By: Jolo Van Clyde S. Abatayo
If you
are going to ask me what leadership style our institution practices, I would say
that I am honestly torn between two leadership styles here but I think it's the
distributed leadership that is highly manifested in our institution because we
are not treated like mere subordinates; we are inspired here to push ourselves
to become the best leaders that we can always be. Even if there are higher
levels of positions here, our school leaders never fail to emphasize the
essence of equity. Instead of shouldering all of the responsibilities, the
administrators see to it that these are properly and equally distributed to all
departments so that no one will be left behind and that everyone will share a
common goal which is the success of our learning milieu.
Aside
from these reasons, I can really say that distributed leadership best describes
the management of our institution for I am actually experiencing right now what
it feels like to be a leader. Currently, I am the Program Chairperson of our
Bachelor of Library and Information Science (BLIS) course here and I am so
grateful for this opportunity because I can pursue my advocacy which is to
empower LIS education and hone future librarians and information scientists for
them to become catalysts for academic excellence, research development, and
community’s success.
When it
comes to my personal beliefs on what leadership theory I would prefer, I want
to share this leadership quote from Tom Peters which says, “Great leaders do
not create followers, they create more leaders.” Honestly, I will still firmly
stick with my own beliefs that distributed leadership style is my jam. I like
how it empowers people because it aims to unleash the potential leader within a
person. If given a chance to handle the top-level management, I will not
tolerate egotism and selfishness. I will genuinely focus on others’ growth and self-actualization
for them to reach greater heights as well. And when the time comes that they
will also experience actual school leadership, they will not stumble and fall.
Moreover, it is also inappropriate to carry all the burdens and enjoy all the sweet successes by myself because everyone deserves to fight and win his or her own battles. Lastly, I want to emphasize the essence of servant leadership in which I think that no matter who we are or what we are in the organization, our leadership philosophy should manifest truthful service. To conclude, according to Mahatma Gandhi, “service without humility is selfishness and egotism.”
Photo Credit: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/principals-see-distributed-leadership-key-managing-their-evolving-role/
