President Barack Obama’s administration tried a different approach to improving schools in 2009. Though it did not eliminate NCLB as a federal policy, it allowed states leeway on some provisions and offered them incentives through federal programs like Race to the Top to reward schools into improving (U.S. Department of Education, 2013). Many states offered teachers merit pay for better student test scores and created outcome-based teacher evaluation systems to reward effective teachers financially (a carrot approach). This type of approach might create short-term commitment or interest until the educator no longer considers the incentive a priority.
The preliminary evidence from the shift from stick to carrot reveals that the latter approach has not effected tangible student learning outcomes much more than the former approach, especially as it pertains to closing the achievement gap for students at risk (Lee, 2014). Decision makers and policymakers have not learned that human beings are much more complex and nuanced than these policies, aimed at stimulating motivation to improve performance, suppose.
A lack of balance in leadership approach is the biggest factor in leadership ineffectiveness (Bass, 1981). We propose that transformational leaders must strike a balance between the important elements of focusing on the task and focusing on relationships and between providing support and requiring accountability.
Task and Relationship Balance
Leadership researcher and pioneer Bernard M. Bass (1981) felt that the most critical mistake most leaders make is placing too much emphasis either on the task at hand or on relationships with others. Bass (1981) describes leaders as tending to be either task focused (emphasizing rules and procedures for getting the task done) or follower focused (emphasizing concern for people).
Task-Focused Leadership
A task-focused leader initiates structure, provides vital information, determines what people should do, issues the rules, promises rewards for compliance, and threatens punishment for disobedience. The task-focused leader uses his or her power to obtain compliance. Task-focused leadership produces some benefits.
▶ Clarity of focus
▶ Outcomes orientation
▶ Predictability
▶ Clear expectations
▶ Strong protocol and procedures
Task-focused leadership will also generate some disadvantages.
▶ Fear of failure or lack of job security
▶ Alienation
▶ Lack of professional creativity
▶ Lack of commitment
▶ Passive-aggressive behavior and informal protest
Follower-Focused Leadership
A follower-focused leader solicits advice, opinions, and information from those he or she leads and checks decisions or shares decision making with them. The follower-focused leader uses his or her power to set the constraints within which he or she encourages followers to help decide the organization’s course or direction. Follower-focused leadership produces some benefits.
▶ A sense of appreciation and respect
▶ Multiple perspectives
▶ Fostered collaboration
▶ Shared sense of ownership
▶ Reflective practice
Follower-focused leadership will also generate some disadvantages.
▶ Slow progress
▶ Philosophical conflicts
▶ Constant change
▶ Disorganized systems
▶ Lack of focus
Bass (1981) concludes that leaders must balance emphasis on the task and emphasis on the human relationships. A one-sided approach would meet some needs, while simultaneously creating problems because of unmet needs. The goal of leadership is to build the organization’s human capital—to transform the relationship between leader and followers so that unity of purpose and mutually shared goals energize and motivate participants. Transformational leadership is based on the conviction that the people in the organization constitute resources rich in ideas, knowledge, creativity, and energy, and leaders can fully tap into their power only by creating organizational environments that are motivating, inclusive, organized, and focused on outcomes.
We argue that developing the human being (relationship) provides the context for the important job of demanding performance (task). In fact, we believe that leaders cannot ethically demand performance without first preparing people for the task that they expect them to perform. To attain the level of balance that Bass (1981) advocates, leaders must strike a profound balance between support and accountability.
Support and Accountability Balance
To simplify the concept of support and accountability balance, we describe support as an investment and accountability as a return on investment. In the world of finance, an investor would understand that it is very illogical to expect a return on investment if he or she made no initial investment. He or she would see gathering the capital to invest in a business, stock, or venture as a very simple and logical prerequisite to entering the world of financial investment. We will prove that it should not shock leaders that they do not reap a dividend when they make no real investment in their employees and simply demand performance.
The first job of a transformational leader is to examine how much investment he or she needs to make in order to receive a substantial return. We believe that school employees require three essential human investments or supports in order to improve practices and outcomes: (1) communication, (2) trust, and (3) capacity building. These supports align with the skills a transformational leader must possess that we outline in chapters 2–4 of this book.
Conversely, we believe that a leader who simply analyzes needs and makes investments without any expectation of improvement has only wasted time and resources and will not witness substantive improvement. An investor who works hard to gather and invest capital but does not expect a high rate of return on investment has wasted substantial time and energy. School leaders who create positive relationships, solicit input, communicate priorities, and provide training for improvement but do not articulate higher performance expectations and do not monitor improvement have wasted substantial time and energy. The second job of a transformational leader, then, is to demand accountability. This aligns with the fourth skill we outline in chapter 5 (page 83)—that leaders must get results.
In order to get results, transformational leaders must also understand the dynamics of motivation and resistance to change. Leaders may find this hard to accept, but most resistance to change is a rational response to ineffective leadership.
Motivation and Resistance to Change
Leaders often respond to resistance as they would to a negative behavior—they address the behavior without assessing the cause. Most resistance to change manifests a need that a leader has not met, or a critical investment that a leader has neglected. Before a leader can criticize a follower for not embracing a vision or a directive, he or she has to first assess whether he or she has made all the necessary investments to warrant a return on investment. Leaders have to make three non-negotiable investments to create the right conditions for