Supporting Organizational Missions and Visions

Brittany Oakley

EDL 270: Personal and Professional Assessment Seminar

Dr. Doug Stilwell

September 25, 2020

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Interviewing leaders reiterated the importance of having a personal mission and vision.

The leaders I interviewed came from different backgrounds with varying degrees of experience.

QK is an Associate Principal at a large high school in Des Moines, IA. TD is the Senior

Education and Development Manager at furniture manufacturing company in Eastern Iowa. JA is

a retired lawyer and community leader in Eastern Iowa. QK is in her third year of building level

leadership. TD has been in many leadership roles within her organization. JA was a partner at a

law firm for many years and most recently lead a state-wide initiative. With such different

backgrounds I found it surprising that they had many leadership characteristics with overlapping

traits.

Specifically, they all had similar opinions on selecting a candidate. All three had

experiences that taught them about the importance of communication and humanizing their staff.

Also, they agreed on the importance of involving everyone in an organization when trying to

start new initiatives. Lastly, they emphasized balance, but had different perspectives on obtaining

balance. The interviews allowed me to see that the principles that guide quality leadership are

very similar, but as QK said, “You have to figure out what works for you” (personal

communication, September 4, 2020). These interviews allowed me to see how three different

leaders make quality leadership possible, while staying aware of their personal strengths.

Building Capacity

When asking about candidate selection I did not expect all three interviewees to say,

"there are is no such thing as an equally qualified candidate." They all agreed there will always

be a candidate more qualified for the duties of the position and goals of the organization.

Furthermore, in their own ways, they all discussed that hiring the right candidate was about

building capacity within your staff that would further the mission and vision of the organization.
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However, they all sought different characteristics when determining what person would support

the organization’s mission and vision.

QK leads the anti-racist movement at in their building. When asking QK about what

advice she would give for someone going into a leadership role, she reiterated that a leader needs

to have a strong mission and vision for when you are faced with challenging decisions. Her

individual mission and vision are developed with anti-racism in mind, and she uses this lens

when selecting candidates. She strongly believes that in order to promote anti-racism in our

schools you need to build capacity in staff that are actively working to become anti-racist. She

emphasized that there is always a more anti-racist candidate and that is the candidate she will

select or advocate for in a selection committee.

TD, similarly to QK, believes a candidate should support the goals of the organization.

She stated that the hiring committee has a responsibility to place individuals in positions where

they will be successful and support the organizations mission and vision. TD specified that

authenticity is extremely important to her in the interviewing process. She stated that authenticity

is evident when a candidate is asked to discuss their past experiences, and unprompted the

candidate discusses both the positives and negatives of those experiences. The importance that

TD places on authenticity supports her philosophies that you cannot have a staff that is afraid to

fail and learns from their failure (personal communication, September 7, 2020).

TD’S search for authenticity and QK’s pursuit of anti-racism is like JA’s reliance on her

intuition. JA believed that a good candidate will be curious about the position and organization.

Furthermore, she looked for candidates that were interested in the organizations mission. She

searched for employees that were not afraid to say they did not know the answer, but they would

find the solution. A sense of curiosity and interest in others was extremely important to her. She
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relied on these qualities to build the relationships and achieve her organization’s goals (personal

communication, September 9, 2020).

Relationships

I was not surprised by the emphasis all three women placed on building relationships

with their staff. It was interesting how each of them used these relationships to help promote the

success of their individual organizations, encourage employee growth, and get their staff to

“buy-in” to new initiatives. The way they built these relationships might look slightly different,

but all had the same intention.

The emphasis on intentionally building relationships is what I believe will be most

beneficial to me as a leader. Learning how each of the leaders achieved building these

relationships will help me develop my own leadership style. For example, QK explained how she

takes time to sit down with her staff and find common interest with them. She gave the example

of standing at a football game and taking a moment to ask a staff member about his love of

science fiction novels. She said from that conversation she was able to make a connection with

him that will help further building goals, because they have a trust built from that small action of

finding a common interest. QK was also quick to point out that what works for one person in

building relationships will not work for all leaders.

In contrast to QK’s method of having quick conversations and intentionally working to

find common interest, TD and JA both rely on opportunities to show compassion and empathy,

while also providing a supportive role when staff are working on challenging or new tasks. Both

pointed out that building trust requires each staff member feel humanized in the relationships

with leaders of the organization. In the end building relationships with staff will benefit the

whole organization. JA put it that the best ideas in an organization, “come from the curious,
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courage, creative members of the organization.” When staff feel they are cared about by the

leaders in the organization it creates a space for curiosity, courageousness, and creativity.

Inclusion

Building relationships helps a leader build trust within their staff. When staff feel trusted

by leaders, they feel the ability to make change within their organization and feel invested in the

collective mission and vision. QK symbolizes the work of initiatives, especially that of anti-

racism, as everyone in an organization linking together and walk as one. No one pushing ahead

or staying behind. Instead everyone feeling included and stepping synchronously towards a goal.

JA discussed the importance of delegation. She spoke of delegation as if it were a skill, where

the delegator needs to provide clear instructions and opportunities for support while trusting, as

she put it, “the delegatee,” to complete the task. TD had a point about delegation that I believe

many leaders forget. She said that you must trust that work will be done but accept that the

method of completion and sometimes the final product will be different than you might have

anticipated. However, in the end you must trust that the work will be done correctly, so that your

employees feel like they were included in producing the results that support the organizations

mission and vision.

Trust your staff to work with fidelity. Trust your staff's abilities. This idea was shared

among all three of the leaders I chose to interview. All three women came from different

generations. All have faced different challenges and paths to leadership. However, they all

shared a common believe that in order to lead you must trust and build capacity within your staff.

Provide your staff the opportunity to learn and grow. Include your staff in decisions and make

yourself available to them when they need your support.

Balance
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Each of these women are at different points in their lives, but one thing they all said is

that work-life balance looks different for each person. “How do you keep your bucket full?” is

the comment TD made when describing work-life balance. She said the methods for achieving

balance has changes as she has grown in her leadership roles and her personal life has changed.

JA’s quote is one that I believe sums up work-life balance the best “Balance is a combination of

attitude, application, and determination.” Leaders know there will always be dealing with new

challenges and it is the mindset you approach those challenges with that will determine their

impact on other aspects of your life. Furthermore, you must apply yourself in every role, not one

role can necessarily be neglected more than another. You simply must adjustments with how you

are applying yourself. Lastly, if you are determined and focused on your mission and vision, then

you can achieve your goals when you are met with challenges.

Summary

Learning from these women about candidate selection, building and maintain staff

relationships, and balancing work life will help me in future leadership roles. Now, I know more

about finding the right people for a role, and how staff selection will help with the efficiency and

effectiveness of an organization. I am aware that building and maintaining trusting, inclusive

relationships with my staff has help all feel safe, cared for, and creative in the working

environment. Lastly, I know what a challenge balancing work and life can be and that sometimes

balance does not look pretty and will never be perfect. I feel more confident that I can acquire

the necessary skills to lead an educational organization after these interviews, because I will be

leading educators. And as QK pointed out, educators “are people that are super analytical and

know how to problem solve but are also extremely creative. That is a dangerous combination.”

Now, it my goal is to foster these characteristics to further the success of an organization.