John W. Gardner Center

for Youth and Their Communities Academy Session 4: Shared Leadership

John Gardner on Shared Leadership:

“To exercise leadership today, leaders must institutionalize their leadership. The issues are too technical and the pace of change too swift to expect that a leader, no matter how gifted, will be able to solve personally the major problems facing the system over which he or she presides.... The institutional arrangements generally include a leadership team. Often when I use the word leader, I am in fact referring to the leadership team.

No individual has all the skills—and certainly not the time—to carry out all the complex tasks of contemporary leadership.” -John W. Gardner

Living, Leading, and the American Dream

AS 4 - Shared Leadership - 9/29/04

Classical & Shared Leadership Compared

Classical Leadership

 Displayed by a person’s position in a group or hierarchy.

  Leadership evaluated by whether the leader solves problems. Leaders provide solutions and answers.   Distinct differences between leaders and followers: character, skill, etc. Communication is often formal.

Shared Leadership

 Identified by the quality of people’s interactions rather than their position.

  Leadership evaluated by how people are working together.

All work to enhance the process and to make it more fulfilling.

  People are interdependent. All are active participants in process of leadership.

Communication is crucial with a stress on conversation.

Source: “Shared Leadership,” Michele Erina Doyle & Mark K. Smith, 2001 AS 4 - Shared Leadership - 9/29/04

Framework for shared leadership in a school:

      Principal and teachers, as well as parents and students, participate together as mutual learners and leaders.

Shared vision results in program coherence.

Inquiry-based use of information guides decisions and practice.

Roles and actions reflect broad involvement, collaboration, and collective responsibility.

Reflective practice consistently leads to innovation.

Student achievement is high or steadily improving.

Source: “A framework for Shared Leadership,” Linda Lambert, 2002.

AS 4 - Shared Leadership - 9/29/04

Shared Leadership defined within the context of Community Schools:

Community schools are structured as partnerships among schools, families and communities and in some cases funding agencies. Shared leadership calls for true collaboration so that partners work together on planning, implementation, evaluation, advocacy and decision making. Thus, each community school should have a diverse team of community leaders that holds a common vision for creating community schools, shares decision-making power and coordinates local efforts.

AS 4 - Shared Leadership - 9/29/04

Agenda for the day:

        9:00-9:15 9:15-11:45   Welcome and Session Framing: Shared Leadership Shared Leadership for Community Schools: What Does it Take? How Does it Look?

Moderated Discussion with the SUN Initiative 11:45-12:45 LUNCH AND ROLE-ALIKE DISCUSSIONS 12:40-1:40 2:00-2:30 2:30-2:45 2:45-3:45 3:45-4:00 Shared Leadership: Taking it to the Next Level Next Steps and Evaluation Moving Forward on the Community Schools Continuum Site and Cross-Site Team Work Final Thoughts and Closing AS 4 - Shared Leadership - 9/29/04