What Is Leadership? 504

Leadership is not a role but evidence of leadership is embedded within the relationships that exist among the participants of roles (Ogawa & Bossert, 2000; 49). My take on that is that leadership is not a role but a living dynamic ‘thing’ that has an interdependent relationship with others. Leadership influence is a process, social construct that has its outworking in empowering others to ’share’ resources that enable them to enact their roles successfully.

Can we be a leader as a TL if we are not released and empowered by others to do so? Is leadership always overt? Can we provide leadership by facilitating change from within a group much like a catalyst does in a chemical reaction? I like this quote: "The interact, not the act, becomes the basic building block of organisational leadership.” (Oganwa & Bossert, 2000: 50). It is therefore through our interactions as TL’s that our greatest influence on student outcomes or leading change is achieved. Both the ‘leader’ and the followers are important components is the system we find ourselves within. Leadership is not unidirectional – can flow between levels in organisations like schools. Our students can affect our ‘leadership’ potential and the end result in terms of school culture, the adoption of learning routines/behaviours that result in legitamacy of what we do in school and ultimately affect the long term survival of ‘who we are’ in schools and what we can accomplish together.