Benchmark- Leadership Style and Philosophy 1

Benchmark- Leadership Style and Philosophy

      Kristen Hendrixson

        Grand Canyon University: EAD-501

3/20/2022
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Introduction

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to one another” - John F. Kennedy

As I move forward in my career from classroom educator to administrative leader, I find

myself reflecting on my journey through this class. I’ve been introduced to many different

leadership styles and have been challenged to examine the influence my personal values and

morals have on my emerging model of leadership. Through this process of learning and self-

reflection I have found a multidimensional approach, combining transformational and servant

styles of leadership, that has started to form a philosophy that fits who I am and the leader I want

to be for my school and community. To fully develop this philosophy and emerging model of

effective leadership I have examined and reflected on my personal values and beliefs, the

leadership philosophies that influence me, and the importance of integrity and fairness in roles of

administration. With the exploration of these three different facets, I have emerged with a model

of leadership that will guide and counsel me as an academic administrator. 

Person values and beliefs

            Great leadership requires confidence in your core values and beliefs, which guide your

overall thinking, decision making, goal setting, and interactions. Growing up my parents,

through their endless support and guidance, instilled a strong code of ethics and morals for my

siblings and me. My experiences being raised in a large family with limited resources has played

a large part in developing my pragmatism and have led me to having a strong moral compass and

set of values that I live by today. Trust, honesty, and passion are always the values I hold myself

and others to when facing any situation and interacting with people or groups. If you keep these
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values at the forefront of any situation, I believe positive outcomes and community building are

not far behind.  Even though each of my values are essential, the value I hold highest of all is

trust. Trust in any relationship is important and is a necessary foundation to foster honesty and

passion in any given situation. It is important for my staff to trust my leadership in order to

shepherd our community as whole into a future of long term social and academic success. It’s

even more important for me to fully trust my staff’s abilities, skills, and guidance in order to

fully understand the goals and needs of my community and trust in their ability to grow our

students' self-efficacy. These values, grown and built out of my ability to truly trust in others'

competencies and skills and earn the trust of others in me, have guided me through my life and I

will bring them with me as I move on to the next stage of my career.  

 Leadership Philosophy

To start my journey developing my own leadership philosophy, I began by researching

different types of established leadership styles.  I found my philosophy taking on a

multidimensional approach that lies somewhere between the transformational and servant style

of leadership. These two styles best align with my personal values and beliefs that have guided

me in my role as educator and will guide me in leadership. Transformational leadership is

described as, “the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that

raises the level of motivation and morality in both leaders and followers” (Northouse, 2019,

p.218). I found inspiration in the transformational style on how I would like to oversee my

school. In a school setting establishing positive and trusting relationships with staff and students

is key to the community's overall success. This allows you to develop an honest understanding of

your staff and students goals through open communication to nurture their motivation for

success. I want to build that trust and honesty by acting with morality and showing people
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through my actions that are based on my knowledge of my community's goals, that they can trust

me in making the right decisions for the entirety of our school.  Additionally, I found inspiration

for my emerging philosophy in servant leadership. Servant leaders ensure the success of the

organization and are responsible for their followers. A servant leader is responsible for acting in

an ethical manner, putting others first, showing concern for others, fostering professional growth,

empowerment. and building a supportive community (Northouse, 2019). While there are many

similarities between transformational and servant leadership like prioritizing the connection

between you and your community and active listening, transformational leadership is about

inspiring a shared vision with your faculty while servant leadership highlights the importance of

empathy for others and building “a happy, positive school environment, where staff, students,

and parents feel welcome creates a sense of wellness” (Crippen, 2010, p. 30).  From the servant

leadership philosophy, I not only hope to foster inspiration for motivation in my community but

to build a place where all feel welcome, listened to, and supported. In my leadership role I will

be an example of this through my own continual self-reflection and learning. By taking

inspiration from both leadership styles, I hope to become an effective, trusted, and motivational

leader to both my faculty, students, and community. 

Integrity and fairness:

 To be a successful and meaningful leader does not only require a well-developed

leadership philosophy but for leaders to always act with integrity and fairness to ensure a school

system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success. Malingkas says,

“integrity is an unwavering consistency and persistence to uphold noble values and beliefs.

Simply put, integrity is a concept that shows a consistency between actions and

values/principles” (Malingkas et al., Spring 2018, 9). To act with accountability and integrity in
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my leadership role will mean my actions and reactions will always be consistent with my values

and leadership philosophies that I am developing. Modeling this accountability also means

taking responsibilities and openly learning from my mistakes to inspire an environment of

continual learning and open communication. Additionally, being accountable for my students’

academic and social success means that the students and staff feel that they are respected, treated

fairly, and being heard in the school. To accomplish this, I will ensure that my core values and

beliefs of honesty, passion, trust are not only told to my community but modeled through the

consistency of my actions and decision making. 

Emerging model of effective and inspirational leadership

Solidifying my thoughts on my personal values, beliefs, and philosophies in regard to

academic leadership does not necessarily make an emerging model of effective and inspirational

leadership. A leadership model is not static, according to Bely, “you need to actively evaluate

how well you are holding on to your ideals. You must regularly reflect on how well your actions

and behaviors follow your statements” (Belyh, 2019, pp.52). To hold myself accountable and

ensure the effectiveness of my practice and philosophy in real world applications I will regularly

set time aside for self-reflection of my actions and take in account the honest and trusted

feedback from my staff, students, and community. Only by using this team-oriented approach

will I ensure that I am not straying from my integrity and morality-oriented philosophy. 
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References

Belyh, A. (2019). How to Develop a Leadership Philosophy that Inspires. Cleverism. Retrieved March

17, 2022, from https://www.cleverism.com/leadership-philosophy-guide/

Crippen, C. (2010). Serve, Teach, and Lead: It's All about Relationships. In Sight: A journal of

Scholarly articles, 5, 27-35.

Malingkas, M., senduk, j. f., Simandjuntak, S., & Binilang, B. B. (Spring 2018). The Effects of Servant

Leader and Integrity of Principal performance In Catholic Senior High school in North

Sulawesi, Indonesia (Vol. 8 Issue 1). Journal of International Education and Leadership.

Nedelcu, A. (2013). Transformational Approach To School Leadership: Contribution to Continued

Improvement Of Education. Change and Leadership, 17, 237-244.

Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Schroeder, B. (2016). The Effectiveness of a Servant Leadership in Schools From a Christian

perspective. Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, 8(2), 13-18.