Do You Have a Leadership Mindset? Discussion of Responses to What Works quiz in July/August 2013 issue of ASCA School Counselor. 1. Your data show that 17 boys account for almost half the absences in their

grade. You work with the students, their parents and teachers to reduce the absenteeism. During a faculty meeting at the end of the semester, your principal announces absenteeism for that grade decreased by one third. Do you:

a) Make sure your principal knows about all the work you did to reduce the

absences. b) Make sure other faculty members know about all the work you did to

reduce the absences. c) Tell your principal it was a team effort and commend the teachers for

their work. d) Just be happy the principal finally recognized your efforts.

c) Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great,” said great leaders exhibit a high level

of modesty and humility. They don’t always have to get credit for their accomplishments and ideas and, in fact, seldom want any acknowledgement. To advocate for your program, you should try to ensure that administrators and other faculty are aware of school counseling contributions, but the attention should focus on the school counseling program, not any individual, as (a) and (b) suggested. Although response d) may show humility, it doesn’t exhibit leadership.

2. Your principal announces that teachers will no longer be required to perform

cafeteria duty. Instead, each administrator and school counselor will be assigned an hour of cafeteria duty every day. Do you:

a) Compile data to explain how student outcomes would be affected by

requiring school counselors to be in the cafeteria every day and present an alternative plan.

b) Perform the duty because the principal is the school leader. c. Arrange with the other school counselors that each of you will perform

cafeteria duty once or twice a week, but not every day. d) Continue in your regular schedule without performing the cafeteria duty.

a) School counselors need to work within the structural frame of leadership by

recognizing that the school is a system. Requiring school counselors to perform cafeteria duty should not be taken as a personal affront but as a misguided attempt to make the system operate more efficiently. Effective use of data and an alternate plan could provide guidance in modifying the structure more appropriately. Also, you should understand the sources of power and authority. Although the principal is the school leader, other faculty

members also have authority and should have the ability to question decisions. But use of authority should be done in collaboration, not defiance. Developing an alternate schedule without the principal’s involvement (c) or simply ignoring the principal’s announcement (d) are more defiant than collaborative.

3. In your middle school, all teachers are required to notify parents of students

who are in danger of receiving a D or F for the grading period. You learn two of the teachers on your team don’t ever notify the parents. Do you:

a) Send the notifications yourself because the parents need to know. b) Talk to the teachers to explain the importance of the notifications and

offer to help. c) Talk to the team leader and administrators to make sure the teachers are

held accountable. d) Do nothing because many other teachers in the school do the same

thing. b) In any organization, the ability to organize people to work together and

collaborate is an important part of the human resource frame of leadership. Notifying an administrator that teachers aren’t fulfilling their responsibilities (c) would be easier, but that would generate animosity and tear down teamwork instead of build it. Similarly, when resources are tight and you have many tasks, it is often easier to do something yourself instead of working with others (a). Although it may accomplish the task faster, it is also more detrimental to teamwork. Ignoring the situation (d) doesn’t accomplish anything.

4. One of the school counselors in your school is asked to be the test

coordinator every year, which she accepts eagerly because she enjoys doing it. She’s very good at it and organizes the teachers effectively, but it’s time-consuming. In fact, during parts of the year, she asks other school counselors to meet with her students so she has more time to prepare for the tests. Do you think:

a) She’s a good leader who collaborates well with the teachers and

performs an important service for the school. b) Her actions reflect an attitude that the tests are more important to her

than the students are. c) She’s not very good with students so it’s probably better for her to be

productive in ways that don’t involve students. d) She’s ineffective because she’s being used and manipulated by the

administration. b) The symbolic frame of leadership requires school counselors to consider how

their actions are perceived. People tend to attribute value based on what

others do and how they spend their time. If students and faculty see someone spending more time on one project than another, they assume that person values that project more than others. Although a school counselor may be a good test coordinator (a) that should not be the role of a school counselor. If a school counselor is not effective with students (c) s/he shouldn’t simply be given other tasks; actions should be taken to ensure students receive the school counseling assistance they need. In this scenario, the school counselor preferred to be the test coordinator, so it can’t be said that she was used and manipulated (d).

5. You stay at your office until 6 or 7 p.m. every evening completing paperwork

you couldn’t do while you were with students all day. You have plans one afternoon, but a few weeks before the day of your plans, the principal asks all school counselors to stay for an afternoon activity that day. Do you:

a) Carry on with your plans because you deserve to leave on time after all

the nights you work late while some teachers leave early every day. b) Change your plans but stop staying late. c) Change your plans because they’re not as important as your job. d) Explain your situation to the principal and ask whether you can miss the

activity or leave early. d) It’s not unreasonable to ask administrators to accommodate special plans, as

long as it’s not a regular occurrence. If you always make special arrangements, it starts becoming an entitlement, which is also reflected in (a). School counselors often work longer hours than other faculty members, but that doesn’t mean they deserve special treatment. Conversely, you shouldn’t automatically change your plans (c) simply because the administrator created a scheduling conflict for you. The optimum course is to work together to arrive at an acceptable solution for both of you.

6. Your principal decides the school counselors should hold group counseling

sessions the following week on any topic of their choice. Do you:

a) Complain that the principal doesn’t have the right to micromanage your day.

b) Explain to the principal that you don’t have any data showing that group counseling is the most appropriate intervention for your students at that time.

c) Explain to the principal that you don’t have any data about student needs and which interventions would best meet those needs.

d) Hold the groups enthusiastically because you’ve wanted to hold groups all year.

b) and c) Like question two, this question addresses the structural frame of

leadership. Group counseling, like any intervention, should fit within the

structure of the overall school counseling program. Any intervention should be supported by data demonstrating the intervention would address current student needs and that the intervention is the most appropriate way to address those needs. Although it may be true that administrators don’t have the right to micromanage your day (a) complaining about it doesn’t accomplish anything, except perhaps give you a bad reputation.

7. You plan a field trip to take a group of students to a local business to learn

about careers, but the administrative assistant says she can’t arrange a bus for you on the day you’d planned. Do you:

a) Ask the administrative assistant for other transportation options or other

dates when the buses are available. b) Tell the administrative assistant she doesn’t have the authority to refuse

your request. c) Cancel the field trip because it would take too much time to reschedule. d) Go to the principal to explain that all the other arrangements have been

made so you can’t change the date. a) Although an administrative assistant, secretary or other support staff may not

have a great deal of formal authority, in most schools they wield tremendous power from informal sources, so it’s best to work with them rather than challenging their authority (b) or going over their head (d). Recognizing their informal authority is an effective way to work within the political frame of leadership. Simply cancelling the trip (c) would be a disservice to your students.

8. A mother and father complain that no one notified them their son is failing a

class and would not graduate. Do you:

a) Tell the parents it was the teacher’s responsibility to notify you so you could notify them, but you didn’t receive notification from the teacher.

b) Tell the parents their son isn’t graduating and there’s nothing that could have been done even if they had been notified.

c) Offer to explore options that would allow their son to graduate. d) Tell the parents they need to contact an administrator and their son’s

teacher. c) Jim Collins says great leaders look in the mirror to assume blame, and

although response (c) doesn’t necessarily say you should take responsibility for the mistake, neither should you blame others (a), even if they were truly at fault, or pass the problem to someone else (d). Dismissing their concerns (b) by telling them nothing can be done would only exacerbate the situation.

9. Your principal asks for four volunteers to work on a program next year.

Volunteers would attend training in another state during the summer at the

district’s expense. You’re not interested in the program, but your sister lives in the city where the training will be held. Do you:

a) Decide not volunteer for the program because you’re not interested in it

and probably wouldn’t be an effective participant. b) Volunteer for the program and stay a few extra days at your own expense

so you can visit your sister. c) Volunteer for the program but don’t stay extra days. d) Determine how many other faculty members want to participate in the

program, and volunteer only if there are still spaces available. a) One of the greatest temptation of any leadership position is to use the position

for self-gain. It’s easy to rationalize self-serving behavior, but it’s seldom right. Leaders’ only concern should be the best interest of the organization and the people it serves, which, in this case, is the school and your students. If you are not interested in a project and don’t believe you’re the best person to participate, you shouldn’t be involved, especially if there’s a chance that you’ll achieve any personal gain as choices (b), (c) and (d) imply.

10. You present several ideas for a comprehensive school counseling program to

your principal, who agrees to let you start implementing some of them. Some of the older school counselors in the school ask you to stop because they don’t want to follow your ideas nor do they want to explain why they’re not doing what you’re doing. Do you:

a) Discontinue implementing your ideas so you can keep peace in the

family. b) Make sure your principal knows the other school counselors are not

supporting the school counseling program. c) Disregard your co-workers and proceed with your plans because you

know your ideas would be beneficial to your students. d) Explain your ideas and offer to help the other school counselors

implement them or modify the ideas so they would be more effective.

d) This question also addresses the human resources frame of leadership. Presumably, the other school counselors have goals as well, even if they may differ from yours. The idea of enhanced self-interest suggests that helping the other school counselors achieve their goals ultimately helps you achieve your goals. It also builds collaboration, which is much more effective than dismissing their objectives (c) or yielding to their demands at the expense of your students (a). Going over their heads to the principal (b) certainly would not build collaboration and in fact, would be divisive and destructive.