Running head: BUILDING THE BEST

Reflective Essay One How Will you Develop a Culture That Will Inspire Faculty and Support Staff to Perform Their Best? Building the Best Priscilla D. Johnson Prairie View A&M University Educational Leadership Doctoral Program Dr. Pamela T. Barber-Freeman September 3, 2011

Author Note Priscilla D. Johnson, Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Prairie View A&M University. Correspondence concerning this reflective paper should be addressed to Priscilla D. Johnson, Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling, Prairie View A&M University, Campus Box 519 MailStop 2420, Prairie View, Texas 77446. E-mail: pjohnson9@pvamu.edu.

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Abstract Education requires leaders, followers, doers, and movers to bring their best everyday. Our mission is to educate and eradicate negative stigmas that digress us from student achievement. Because this is no small feat, as leader, I must bring my best before I can expect this from any member of the team. Everyone brings something special to the educational setting. As a leader, I must lead as though everyone is important. Educators must feel as though they are worthy of the opportunity to educate our next generation. In addition, it is vital that I build confidence in the culture. This requires a sense of confidence in my own abilities and the ability to nurture anothers confidence. With these aspects of leadership I must instill a passion for change and a culture of greatness. Keywords: education, culture, greatness, build, confidence, worth, change, HR

BUILDING THE BEST Building the Best Inspiring others to be their best requires a rapport of trust between both inspirer and receiver. While this task is beneficial and builds motivation for both individuals, it requires an attitude of dedication and a spirit of perseverance. The communication process between sender

and receiver is a vital vehicle for achieving ones goal of inspiring faculty and support staff to be their best. These individuals, including myself as a leader, make up the culture of an organization. The way we perform, operate (both informally and formally), and the way we do things are concrete workings of our culture. In essence, I desire to consistently inspire others to be their best. I have to create and sustain a culture that nurtures individuals to be perform superior. This is unlike standards that are historically complacent with mediocre performance. According to Collins (2001), A primary task in taking a company from good to great is to create a culture wherein people have a tremendous opportunity to be heard and ultimately for the truth to be heard (p. 88). As a leader there are several commitments I must establish in order to build a culture that supports the best performance from staff and faculty. As a leader, I must have confidence in my team and myself; I must instill a sense of worth in every team member; a passion for change and a culture of greatness must be established. Confidence in Staff, Faculty, and Myself Confidence is an essential quality found in leaders. Confidence could serve as a tool or distracter for the success of an organization. When utilized appropriately by anyone, confidence has a way of allowing people to believe in their possibilities. As a leader, I will instill confidence in team members by being cognizant of each person. Even individuals who seem to be on the right path or performing well require a sense of confidence. I realized that building confidence in others is both beneficial to sender and receiver. I believe individuals emotionally profit from

BUILDING THE BEST their own healthy esteem. Collectively, the team must also believe in each members ability and dedication to carry the torch for the organizations missions. Foremost, it is imperative that I communicate consistently with our team. This involves, having group meetings, frequent email communication, and emergency meetings (if appropriate) for updates on vital issues. It is important that employees feel they are an essential component in the organization, and not simply just an employee who works for the organization. Collins (2001) has a primary, yet intriguing message, which I will exercise for the rest of my days as a leader. Collins suggests to 1. lead with questions not answers; 2. engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion; 3. conduct autopsies, without blame; 4. build red flag mechanisms that turn information into information that cannot be ignored (p.88). These are all important concepts to leadership. Many people on a team desire direction, confidence, and security from their leader. These traits shine brighter in leaders who are knowledgeable, assured, and have the synergy to move others towards achievement. As a leader and future Human Resource (HR) administrator for education, I reflect on my own growth and realize obtaining knowledge is a key to cultivating confidence. For instance, laws and regulations, and a schools policy and procedures, guide the HR profession. As a leader, I must be versed in these guiding principles. I must have the skills to regurgitate this information to faculty and other staff. They must also have the resources to reach higher in their positions. My

goal for the HR Staff would be to become more knowledgeable, more experienced, and confident about the role of HR in schools. As I prepare myself and become more qualified as an HR leader, I become more confident in my abilities to monitor, lead, and direct different programs. I

BUILDING THE BEST believe this will bring my team to higher levels of confidence as well. Team members are more likely to have confidence in a leader who is knowledgeable about the profession. Individuals who have a desire to excel and become more self-assured in their position often look to their leaders for direction. If I put myself in a position where I cannot help others, I am no longer satisfying the role as an educational leader. Sense of Worth in Every Team Member Cohen (1990) offers ways to make a work team feel they are the best. You want everyone in your organization to know what a terrific outfit they are associated with (p. 105). He suggests that leaders actually find a niche, something the team successfully performs, and

promote accordingly. As a leader, I have the responsibility of seeing beyond the current situation in order to develop the organization. Followers make a leaders position necessary. This idea alone, places a unique responsibility on me as an HR leader. This does not place me in a position of power, but a position where I can provide the tools so that others can empower themselves. I believe this will allow others to feel a sense of worth. I lead through a theory y lens of management. I believe each person is gifted with a skill. These skills have the ability to build an empire, but only if the empire is suited with a dedicated leader. Everyone on the team needs to feel valued. I must acknowledge everyones efforts that go towards the mission of our organization. In addition, I must take time to say thank you, great work, way to go! From leading a sales floor team to being an HR team leader in a private organization, I learned there is no formula to guide another to a higher level of self-worth. Everyone is different and is motivated by a plethora of factors. As a leader, I help people bring their best by knowing them first as an individual an then as a member of our organization. Disgust to people is to feel they are being used. This becomes toxic to an organizations culture and can spread like an epidemic.

BUILDING THE BEST This reminds me that the culture of an organization is vital not only to extend and surpass the organizations mission, but also to cultivate the caliber of people who are empowered to bring their best. A Passion for Change, a Culture of Greatness The culture of an organization is like puppet strings, attached to each employee. Some

people chose to cut these strings and operate under their own behavior patterns to achieve certain results. On the other hand, most employees allow the cultures behavior expectations to guide their actions. These expectations are usually not written, but are guided by a leaders own behavior. This behavior often reflects the behavior of employees. According to Morgan, (as cited in Gensberg and Bernstein, 2011), The idea of culture, which accepts a key set of ideas and perhaps rejects another, conflicting set of ideas, is not something that can be imposed, but must developed over time and with the support of continued social interaction (p. 2). From my point of view, it is important for leaders to establish cultural boundaries and expectations. As a leader, I do this by first displaying culturally proficient behaviors that are supportive of my companys mission. A cultural proficient leader is one who embraces cultures, values, and ways of everyone; these differences are used to unite, change, and make the organization more effective. It is not enough for only the leader to be culturally proficient. Everyone in the organization must understand the essential nature of embracing other cultures. Teachers, district/site administrators, and parents/community all have an effect on the educational program. As an educational leader, you can learn concepts and skills and translate these into new initiatives, curricula, programs, and activities that will enrich school life for all students and staff (Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell, 2009, p. 14). As exposed in the literature, culturally proficient leaders display certain behaviors. To build the best team-the best people, my behaviors will be reflective

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of a culturally proficient individual. As described by Lindsey, Robins, and Terrell (2009), I must assess the culture in the organization; value diversity; manage dynamics of differences; adapt to diversity; institutionalize cultural knowledge and policies. I will value this process as continuous and necessary so that all students can learn and all educators grow. I believe it is important to understand culture; it is the heart of a person. An individuals culture is often viewed as sacred. It is a dominant entity to be respected and valued. In order for organizations to produce effective results, everyone must value these differences. As a leader, this will require me to communicate with team members, organize and develop cultural proficiency training, introduce policies and procedures that values cultural differences, and ensure my behaviors are truly those of cultural proficient leaders. In conclusion, this reflective essay harped on my necessity to bring out the best in staff. In an educational setting, its vital for staff to have confidence in themselves and their leaders. This provides the necessary energy to drive the schools mission. In addition, every person; from the custodial staff, kitchen staff, maintenance, teachers, administrators, and other staff, should believe their work is valuable. Their feelings of worthiness should show in their results, which is ultimately student achievement. Finally, as a leader, I must cultivate a passion and culture that reaches for greatness. This goal may appear as one suited for life in the stars, but thats exactly what we as educational leaders should desire.

BUILDING THE BEST References Cohen, W. A. (1990). The art of the leader. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Collins, J. (2001). Good to great. New York, NY: HarperCollins. Ginsberg, S. M., & Bernstein, J. L. (2011). Growing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning through Institutional Culture Change. Journal of The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning, 11(1), 1-12.

Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell (2009). Cultural proficiency: A manual for school leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Company.