A holistic approach to leadership will recognize the fact that principals’ core values,

namely care, equity, high expectations and achievement is shared by subordinates. Such
principals promote improvement, collaboration, continuous professional development,
while they respond to new external demands and continuously measure it against their
own standards. Because of this holistic approach, they are able to analyse and see the
“big picture” as reflective practitioners exercising a range of interpersonal and
intrapersonal skills, whilst viewing the school in totality.
You may now wonder how is a holistic approach to leadership different from
management.
A holistic approach to leadership indicates that leadership is essentially building and
maintaining a sense of vision, culture and interpersonal relationships, whereas
management is coordinating, supporting and monitoring organisational activities.
The core components of a holistic leadership approach are:
• Professionally inviting culture
• Effective communication
• Ethical foundation
• Vision of excellence
• Empowerment of others
• Personal mastery and
• Collaboration

Professionally inviting culture

When teachers are perceived as being valuable, capable and responsible, the school
essentially becomes a place where everybody is involved in attempts to see the positive
potential in other and themselves and thus to release the positive forces from within. Such
principals encourage freedom of choice and personal responsibility. Professionally
inviting principals usually have dependable behaviour-patterns and a supported by four
basis qualities, namely: respect; trust; optimism and intentionality
Leaders believe that their subordinates are able, valuable, responsible and should be
treated accordingly. They invite constant feedback and act accordingly to enhance overall
group effectiveness.
Effective communication
Members of effective teams have the confidence to speak their minds, voice their opinions
and make suggestions. In order to ensure that all members are able to participate in
decision making, leaders need to understand the patterns of communication.
Communication is regarded as the single most important factor impacting on societies,
creating wealth and value systems. As such the principal plays a magnet-role he is the
nerve centre where all information is accumulated before processing. To be effective such
information should be shared with his/her subordinates in order to accomplish his/her own
personal goals and objectives. By utilizing communication effectively, the leader is able
to inspire and display values, model positive attitudes and build commitment to quality
culture in the school. Open communication flows in two directions. It is all inclusive and
is an integral part of the decision making process.

Ethical foundation
The community is the centre of values, sentiments and beliefs that provide the needed
cement for uniting people in a common cause. They govern the school’s values and
provide norms and standards that guide behaviour and give meaning the community life.
As such ethical behaviour is what is expected as good and right. As humans we have
ethical responsibilities.
A holistic approach to leadership recognizes the fact that educational leaders operate
from an “ethical foundation”, which is closely linked to characteristics of integrity, such as
anything that is normally perceived as intrinsically good and an important quality in
leaders. Integrity yields direct benefits, such as honesty and commitment and it is a scare
commodity at most times. Acting with integrity can also be costly, as it directed by what
is morally right. A good leader can base a set of morals on, counting others as equals,
being emotionally aware and using factual knowledge to make and execute decisions.
In addition, ethical behaviour recognizes the right of all people to life, liberty and fair
treatment. As such a good leader should also be a good follower, one who is committed
to ideas, values and beliefs embedded in honesty, reflection and quality.
Vision of Excellence
Vision is an essential component of holistic leadership, and in order to develop a vision
of excellence, an effective mission statement must be formulated. The mission statement
has to be specific, honestly framed and fit within the culture of that school. A vision of the
ideal future should not be unfounded fantasies or a set of daydreams, but rather a “big
picture” of what the school should look like in, maybe, five years’ time.
A vision describes where a school as an organization is heading and what it intends to
be. A vision is multifaceted. It contains both material and service facts.
A vision of excellence requires that the educational leader:
• Demonstrates sufficient energy in order to be inspirational
• Sets standards of what would be regarded as excellent
• Indicates an ability to cope with changes and changing circumstances
• Explains to teachers exactly what their responsibilities are
• Develops and trains people in such a way that they can achieve their goals
• Ensures good communication with regards to tasks and pace-setting
• Provides people with feedback and performance measurements
• Recognizes individual achievements
• Communicates the mission to all relevant stakeholders

If the educational leader’s excellence is on a large scale, not only should we change from
the slow to the fast lane; we should change highways. Sometimes the leaders will
abandon the highway and take fight because the highest goals that they can imagine are
well within reach for those who have the will for excellence.
The mission statement will provide a sense of direction and purpose. It provides the
framework for collaboration and decision making and consistently articulates the school’s
values, morals, culture and ethics and ensures consistency of purpose.
The mission statement embodies the philosophy of strategic decision making and implies
the image the school seeks to project.

Empowerment of all stakeholders/followers

Empowerment is a two-way process where managers have to be prepared to let go and
trust subordinates, who must be prepared to accept responsibilities. All school principals
should decide what work they should do themselves, and what should be left to others.
At issue here is delegation, a process of distributing and entrusting work to
others/followers. The principal assigns responsibility, grants authority to act and expects
accountability. The individual that accepts the task takes on a direct obligation to the
principal to complete the work as agreed and eventually answers back to the principal for
performance results. A leader should agree on performance objectives and standards
and allow followers to act independently.
This act of delegation requires the sharing of information and ownership of the applicable
task. Empowerment as a function involves motivating the employees by supporting their
efforts to realize their vision through coaching, feed-back and role-modelling, so that they
could grow professionally and enhance their self-esteem. An empowered state of mind
involves three aspects, taking control over tasks and actions; being aware of the context
in which the task is performed as well as the desired outcomes and applicable milestones
and taking accountability for work output.

Personal Mastery
Personal mastery as an aspect of holistic leadership “suggests a special level of
proficiency in every aspect of life, personal and professional” Such individuals are
naturally committed, and they do what they truly wanted to do. Personal mastery is a
discipline, a purpose of continually focusing and refocussing on what people truly want.
Leaders with a high level of personal mastery share several basic characteristics, namely:
• they have a special sense of purpose
• to them a vision is a calling, rather than simply a good idea
• their personal vision comes from within
• they see current reality as an ally not an enemy
• they are deeply inquisitive and
• they feel connected to others and life itself.

The school principal should continuously foster a climate in which principals of personal
mastery will be practiced in day to day activities, where inquiry and commitment the truth
are the norm, and where challenges to the status quo are expected. Willpower is
synonymous to personal mastery; the leader strives to overcome all forms of resistance
to his vision. Often this is seen as necessary for success; a maniacal focus on goals, a
willingness to pay the price, an ability defeat any opposition and surmount any obstacles.

Collaboration and open-handedness

Collaboration means to labour or co-operate with one another. This would mean two or
more people working together to obtain the goals set out for that specific purpose.
Establishing teams is important for collaboration and negotiation. Collaboration includes:
• Negotiation-the process to make joint decisions, where the parties involved have
different preferences
• Commitment
• Solving problems-this means problems can be solved by identifying the gaps
between actual and desired state of affairs and determining the causes
• Joint decision making-problems occur in the form of both performance
deficiencies and unexplored opportunities, while they need to be resolved by
making a firm decision after consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The leaders primary task should be to create a climate which is conducive to the process
of collegiality and commitment.
If we are to sustain our improvements and build on the strength and commitment of
educators, we need to address the capacity of schools to lead themselves. We need to
rethink both leadership and capacity building. Building capacity in schools includes
developing a new understanding of leadership capacity in the sense of a broad based
skilful participation in the work of leadership.

Leadership development for school principals are crucial and has been the outcome
of extensive research conducted over the years by Bush (2009); Creissen & Ellison
(1998); Du Plessis (2017); Mathibe (2007); Mestry & Singh (2007) and Mestry (2017).
Such research has indicated that leaders can sustain performance improvement by
creating a climate that motivates, develops and retains talented people. The underlying
hypothesis was that by developing the characteristics/competencies of principals to better
match their job requirements and enhancing their use of appropriate leadership styles,
the context for social improvement and teaching climate would improve.
Principals require capacity building in the following areas:
• Flexibility: the extent to which their staff perceive that there are no unnecessary
rules or procedures to get in their way of teaching and learning
• Responsibility: the extent to which their staff perceive that their principal allowed
them to get on with the job and have accountability for results
• Standards: the extent to which their staff perceive the principal placing emphasis
on setting challenges and realistic targets or strive for excellence
• Rewards: the extent to which their staff perceive that their work is valued and that
recognition is differentiated for different levels of performance
• Clarity: the extent to which staff perceive that they know the “big picture” and how
they contribute to it
• Team commitment: the extent to which staff have a common purpose and were
proud to belong to the school.

Leadership development programmes (LDP) should include amongst others, areas of

development in leadership capacity, creation of visionary leadership, culture
collaboration, strategies for decision making and delegation and LDPs should feature
prominently in training and development activities for school principals. Literature on
leadership development emphasises issues that enhance the ethos and image of the
school and these are fundamental in bringing about purposeful and effective change in
school leadership. The four issues are leaders having a guiding value system with intense
interaction and communication with stakeholders. Also required is collaborative planning
and implementation of the institution goals, vision and mission.

Leadership development should be undertaken for continuous improvement for both

practicing and aspiring school leaders. Such programs need to be measured by its impact
and effect on others. Thus, leadership development programs such include
training/capacity building in: sound management qualities with a focus on the needs of
the individual with each person viewed in the context within which he/she are operating.
It is important to recognize that there are often contexts that are inappropriate for the good
preparation of potential principals. These contexts may be schools operating in
challenging circumstances or lack of support from the governance structure.
It is also important to recognize that the competencies required for principals will alter
over time. The role of principals has changed significantly over the past twenty years and
will continue to do so as schools become more and more self-managed with decentralised
functions. School administration now takes place in increasingly turbulent, politically
charged environment: frankly, managing and leading schools has become a highly
strenuous task which involves highly differentiated knowledge and skill than it did decades
ago.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. How can school leaders be developed by embracing

Maslow’s theory?

Abraham Maslow was a clinical psychologist who introduced a theory based on personal
judgement, which was generally known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. He argued that
equally important for humans is the desire to achieve their personal goals within the
institution. Attaining goals helps humans satisfy specific needs and desires. Needs are
categorized into a hierarchy, in which certain needs must be met before others (Burleson
& Thoron, 2017; Kaur, 2013) Lower needs must be satisfied before higher-order needs
can be reached. Behaviours will be centred on meeting the needs in the lowest order,
and then will progress to higher orders as needs are satisfied. The “motivation to work”
published by Maslow probably provided the field of organisational behaviour and
management with a new way of looking at employees’ job altitudes or behaviours in
understanding how humans are motivated. Probably the best known conceptualisation of
human needs in organisations has been proposed by this theory. According to him if
people grew in an environment in which their needs are not met, they will be unlikely to
function as healthy individuals or well-adjusted individuals.
Physiological needs are the need at the bottom of the triangle and include the lowest
order need and most basic. This includes the need to satisfy the fundamental biological
drives such as food, air, water and shelter. According to Maslow, organisations must
provide employees with a salary that enable them to afford adequate living conditions.
The rationale here is that any hungry employee will hardly be able to make much of any
contribution to his organisation.
Safety needs this occupies the second level of needs. Safety needs are activated after
physiological needs are met. They refer to the need for a secure working environment
free from any threats or harms. The rationale is that employees working in an environment
free of harm do their jobs without fear of harm.
Social needs: This represents the third level of needs. They are activated after safety
needs are met. Social needs refer to the need to be affiliated that is (the needed to be
loved and accepted by other people). To meet these needs organisations encourage
employees’ participation in social events such as picnics, organisations bowling etc.
Esteem needs this represents the fourth level of needs. It includes the need for self-
respect
and approval of others. Organisations introduce awards banquets to recognise
distinguished achievements.
Self-actualisation: This occupies the last level at the top of the triangle. This refers to
the need to become all that one is capable of being to develop one’s fullest potential. The
rationale here holds to the point that self-actualised employees represent valuable
assets to the organisation human resource. The pyramid is illustrated in Figure 1 below.
The pyramid is illustration: Self-actualisation