Teach & Serve II, No. 32 – Leadering: Exercising Authority Appropriately
March 15, 2017
Leading from authority can get a bad rap and that is because many leaders use this mode as their primary one. When leaders exercise authority inappropriately or too frequently, positive results are rare. This does not mean that leaders should completely resist leading with authority. That, too, would be a problem.
Over the course of the next few weeks, Teach & Serve will be discussing “leadering” activities. In essence, these are the critical steps, as I see them, that individuals take as they become leaders. These are the universal gates through which they pass. These are their shared signposts they come across.
These are the things leaders do as they go about “leadering?”
- Knowing Oneself
- Identifying Weaknesses before Celebrating Strengths
- Honing Communication Skills
- Exercising Authority Appropriately
- Achieving Balance and Blend
- Humbling Oneself
- Letting Go
In my reading about leadership, I tend to gravitate towards those writers and researchers who begin with the premise that a leader can operate out of many different places, that a leader can be collaborative, consultative, authoritative and so forth, in any given circumstance. But, those writers who most appeal to me lean towards (or fully embrace) the idea that leading from authority is the mode in which leaders ought to act most infrequently. There are better ways to lead.
I agree with this. However, in every leadership journey, there are times when a leader must act from a position of authority. The leader, without much consultation or collaboration, must decide or act quickly and confidently. The leader must keep a counsel of one – herself – and move forward. If one is a teacher, administrator or leader long enough, the opportunity (perhaps a better word here might be necessity) to act from authority will arise. How leaders handle these necessities illustrates much about how they view leadership overall.
Good teachers, leaders and administrators know how to appropriately exercise authority.
To become facile at using authority, one must practice doing so.
As potential leaders engage in leadering, they must consider when and how to lead from authority. To discern which situations call for authoritative leadership and to be ready to act in that manner, potential leaders can and should reflect on what they see around them.
When taking on positions of leadership and acting in them, teachers and administrators can visualize the ramifications of their decisions before they make them. What are the results of making a particular decision authoritatively versus utilizing another manner of leadership? What are the effects on those being led? This type of analysis can be invaluable in leadering. It can and should yield great insight.
Additionally, there are examples in our professional lives of when those who lead us have acted authoritatively. How did those scenarios play out? What might have happened if the leader had confronted them with a different style of leadership?
An important leadering activity in this area is discussion. When a situation has played out, a potential leader who talks with the players involved, who asks the principal or teacher or administrator why they acted from authority and what the results of that action were can learn much about how he or she will lead.
Leading from authority can get a bad rap and that is because many leaders use this mode as their primary one. When leaders exercise authority inappropriately or too frequently, positive results are rare. This does not mean that leaders should completely resist leading with authority. That, too, would be a problem. Rather, in leadering, potential leaders should note when leading from authority is the exact right way to proceed. Realizing that exercising authority appropriately is good leadership is another important piece of leadering.