Leading For The Bottom Line: A View Of Leadership In A Bottom-Line Context

This paper sets out to establish and describe a new approach to leadership called Bottom Line Leadership. The essence of Bottom Line Leadership is that a leader’s most critical responsibility is to clearly identify, communicate and gain buy-in for the ultimate bottom-line objective of the organization he/she leads, subject to constraints imposed by the market and by the organization itself. In comparison to other leadership models that focus on the general attributes or behaviors characterizing effective leaders, Bottom Line Leadership emphasizes the link between an organization’s purpose and a leader’s behavior. The philosophy that serves as the foundation for this article stipulates that employees, in any type of organization, need to be crystal clear about the purpose and bottom-line objective of the organization they work for. Having this clarity of objective enables employees to not only understand the importance of an organization’s strategy and mission; it also allows them to make sound decisions in support of the organization’s goals. We believe that it is essential that leaders in organizations instill this clarity of purpose and help create the conditions that allow people to channel their energies into the appropriate activities. What results from our leadership and management research is a “virtuous circle” model coupled with a checklist that prescribes precisely what Bottom-Line Leaders do. To arrive at our model of Bottom-Line Leadership, we review the teachings of some of the most popular leadership and management thought leaders. We conclude that effective leadership actually encompasses both traditional leadership attributes (create / inspire / influence) and traditional management capabilities (deploy / control / execute). In short, what we find is that Bottom-Line Leaders instill clarity of purpose in their organization, gain commitment to the ultimate bottom-line objective, and engage employees in these efforts. They do this by deploying methods of communication, inspiration and motivation that constantly maintain a connection to, and are aligned with, the ultimate bottom-line objective the organization is striving to achieve. They also work tirelessly to ensure that employees are in a position to make decisions and take actions in manners supporting the bottom-line objective. In our view, leaders are those who do the right things right and get their people to do likewise

Asking the Right Questions About Leadership: Discussion and Conclusions

Five questions prompted by the articles in the American Psychologist special issue on leadership (January 2007, Vol. 62, No. 1) suggest some new directions for leadership research: (1) Not do leaders make a difference, but under what conditions does leadership matter? (2) Not what are the traits of leaders, but how do leaders' personal attributes interact with situational properties to shape outcomes? (3) Not do there exist common dimensions on which all leaders can be arrayed, but are good and poor leadership qualitatively different phenomena? (4) Not how do leaders and followers differ, but how can leadership models be reformulated so they treat all system members as both leaders and followers? (5) Not what should be taught in leadership courses, but how can leaders be helped to learn?Psycholog

Why Does Leadership Exist?

What style of leadership is most effective in a particular situation with a specific group of followers? How do leaders best motivate followers in achieving goals? Although important questions, before we may come to fully understand the how and what of leadership, in this brief I suggest that we reflect upon a more basic leadership question. In the context of a paradigm from the work of the late educator and social critic, Neil Postman (1931-2003), I explore the question, “Why does leadership exist?” For when we reflect upon the answer to that question, we may gain further insight into ourselves as leaders, which mayenhance our understanding of what good leadership looks like and how we might best achieve it

Educational Leaders’ Perspectives on Their Preparation, Practice, and Professional Development in MTSS

The role of school leaders today directly impacts students and staff. Research into educational leaders’ perspectives and experiences with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) provides a lens to help examine the culture of training and constructs of knowledge, of school leaders. The five research questions that drove this research study were: (1) What are school leaders in rural counties in Western Massachusetts current knowledge of MTSS implementation? (2) What experience do these school leaders have with implementing MTSS? (3) What training on MTSS did these school leaders receive? (4) Do these school leaders feel prepared to implement MTSS? (5) What additional knowledge, training and supports do these school leaders believe they would need to effectively implement MTSS? To answer the research questions, the study employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory (MMSE) research design. Findings show that leaders have heard of MTSS and have a general understanding of what MTSS is. Leaders want to be trained in MTSS implementation. Since, the state offers no formal training in MTSS for leaders, leaders’ knowledge of MTSS implementation is limited at this time. However, despite leaders lack of training, leaders feel prepared to implement MTSS. Leaders are educating themselves about MTSS and using parts of it in their schools. Ultimately, the majority of leaders are able to implement parts of MTSS but not the system of MTSS, which creates confusion about what MTSS really is. Leaders knowledge and experience with MTSS expands the research on educational leaders’ knowledge and training as a whole. It is important that school leaders receive high quality education and training that helps them stay current in the field. Leaders should have a voice in the training they need. Districts and states need more sustainable training systems for leaders in MTSS, and some means of measuring leaders’ knowledge, so leaders are given the supports and training they need. It is imperative that leaders receive high quality education and training to improve the outcomes of all staff and students

Kako ravnatelji_ce zaznavajo fzicni ucni prostor kot dejavnik pouka?

School leaders are a central factor of the quality of learning and teaching in schools. It is generally believed that the staff model their behavior on leaders, which means if school leaders understand the physical school environment to be an important factor of learning, school staff (teachers and other professional staff) will also do so. To discover how school leaders assess the school environment as a factor of learning, 150 school leaders in primary education in Slovenia were invited to complete an online questionnaire. They were asked about their views regarding to what extent their school as physical environment encouraged certain factors. Fourteen listed factors were assessed on five-point numeric scales. The results show that in their school environment, school leaders assessed ecology, movement, and respect the highest, and feelings, imagination, and space the lowest. Their estimates of the assessed factors differ depending on the type of school building (new, old, renovated) only on the factors of movement, creativity, and logic and mathematics in favour of old schools. The results provide interesting information especially for school policy and everyone involved in the planning, building, or renewal of school premises. (DIPF/Orig.

Elementary School Leaders\u27 Practices to Provide Equitable Discipline: Disproportionality on the Rise

This mixed-methods study was conducted to explore practices Elementary School Leaders report using to address discipline. The study target population was school administrators in the Northeast Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA). The participants were principals and assistant principals located within 13 school districts and are comprised of 64 elementary schools. In order to gain a deeper understanding of practices reportedly used, the research asked the following questions: What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are most effective in providing equitable application of discipline across the student population? What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are used most frequently to provide equitable application of discipline across the student population? What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are least effective in providing equitable application of discipline across the student population? What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are used least frequently to provide equitable application of discipline across the student population? Data was collected using Qualtrics and disseminated via email. The survey was comprised of seven demographic multiple choice questions, 41 discipline practices multiple-choice questions, and two open-ended questions

Consume or Invest: What Do/Should Agency Leaders Maximize?

In the regulatory state, agency leaders face a fundamental choice: should they “consume” or should they “invest?” “Consume” means launching high profile cases and rule-making. “Invest” means developing and nurturing the necessary infrastructure for the agency to handle whatever the future may bring. The former brings headlines, while the latter will be completely ignored. Unsurprisingly, consumption is routinely prioritized, and investment is deferred, downgraded, or overlooked entirely. This essay outlines the incentives for agency leadership to behave in this way and explores the resulting agency costs (pun intended). The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s health care portfolio provides a useful case study of how one agency managed and minimized these costs. Our essay concludes with several proposals that should help encourage agency leadership to strike a better balance between consumption and investment

Consume or Invest: What Do/Should Agency Leaders Maximize?

In the regulatory state, agency leaders face a fundamental choice: should they “consume,” or should they “invest”? “Consume” means launching high profile cases and rulemaking projects. “Invest” means developing and nurturing the necessary infrastructure for the agency to handle whatever the future may bring. The former brings headlines, while the latter will be completely ignored. Unsurprisingly, consumption is routinely prioritized, and investment is deferred, downgraded, or overlooked entirely. This Article outlines the incentives for agency leadership to behave in this way and explores the resulting agency costs (pun intended). The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s health care portfolio provides a useful case study of how one agency managed and minimized these costs. Our Article concludes with several proposals that should help encourage agency leadership to strike a better balance between consumption and investment

Consume or Invest: What Do/Should Agency Leaders Maximize?

In the regulatory state, agency leaders face a fundamental choice: should they “consume,” or should they “invest”? “Consume” means launching high profile cases and rulemaking projects. “Invest” means developing and nurturing the necessary infrastructure for the agency to handle whatever the future may bring. The former brings headlines, while the latter will be completely ignored. Unsurprisingly, consumption is routinely prioritized, and investment is deferred, downgraded, or overlooked entirely. This Article outlines the incentives for agency leadership to behave in this way and explores the resulting agency costs (pun intended). The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s health care portfolio provides a useful case study of how one agency managed and minimized these costs. Our Article concludes with several proposals that should help encourage agency leadership to strike a better balance between consumption and investment

Higher Education Accountability in Tennessee: A Corporate Perspective

This in-depth, semi-structured interview study was undertaken to describe Tennessee corporate leaders’ perception of accountability in Tennessee higher education and of current accountability policies and/or programs. Answers to four research questions were sought: 1. What are Tennessee corporate leaders’ perceptions of the meaning of accountability in higher education? 2. What are Tennessee corporate leaders’ perceptions of current higher education accountability policies and/or programs? 3. What expectations do Tennessee corporate leaders have for accountability initiatives in higher education and what do they express as evidence of those initiatives? 4. To whom is higher education accountable as perceived by Tennessee corporate leaders? The sources of information for this study included interviews with twelve corporate leaders in the private sector who were associated with Tennessee Tomorrow, Incorporated and observations of attitudes and actions relating to their perception of accountability issues in higher education. Findings of the study included the need for accountability initiatives in higher education, meaningful partnership dialog, workforce readiness demands, thoughtful stewardship of resources, and enhance performance indicators. Through the study, a substantial lack of awareness was discovered among Tennessee corporate leaders of current accountability initiatives at the state and local levels