Running Head: LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

Leadership Philosophy Leanna Patricio Seattle University Winter 2014

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY What is Leadership? In so many ways, leadership is simple yet complex. Following the Jesuit tradition as described in class, anyone is a leader, but with so many aspects of leadership affecting both the

efficiency and consistency of the role it is important to consider all of this when thinking of how one leads. The Purpose of Leadership Gardner (2000) writes, Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers (p. 3). In using this definition and seeing that it follows more of the positivist leadership paradigm described by Kezar, Garducci, and ContrerasMcGavin (2006), it can be said that the purpose of leadership is to work with others to motivate constituents towards a common end goal in its most simplest form. To an extent I agree that this is the overall purpose of leadership as a position and on a larger, organizational scale, but I also strongly feel that the literal purpose of ones leadership role can change from situation to situation and may follow more of a postmodern leadership paradigm. According to Kezar et al. (2009), the postmodern leadership paradigm assumes that leadership is more complicated than generalization; it is a contingent, human construction affected by local conditions, history, and the ambiguity and complexity of the human experience (p. 16). My own belief of the purpose of leadership is that, indeed, it is there to induce group action in pursuit of higher objectives, but that both the pursuit and the ways in which action is taken are directly affected by a variety of identities, meanings, and experiences of the people involved. Leadership can have many purposes depending on context. It can also change depending on who is actually filling the leadership role and for what reason. All of this

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being said, to look further into the purpose of leadership requires looking at the varied leadership situations at hand simply because leadership itself is not a stagnant entity. Leadership is human, and so in my personal opinion it does not allow for a singular purpose or definition. Essentially, the purpose of leadership shifts depending on what is needed of the leader. Leadership Looks Like a Flowing River Leadership can be likened to a dynamic and flowing river. When looking at a river moving downstreamthrough fallen trees, over stones and rocks, and through turns and dips the water itself is manipulated and shaped into the different angles and spaces of the riverbed while still flowing forward, continuing to be its river-self. While everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, a leader must utilize their abilities in different situations in order to successfully move toward an end goal. This is where understanding the multiple roles a leader plays is helpful, as Deal and Peterson (2000) describe with each of their eight roles of symbolic leaders. Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky (2009) describe a leader as imagining him- or herself as a system within a system. By understanding ones self as a complex individual with personal values, triggers, biases, and experiences, a leader is better able to be placed in the larger system. Similarly, a river is flowing and moving toward a direction within a larger natural ecospace made up of other smaller systems, and Heifetz et al. (2009) furthers this thought by saying, When you combine these situational insights with insights into yourself as a system, you can assess how well (or not well) you are suited to take action on a particular adaptive challenge facing your organization (p. 181). As an example, institutions can create a vision, mission, and set of goals for the campus that a leader may need to support; however, no matter how many plans or actions items are made concrete, nothing may ever truly be concrete and that is where a leader will come

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY up against their own fallen trees or twists around a corner. Just like the water in a flowing river, leadership will need to be changed to accommodate the situations that are brought to the table. Effective Leaders Effective leaders are found at all levels of an organization and each brings their own set of both shared and unique traits to the team to provide the most support. Deal and Peterson (2000) state that for leaders, as they labor to meld past, present, and future into a coherent cultural tapestry, school leaders assume several symbolic roles in their work to shape features of

the culture (p. 101). This means that effective leaders are those that can take information about an institution, read into the culture using all of their senses, and then use their appropriate symbolic leadership roles to be the most valuable for the organization. Heifetz et al. (2009) states, That is, they are continually striving to understand what is going on inside, how they are changing over time, and how they as a system interact with their organization as a system (p. 184). Identifying Myself as a Leader Just as many of the student participants described in the Komives, Longerbeam, Owen, Mainella, and Osteen (2006) reading, earlier on I did not consider myself to be a leader because I thought of others as leaders. Over time I learned that leadership is not only something that one can acquire and learn more about, but that it is also not limited to a title one holds. Currently I would consider myself a leader on many fronts. I use my leadership roles in a variety of settings in the workplace, in graduate school, in my community, and within my family, along with a variety of leadership styles depending on the situation. When I began working in higher education as an outreach associate, I used my leadership roles on the community college campus and the in the surrounding neighborhoods as a form of activism through leadership.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY Helping first-generation college students and students of color navigate the college admissions process, I looked at my own shared identities of being a first-generation student and student of color as a driving force for my work.

I have come to understand as I move throughout my career that with each identity I hold, I feel like I have both a chosen responsibility as well as an obligatory duty to uphold leadership roles amongst groups for which I belong. Linder and Rodriquez (2012) speak to the enforced feelings of responsibility in taking up leadership roles through activism, and this spoke to me especially. Linder and Rodriquez (2012) notes, the women of color in this study felt a burden to become activists; two expressed that becoming an activist was not by choice for themit was a responsibility and form of survival (p. 390). I would say that while my responsibilities to take on leadership roles are indeed a responsibility and obligation, I go further to say that I even welcome these so-called burdens. I feel that leadership in the postmodern sense requires one to look at the history, the current contexts, and the overall human experience, and if I were to do all of that and not feel pulled to act as a leader within my marginalized identity groups then I am not truly following the postmodern leadership paradigm that I claim to believe. With all of these complexities, defining leadership proves to be a much more difficult task than one would initially think. By first identifying positive leaders and their characteristics, as well as understanding the ways in which we do not define leadership, this can allow for us to take a step further in toward at least a personal understanding of what leadership means and its purposes. What Informs My Leadership? My values, both personally and professionally, have to do with self-awareness, understanding my many identities, and reflecting on how they work in relation to one another.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY By having this deep understanding of myself and my experiences, I am able to not only recognize my strengths, challenges, and triggers, but I can also work to improve my leadership skills by using personal experiences as inspiration for growth. Salient Identities and My Leadership

While I have many identities that inform my leadership, I would say that my most salient identities are that I am Filipino American and a woman; for me the two go hand-in-hand. Being that these particular salient identities are visible, it is interesting to see how my most visible identities play the strongest role in both how I am approached as a leader as well as how I approach leadership roles and my work. As a Filipino American woman, I believe that this may be the most prominent combination of identities that which others assume I belong. Because of this, I pay particular attention to those assumptions and the misconceptions that may come with quickly being identified as an Asian American woman. We have all heard of the stereotypes throughout our lives, and as an Asian American woman I feel that I have to keep these in mind at all times in my leadership roles. Even if I think others conceptions of my identities may be wrong, I would be lying if I said they did not affect me, which is why I am very intentional in everything I do, from how I talk, what I say, as well as how I walk and my mannerisms. Heifetz, Grashow, and Linsky (2009) explain, You need to accept that there are different but authentic selves required for you to be effective in each role you play (p. 185). I do not think this is a negative aspect; however, being intentional in the ways that I carry myself as a leader is my small way of battling any possible microaggressions from others. I attempt to be a strong role model for other Asian American students or colleagues because I know that both the misrepresentation in the media and the lack of representation in

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY administrative positions in higher education make it important to maintain a sense of strength and empowerment as I take on leadership roles. Being in a leadership role, positional or not, is important for me to maintain visibility in my identities and to be present as an advocate. Milestones in My Leadership Journey During my undergraduate years when I had my first experiences working in higher

education as an outreach and admissions associate at a local community college, this allowed for me to be a leader on the campus and in the community by sharing my knowledge of the admissions process with others. I was also able to develop my professional skills that eventually guided my way to considering student development as a career. My boss at the time, and current mentor in the field, sat with me to talk about the work we were doing. I was young and nave in many ways, but had started to question why we were there. Were we only there to market and sell programs to students? Was I ultimately working for the man, perpetuating higher education as a business? In many ways I felt like I was a mere salesperson pushing the idea of a degree. Sitting down and talking with my boss, I asked her each of these questions, and went further to ask how she dealt with these feelings herself. She told me that, yes, our role is to ultimately increase enrollments at the institution, but there is much more meaning to the work because of who these enrollments consisted of. The student population included first-generation college students, immigrants from other countries, working adults looking for retraining, 16-year old Running Start students, and people who identified as having low socioeconomic status. These were people who have been marginalized, or told they were deficient compared to the privileged; we were providing navigational capital to those who might not have ever considered higher education before, regardless of the amount of aspirational capital they had prior. I

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY realized that our student population was the population for which I grew up with and also identified with in many ways. My identities I belonged to were the very reason why I felt a pull towards the work, and at that moment I reframed my role as a leader in student development to understand that I want to give back to the communities I come from. No matter what level of leadership I am in, I am always conscientious of this milestone because it reminds me of who I am and why I am here. My Leadership Resources First and foremost, my best and most helpful leadership resources I turn to are my allies and the people around me. I strongly believe in professional mentorships relationships in this field especially, and specifically the relationship I have with mentors and colleagues who might share some of my identities. Bolman and Deal (2000) helped me to understand this need by stating, The basic point is simple: as a manager, you need friends and allies to get things done (p. 170). Having this foundation of support from people who share likenesses helps to focus on my personal mission and work towards harmony between my personal and professional selves. In addition to the relational resources that I turn to, I also look to practical leadership resources for theory, research, and applicable action items. I try to take advantage of any professional development trainings, workshops, or courses that are available to me at my institution, and I specifically look for items that pertain to leadership skills. I also look to common publications in the field for articles or studies on leadership in higher education. No

matter where I look to for leadership resources, though, I make sure to be open to learning about what is being taught before picking and choosing aspects that work for me. Framing My Leadership Practice

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY After learning more about the different leadership frames, I have found that I am naturally partial to the Human Resource leadership philosophy, particularly because it is what I have been accustomed to in my work thus far. While I do find that I stay close to the Human Resources leadership frame on most days, I try to incorporate other leadership styles depending on the situation. With my Human Resources view of leadership, I firmly believe in thinking of ones department or office as part of an extended family, and that the leader should be that servant, catalyst, or coach, as Bolman and Gallos (2001) explains. By utilizing the five aspects for building liberating campus environments, Bolman and Gallos (p. 94, 2011) perfectly describe how I wish to interact with others in my leadership roles. First, I strive to always openly communicate with those around me whether I am right or wrong. Second, I feel that in a leadership role one feels empowered to act or make decisions on his or

her own, but it is nothing without the support of others. Therefore, sharing the power and giving the resources to empower others is another point for my practice. All of this leads to the third aspect of effective teamwork, where each individual in the office plays an important role towards the larger goal of the office and institution. Throughout all of this, I have come to find that I expect my supervisors to support and care for my well-being as a member of their team, and so I also follow the fourth aspect of support, coaching, and care for individuals. Finally, hiring the right people is ultimately what any leader seeks to do so that end goals can be met and the work can be done appropriately. I find that with the Human Resource leadership philosophy, it is ideal when starting fresh and choosing who gets to be part of a team since one can keep these in mind throughout the hiring and selection process. A con I wonder about has to do with coming into situations where relationships are already established, positive or negative. The Human Resource Leadership

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY frame can certainly aid in problem solving, especially when open communication and care are involved. But if success for an organization might mean firing some staff members and then hiring the right people for the job as the fifth aspect states, that it can be a bit more difficult to

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manage. Overall I think this is an effective leadership style that I personally respond well to, but also something that can be tailored to individuals simply because it values the servant-leader role that cares for others needs. Understanding what informs my leadership styles and roles is something that is always helpful to reflect about, especially since new leadership milestones will occur and slightly shift my thinking. I believe that I am at a new milestone where I have begun explore all of the other leadership styles that I can improve on and work towards in order to be the best leader I can. By expanding on my leadership abilities and skills, I think I would be able to react better to a variety of situations and interact with other leaders in the field. Having a well-rounded approach rather than focusing on just one will make sure that I am not pigeonholed to one institutional type or one leadership role throughout my career. How Do I Do Leadership? Thinking about a specific time when I did leadership proved a challenge, but I realize that it is because I am following the Jesuit tradition of always being a leader, all the time, that I am finding it difficult to pinpoint a moment of great significance. After all, doing leadership all the time does not necessarily mean it is being done correctly, as mentioned in class. Exercising My Leadership Styles As the current lead in my office I often have chances to exercise management skills as a supervisor, but rarely do I think of my title with relation to leadership and my leadership style.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY Managing processes and day-to-day tasks has become the norm, but thinking about actual leadership opportunities has tested my views on the work I do and the duties I perform.

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Every year our department holds a series of events geared toward our prospective student audience. Initially my role was to support others in these events but after my first year, planning and coordinating the events moved on to my plate. In the beginning there was no documentation of procedures or plans from past events, no history of who did what, and there was no standardized process for holding these annual, repeating events; the person in charge of coordinating for a particular year had to essentially start from scratch every time. My managerial style saw a need for process improvement, but I attribute actually creating a process to my combination of leadership styles because it took more than just managing a process, but instead it took assessing our resources, communicating with stakeholders, and producing a series of steps that work for all constituents involved. It is because of this that I attribute much of my role in forming this events process to Bolman and Gallos Human Resources view, in addition to the Structural and Political views as well (2011). Working in a marketing department at a university in my current position means that we have to be in constant communication with one another and must consider each colleague as an extended family member. We must be open to new ideas from one-another and we must also take the time to understand each of our very detailed roles in order to put the pieces together and work toward a larger end-goal. Using my Human Resources leadership view, I was able to look at each sub-team in my office as a key component for holding events. We needed our program management team to help coordinate program representatives for each certificate program. We needed our creative team to update our websites and advertising to promote the event. We needed our direct marketing team to send email and mail campaigns to prospective students. We

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY also needed my team, the Enrollment Advising Center, ready at the phones and email inbox to

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answer any inquiries about the event. Under the Human Resources view of academic leadership, the leader takes great care in finding the right people for the job and also using effective teams for collective action (Bolman & Gallos, p. 94, 2011). As part of creating a standardized events management process, it was of the utmost importance to the part of me that relies on the Human Resources leadership style because I wanted to make sure that all individuals involved were doing their part and that they were also recognized as such. Another side to my leadership style during this process includes the Political view of academic leadership. From this view, I take into account the needs of various stakeholders when planning and coordinating events. While all of these events are geared toward a prospective student audience, many factors must be considered in the initial planning stages such as focused areas of interest, target attendee numbers, event programming types, times of the year, and also the best event location to reach as many attendees as possible. Bringing a Political frame into creating a process means that all of these factors must be considered every time and event is to be held, and that the stakeholders in marketing, academic programs, and campus departments must all be able to bargain and negotiate their needs in order to build a coalition of sorts. Because of this, I wrote into the procedures a plan for holding a kick-off meeting with appropriate stakeholders, and that a checklist similar to the one outlined above must be vetted with all parties so that an agreement can be made. Understanding that each stakeholder has their own mission and needs for these events is an important piece to remember, but by including my Political frame in the process, I am able to ensure that these needs are considered in the event planning process.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY Finally, if it was not for my managerial knack for creating processes, my Structural leadership style would not have emerged. With this view, I was able to recognize a larger organizational need to unify the many moving parts of event coordination into a clear, more concise manner. By seeing that new or different procedures were being made each year by different event coordinators, and by recognizing that the most efficient methods needed to be

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documented for future use, I exercised my Structural leadership style in a way that allowed me to take the reigns as I stepped into the new role and also establish myself as a procedural thinker. Now, three years late, and after coordinating countless events of all types, I am still looked to across departments for my event coordination expertise. However, it is because of my Structural frame that I am able to continuously assess and reevaluate changing needs in order to keep the most updated procedure for getting structure right (Bolman & Gallos, p. 60, 2011). Lessons Learned In retrospect, I believe that if I were to only ever use one type of leadership style in my work, then there would always be holes the fill. While my leadership style is far from perfect, I truly believe in utilizing pieces from a variety of leadership styles in an attempt to fill whatever holes one may foresee coming. One lesson I learned in particular involves predicting the types of holes one might findwhat issues may come as a result of a leadership choice, what leadership style must be employed to alleviate an issue, and how might one work in the future to ensure (as best as possible) that the issue does not occur again. As leadership is like river, those holes can easily be filled with water, but understanding the rapids or whirlpools that may come as a result is a challenge faced by anyone, regardless of leadership style. Being like that flexible, flowing river in ones leadership can help to adapt and mold to any situation faced. Understanding history, identity, and where one comes from can also help in

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becoming the best leader possible. All of this is a work in progress and in order for progress to be made as a leader at any organization, it is important to always consider the leader as a human above all, coming with all of the emotions and experiences that make them who they are today.

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY References Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T.E. (2000). Manager as Politician. In Jossey-Bass, The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (pp. 164-181). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bolman, L. G., & Gallos, J.V. (2011). Reframing academic leadership. San Francisco: JosseyBass. Deal, T. E. & Peterson, K. D. (2000). Eight Roles of Symbolic Leaders. In Jossey-Bass, The

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Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (pp. 202-214). San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass. Gardner, J. (2000). The nature of leadership. In Jossey-Bass, The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership (pp. 3-12). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Heifetz, R., Grashow, A., & Linsky, M. (2009). The practice of adaptive leadership: Tools and tactics for changing your organization and the world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Kezar, A.J., Carducci, R., & Contreras-McGavin, M. (2006). Rethinking the L word in higher education: The revolution in research on leadership. ASHE Higher Education Report, 31(6). San Francisco, CA: Wiley Periodicals. Komives, S.R., Longerbeam, S.D., Owen, J.E., Mainella, F.C., & Osteen, L. (2006, July/August). A leadership identity development model: Applications from a grounded theory. Journal of College Student Development, 47(4), 401-418. doi: 10.1353/csd.2006.0048 Linder, C. & Rodriguez, K.L. (2012). Learning from the experiences of self-identified women of color activists. Journal of College Student Development, 53(3), 383-398.