An Analysis of Linda Lambert's "Building

Leadership Capacity in Schools"

February 15, 2007 by
Stephanie Allen
Stephanie Allen

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Trait Theory | Codependent | Leadership Development

In the book "Building Leadership Capacity in Schools," Linda Lambert takes a close look at leadership in
today's schools. Lambert defines leadership as a group of people in a community working together toward
a shared sense of purpose. The community she talks about includes teachers,

administrators, parents, students, and community members. She refers to leadership capacity as a broad
based, skillful involvement in the work of leadership.

1.Lambert speaks of five key assumptions that form the conceptual framework for building leadership
capacity:

2.Leadership is not a trait theory.

3.Leadership is about learning.

4.Everyone has the potential and right to work as a leader.

5.Leading is a shared endeavor.

Leadership requires the redistribution of power and authority.

In order to apply these assumptions, one first must develop a good and strong communication within their
community. Communication can be defined as an ongoing transactional process in which individuals
exchange messages whose meaning are influenced by the history of the relationship and the experiences
of the participants. Key words in this definition are the experiences of the participant.

In the book "Building Leadership Capacity in Schools," Lambert tells the stories of three schools; one
school with low leadership capacity, one with moderate leadership capacity, and one with high leadership
capacity. Each story reflects the principal's technique in communication and how effective it was within
his/her community. Lambert discusses how one can use reflective thinking when communicating with their
community. She says, "Reflection leads to the opportunity to run with an idea, to see it through."

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Written by Stephanie Allen

Stephanie is attending college to finish her BA in RN. She writes part time for AC and other various organizations.
First and foremost, she is a mother of two wonderful children who truly ar... - Full profile
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The first school Lambert talks about is Arabesque Elementary School. Arabesque Elementary School has
a low leadership capacity. The families that build up the community in the school have a very diverse
background. Many of the teachers have a number of years of tenure in the school and

are fixed in teaching patterns classified as traditional. They believe that teachers should focus on the
classroom, maintaining the order and discipline essential to teaching.

After George Simpson, principal for over twenty years at Arabesque retired, Sam Johnson took his place.
Three years after Sam started his reform at Arabesque, destruction or a rebellion against his revolution
started to take place. Parents objected Sam's multigraded teaming approaches, calling them poorly
articulated. Sam had failed at involving his teachers in collaborative planning and peer coaching. When
Sam tried to involve the teachers in participation in making leadership decisions, his teachers rebelled.
The teachers opposed to "do any administrator's works." Sam's leadership technique failed as well did his
being principal at Arabesque.

Lambert refers to Arabesque as having low leadership capacity. She goes on to tell what makes a school
have high leadership capacity and what traits Arabesque lacks in being a higher leadership capacity
school. She gives strategies for improving the low leadership capacity at Arabesque.

Lambert says, "The major challenge at Arabesque is to engage and focus the attention of faculty on their
practice and connect their performance with student learning. According to Lambert, the first goal of a
new principal in a situation like that at Arabesque is to capture the attention and respect of the veteran
faculty. The new principal, Sarah Green did just that when she got acquainted with her faculty before
school started.

Sarah interviewed each teacher and asked them how they felt about the school and what they would like
to see improve. Sarah gained their trust by implicating some quick, short-term changes before school
started.

During her faculty meetings she gave praise and credit for accomplishing goals and would then move on
to the next level of concern. When faculty approached her with a concern or problem, she would shift
responsibility inward. She supported and coached new teachers who were hungry for feedback. She
demonstrated facilitation skills and she asked faculty to nominate teachers whom they trusted to
represent them on an advisory council.
To make communication strong within her community, Sarah sent out a weekly newsletter to the staff to
keep them up to date on everything happening in the school. She held regular meetings with classified
staff and had frequent conversations with the superintendent. Her most challenging

undertaking was breaking the codependent relationship between the principal and staff.

Next, Lambert talks about Belvedere Middle School. According to Lambert, Belvedere Middle School has
a moderate leadership capacity. In the fall of 1994, Maria Sanchez was hired as principal at Belvedere
Middle School. She implicated a formal leadership team, nominated and selected by the faulty. Maria
along with staff planned to improve parent participation and students also formed their own leadership
team that met before school.

According to Lambert, Maria's downfall was taking on the role as servant in relationship to the leadership
team and task force. She gathered the data that each team collected and provided it to each team. She
was unable to confront and mediate the opposition among some teachers and she left the school too
early in the reform process.

Lambert goes on to discuss the strategies for improving a school with moderate leadership capacity. She
refers to the techniques used by John Trevor the new principal at Belvedere Middle School.

The first thing John did when he arrived at Belvedere Middle School was to assure the staff that he would
be around to see through the changes he implements. He worked as a collaborative peer with the
teachers to confront the challenges before them. John personally reached out to staff without judgment.
With John, the leadership team reviewed their achievements, selected their priorities, and refocused their
agenda.

Lambert describes reflection once again when she says that in John's effort to bridge the distance
between the two administrations he would have his team to recall and recapture where they had been in
order to build a pathway to what happens next. He challenged his leadership team with questions on how
to organize, decision-making, involve the community, and how to ensure that their communication system
included opportunities for reflection, dialogue, and inquiry?

The leadership team collected data to back up their decisions. They relied on the need for prime time for
adult collaborative work and decentralized resources. Everyone at Belvedere Middle School agreed to
break the norm of silence and get on board for an exciting new adventure.

Last, Lambert discusses conditions and strategies at Capricorn High School, which has a high leadership
capacity. She points out that although Capricorn High School may not be perfect, it is a school on its way
to becoming an exemplary school.

Two years after Bill Johnson became principal, the school joined the Coalition of Essential Schools.
Lambert describes three conversations that took place at this school and how effective they

were.

The first conversation represents the beginning an inquiry process. Lambert points out the importance of
including everyone in your school leadership community. Included in this meeting were teachers,
administrators, counselors, parents, students, and classified staff. All of these people equally represented
the leadership team at Capricorn High School.

One of the main topics of this particular conversation was block scheduling. Each person described what
he or she had learned while researching block scheduling. They compared this teaching method with the
previous methods they had used. Everyone had a chance to ask questions and give feedback.

The team agreed that time for learning was the most critical issue being laid on the table. The staff asked
students questions wanting feedback on how they felt about block scheduling.

During the next few weeks following the conversation the leadership team started an investigation
process that included interviewing a random sample of students; conducting focus groups of parents,
students, and teachers; visiting other schools using alternative schedules; and a review of the literature
and data they collected. The principal assumed the role of supporting and guiding while the faculty and
administrators maintained the focus of dialogue.

Lambert goes on to tell how the faculty conducted their second conversation. She describes the process
for the faculty meeting in four components in which each research team reported their key findings.

When describing the last conversation taken place with the faculty at Capricorn High School, Lambert
once again describes the reflecting methods used. The conversation was an informal conversation taken
place at a coffee shop where several teachers,

a counselor, the community services coordinator, the chair of the research committee, and the vice
principal all attended. The group discussed how they felt about the changes taking place and how it all
started.

Lambert says, "The staff at Capricorn uses a school wide collaborative action research model in their
cycle of improvement." She points out Capricorn's strong belief that everyone needs to be involved in the
process. With, "The learning process involves reflection, inquiry, dialogue, and action," Lambert is clear
about what is included in developing a school with a high leadership capacity.

Lambert does not hesitate to point out that large school size means that relationships are difficult to
attend to. However, with "persistent professional dialogue" staff should be able to "challenge old
assumptions and reawaken their fundamental need to care about their students and their own worth."
Lambert clearly states, "Increasing leadership capacity over time is the most productive way to bring
about improvements that can be sustained."

Lambert also provides a few systemic guidelines on how to take action to build leadership capacity. In
addition, she offers surveys that can be used to assess staff and school capacity for leadership.

In all, I think that Lambert does a good job defining each role teachers, principal, administration, and staff
should take in developing a school with a high leadership capacity. She is very clear on her point that
teachers need to step up and take leadership responsibility in their community.

Moreover, the book "Building Leadership Capacity in Schools," is a very good example of Midway's
Standard 10. In each strategy giving on building leadership capacity, Lambert demonstrates how the
teacher leader must initiate and support positive educational change. In every example, Lambert
discusses the importance of reflective thinking.

Lambert uses the situation at Arabesque Elementary School to emphasize the understanding the teacher
leader must have towards diversity. It is very clear that the teacher leader must have respect for others
and most importantly her students. It helps if the teacher knows about his/her students so they can relate
to each other.

Lambert also tells how in order for a school to grow they must continually refine its teaching practices. I
think all three schools that Lambert discusses are good examples of how schools must change in order to
keep up. What worked in the past may not work in

the present or future. Each school must be a constructivist school and promote hands on learning.

Furthermore, the most critical key to building strong leadership in schools is effective communication. It is
crucial that teachers, the principal, and all other staff involved in the leadership team collaborates in
critical thinking for the purpose of instructional improvement. The main component in developing a school
with a high leadership capacity is open and clear communication.

References
Lambert, Linda. (1998). Building Leadership Capacity in Schools. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.