LEADERSHIP STYLE AND PHILOSOPHY 1

LEADERSHIP STYLE AND PHILOSOPHY

Joshua D. Winn

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD-501: Educational Administration: Foundations for the Developing Leader

Dr. Karla Carlson

October 6, 2021
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Are people born leaders or are they made into leaders? While some might have charisma

or certain personality traits that make them capture a room, leadership itself is formed through

one’s own style and leadership philosophy that is birthed out of their values and beliefs, guidance

from mentors, and trial and error. My journey towards school leadership begins here, by

formulating my leadership style and philosophy. In this essay, I will explain the personal values

and beliefs that guide me, explore my leadership style, articulate how I will act with integrity and

fairness in my school community, and explain how my philosophy is an emerging model of

effective and inspirational leadership.

EXPLAINATION OF PERSONAL VALUES AND BELIEFS

An effective leadership philosophy flows from one’s personal values and beliefs.

According to Dr. Dale Benson, a leadership philosophy is defined as a system of principles that

are derived from one’s values (Benson, 2018). My personal values and beliefs flow from my

religious convictions. These convictions are what led me to devoting my working years to public

service. My personal values are rooted in my theological conviction that I am to love my

neighbor as myself. Out of this value, I believe that I am to show unconditional, positive regard

for all people and seek out their success and well-being. This drives the way that I think, make

decisions, set goals, and interact with others. For instance, I approach student discipline with

unconditional, positive regard and thinking about discipline through a trauma-informed

approach. Teaching at a hard-to-staff school in a poverty-stricken area in my county, I have

found that I have many students who have gone through adverse childhood experiences. I make

disciplinary decisions that are guided with this in mind as I seek out a more restorative outcome
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to discipline than punitive. This approach has led to lessened discipline issues in my classroom

and has allowed my students and colleagues to see my values and beliefs in my actions.

LEADERSHIP STYLE ALIGNED

When comparing transactional leadership, transformative leadership, and servant

leadership, I find that I am most drawn to servant leadership. To give some background on these

leadership styles, transactional leadership is when one “exerts influence on followers based on

exchanging benefits for outstanding performance and response to their self-interests when they

achieve defined goals” (Saravo, 2017). Transformational leadership on the other hand is defined

as one who seeks to inspire and motivate followers in ways that go beyond exchanges and

rewards (Aarons, 2007). Servant leadership is about leading and serving simultaneously; it is

about leading by providing clear vision, purpose, and helping followers accomplish their tasks,

visions, and goals while serving them with time, compassion, and care (Ragnarsson et al., 2018).

Servant leadership aligns most closely with my values and beliefs. As I seek to put my

neighbor before myself and provide them with unconditional, positive regard, I am found

wanting to provide both leadership and service to those who follow. According to Northouse

(2018), servant leaders care about the personal well-being of their followers. As aforementioned,

I seek to have a more holistic approach to discipline as I consider the whole person and not just

their action(s). I find this to be a good example of how I am a servant leader in my classroom. As

a future school leader, I imagine I would lead with compassion and empathy realizing the stress

teachers can be under as we all seek to accomplish our schoolwide goals. Guided by my personal

value to love my neighbor as myself, I imagine that I would provide feedback and guidance as

we seek to accomplish our tasks and goals while simultaneously coming alongside my staff to
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provide them with compassionate and empathetic support. I believe a leader should have an

open-door policy, which I would plan to have as I serve my faculty and students with my time.

INTEGRITY AND FAIRNESS

It is my belief as an emerging leader that student academic and social success is based

upon a just culture. The stewardship of this culture is the most important way that I would act

with integrity and fairness to ensure a school system of accountability for every student’s

academic and social success. Equal opportunity and equal responses to discipline are ways in

which a school can create a just culture. I would make this part of my school’s value system as

my faculty cultivates those values in the classroom every day. I would also create a justice

committee comprised of teachers to hear cases of potential injustice in our school and to hold the

administrative team accountable for our actions in leadership as we model living out a just

culture in our school community. I believe this committee would be a way to hold me as the

school leader best accountable.

MODEL OF EFFECTIVE AND INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP

I believe my philosophy is a growing model of effective and inspirational leadership. My

servant leadership style is formed out of my personal value to love my neighbor as myself. Out

of my values and leadership style flows my desire to create a just culture which I believe is the

most important way that I as a school leader could act with integrity and fairness to ensure a

school system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success.

This leadership model would inspire my followers as they feel they are cared for as we all

work towards accomplishing our schoolwide goals. The expectation to reciprocate that care

towards our students would contribute to the establishment of a just culture and increase morale
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within the study body which would ultimately produce better behavioral and academic outcomes.

It is in this way that my philosophy of leadership would be both effective and inspirational.

CONCLUSION

To conclude, one’s personal values and beliefs help form their leadership style. A leader

must act with integrity and fairness as he or she seeks accountability for every student’s

academic and social success. Out of this alignment and accountability, one’s philosophy of

leadership can be both effective and inspirational. As I progress in my leadership career, my

hope is that my desire to care for my neighbor will be seen in the way I lead as a servant leader.

As my values and leadership style inform the just culture I will create in my school, I hope that

the fruits of my philosophy will be impactful for the faculty and students whom I will serve as

the leader.
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References

Aarons, G. (2007). Transformational and Transactional Leadership: Association with Attitudes

Toward Evidence-Based Practice. NCBI.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876730/

Benson, D. (2018). How to Determine Your Personal Leadership Philosophy. American

Association for Physician Leadership. https://www.physicianleaders.org/news/how-

determine-your-personal-leadership-philosophy.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.) [E-book]. SAGE

Publications, Inc.

Ragnarsson, S., Kristjansdottir, E., & Gunnarsdottir, S. (2018). To Be Accountable While

Showing Care: The Lived Experience of People in a Servant Leadership Organization.

SAGE Journals. https://journals.sagepub.com/action/cookieAbsent

Saravo, B. (2017). The need for strong clinical leaders – Transformational and transactional

leadership as a framework for resident leadership training. Plos One.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0183019.