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wouldve been able to muster in their
position. They not only did the tasks
that were necessary, but they did them
in a way that caused all of us to settle
New down a bit. Nothing had changed,
yet after talking with an agent, each
person looked a bit less harried and
angry. We were there for another 90
ALLAN COLLINS
minutes, but the mood in the room
was amazingly different, even though
there were no planes and our situa-
tions mostly hadnt changed. The dif-
ference was that most of us had met
with one of the gate agents.
How Did They Do That?
New Like those agents, principals some-
times end up operating with limited
information in a situation where much
of the problem is out of our control
JAMES PAUL GEE
and those we serve arent happy. So its
worth considering how the gate agents
did their job in a way that positively
changed the group atmosphere. They
engaged in four leadership behaviors.
1. They listened attentively
throughout. Im sure that my story
wasnt much different from those of
the score of folks who preceded me,
New but the gate agent listened and didnt
try to hurry me. When she called me
Tom, I felt myself exhaling a bit, and
BRIAN D. SCHULTZ it helped when she said, I know how
frustrating this is for you. I knew that
she was doing her job, but those two
not-strictly-required comments made
me feel that she was concerned about
my situation. They changed how I felt.
2. They made it clear that they
were on our side, willing to do
New whatever they could to help resolve
our problem. At one point, the agent I
met with was peering at her computer
monitor to find possible alternative
BETHANY WILINSKI routes, and it seemed to be taking
forever. Becoming impatient, I asked
www.tcpress.com how things looked. Here, she said,
90 EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP / MAY 2017
Hoerr.indd 90
you can see, and she swiveled the
monitor so that we were both looking
at it. She began to explain the symbols
and layout on the screen. Although I
couldnt decipher much, that action
removed a hierarchical barrier between
us and shouted that she and I were on
the same team.
3. The agents maintained their
poise, even when confronted by
someone who was neither fair nor
kind to them, responding with the
calmness that we needed to see and
feel. Their actions showed us that they
were doing everything possible and
that losing composure wouldnt help
the situation.
4. They defined their job in a trans-
formational way. Although they might
not see any of us again, they invested
time in building rapport. Relationships
are at the heart of every interaction,
and the ways the agents talked and
listened caused us to be more positive
and forgiving.
Inevitably there will be times when
youre facing an unhappy individual or
group, and you wont have sufficient
information or authority to change the
situation. But like the gate agents, you
can have a positive effect by listening,
personalizing the interactions, and
notexacerbating frustrations. Thats
leadership. EL
Thomas R. Hoerr
(trhoerr@newcityschool.
org) is an education con-
sultant, emeritus head of
school at the New City
School, and a teacher at
the University of Missouri-
St. Louis. He is the author
of The Formative Five: Fostering Grit,
Empathy, and Other Success Skills Every
Student Needs (ASCD, 2016). Follow
him on Twitter @tomhoerr.
3/30/17 1:13 PM
 ONE TO GROW ON
Carol Ann Tomlinson

Shining a Light on Leadership

Transformative teachers and principals follow three practices.

think a lot about leadership in schools. I see

I teachers who lead in ways that sculpt their
own lives and the lives of their students for
the betterand teachers who do not. I observe
principals who lead faculty to invest the very best
thats in them to ensure that young people max-
imize their capacitiesand principals who do not.
I think a lot about what it means to embody the
best of leadership in a school context, and about
how we might grow more leaders who are catalysts
for those around them to become their best selves.
There is no broad agreement on what distin-
guishes highly effective leaders from those who are
less effective. In fact, two authors concluded 30
years ago that thousands of studies on leadership
might be summed up by saying that never have
so many labored so long to say so little (Bennis
& Nanus, 1985, p. 4). Nonetheless, I have come
to believe that teachers and principals who lead in
transformative ways share at least three key attri-
butes. My sense, informed by a good bit of study
and a whole lot of experience, is that teachers
who consistently change young peoples lives for
the better and principals who consistently change thekind of authority on which a leader draws both
education practices for the better are vision-driven, reflects and shapes how he or she leads.
process-oriented, and dedicated to serving those Some leaders claim bureaucratic authority (Im
they lead. higher on the food chain, and those with less claim
to power should do as I direct). Some work from
Leading from a Vision psychological authority (an expect-and-reward
Principals and teachers whom I think of as exem- perspective). Some draw on technical authority (a
plary leaders are on a missionone almost cer- do-what-the-research-says stance). Some lead
tainly focused on bettering the prospects of young from professional authority (a training-and-
people. These leaders are driven by the needs they experience-will-guide-the-way approach).
see around them and a sense of both opportunity And finally, some leaders work from a moral
and obligation to make a difference. Their lead- authorityforming communities around shared
ership starts and sticks with why that vision values and norms based on mutual commitment
matters (Sinek, 2009). and a sense of interdependence. Sergiovanni con-
One of the voices on the nature of leadership cludes that the primary authority for leadership
that has been most clarifying to me is that of in schools currently derives largely from the first
Thomas Sergiovanni (1992, 1999). Leaders, he three categoriesbut that we would be better
says, operate from some platform of authority; served if the latter two categories were central.

VIK Y/SHUTTERSTOCK ASCD / WWW.ASCD.ORG 91

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