"How we define leadership frames how people will participate in it."
Just as an individual brings different attitudes and ideas to parenting, a leader carries styles of leadership that they have experienced into the workplace with them. A parent whose childhood was less than perfect often adopts a parenting style in direct opposition to the style of his or her parents. One of my parents grew up in a unstable environment where yelling was the status quot. They brought that into our home growing up, not realized that there was any other way to express oneself. I hate yelling. In fact I am quite silent when I'm upset. In my classroom I rarely yell as a means of showing anger towards my students. My classroom management style has a direct correlation to my upbringing. A leader in any setting has experienced leadership styles he or she like and disliked, and they will define their leadership mannerisms according to their experiences.
In my experiences, I have known excellent and uninspiring leaders. The leader who has taken the time to listen to his/her employees, in my experience, is more effective in building a strong staff, than a leader who makes decisions based on his/her position as the leader. A principal who has worked under the guidance of a strong principal, who worked to create a school environment with a strong morale, will bring that tutelage to his/her position. A principal who formerly worked under a principal who ruled purely by force and his or her opinion of what was right has the choice to carry this learned behavior to his/her school or learn forge their own path. In either situation the authoritative figure must choose his or her behavior based on their past experiences.
Just as an individual brings different attitudes and ideas to parenting, a leader carries styles of leadership that they have experienced into the workplace with them. A parent whose childhood was less than perfect often adopts a parenting style in direct opposition to the style of his or her parents. One of my parents grew up in a unstable environment where yelling was the status quot. They brought that into our home growing up, not realized that there was any other way to express oneself. I hate yelling. In fact I am quite silent when I'm upset. In my classroom I rarely yell as a means of showing anger towards my students. My classroom management style has a direct correlation to my upbringing. A leader in any setting has experienced leadership styles he or she like and disliked, and they will define their leadership mannerisms according to their experiences.
In my experiences, I have known excellent and uninspiring leaders. The leader who has taken the time to listen to his/her employees, in my experience, is more effective in building a strong staff, than a leader who makes decisions based on his/her position as the leader. A principal who has worked under the guidance of a strong principal, who worked to create a school environment with a strong morale, will bring that tutelage to his/her position. A principal who formerly worked under a principal who ruled purely by force and his or her opinion of what was right has the choice to carry this learned behavior to his/her school or learn forge their own path. In either situation the authoritative figure must choose his or her behavior based on their past experiences.
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