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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

Educational Leadership through Relationships, Collaboration, and Vision

Hattie N. Burford

Chadron State College

July 22, 2019

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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

Abstract

Educational leadership is one of the most important aspects of a quality education in public

schools today. This literature review aims to understand the impact of relationships,

collaboration, and vision of a school principal on the teachers and students. Ideas and

findings taken from the publications are related to relationships, collaboration, and vision of

leaders. The findings are used to review the work that has been done in this area of research.

The studies that were reviewed were the effects of these qualities of a school principal on the

school at which they were leading. The results show that relationships, collaboration, and

vision have positive effects on school culture, teacher effectiveness, and student learning.
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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..…………..2

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………..……...…3

Educational Leadership through Relationships, Collaboration, and Vision ………………….4

Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………....…….5

Relationships……………………………………………………………………………………4

Collaboration…………………………………………………………………………………....6

Vision………….………………………………………………………………….…………….7

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...9

References………………………………………………………………………………………..10
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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

Educational Leadership through Relationships, Collaboration, and Vision

From the day that I decided I wanted to teach as a profession, I knew that I also

wanted to pursue a future in administration. I love being around children, particularly young

adults, or high school aged students. Through my experiences these last three years of

teaching and coaching, I have learned to love their rough edges, and the small experiences

that I have the opportunity to witness that is shaping them into the people they are going to

become. With that being said, I have always felt that I can serve these students as an

administrator as well. I will cherish my years of teaching students until the right opportunity

arises for me to fill a leadership position.

Depending on whom you may ask, there are numerous qualities that a successful

school principal possesses. Though there are many agreed upon qualities that make an

effective leader in schools, the business world, etc., this literature review will focus on the

selected areas: Relationships, Collaboration, and Vision.

Literature Review

The review of related literature on this topic will be utilized as a guide for describing

the primary qualities that school principals should possess. There has been acceptance of the

view that leadership is a critical variable in determining the outcomes of schools (Thompson,

2017). The literature review is broken into three subsections that discuss the qualities that

link effective principals to school success. The subsections include: relationships,

collaboration, and vision.

Relationships

An important aspect of school leadership includes developing relationships and earning

trust. The quality of classroom instruction is a function of a number of variables including

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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

teacher training, teachers’ sense of personal efficacy, and the quality of the relationship between

teachers and their principals (Thompson, 2017). Developing relationships with staff and students

is not always easy, and each school leader needs to be able to build rapport with each of these

stakeholders in order to build those relationships. The stakeholder groups in which school

principals are constantly answering to include teachers, students, parents, community members,

board members, and other administrators. Due to the diversity of each of these stakeholders

individually, principals must rely on highly refined communication skills to develop rapport and

trust within these relationships.

According to Lasater (2016), though these qualities are presented individually, they

should be considered concurrently, as rapport, trust, and communication are inextricably

connected and interdependent.

In fact, Lasater (2016) goes on to say:

Building rapport requires trust and effective communication, effective communication

requires report and trust, and trust requires effective communication and rapport. (p.20)

Furthermore, school leader relationships are challenged by diverse stakeholder groups,

varied contexts, and difficult situations (Lasater, 2016). According to Thompson (2017), the data

suggests that the principal operating in today’s school must also be mindful that he or she is

dealing with a new generation of professionals, some whom not only come from socio-cultural

backgrounds that are different from the principal, but more importantly possess a wider and

sometimes different set of skills and competencies than the traditional skills and competencies

which may have been typical of an earlier generation.

It is obvious that building relationships in the context of a school leader is difficult.

However, according to Lasater (2016), every situation involving school leaders requires some
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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

degree of relational behavior. Thompson (2017) adds, the effectiveness of the leader is

dependent to a significant degree on the level of confidence he earns from team members.

Relationship development starts with building rapport (Lasater, 2016). There are

numerous ways that school principals can develop rapport throughout their building. Lasater

(2016), includes honesty, respect, supporting, sharing, interacting socially, availability,

accessibility, responsiveness, caring, and communicating effectively. With communication being

such an importance piece to building relationships, it is essential that school leaders are visible

and accessible. Not only does visibility build trust throughout a building, but it also provides

opportunities for stakeholders to initiate dialogue and provide an opportunity for open

communication.

Collaboration

The key to success of school education depends on a good quality school culture,

because school culture influences what people pay attention to, how they identify with the

school, how hard they work, and the degree to which they achieve their goals (Lee & Li,

2015). A school’s culture is established with all stakeholders’ participation and involvement.

It is the school principal’s responsibility to create a culture of collaboration. Without

collaboration, there is no culture. According to Lee and Li (2015), the school principal is the

creator of a school’s culture and influences not only the actions of the school staff, but also

their motivations and spirit.

Collaboration cannot take place without the established relationships between the

principal and the stakeholders. Coming to know and understand the staff in a school

organization can be accomplished by getting involved with them and building good relational

behavior (Rajbhandari, Rajbhandari, & Loock, 2016). Though collaboration can take on
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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

many different meanings in the context of educational leadership, Thompson sees

collaboration as a way in which principals empower their staff. The principal is the respected

leader of leaders and who empowers teachers and directs them towards the achievement of

the stated instructional goals (Thompson, 2017). Thompson (2017), then goes on to say:

When employees are enabled to feel powerful, the feeling can boost productivity and

fuel improvements in performance, thus leaving employees feeling more satisfied on

the job. (p. 3)

Furthermore, according to Lasater (2016), engaging stakeholders in decision making

processes also provides an opportunity to develop shared expectations. Lasater (2016) goes

on to say:

It can be difficult for school leaders to meet the expectations of others when the

expectations are unknown or are inconsistent with the expectations of the school

leader. It is important for school leaders to invest time in understanding the

expectations of others, as well as communicating their own expectations. (p.22)

Teachers in the 21st century desire to share power and as such, a principal who is

inclined to hold onto power and deny access to decision- making, is likely to cause team

members to become frustrated, alienated, and possibly disloyal. Sharing of power means that

many teachers will also have leadership responsibilities in their schools (Thompson, 2017).

According to Thompson (2017), the leader must therefore be curious in seeking to find out

about the wide range of differing skills that his or her staff members possess and be prepared

to facilitate their deployment in the affairs of the school.

Vision
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The main elements of effectiveness identified across these works suggest that an

effective principal sets a clear strategic direction- for both instructional and organizational

development, supports and develops people, and creates the parameters for improving

student performance (Thompson, 2017). A core element of leadership is convincing those

around you to believe in the same vision. Leadership assumes a collective, as against a lon

ranger, and the relational engagement, between those who lead and those supportive of the

leadership endeavor being pursued, is focused on agreed goal attainment which is shaped by

a shared vision (Thompson, 2017).

The visions of schools today are much different than those in the past. With the quick

advancement of technology, the push towards career readiness education, and the diversity in

classrooms across the country, effective leadership is going to mean changing the visions of

schools. Thompson (2017) states:

They suggest that the 21st century classroom must place greatest emphasis on the

development of these skills. I submit that the net effect of the development of these

skills among students will be expectations of, and demand for, greater accountability

and openness to diversity, the changed role for the teacher from expert to facilitator

and the sharing of power and responsibility in problem-solving. If teachers are

expected to make the conceptual and functional shifts required in their roles as

classroom managers, then the school as an organization needs to make a similar shift

and the principal needs to take leadership of this process. (p.5)

Recent literature supports this notion that in order for educational leaders to be

successful in today’s educational setting, visionary leadership is essential. According to

Kemp, Hardy, & Harris (2014), the development of a vision resulting from a cooperative
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effort will be sharply related to the administrator’s leadership style. The principal’s function

as an effective leader is the catalyst for school change.

Conclusion

The school principal is responsible for transmitting mission, vision, and values in and

out of the school, with a stronger, clearer emphasis for the success and well-being of the

students (Lambert & Bouchamma, 2019). Additionally, according to Cansoy (2018), School

principals’ valuing employees and showing them interest, strengthening justice and

confidence in interaction throughout school processes, and creating a strong vision around

common goals and a sincere school atmosphere can positively affect job satisfaction.

Principals that are able to build relationships with their stakeholders, involve them in

decision-making processes, and collectively create a vision will be setting their school up for

success.
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References

Cansoy, R. (2018). The relationship between school principals’ leadership nehaviours and

teachers’ job satisfaction: A systematic review. International Education Studies, 12(1),

37. doi:10.5539/ies.v12n1p37

Kemp, A., Hardy, S., & Harris, P. (2014). The principal’s vision: Necessity or non

issue? Journal of Research in Education, 24(2), 51-62. Retrieved from https://eric-ed-

gov.ezproxy.chadronstatelibrary.com/.

Lambert, M., & Bouchamma, Y. (2019). Leadership requirements for school principals:

similarities and differences between four competency standards. Canadian Journal of

Educational Administration and Policy, 53-68. Retrieved from https://eric-ed-

gov.ezproxy.chadronstatelibrary.com/.

Lasater, K. (2016). School leader relationships: The need for explicit training on rapport,

trust, and communication. Journal of School Administration Research and

Development, 1(2), 19-26. Retrieved from https://eric-ed-

gov.ezproxy.chadronstatelibrary.com/.

Lee, H., & Li, M. F. (2015). Principal leadership and its link to the development of school

teacher culture and teaching effectiveness: A case study of an award-winning

teaching team at an elementary school. International Journal of Education Policy and

Leadership, 10(4). doi:10.22230/ijepl.2015v10n4a555

Rajbhandari, M. M., Rajbhandari, S., & Loock, C. (2016). Relations- and task-oriented

behaviour of school leaders: Cases from primary schools in Finland. South African

Journal of Childhood Education, 6(1), 1-10. doi:10.4102/sajce.v6i1.360

Thompson, S. C. (2017). Teachers’ expectations of educational leaders’ leadership approach

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COLLABORATION, AND VISION

and perspectives on the principalship: Identifying critical leadership paradigms for the

21st century. Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership, 2(2). Retrieved from

https://eric-ed-gov.ezproxy.chadronstatelibrary.com/.