Leadership Perspectives in Higher Education Institutions
Leadership in the institutions of higher learning is essential in ensuring the professional success of the students going through the institution. Leadership in the learning institutions is vital as the leaders are responsible for the effective management of the organization. Proper leadership facilitates the successful implementation of improvement initiatives for the effective functioning of the institution. This paper presents an analysis of the results of an interview with a leader in a higher education institution. The details of the interview will include information of the position the leader holds in the institution, his responsibilities, and roles, the leadership characteristics that are possessed by the leader, the style of leadership that the leader employs and a discussion of whether the style of leadership and characteristics of the leader is in alignment with his responsibilities and role.
Background
The leader that I chose to interview in the institution is the admissions coordinator for the institution’s engineering program. The leader provides information and answers questions, ensures compliance with admission requirements, admits the students to the institution, and help in the completion of the required paperwork. The position of the admissions coordinator in the institution is to supervise the program’s execution and ensure that the members of the team have everything that they need in the successful completion of the tasks. They are also responsible for the management of schedules and communications and organize meetings and events that are related to the program. The leader is responsible for the coordination and planning of all the activities that the program engages in, including the admission of students to the program and the implementation of the policies as well as establishing the rules of admission, including the requirements for admission into the program. The reason for having this leader in the post-secondary settings is because it is necessary to ensure that the students meet the standards of eligibility for the disability services(McNamara et al., 2019). They ensure that the students meet the criteria for eligibility, which in the post-secondary setting, as the laws, in this case, are focused on access.
Leadership analysis
Roles and responsibilities
The roles of this leader as an admissions coordinator include ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the program by monitoring the activities that take place and generally overseeing the entire department by organizing and supervising the events that take place in relation with the admission processes (Law et al., 2016). The various responsibilities include tracking the transactions and the expenditures and ensuring that the set budget gets maintained, ensuring that they put policies that have been put in place to govern the functioning and the activities of the program, and coordinating the activities of the program. The admissions coordinator is also responsible for the executions that are complex with the diverse set of individuals in the program to ensure that the needs of all the students get met. Other responsibilities include managing the communications in the program through media relations, ensuring that technology gets used effectively in the operations of the organization through presentations and video conferencing, supporting the growth and development of the program, and building relationships that are positive with the external parties and the team among other administrative responsibilities.
Leadership characteristics
The leadership characteristics that I was able to identify from this leader include being detail-oriented in that he pays attention to every detail, ensuring the smooth running of the activities in the program. Another leadership characteristic is that he has a team spirit in which the leader exercises the ability to work in teams in the coordination and functioning of the activities in the program. Another characteristic is assertiveness in that the leader is able to effectively communicate with his subordinates to ensure that the misunderstandings get avoided helping in the achievement of the results that are desired (Sims, 2017). The leader expects the assistants to be assertive, but the leader has to lead by example by being assertive as the subordinates tend to follow the example set by the leader. Another trait that I noticed in the leader is his sense of humor, which makes it possible for the members of the team to carry out their duties in a manner that is more relaxed. The leader also exercises openness in that he is willing to listen and accommodate the thoughts and ideas of the subordinates and uses them in enhancing the efficiency of the program.
Leadership style
The style of leadership that the leader I interviewed uses is the democratic leadership style in which he maintains control of the program but allows room for adaptation and change by giving the people he leads a voice (Winn et al., 2017). He allows his subordinates to speak up, recognizing their contribution to the processes of making decisions. He relies more on the team’s contribution to the success of the projects that get undertaken within the program. The democratic leader also allows the team to participate in the making of the decisions in matters that affect them in their daily activities in the day to day running of the program. This style of leadership is vital to the leader as he is able to ensure that every member of the team contributes to the team’s success. The characteristics and style that the leader has match the responsibilities and roles that he has in the sense that the manner in which he leads has a significant influence on the successful execution of the roles and responsibilities that the leader has. The democratic leadership style is characterized by teamwork and assertiveness. These aspects help in the responsibility of coordinating and execution of the activities in the program.
Reflection
What I found more appealing about the leader was his style of leadership, in which he allows the participation of his subordinates in the processes of making decisions to encourage their contribution to the success of the activities in the department of admissions. The assertiveness of the leader is appealing is his exercise of assertiveness to ensure that he properly communicates with the subordinates in the processes of admission to ensure that no misunderstandings happen as they can affect the effectiveness of the activities that take place in the department. The perspectives of the leader shape my views on academic leadership in that I have gained a better understanding of how teamwork and collaboration can effectively help meet the goals of the organization (Youngs, 2017). I agree with the leader’s style as he allows participation of the team members to be part of the decision making in the department to support effectiveness.
The leader’s view has a significant influence on my views of progressing my academic leadership career in several ways. First, understanding the roles of the leader helps me understand and have a clear picture of how to effectively lead a team in a particular program and how to successfully run a department. The leadership traits of the leader inspire me in such a way that I am able to understand how to effectively involve the employees in working towards achieving organizational goals. There are several conclusions that I am able to draw about the responsibilities and roles of the leadership in higher education from the interview. One of the conclusions is that leadership requires passion and commitment to be able to successfully meet the goals that have been set. Leadership in higher education requires teamwork and collaboration so that the ideas of every member of the team get considered in the final decision. Leadership in higher education requires one to constantly think outside the box to be able to accommodate unique ideas to enhance effectiveness.
Conclusion
Leadership in higher education requires one to develop positive qualities of leadership to enhance the effectiveness of the processes. In making a choice of leadership style, a leader in higher education has to ensure that the style is in alignment with the goals the leader aims to achieve. The type of leadership should be one that is inspirational to the team members to encourage innovation and promote individual growth. The discussion above provides some examples of traits that make an effective leader in a higher education institution. The strategies that a leader uses in exercising his leadership duties play a major role in facilitating success in the activities of the institution.
References
Law, M., Mylopoulos, M., Veinot, P., Miller, D., & Hanson, M. D. (2016). Exploring social media and admissions decision-making–friends or foes? Canadian medical education journal, 7(2), e4.
McNamara, P., Harvey, A., & Andrewartha, L. (2019). Passports out of poverty: Raising access to higher education for care leavers in Australia. Children and Youth Services Review, 97, 85-93.
Sims, C. M. (2017). Do the big-five personality traits predict empathic listening and assertive communication? International journal of listening, 31(3), 163-188.
Winn, J., Hall, R., & Erskine, C. (Eds.). (2017). Mass intellectuality and democratic leadership in higher education. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Youngs, H. (2017). A critical exploration of collaborative and distributed leadership in higher education: Developing an alternative ontology through leadership-as-practice. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 39(2), 140-154.