Building Relationships - Research Paper Example

Building Relationships Christine M. Gallegos Grand Canyon BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF SCHOLARS IN HIGHER EDUCATION EDU-817-O101 Dr. LeRodrick Terry October 29, 2014 Building Relationships Relationship building is one of the key factors that play their role in the success of any educational institute. It is also an imperative leadership trait for the leader of a higher educational institution and is directly related to the performance of the institutes. The head of an educational institute is also an influential leader of the organization who needs to have this leadership quality in order to achieve desired goals and to put the performance of the institute on a continuously improving graph. Proper, continuous, and successful collaboration with all stakeholders of the institute is extremely important for the head of the institute in order to be effective as a leader. The stakeholders of an educational institute not only include the community of scholars working for the institute but also include those working outside the institute. The better the relationship between the head of the institute and the stakeholders, improved will be the performance of the institute. The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate the significance of building relationships with stakeholders both within and outside the higher educational institutes. Although there are many stakeholders who contribute in some way or other for the success of an educational institute, but in this paper the focus will be on two main stakeholders with whom the leader must collaborate: faculty and boards. Building Relationships with Faculty and Board The relationship-building process for the leaders of educational institutes relies on the belief that collaboration is successful only when it is done at both personal and professional levels. Leaders need to build relationships with the faculty members based on mutual interests. They need to identify mutual goals, as well as the ways to accomplish those goals. Leaders need to see things from the faculty’s perspective in order come up with proper solutions regarding emerging or emerged conflicts and issues. Leaders must know the importance establishing friendly relationships with the faculty because when staff will be free of managerial pressure issue, they will show more consistency and dedication to their job responsibilities which will eventually have a positive impact on the overall performance of the students. Positive relationships with teachers enhance their level of job satisfaction (Maele & Houtte, 2012, p. 879). Equality is the first step in the relationship building process with the faculty. Leaders need to consider all faculty members equal so that the chances of discrimination get less as much as possible. Faculty members will also perform their job tasks more responsibly when they will know that they enjoy equal status in the office of the head of the organization. Preference to some particular faculty members always causes a negative perception about the leaders in the minds of the other members which eventually has a negative impact on the institute’s performance. Continuous and less formal collaboration with the faculty is the second step in the process. Leaders need to be a little informal in communicating with their faculty members because more formal behaviors cause pressure for the subordinates which may affect their performance at some stage. Administration behaviors greatly influence teachers’ decisions of retention (Boyd et al. 2010, p. 303). Moreover, leaders need to communicate with the faculty members time and again in order to build a friendly image in the minds of the faculty members, as well as to know their personal and professional needs. Building an interactive and collaborative professional environment is the third step for the leaders in building relationships with the faculty members. Leaders need to take steps for creating a true professional working environment for the faculty members in all aspects. They should incorporate all professional needs of the faculty while developing policies in order to create a successful and productive working relationship with the faculty members. Leaders should create an inclusive culture to bring improvement in the academic and professional performances of students and teachers respectively (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010). Leaders also need to build relationships with the boards in order create a smooth way for the students to complete their education. Forward progress and team building is only possible when there is trust, sense of accountability, and a passion to foster continuous improvement is there between all stakeholders of the higher educational systems. Leaders need to play the role of communicator between the faculty and the board of the institute. While taking about boards, the leaders of the higher education institutes also need to maintain good working relationships with the boards of other institutes in order to create more learning opportunities for students, as well as to increase the academic progress chances. For example, if a student aims to migrate to during or after any particular degree, he/she should face no difficulties in transferring his/her credit hours, which is only possible when there will be some agreement or policy mutually set by the boards of the two involved institutes. Therefore, it is very important for the leaders of higher education institutes to build and maintain good relationships with their own boards, as well as with the boards of other institutes. It is only possible when the leader knows the significance of such relationships and has the understanding and knowledge of developing such relationships. For this, leaders need to set meetings with the board officials in which they should propose some recommendations and should hear to the terms of the other parties. Next, they should sign the agreement or set the policy for student transfer and other academic issues. Next, they should collaborate with the officials of other boards time and again in order to maintain the level of understanding and readjust the terms if necessary. Learning as a Shared Responsibility Learning plays a key role in bringing improvement in all departments of an education institute. It is definitely a shared responsibility for all stakeholders of the higher educational systems, particularly for leaders, faculty, and board. Leaders need to learn the value of establishing good working relationships with the faculty members, as well as with the board. Learning brings professionalism and excellence in the way people achieve their goals and perform job activities. Not only leaders and faculty, collaborative learning also plays a key role in improving student learning (Dufour & Mike Mattos, 2013, p. 34). In case of leaders, learning refines the way leaders motivate and direct their subordinates. Consequently, improvement occurs in the activities of the subordinates. Similarly, learning also helps faculty members in improving their methods of teaching and knowledge transfer. With learning comes quality and excellence and in case of faculty learning this perception becomes even strong. The faculty needs to show responsibility by learning the ways to teach: as transmission of content, by focusing on student activities, and increasing students’ interest in knowledge learning. This shows that learning is a shared leadership responsibility that is not specific to any one stakeholder of the educational sector (Cranston, 2013). On the other hand, leaders also need to take steps on their part by introducing teacher-preparation programs, teacher-induction programs, and professional development programs through which teachers can learn the new and effective ways of knowledge transfer. While talking about learning as a shared responsibility, one must not forget this responsibility on the side of the board. The board of a higher educational institute also needs to go through the process of learning in order to be able to develop and implement such programs and policies which can have a dynamic effect on the performance of all stakeholders of the educational institute. But all of this is impossible without the development of effective relationship between the stakeholders. Therefore, building relationships is the steppingstone for achieving the goal of improved performance of the higher educational institutes. Professional Development Encourages Scholarship Professional development can be used as an effective way to encourage scholarship among leaders, faculty, and board. “The Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is understood as a process of knowledge construction” (Kreber, 2012, p. 88). This knowledge construction eventually leads to skill development which is an integral component of professional development. Professional development is the key tool that helps all professionals in excelling in their professional lives. When the people will be skilled enough to go through the stages of scholarly activities, they will be intrinsically motivated for scholarship. Intrinsic motivation occurs when a person is internally motivated to do some particular activity or achieve some goals. Professional development can be, therefore, used as a tool to intrinsically motivate leaders, faculty, and board, which will consequently encourage them for scholarship. Summing it up, building relationship with faculty and the board is extremely important for an educational institute’s leader to ensure improvement in the performance of the institute. Proper and continuous collaboration between leader, faculty, and board is essential not only for the community of scholars working for the institute but also for those working outside the institute. References Ainscow, M., & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: the role of organizational cultures and leadership. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(4), 401-416. Doi:10.1080/13603110802504903 Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Ing, M., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2010). The Influence of School Administrators on Teacher Retention Decisions. American Educational research Journal, 48(2), 303-333. Doi:10.3102/0002831210380788 Cranston, N. (2013). School Leaders Leading Professional Responsibility Not Accountability as the Key Focus. Educational Management Administration Leadership, 41(2), 129-142. Doi:10.1177/1741143212468348. DuFour, R., & Mattos, M. (2013). How Do Principals Really Improve Schools?. Educational Leadership, 70(7), 34–40. Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/Pedagogy-and-assessment/Leading-learning-communities/How-do-principals-improve-schools Kreber, C. (2012). Developing the Scholarship of Teaching through Transformational Learning. Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(1), 88-109. Retrieved from http://josotl.indiana.edu/article/view/1627 Maele, D., & Houtte, M. (2012). The role of teacher and faculty trust in forming teachers’ job satisfaction: Do years of experience make a difference?. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(6), 879-889. Doi:10.1016/j.tate.2012.04.001 Read More