Recently I have been contemplating what it means to lead with humanity. Three wise educational leaders have encouraged me to think deeply about my humanity and how my humanity reveals itself in my leadership actions. Specifically, at ACELQ’s Pivotal People, Chrissie Coogan, Principal Coorparoo SHS encouraged me to consider how my leadership creates a welcoming environment for others. Then the next week Tony Maksoud, Assistant Regional Director, Department of Education, reminded me that if I listen carefully my values will always guide me through challenges. And last night at the ACELQ Awards Karen Spiller, Principal John Paul College, challenged leaders to ‘pay it forward’ by mentoring and sponsoring emerging educational leaders.
If leading with humanity is as uncomplicated as valuing people by welcoming them into your fold and remembering values are your leadership compass, then I wonder whether we have complicated the concept of leading in our attempt to continually drive school and system improvement. We have created new, and adopted from other professions, numerous versions of leadership: agile, adaptive, instructional, pedagogical, transactional, technical, student centred, strategic, systems . . . the list goes on. It does make me speculate whether we have made leading far more complex that it is. Have we made it harder for leaders to craft their leadership identity and to lead with their own humanity?
My passion is creating opportunities for middle leaders to thrive. Middle leadershipis when we first attempt to answer questions such as: Who am I as a leader? Andwhat does it mean for me to lead with humanity? In searching for resolution we are encouraged to listen, watch and learn. We undertake 360 feedback surveys tounderstand how others experience our leadership. We spend hours listening to leadership gurus to find the gems of wisdom that resonate with us. We dive into the leadership research, searching for the elusive silver bullet that will instruct us to lead in a way our teachers and students need us to and that feels comfortable to us.
However, I wonder if uncovering so many frameworks, models and opinions aboutgood leadership leads us to be confused about who we are as human leaders. Again, I ponder whether we have made educational leadership more complex than it needs to be. Bill Lowe states in his book Middle Leadership for 21st Century Schools’ ‘there’s a lot of advice about what to do as a leader, but it’s how you go about these things that makes the difference.’ Bill’s sage advice to middle leaders distils the complex practice of leading into simple human dispositions: civility, honesty, fairness, empathy and integrity. These dispositions sound like the qualities of a good human. Could leading with humanity be as simple as being just being a good human?
I think the answer can be found in Chrissie, Tony and Karen’s words. Creating an environment where everyone is welcome sounds like being civil and having good manners. Tony’s advice to tap into your values reflects integrity and Karen’s idea of paying it forward just sounds fair. Without having to stray too far from my Gold Coast home I have found three worthy examples of leading with humanity. I love that ACEL provided me with the opportunity to listen to these three leaders and the stimulus to ponder the humanity in my own leadership.
Liz Benson
ACEL QLD Branch Executive Member