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by Brenda Bernstorf
Leadership is often a matter of common sense but as Voltaire is attributed for saying, “Common sense is not so common.” Montessori classrooms are gentle, peaceful environments where grace and courtesy are normal. Grace and courtesy are the foundation for common sense leadership and must extend from the administrative office to the classroom teachers to encourage employee engagement. Engaged employees contribute extraordinary gifts to the organization, are satisfied with their jobs, contribute extra effort, and build up the organization. Exchanges between leaders and followers that produce tensions, frustrations, and resentments diminish engagement. Common sense leadership principles help prevent dissatisfied and disengaged employees. This article will explore principles for common sense leadership.
What is leadership? Leadership is not management. Managers establish short-term goals, set budgets, manage details, and supervise employees. Leaders set the vision, mission, and purpose of the organization keeping them closely aligned with the values of the organization. Leaders motivate, inspire, intellectually stimulate, consider employee needs, innovate, create, empower, and engage followers. Merriam-Webster.com (2013) defines the word effective, as producing a desired effect. An effective leader produces a desired effect. Who judges if a leader is effective? Everyone. Followers expect leaders to have some fundamental skills, and when these skills are more absent than present, followers easily judge a leader as ineffective.
There are several methods to produce a desired effect. One method is called coercive power. Leaders who use coercive power influence followers to do something against their will. These leaders may manipulate, threaten, or use other negative inducements to achieve the desired effect. According to Northouse this is not considered leadership since leadership is reserved for those who influence followers toward a common goal. However, transactional leadership can easily fall into this coercive pattern by insisting on a particular action and implementing punishments or negative consequences for its absence. Positive leadership behaviors that show up in positive leadership styles have commonalities that lay a foundation for common sense leadership practices.
In his book, Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills Required for the Practice of Great Leadership, J. Hamm lists nine leadership skills in three different categories:
- Credibility – compelling, trustworthy, authentic
- Competence – people, strategy, execution
- Consequence – decision making, communication, impact
Kouzes and Posner, in their book, The Leadership Challenge, and in their many books that followed, state that followers look for leaders who have:
- Integrity – truthfulness, trustworthiness, character, and convictions
- Competence – capabilities, productivity, efficiency
- Leadership – inspiring, decisive, provides direction
Similarities between the two lists can be easily spotted and compared. Both lists contain the word trustworthy. Authentic behavior is full of character and convictions, strategy and execution can be related to productivity and efficiency, compelling is similar to inspiring, decision-making and decisive state the same principle, and communication and providing direction are synonymous. These are the leaders you want to work for. Doesn’t common sense indicate that this is the leader you want to be?
Leaders set the tone for the organization. Kouzes and Posner call this “modelling the way.” When leaders act from their convictions, are trustworthy, truthful, decisive, and people-oriented they set a positive tone for a healthy organization. The positive psychological impact of positive leadership focuses on human strengths, fosters vitality for the organization, and allows employees to flourish. This type of leadership encourages employees to engage and feel that their contribution is worthy and appreciated. Healthy positive leadership leads to a healthy, positive organization. A wonderful outcome of a healthy positive organization is the ability to retain highly qualified and experienced employees and to engage those employees.
The positive leadership characteristics listed by Hamm and Kouzes and Posner produce positive outcomes in the follower and for the organization. These are common sense – golden rule – type behaviors. When a leader extends trust to a follower the follower in turn trusts the leader. When a leader trusts that followers will provide good results, maximum effort, commitment, and loyalty; most likely, that is what will happen. This is not naïve…this is common sense in dealing with people. How do you want to be treated? How do you (or did you feel when you were the follower) feel when a leader shows his or her lack of trust by looking over your shoulder and micromanaging every detail of your work? The whole basis of the golden rule is to treat other people the way you want to be treated. Common sense supports that people desire the same treatment that you desire.
Positive leadership styles like transformational leadership, authentic leadership, servant leadership, strength-based leadership, and emotionally intelligent leadership have commonalities of behaviors that are universally acceptable. Leadership behaviors such as trust, visioning, inspiration, competency, direction, honesty, ethics, and sensitivity to the needs of followers provide a foundation for interactions and relationships between leaders and followers. Leaders in Montessori schools often must balance leadership and management roles. A long-term vision-focused strategic view can help with this balance. Systems that include team decision-making and assessment empowers employees and age-level directors support the head’s role of leadership. Outside assessments, such as meeting accreditation standards, keep the organization mission-focused and allow leaders to function at the higher level of leadership rather than management.
Leadership research shows that leader self-awareness is the first step in understanding your leadership style. The term, self-awareness, refers to personal insights into who the leader is. Self-awareness is deep reflection on your core values, identity, emotions, motives, goals, and a basic understanding of who you are. There are many tools that can help with this understanding, from personality assessments like Myers-Briggs Personality Type, Clifton Strength Finders, Emotional Intelligence assessment, leadership style assessments, and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) based upon The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner. LPI is not for the faint of heart. It is a self-assessment plus assessments from four or five of your followers to assess your leadership skills. It is a research validated assessment of your leadership skills and is an excellent choice.
Here’s the good news…leadership skills can be developed! Knowing who you are, learning new skills, and keeping in mind that common sense leadership is based upon the golden rule will help you grow as a leader. Grace and courtesy are not just for the Montessori classroom; they are foundational for all interactions with teachers and parents too.
