The Competency of Developing Leaders

I have a teaching tool that serves my adult learners well. I wish I had thought it up, but I didn't. Credit SREB with "Learning Journal," a single piece of paper with three shapes and three questions. In a square appears "What squares with my thinking?" In a circle appears "What's rolling around in my mind?" Inside a triangle is "What must I change?" Feel free to use it. Just credit SREB.

Although I do not use the Learning Journal in every time I teach, when I do, I provide 5-10 minutes at the end for students to reflect on what they saw and heard that affirmed, challenged, and spurred personal change. I review responses to help me know what to do next. Completing the Journal is non-threatening, open-ended, promotes higher-order thinking, and affirms personal responsibility--most of the qualities a good assessment should exhibit. Oh, by the way, no grades.

The reason I bring it up now is because of an extraordinary remark one of my Gardner-Webb University Master of Executive Leadership in Schools students recorded after our first class. That's what's been rolling around in my mind for nearly four weeks. Here's what happened:

I put students in small groups to review the NC Standards for School Executives, including the 21 competencies adopted by the State Board of Education as necessary for effective principals. I informed students that we would deliberately practice the 21 competencies as appropriate. Since the Department of Public Instruction ultimately assesses candidates' qualifications based on their performance in the competencies, that only makes sense.

A sample of competencies includes Communication, Change Management,  Delegation, Emotional Intelligence, Systems Thinking and Technology. An entry that seems never to get noticed, even among experienced principals, is Environmental Awareness. Defined as "becomes aware and remains informed of external and internal trends, interests and issues with potential impacts on school policies, practices, procedures and positions," that oversight is particularly troublesome. Wake County might have been spared the last two years of turmoil had senior leaders been more considerate. But back to my class.

This is what my student wrote in his Learning Journal circle: "Why isn't leadership development one of the 21 competencies?" I could have responded that developing leadership is more a practice than a competency. I could have said that it is already embedded as a philosophical foundation of the standards. I could have said a lot of things to disabuse the precocious young man from the need to think "above his pay grade." But I didn't.

Truth is, I sort of agree with him. And I was particularly happy that he was asking the question. I learned long ago that the purpose of leadership is to develop leadership. Whether it is a competency or not, I don't know.  In my mind, helping people become more effective, promoting personal and social responsibility, and building community are pretty important tasks. I think that's what leaders do. At least that's what those who have most influenced me have done. And it truly is a skill set whose elements are subject to deliberate practice.

In the final analysis, I think developing leadership is too important to be called a competency. It may be more broadly conceived as a return on investment of all the good things in your life that would not have happened without someone's intervention. It's a give-back. On the other hand, developing leadership may be a kind of pay-it-forward, a gift for your children, their children, and for generations to come. Whatever it is, it's my job--and yours.