be open group discussions. In open group discussions, parents, learners, and teachers should sit together to discuss different issues not only related to individual student’s performance and community involvement but also related to the creation of a positive learning environment in the institute. This way all stakeholders of the institute will be involved in the policy making process, as well as in the development of an interactive and practical learning environment where students can learn to use and refine their professional and extracurricular skills. Open group discussions should be held at regular intervals so that every stakeholder can get noticed about the progress level of any planned institutional change of policy development. In higher educational institutes, shared leadership is identified by the knowledge set of individuals and the abilities of all people to influence others. Through group discussions, it can be identified that how well the stakeholders are working collaboratively on the shared goals and objectives. Group discussion can be successful when all members or stakeholders are interdependent and they feel full responsibility of playing the maximum role towards the identified goals by assisting each other. To make shred leadership approach successful for the institute, continuous communication between all stakeholders is critically important. Through group discussions, the members can collaborate and communicate with each other frequently. Shared/distributed leadership in educational institutes is possible only when the management officials, directors, faculty members, and learners have a common goal to pursue (Hartley, 2007). It is possible when all stakeholders have a good level of understanding among them. This is the responsibility of the top leadership (directors and senior management staff) to identify the needs of the two main entities of higher education institutes (teachers and learners) and take them in confidence while developing educational policies. A participative leadership not only makes the dependent entities more confident but also injects in them a sense of responsibility to help the leaders in pursuing the identified common goals (Lussier & Achua, 2010). Leaders within higher education institutes should encourage other stakeholders to utilize their full potential in leading the institute to a higher rank by working on new opportunities. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders including parents, learners, and leaders to provide a feasible and logical input towards the cause of creating better learning and work environment for learners and teachers. Working collaboratively towards the goals with full responsibility is also the real essence of the concept of shared leadership. Therefore, the suggested method for effective parent, learner, and support staff involvement in the shared leadership process is open group discussions because this method suits best to all stakeholders in working collaboratively towards common goals and objectives. References Carter, S., & Greer, C. (2013). Strategic leadership: Values, styles, and organizational performance. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 20(1), 1-19. Ferguson, E., & Cheyne, A. (1995). Organizational change: Main and interactive effects. Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 68(2), 101-107. Hartley, D. (2007). The Emergence of Distributed Leadership in Education: Why Now?. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55(2), 202-214. Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2010). Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development (4th ed.). Mason: Cengage Learning. Mulec, K. (2006). Positive professional leaders: Aspects to consider in leadership development. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(1), 66-81. Yukl, G. (2004). Leadership in Organizations (4th ed.). Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. Read More