Personal Leadership style
based on : Finding your Leadership syle: Aguide for educators by Jeffrey Glanz
After taking the Glanz Leadership Style survey my results pegged me for two categories, Adaptive Supportive and Dynamic Supportive. According to author Jeffrey Glanz, Adaptive Supportive leaders are, “people who make up the majority of the population; they are the non-glamorous supporters of the status quo and society works because of them.” He goes on to say that they trustworthy, charitable and good citizens. They are trusting and wary of change. They are dependable workers. I would have to say that I am not very surprised by the results of the survey. They were pretty spot on. As an Adaptive Supportive the description fits me almost to a tee. I would say that the positives for me are that I am trustworthy, charitable, trusting and dependable. Adaptive Supportives are also often characterized as intelligent, caring, humorous and loyal. They trust authority and are overall trusting of people, often to a fault.
On what might be considered the negative side, AS leaders can be afraid or resistant to change. They often lack dynamism, charisma, assertiveness and aggressiveness. AS leaders can serve as leaders with the right encouragement and guidance within specific parameters. All are pretty good descriptors of me.
AS tied with Dynamic Supportive. This one was an even better picture of who I am. Dynamic Supportive leaders are described by Glanz as charismatic, warm-hearted, sincere, reliable, strong yet gentle, intuitive, independent and good at bringing people together. Many of these attributes can be applied to me. I try to be a moderator-bringing people together-- as I truly dislike conflict, almost to a fault. I try to be warm-hearted and sincere. I am, for the most part, reliable. But not always. I try to have humor as sometimes being a teacher can become overwhelming. I think many people would describe me as strong but gentle. I can take charge but often choose not to. Dynamic Supportive leaders lean towards becoming over-committed. Then when they become overwhelmed they can become lethargic and melancholic. They have the potential to be unmotivated and, especially in my case, a piler, messy and disorganized.
On what might be considered the negative side, AS leaders can be afraid or resistant to change. They often lack dynamism, charisma, assertiveness and aggressiveness. AS leaders can serve as leaders with the right encouragement and guidance within specific parameters. All are pretty good descriptors of me.
AS tied with Dynamic Supportive. This one was an even better picture of who I am. Dynamic Supportive leaders are described by Glanz as charismatic, warm-hearted, sincere, reliable, strong yet gentle, intuitive, independent and good at bringing people together. Many of these attributes can be applied to me. I try to be a moderator-bringing people together-- as I truly dislike conflict, almost to a fault. I try to be warm-hearted and sincere. I am, for the most part, reliable. But not always. I try to have humor as sometimes being a teacher can become overwhelming. I think many people would describe me as strong but gentle. I can take charge but often choose not to. Dynamic Supportive leaders lean towards becoming over-committed. Then when they become overwhelmed they can become lethargic and melancholic. They have the potential to be unmotivated and, especially in my case, a piler, messy and disorganized.
Glanz also identified seven important leadership values. The values include courage, imagination, judgement, humility, impartiality, enthusiasm and empathy. I am not surprised that imagination was high for me. As an elementary teacher, I think it is one of the strengths we must have in order to reach our kids. We must be able to use that quality to make the skills we are teaching interesting and engaging so that the students buy into what we are doing. I was surprised however that courage came out so high. I would not say I am courageous. I am definitely one who needs to be pushed off the bridge or cliff from time to time. I often lack courage to speak up when I think something needs to be said and tend to feel bad for a long time afterwards when I don't. I do think, however, that it does take a certain amount of courage to be a teacher. On the surface teaching seems like such an “easy” job. When you get right down to the nitty gritty of it, teaching is a profession that demands serious personal investment. I need to play to my strengths and be aware of my weaknesses. In order to be effective I must be mindful of all of these qualities that make me the teacher I want to be.