INDICATORS FOR MEASURING LEADERSHIP

1. STYLES OF MANAGEMENT
A. Autocratic

The leader who subscribes to this style of management determines:

 School policy and assigns duties to staff without consulting them

 Directives are issued and must be carried out without question and in the prescribed
manner
 People are coerced, controlled, directed and threatened, individual initiative may be
stifled and self-motivation may be discouraged
 Involves very little sense of the leader being accountable to anyone
 It may lead to low morale amongst both staff and students which may, in turn
become the root cause of staff disgruntlement and turn over
 It may provide a degree of certainty for those beneath the leader
 The leader has great self-confidence, a clear vision of what needs to be done, and a
political skills to get things done

When to use it?

 Staff is immature, inexperienced, not motivated and or committed and not willing to
work
 Explore staff expertise, talents and potentials
 Laxity and sabotage by staff members

B. Laissez-faire
The leader who subscribes to this style of management believes:
 That there should be no rules and regulations since everyone has “inborn sense of
responsibility’
 The leader sits back and allows everyone to do as they please. This leads to anarchy
and chaos which would hardly be conducive to the provision of quality education

When to use it?

 Staff is mature, experienced, self- motivated and committed to their work

C. Democratic
The leader who subscribes to this style of management believes:
 Staff should be involved in decision-making processes. Decisions are arrived at after
consultation with the staff and even students

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  Allows freedom of thought and action within the framework of mission and
objectives of the college
 Available skills and talents can be used optimally through delegation and a sense of
belonging
 Promotes creativity and higher degree of staff morale
 Where people are committed to the service of ideas which they have helped to
frame, they will exercise self-control, self-direction and be motivated

When to use it?

 There is clarity as to how bindings decisions will be reached and utilised in the
college development
 No factions in the college as where factions exist it will be difficult to reach a
consensus
 Clear guidance and lines of operation

D. Transactional
The leader who subscribes to this style of management seeks:
 A compromise between stressing organisational demands or goals and individual
needs
 Appreciates the need to achieve organisational goals while at the same time
ensuring that the individual needs of staff members are ignored
 Sticks to the rules and procedures, aims at achieving school objectives without
upsetting people too much in terms of their needs.
 Leader-follower exchange process, motivates the follower to perform as she/he
would want them to do

When to use it?

 Staff member is allowed time off to chase up a personnel matter with

employer/registry or other bodies
 Staff member is allowed to participate/engage in activities outside the school not at
the expense of school objectives and or core business.

E. Contingency/Situational
The leader who subscribes to this style of management believes:
 Dealing with each problem as it arises
 Clarifying the means or paths by which subordinates can achieve both a high
performance and job satisfaction

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  Based on the relationship between follower’s maturity, leader tasks behaviour and
leadership relationship behaviour.
 Whatever approach is adopted depends on individual employee characteristics and
task characteristics
 Highly personalised approach

When to use it?

 Need arises
 Professional development and growth of the inexperienced staff

F. Transformational
The leader who subscribes to this style emphasises:
 Link between leadership style and the culture of the organisation
 Transform a culture in which individuals at all levels enjoy a degree of autonomy in
relation to their work
 Individual efforts are coordinated by means of a common purpose and a shared
vision
 The follower understand the purpose of the assignment and decides on the
approach and methods to carry out the assignment
 The follower takes the responsibility knowing he/she is doing the task for the sake of
the team, interest of the individual is put aside for the purpose of team-work
 Focus on the people involved, their relationships and acquires an approach that
seeks to transform feelings, attitudes and beliefs
 Motivation of followers to adopt a critical reflective approach to practise, to actively
engage in consideration of their work, and to experiment with ways of improving the
processes and outcomes

When to use it?

 For team building

 Staff empowerment and motivation
 To explore staff skills, expertise and potentials

NB: No single style can solve or be a cure for all problems arising in management situations.
Problems do not arise so much from a ‘bad’ style of management but rather from wrong choice of
style for that occasion.

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SELF- EVALUATION

 Which style of leadership do I use and when?

 Which style am I fond of and why?

2. CONFLICT RESOLUTION
 It is common and natural in any organisation, and it is essential to work out ways in
which such conflicts can be peacefully resolved.

 Serious conflicts can lead not only to low morale and disruption of the work, but
even to destruction of an organization

 Conflict should be seen as an opportunity for change and growth

 Conflict resolution requires the finding or creation of some common grounds

 How conflict is handle is crucial

 Conflict should be resolved within a short space of time to avoid creating

unnecessary strives between or amongst the parties.

 Choose the right conflict resolution style/strategy [Avoiding: lose/lose,

Accommodating: lose/win, Compromising: mutual give & take, Competing: win/lose
and Collaborating: win/win]

How do I react to conflict?

 Aggressive [fight it]

 Assertive [negotiate it]
 Passive [duck it]

How do I negotiate it?

 Spot/define it
 Understand it
 Look for ‘win-win’
 Act at the right time
 Check out the results

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SELF- EVALUATION

 How do I react to it?

 How do I negotiate it?
 How proactive am I to staff conflicts resolution?

3. PROBLEM-SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING

Problem-solving

It involves taking corrective action to meet goals and objectives of the department; the seeking
of solutions to problems that arise in a department and or organization. It is a process that leads
to the formulation of decisions intended to resolve the recognised problems.

Decision making

It is a process of selecting an alternative course of action that will solve a problem.

The problem-solving process contains six main elements:

 Recognising the problem

 Analysing the problem
 Working out alternative solutions
 Choosing the best alternative
 Implementing the chosen solution
 Evaluating its effectiveness

How do I empower myself to be a problem-solver?

 Consultation of policies, relevant files, rules and regulations

 Knowledge of operating processes and procedures
 Self-confidence and assertiveness
 Innovativeness, creativeness and imagination

SELF-EVALUATION

 How often do I consult policies, relevant files, rules and regulations when confronted
with a problem or when I am to make a decision over an issue/matter?
 How knowledgeable am I on the operating processes and procedures of problems
arising in the day –to-day business?
 How confident and assertive am I in taking decisions and or solving problem at hand
when need arises?
 How innovative, creative and imaginative am I to resolve exceptional problems?

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 4. MENTORING, COACHING AND COUNSELLING

Mentoring

 Deliberate pairing of a more skilled or more experienced person with a less skilled
or experienced one
 Develops and provides growth of competencies
 Teaches guides and advises the less skilled and experienced through the
organization procedures, cultures and politics.
 Offers knowledge, wisdom, support or perspective that is useful to the mentees
personal and professional development
 Helps the mentee to assess his/her needs and establish a development plan
 Gives the mentee the opportunity to develop skills and practices a range of ideas
and methods of working for the future.
 Helps the mentee to understand and fit into the culture of an organization

Coaching

 Sharing of information, give and take, a sharing of ideas and information

 Helps individual or teams to achieve important tasks or projects, to go through a
process of change
 Unlocks a person’s potential to maximise his/her own performance
 Helps one to learn and his/her willingness to do to get where she/he wants to be in
future

Counselling

 Structured conversation between two or more people used by a manager to help

individuals resolve problems either personal or professional which are having an
indirect or direct effect on the employees’ performance.
 Helps an individual make his/her own choices and decisions and put them into
action through listening rather than taking.

SELF EVALUATION

 How often do I mentor or available myself for my mentees?

 How often do I provide guidance, support and advise my mentees?
 How often do I share ideas and information with subordinates?
 How do I often encourage my subordinates to learn?
 How often do I converse with my subordinates on personality, organisational and
external problems?

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  How often do I counsel my subordinates at work place?

5. MONITORING AND SUPERVISION

Monitoring
 Collects information at regular intervals about on-going activities, projects or
programmes within the school system, concerning the nature of and level of staff
performance
 Checks, controls, making follow ups of assignments to improve perormance
 Checks on progress made towards achievement of the goals and objectives in the
Strategy plan
 Own practices, operational strategies, policies and taking views of staff in account
whenever appropriate
 Provides baselines against which to judge the impact of inputs
 Should go on in every school to improve the effectiveness of the school system for
the benefit of all concerned- staff, parents, community, and potential employers
 Ensures quality service provision and that all activities at all levels of the
organisation are in accordance with the organisation’s objectives

Supervision

 Leading, coordinating and directing the work of others to accomplish designated

objectives
 Overseeing, controlling or dealing with situations and subordinates on the spot as
they arise
 Planning and controlling the work of a group by close contact
 Tripartite: upwards to higher management, horizontally with peers at the same rank
and downward with subordinates
 Ensure qualitative work with tasks finished on time
 Attend to grievances with impartiality

SELF-EVALUATION

 What monitoring strategies do I have in place for my area of supervision?

 How often do I make follow ups of my assignments?
 How often do I check on progress towards achievement of the goals and objectives
in the strategy plan?
 How proactive am I to attend to subordinates grievances with impartiality?
 How often do I ensure that qualitative work is done and tasks are finished on time?

References

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  Educational Management and leadership Modules 1- 5 (2004) TT&D/VVOB Educational
Management Project.
 Better Schools: Resource Materials for School Heads Modules 1- 7 (1993) Improving
Education Management, Commonwealth Secretariat.
 Vrba MJ & Brevis T (2002), A guide to passing General Management. New Africa Books (PTY)
Ltd South Africa
 Botswana Public Service College (2011). A development Programme aimed at Enabling
Managers to do their work efficiently and effectively. Leadership Manual. Gaborone,
Botswana.

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