03+Empowering+Others

= Empowering Others =


 * Text Support & Personal Experience:**
 * I felt strongly about ranking empowering others highly. Lambert's opening statements about teaming and leadership development resonated with me: "Team is perhaps the most challenging format for skillful leadership work. For one thing, successful teaming rests on the capacities of individuals to form relationships that enable them to work well together" (2003, p. 24). Encouraging others to participate without feeling condescending or controlling is a difficult skill to master. It also requires a great deal of rapport and trust. Oftentimes I have watched as administrators have appointed another person or group to complete a task, only to take back the reins to regain a sense of direction or control. While it is often easier to make a decision or complete a task on our own, it is usually more effective if more people participate. Lambert echoes this throughout the text. As I middle school team teacher, I feel it is important that "teams are reciprocal learning communities in which each member expects to learn from and contribute to the development of the others" (Lambert, 2003, p. 26). Lambert recognized the influence of principals as well: "Capacity building principals align their actions to the belief that everyone has the right, responsibility, and capability to work as a leader" (2003, p. 43). ~Kate


 * To go along with empowering others, Lieberman and Wood (2001), state "its practices include: Turning ownership of learning over to the learners (2003, p.36). I thought this small section of the text in itself represents a large part of what empowering others is about. Enabling individuals to take pride and ownership in their own learning and growth can be very freeing and empowering at the same time. Not only does this resist any dependencies that could otherwise grow, it also equips the individuals to continue passing down and encouraging that need to take ownership for learning to other individuals. Lambert also writes, "Veteran teachers powerfully influence their new colleagues by modeling the professional norms and behaviors that contribute to quality instruction and teacher leadership..." (2003, p.38). - Monica


 * Bolman and Deal write "Effective Human Resource Leaders Empower Others. They make it clear that employees have a stake in the organization's success and a right to be involved." (2003, p. 356). This idea can extend even to young children. Empowering others can begin at a very early age, too. I have taught both adults and young children, I do not feel it is too early (even though at times, parents and older siblings might) for 6 and 7 year olds to have a stake, or say, in their destiny. Any one, young or old, and no matter where they are on the organizational chain of command, can be empowered and feel a part of the success of their organization. -Laura


 * One of the video clips embedded in this week’s learning content is about setting up high expectations. In the video, it demonstrates a high performance organization often set up high expectations for its staff. The organization even set up high expectations for the volunteers. In the past, some works had never expected the volunteers to accomplish because of its high responsibilities demands. It turned out that the volunteers performed the work just like what has been expected. One of the volunteers commented in the video that if someone says you can’t do it, then you can’t do it. That is very true that empowering others by setting up high expectation is a very important leadership skill. -Jingfang

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 * When reading the text, something really clicked with me when Lambert states, "Teams maximize the use of each member's strengths. For example, one person might have a knack for data analysis, while another excels at planning; each person takes the lead responsibility in his area of strength." (2003, pg. 26) The reason why this was so moving to me was that in any school, there is a professional development team that can fit in with someone's strength. You can empower others to do more if you understand their strengths, and help guide them into a leadership position where they can use it! This works for colleagues as well as students...Lambert's text supports this in saying, "...the leadership of adults and the leadership of students are parallel concepts." (2003, pg. 21) -Kelly