Leadership and Sustainability
by Michael Fullan
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Overview
Michael Fullan reminds us that good leadership should not be like a “solo flight”. As principals we need to ensure that leadership is taken up by a number of our staff and operates at all levels of the school, not just at the top. Relationship building within a school contributes to this. Fullan says we need principals who are “resonant” leaders, that is, people who form positive bonds with their staff, keeping them focused even when complex changes are happening.
The article lists a number of positive competencies required for leadership that will build capacity and commitment among staff. He argues that we need to provide people with opportunities to learn to be leaders so that our schools develop their systems’ capacities to cope with the demands they face.
He suggests that we will teach our students more effectively “precisely … by providing better environments for … school leaders to develop”. It is from the ranks of teachers that we recruit our future principals. This is all the more reason for principals to provide the professional opportunities for teachers to develop the quality of their teaching and of their early leadership experiences.
Reflective questions
These reflective questions might guide you in your reading of this article:
- Fullan talks about the importance of improving emotional intelligence of beginning leaders in our schools. What do you do in your school, and within your own professional learning, to improve the emotional intelligence of individual staff and groups of staff?
- In what ways are you and your other school leaders working to ensure the development of future leaders?
Further reading
The list of references at the end of this article is useful, in particular the Hay Management Consultants research on leadership.
References
Fullan, M. (2002). Leadership and sustainability. Principal Leadership, 3(4).
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