Principals today face greater job complexities and more diverse challenges than ever before because of decreases in resources, funding, and district support, along with increases in accountability expectations, student diversity, and unfunded federal and state mandates. Principals today are tasked with myriad responsibilities ranging from facilities management and fiscal and legal concerns to instructional leadership and stakeholder relationships. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of formal, structured leadership coaching and engage in further inquiry to determine the effect of leadership coaching on principal efficacy in a complex and challenging educational environment. This convergent parallel mixed-method research approach is meant to determine if elementary principals' participation in formal leadership coaching programs increases their level of efficacy, as well as how different districts structure and implement these programs for the benefit of their administrators.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2007. / Adviser: Juliana Lachenmeyer. Includes bibliographical references.

While various systems of support and professional development are in place for teachers, there remains a distinct void when it comes to these same opportunities for beginning and especially, experienced principals. An emerging form of assistance for campus principals is leadership coaching: a confidential relationship between a professional coach and principal focused on capacity building and the provision of time and support for the school leader to thoughtfully reflect, plan, problem solve, and establish and achieve significant goals. Leadership coaching is an investment in campus principals, which seems to fill an immediate need for them to experience relevant, ongoing, job-embedded, and individualized professional development. This multiple-case qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach, was framed by the research questions: What are the experiences of middle and high school principals participating in leadership coaching and what benefits result from principal participation in leadership coaching? Through the constant comparative analysis of individual and collective data obtained through semi-structured interviews, observations, and documental evidence of principals participating in leadership coaching, principals’ perceptions of their leadership coaching experience and any benefits were revealed. Overall, findings suggested that participation in leadership coaching was perceived positively and led to principals taking time to pause from their stressful roles and responsibilities to reflect and plan. Principals described factors that accounted for initially connecting with their coaches, such as client readiness and the coach’s experience, as well as the conditions established by the coach that helped build and sustain a healthy coaching relationship: safety, flexibility, action-orientation, and skillful guidance. Additionally, principals reported personal, professional, and organizational benefits resulting from leadership coaching. Personal benefits included better self-care, reduced isolation, increased self-confidence, and heightened self-awareness. On a professional level, coaching resulted in the generation of plans/ideas, improved communication, individualized professional development, and an enhanced sense of efficacy. And finally, organizational benefits were identified in areas of staffing, solutions, student performance, and the extension of coaching to others. / text

Detta är en fenomenologisk studie där jag med utgångspunkt i ett socialpsykologiskt perspektiv undersöker hur känslor av skam och stolthet kommer till uttryck i utsagor om självbild. Mitt material utgörs av fokusgruppsintervjuer där enhetschefer i Stockholms Stad utvärderar sitt deltagande i grupphandledning ur ett ledarskapsperspektiv. Materialet är en del i ett större forskningsprojekt kallat Stockholmsprojektet där Kompetensfonden, Riddarfjärden AB och Karolinska Institutet samarbetade. Mitt teoretiska ramverk har ett sociologiskt perspektiv med teorier kring social interaktion, sociala band och system. För att öka förståelsen av chefers ”inre” perspektiv har jag utifrån transkriberade fokusgruppssamtal, som handlar om erfarenhet av deltagande i chefsgruppshandledning, undersökt hur chefer uttrycker vad som format förändrad självbild och påverkat deras växande i sitt ledarskap. Jag finner att det uttrycks väldigt lite kring rent praktisk lärdom. Utsagorna rör sig mer kring det ”inre ledarskapet” och uttrycker stärkt självbild. Utsagorna är i resultat- och analysdelen redovisade utifrån jämlikhetsperspektiv, gruppinteraktion, personlig reflektion och personlig utveckling. Känslor av harmoni, erkännande, trygghet, trevnad uttrycks. De sociala banden har i gruppen stärkts och autentiska möten har uppstått. En direkt känsla av att inte vara värderad utan bekräftad som den man är uttrycks på olika sätt. Trots brister vågar cheferna blotta sig för den andre och erkänna behov av förändring. Utsagorna beskriver ökad medvetenhet om de olika arenorna där de verkar och en förändrad position. Ett vanligt tema bland utsagorna handlar om att man inte är ensam om tillkortakommanden. De problem man ventilerade hade också andra och det gav mod. Gruppen skapar den harmoni och tillit som är nödvändig för att gemensamt utmana föreställningar, varandra och sig själv. Att höra andra chefer tala om sin verksamhet gör skillnad. Av de utsagor som beskrev förändrad självbild så återfanns känslor inom ”stolthetsfamiljen”, men ingen ur ”skamfamiljen”. ”Bilden” av den kompetente chefen konstrueras, dekonstrueras och konstrueras i handledningssituationen genom hur de formulerar sig språkligt kring sitt eget växande. Utifrån det som framkommit i resultat- och analysdelen har jag slutligen funnit fem kompetenskategorier utifrån hur chefer uttrycker vad de tycker är viktigt i rollen som ledare: trygghet, självinsikt, emotionell medvetenhet, ”Jag duger i mina och i dina ögon” och självförtroende. Att vara kompetent handlar i stort om att bli medveten om sig själv vilket stärker den personliga utvecklingen och ökar självförtroendet. / In order to enhance the common understanding of the ‘inner perspective’ of improved leadership, this thesis explores how executives within Stockholm Stad have evaluated their own engagement in the group-based coaching sessions organized within the scope of the research project ‘Stockholmsprojektet’. Empirically, the study rests on these transcribed discussions from various focus groups dealing with issues of leadership. Based on a social, psychological and phenomenological perspective, the author seeks to identify what the executives describe to have caused a transformed self-image and how such a transformation in turn has influenced an improvement of their leadership skills. While building on systems theory and theories on social interaction and social bonds, the study particularly seeks to explore how the executives’ expressions of self-image reflect feelings of pride and shame. In short, the analysis manifests that the ‘inner perspective’ of leadership is crucial. For the participants, group-based coaching could bring on feelings of being truly acknowledged and accepted. In the case of ‘Stockholmsprojektet’, the social bond between those participating in the coaching sessions seems to have improved and so-called genuine meetings have emerged. The executives moreover express an increased awareness of different arenas of leadership and the need to reconsider their own role as a leader. Based on the analysis, the author ultimately identifies five categories of perceived competence, by the executives put forward as crucial leadership skills: 1) security, 2) selfperception, 3) emotional awareness, 4) ‘I do fine, in mine and others’ eyes’, and ultimately, 5) self-confidence. In other words, improved leadership is generally about improved selfconsciousness by the one in charge. Being more aware of oneself and one’s own feelings could strengthen the personal development, increase self-confidence and ultimately improve the leadership skills of the executive.

abstract: The most common approach to improvement of educational systems has been the adoption of episodic initiatives and short-lived improvement programs. In recent years, a continuous improvement (CI) approach has made it onto the education scene, but the effects of continuous improvement in education remain largely unstudied. This study addressed the need to examine the long term impacts of CI in educational organizations. Using a CI framework, this mixed methods action research (MMAR) study was conducted to examine the impact of CI on one school district’s measures of quality, stakeholder satisfaction, and cost savings, as well as to determine the value of CI leadership coaching, according to district leaders. Qualitative data included interviews with and observations of school district leaders and the CI leadership coach. Quantitative data included stakeholder surveys, district scorecards, and state data dashboard reports. Results indicated improvement from a CI approach was slow to occur, though CI positively impacted some quality outcomes, primarily in the area of math. CI positively impacted student satisfaction, though it had minimal impact on employee and parent satisfaction. The district experienced cost savings as a result of CI, and CI leadership coaching was reported as highly valued by district leaders. The results of the study suggest a systematic CI approach and coaching support can impact change over time, but requires patience and a within district executive leader champion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

This thesis examines Leadership Development in both a corporate setting and an expedition-based setting. The assumptions that are the foundations of current Leadership Development originate, and are informed by, aspects of the natural sciences. These methods are critiqued in terms of usability and applicability in the context of human relating. An alternative approach is investigated based on nonlinear causality and the complex responsive process of relating using the work of Stacey (2003, 2007, 2010), Stacey and Griffin (2005), Stacey et al. (2000). What is explored is the Leader as expert and the ability through communication, decision making, and planning to create certainty. What is problematized is the fantasy that this creates in ongoing day-to-day interactions. The work explores interactions between a leadership consultant/coach and clients in varied domains: the role of the practitioner in the delivery and creation of theory, models, best practices and standard operating procedures; and the reflections of both the practitioner and clients that what is emerging cannot be foreseen. This leads to a further exploration cycle of the human experience in organizations and how reification, the uncanny, and the struggle for recognition might offer other ways of making sense of the experience. The work examines the role of the consultant/teacher and the client/student and the emergence of knowledge. It further investigates the relationship of time and causality and how this is connected to theoretical knowledge and knowledge in action. This leads to a further connection of thinking, reflecting and reflexivity and what this means as practice for leadership development. Using the context of leadership coaching for management teams and connecting the reflexive aspect of knowledge, what is argued is that sensemaking as developed by Weick (1995, 2001, 2009), Weick and Sutcliffe (2007) is not a sufficient practice to explain and create best practices, standard operating procedures, models, and theories. What is also necessary, and is identified as sensemaking and connected to Elias (1987) work, is our own involvement and detachment as we abstract to understand what is happening in the moment between human agents. It is argued that paying attention to these aspects of ongoing human relating offer the possibility of thicker and a more contextualized understanding of the emergent unpredictable outcomes that leaders deal with every day.

No description available.

[pt] O desenvolvimento da liderança envolve a identidade de líder, que pode ser analisada a partir de diferentes perspectivas e abordagens teóricas. Uma delas, utilizada nesta tese, assume o desenvolvimento da identidade na construção social, ou seja, na reflexividade do indivíduo e, sobretudo, nas constantes interações com os outros. Para essa perspectiva, são aspectos centrais ao desenvolvimento do líder o autoconceito e a identidade. Considerando que é fundamental compreender como tal processo ocorre em contextos de desenvolvimento da liderança, e assumindo que tais contextos são campos férteis para a observação das dinâmicas identitárias do líder, esta tese tem como objetivo compreender tais dinâmicas em um contexto de coaching para desenvolvimento da liderança. Uma vez que o fenômeno é pouco explorado pela literatura, utilizou-se o método da Grounded Theory com orientação construtivista, capturando assim as representações de coaches, líderes e liderados entrevistados. A partir dos dados analisados, esta tese apresenta um framework teórico que busca compreender e explicitar as dinâmicas identitárias no desenvolvimento de líderes, explorando elementos nos níveis intrapessoal, interpessoal e contextual. / [en] The development of leadership involves the identity of leader, which can be analyzed from different perspectives and theoretical approaches. One of them, and that used in this thesis, assumes the development of identity in social construction, that is, in the reflexivity of the individual and, above all, in constant interactions with others. For this perspective, they are central aspects to the development of the leader, the self-concept and the identity. Considering it is critical to understand how such a process occurs in leadership development contexts and assuming that contexts are fertile grounds for the leader s identity dynamics, this thesis aims to understand such dynamics in a context of coaching for leadership development. Since the phenomenon is little explored in the literature, we used the Grounded Theory method with a constructivist orientation, thus capturing the representations of coaches, leaders and interviewed followers. Based on the data analyzed, this thesis presents a theoretical framework that has been developed allowing to understand and explain the identity dynamics in the development of leaders, exploring elements at the intrapersonal, interpersonal and contextual levels.