Challenges in Education
The role that leadership plays in everyday life is still one of the most important ones as it might sound. It has a power to determine whether the country will be at peace or war, what investments must be done, and what the company shall avoid, and if local communities survive or thrive in property. Competent managers have a tendency to get results through others and build strong teams. In the modern world, people who simply run a project or a department are different from those ones, who can motivate them to follow him or her even if they are in the position of subordinates. Leaders create some value by setting themselves as an example to follow and engage together with a team to achieve a certain objective being important for everyone. Moreover, leaders manage to create an influence circle; and it can be seen if to count the amount of people outside leaders subordinates coming to him or her for help or advice. Leaders use inspiration and influence to motivate people. Leaders actually engage individuals, while managers simply get the tasks to be done properly. Education is a basis for the success of all future generation as well as the nation. That is why it is critical that this area must be having more leaders, who can motivate both students and peers to be successful. Thus, being a principle requires dealing with many types of issues. The objective of the following paper is to evaluate the answers in terms of leadership skills of the exact person who made a strategic decision in terms of the working environment. The name of the individual shall be kept confidential due to the request of an interviewed one.
The principle that has been interviewed has explained to me the following fact. At the beginning of the year, he had to deal with a very important decision in his working life. The educational institution (college) had certain money to be invested; and it was related to a budget planning issue: whether costs should be allocated to wage increases or sports facilities enlargement. It was a sort of dilemma, as no one can argue that the made decision has been wrong or right. The reason is that two areas needed an additional funding. Below is a list of questions asked during an interview, as well as the answers and the evaluation of those ones:
Q1 (Why was this objective selected to be focused during the current year?): The principle has explained that every year a college is setting itself a priority to allocate some money for the future development. Still, splitting costs equally do not always work, as neither of the areas that require improvements do not get enough investment; and it has a negative impact on the future strategic development. The reason is that sports is one of the most important recreational activities to students and an increased concern form the public related to obesity and illnesses prevention; and the issue related to updating the sport facilities has turned out to be very important. Thus, people are the best asset any institution can have; and the salaries increase is to be viewed as a major financial investment as well. The final decision was to invest in sports facilities. The reasoning of that shall be discussed further in the interview.
Evaluation: I would like to state that the following answer should be evaluated positively from my side in terms of proper management.
Why: the principle has explained that both issues are very important to college and neither of them shall be underestimated. He gave evidence that sports facilities are strategically important, as they cannot only help to fight obesity, but serve as a preventative measure. It is to make a nation healthier. Such reasoning is important as the principle does not put his priorities first, but think about students, which is an example of servant leadership.
Q2 (Who was involved in making that decision?): the principle has explained that he has gathered a team of professors. Therefore, they can help him to make this critical decision. He has also mentioned that he could have done it by himself, but he believes in the importance of teamwork. Moreover, it may be the common decision-making when one person can challenge another so the best choice could be made. Thereafter, after a session of brainstorming and common meetings, the final decision to invest in sport facilities was made.
Evaluation: I would like to state that the following answer is evaluated positively from my side in terms of proper management.
Why: the principle had a right to use legitimate power in order to make a decision. However, instead of this, he turned to connection and referent types of powers, which is the evident of good leadership behavior. He mentioned the importance of teamwork. It is critical for leaders in an educational area. Only common efforts when every person supports one another can help to bring the education to a higher level.
Q3 (Were there proponents and opponents involved in the process?): the principle made the comment that it had been hard for the team to avoid bias as the first milestone. The salary increase was related to each of them particularly. Those persons, who wanted t