Fuqua, Jr., H, Payne, K, & Cangemi, J. Leadership and the effective use of power. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal, 17-E, no. 4, Retrieved March 29, 2008, from http://www.nationalforum.com/TOCeas.html.
Fuqua, Payne, and Cangemi states, “the currency of leadership, essential to influencing others, involves eight factors; support system, information, credibility, visibility, legitimacy, persuasiveness, charisma, and agenda setting.” They focus on the successful ways leaders influence their followers to produce an effect. They believe each of the factors when used correctly and efficiently produces the best type of leadership or authority. The journal states how an effective leader becomes more powerful and uses that new power. According to Max Depree (http://tinyurl.com/34npeq), “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” Does what Fuqua, Payne, and Cangemi state what a leader needs for power contradicts or fall in line with Depree? Lets find out.
The first essential factor Fuqua, Payne, and Cangemi state is a support system. No matter what you are doing, you need people who will back you up and support you. As a basketball coach this year, never coaching basketball before, I used a support system of fellow coaches and friends that I can trust and that I knew supported me in trying something new. It paid off because every girl improved from the beginning of the year, we had fun, and we were successful. Someone who is struggling with alcohol will say that their support system is what helps them succeed. A support system can help you define what is realistic and what is just off the wall.
The next essential factor is information. Fuqua and etcetera say, “knowing where to find information and obtain it quickly,” is the key aspect of information. It is humanly impossible for anyone to know the answer to every question their employee might ask, but they should sure know where to find the answer. When I was teaching seventh and eighth grade Science and Social Studies, unfortunately I did not know the answer to some of the problems or when they asked something that was a little off task. Luckily though, I know how to find the answer, and with the World Wide Web, this is very easily done. The act of responding to someone quickly with the correct information they were looking for will show that you care about what your employees are asking.
The next essential factor is credibility. The Leadership Development Center says, “Credibility is the basic foundation of effective leadership. It makes a significant difference in your ability to influence others in your organization.” (http://tinyurl.com/yqz3rk). A man is only as good as his word. Credibility builds trust. Trust builds respect. Once you are respected by someone, they will follow your lead to the brink of death. Recently the University of Michigan football team lost their Head coach for more than a decade, Lloyd Carr. His last few years of coaching were under fire for not being able to beat Ohio State University. If you ask any of his players they would do anything for him. He might not have been the best coach winning every game and even losing a few games that he should have won. However, his players respected him and his credibility was phenomenal. He remembered every player that ever played for him and they most certainly remember him. Players have left Michigan since the coaching change because they believe the family values have eroded and the credibility of the coaching staff is gone.
The next essential factor is visibility. It says a lot to a team when their leader takes on a challenge and knows they can succeed. This is similar to when an athlete makes a guaranteed win. Two things are happening, sometimes at the same time. One view of a guaranteed win is that the athlete is so confident that his team is better than the other that it is just a statement of truth. Another view is the individual who is making the claim knows that his team is capable of doing such a feat and is trying to inspire the team and make the team work harder. Sadly, another view is that the athlete making the claim is just out of their mind. In Education, administrators need to set the bar high for their staff. When the leader helps the staff meet those standards, his stock goes up with the staff. They see that he will ask for the best and will work hard to get them there.
The next essential factor is legitimacy. Think of it as is your running for office and the president of the United States endorses you. My wife is a radiological technologist and she is pretty good at what she does. It is always nice when her supervisors come up to her and say that the radiologist was very impressed with her work.
The next essential factor is persuasiveness. This can come in the form of coerciveness, fear, or respect. A leader needs to be able to win a debate on any topic of any side or in layman’s terms, “sell ice to an Eskimo.”
The next essential factor is charisma. Dan Reiland, Vice President of Leadership Development of INJOY asked, “How can you have charisma?” then answered, “Be more concerned about making others feel good about themselves than you are making them feel good about you.” John C. Maxwell writes about charisma in his book The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, where he states that a leader needs to have charisma because the first impression can seal the deal. He goes on to say that to become more charismatic you need to love life, put a “10” on every person’s head (expect the best out of others), give people hope, and share yourself (Maxwell, p8-11).
The last essential factor is agenda setting. Fuqua states that we should know when meetings will be held and know when to add to the agenda in just the right spot to get the maximum out of our staff. Staff meetings are where I believe an administrator shines or falls. If it is too long or too boring, no one wants to be there. It has to be just right and the agenda has to be perfect.
I believe if you follow the eight factors Fuqua has set up you will meet Depree’s simple definition of what a leader is. Fuqua doesn’t touch on servant hood directly, which is Depree’s main goal of a leader, but I believe you will be a servant by acting proficiently on each of the factors. Become the powerful leader you can by achieving your own personal power style. Remember that in any situation you may need to have your authority be forced, come from tradition, or earn it. The most influential way to earn respect is to treat others as you want to be treated.
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