Jeannie Azzopardi
OMDE 604
Assignment #4
Monday, February 20, 2006
Word Count:
Attributes and Issues Unique to the Distance Education Leader
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I.’ And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I.’ They don’ think ‘I.’ they think ‘we’; they think ‘team.’ They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credits…This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” – Peter F. Drucker
A: Develop a list of five attributes that you feel best embody an effective DE leader.
1. Communication Skills:
He who thinketh he leadeth and hath no one following him is only taking a walk. ~ Anonymous
Hersey et al. (2001) tells us, “…all leaders should have a high concern for results and a high concern for people.” Leaders must have concern enough for themselves and their followers to ensure and hone their communication skills. Across all situational leadership models…all power bases, is the commonality of communication. Whether it is telling, selling with coercive and connection power or participating and delegating with reward, referent or expert power, communication is key. A leader is formed through his followers. His credibility rests in their perception of who their leader is. Communication is the foundation of that perception – for better or worse.
Hand in hand with communication comes active listening. This is where trust is created. It is the common arena where all participants can bring their ideas and revelations and, if communication is respected and reciprocated, the discourse is honored. As the fiction writer paints a picture of utopia with words that allows the reader to visit that same utopia, so the leader creates the picture of his Shangri-La. The exceptional leader then finds a way to invite his followers into his vision through discussion, transmission, and paying attention. It is his responsibility to construct a picture that everyone can see. Beaudoin (2005, p. 88)) aptly frames it - “…live that vision; …profoundly inspire and affect their…aspirations.” If they do not see it, they cannot experience it. If they cannot experience it, they cannot assimilate it. If this is so, there is nothing to work toward.
2. Necessary Job Knowledge:
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it. - Margaret Fuller
Understanding the nuances of distance education and distance learners can be daunting. Therefore, we cannot expect the leader to be simply a salesman or a conductor. This does an injustice to the leader and stakeholders alike. How can you sell a product with which you have no familiarity? Or lead musicians when you cannot read a note of the concerto?
Hersey et al, (2001, p. 176) assert that “Ability is the knowledge, experience, and skill that an individual or group brings to a particular task or activity.” When the activity is leading toward a vision…there should, at minimum, be an idea of the route. A distance education leader must not just have a vision, but a plan as well. What kind of confidence does it inspire when the contractor shows up without the blueprints?
For today’s leader in distance education, it is essential that there is comprehension of the expeditiousness of change, of technique, of the learner and the instructor…of technology. There must be fundamental knowledge; it must be current and there must be a paradigm. This is not the classroom of the past where the principal merely makes sure that his school is orderly and his teachers have planned curriculum to pass on to the next in line.
3. Innovation, Creativity and Vision:
Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
From a beginning point to fulfillment of the vision takes the necessary steps of innovation and creativity. The field of distance education itself rest upon envisages of creative platforms that arguably, cannot be restrained. In Latchem & Hanna (2001, p. 99) Robert Lewis states that innovation “…begins with, but goes beyond, invention… [it] risks unpopularity because it involves change… [and it] should be seen as a continuum, beginning with invention and moving through to translation…”
The distance education leader must recognize that innovation is perseverance toward the vision. It will meet with resistance, sometimes formidable, but the DE leader must stand in defensive of the vision against opposition – even his own. This is true of all creators of aspiration. And it is the exceptional leader who understands the distinction between defiance and diffidence.
Creativity comes into the fold on several levels. Within many distance education environments there simply are not resources for proposed change. The question then becomes, can the leader cut a new path? Sometimes it is imperative, in the face of resistance and paucity, that the leader look for the window rather than stand thumping at the front door.
4. Systematic Reflection:
Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter F.Drucker
In Hersey et al, (2001, p. 406) L.L. Bean’s use of feedback is explored as nine different dimensions all of which are certainly relevant as being systematically reflective of an organization. But here let us focus on empowerment and what that looks like in reflection.
If a leader demonstrates communication and active listening; if he shows that he possesses knowledge that leads to the vision; then if he illustrates innovation and creativity on many levels…he must certainly have proven this through an evaluative process. The blueprint is, of course, essential, but is nothing without the assessment of progress. How well are we doing; how far have we come; what needs to be accomplished; how can we improve _________; and how remote is the vision? As Einstein said, “Knowledge is power,” and in this case, knowing is empowerment; it is the essence of liberation.
Looking at the macro view of distance education programs, we may see an umbrella or a matrix of sorts. It is the road map to a goal. Assessment and reflection then are checkpoints on that road. This is something that can be readily seen by stakeholders. Empowerment, on countless planes, drives the vehicle.
Hersey et al (2001, p. 224) in quoting Owen Harari places a perceptive significance on empowerment, “Your goal is not to empower, but to liberate…Liberation involves freeing people from organizational constraints (including you)…Power is a feeling, an experience. It is the consequence of liberation.”
Systematic reflection embodies the time taken to liberate through information, contemplation, assessment and empowerment for programs and followers…and their leaders as well.
5. Initiative and Boldness:
The trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more. – Erica Jong
The fundamental essence of distance education leadership, now and in the future, lies with the risks and initiatives that are taken. There is a quickening with the field that is unparalleled in any other area of training and education. As Beaudoin (2005, p. 74) writes, “Indecision and immobility during these tumultuous times could prove fatal to a number of institutions, and it is the presence of effective distance education leadership…that could well make the difference between success or failure.” The leader must anticipate.
The distance education leader therefore, cannot acquiesce to rest on his laurels but must play the consummate pied piper, taking a valiant proactive stance. Neither a director nor a facilitator, he is the escort and conduit, the captain and the masthead. He must be willing to endure frailty as well as power. He cannot succumb to pressure, back away from confrontation or fear transformation that may lurk out of view. Again, the leader must anticipate.
In contemporary education, the leader is obliged to cooperate and collaborate not only with others in affluence but with those who are thinking out of the box in an effort to distribute equitable education. He is responsible for his institution’s future, the future of his stakeholders, the future of distance education and above all else the future of the distance learner.
B: Define and discuss at least three critical issues that, in your opinion, DE leaders must attend to in order to successfully guide their organizations.
First, there must be a plan.
At my institution, the lack of a plan for our distance education program has proved to be an unholy source of frustration, misdirection, miscommunication and resentment. How can you lead if you have no direction? Now that this has gone for nearly a year, we have experienced major pitfalls in the program itself. Further, there is a dismal lack of resolution because of deficiencies in proactive initiative.
In a recent meeting with the Associate Provost two of the program coordinators put together a program matrix with an accompanying plan of action. There was confusion regarding the matrix…what does this mean, a drawing? It was pointed out that the report explained the different levels of the matrix but beyond that – the matrix itself, although seemingly trivial or trite, gave a clear focus on what needed to be done – a road map with a starting point that included built-in diagnosis and analysis.
Second, there must be knowledge and continuing education in the field.
What I have seen has been an absence of basic knowledge within the field of distance education. The hierarchy wants this but doesn’t really know what it is or how it operates. Referencing comments I made previously – how can you sell something you have no understanding of? The bells and whistles of technology have been mesmerizing and this has been enhanced by independent contractors who say ‘look what we can do!’ Consequently, technology has been used inappropriately and at great expense. Only a handful on campus comprehend course design and next to none knows instructional systems design.
The most blatant lack of knowledge surrounds learner support including disability services. It is as if there is a collective thought that because our DE students are not here – they need no services. As is the case with higher education institutions, there is a monumentous resistance to change of any kind. Incorporating the campus community into learner support for distance learners obviously serves the student but it serves also to elicit buy-in from the whole of the university. There is a special need for the distance learner that is simply not recognized. Success cannot be counted in enrollments – but by those that graduate.
Finally, there must be a proactive rather than reactive approach to distance education.
There is something out there in the dark of distance education and without standing up, grabbing a flashlight and a net – there is nothing for the unprepared but the backside of what it was. Beaudoin (2005, p. 98) points out that any institution taking the “watchful waiting” approach skates precariously on the edge of the abyss. Change comes in the form of technology yes, but those other unforeseen lurkers might be disability issues, course design and assessment, absent faculty or even legislation.
Global implications of distance education must be looked at in a proactive way as well. Whether it be with swift advancements in distance education or with international apportionment where there is little more than the printed word, the rest of us must be at the ready. The campus community will not disappear; on the contrary, it will become expand globally.
As with all facets of the distance education leader, there must be a fine blend of compassion, concession, knowledge, inspiration, divination, hope, courage, foresight, reflection, innovation and a smattering of the stuff of brawlers.
References
Beaudoin, M. (Ed.). (2005). Reflections on research, faculty and leadership in distance education. : Bibliotheks - und Informationssystem der Universitat Oldenburg.
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., & Johnson, D. (2001). Management of organizational behavior. 8 ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Latchem, C., & Hanna, D. (2001). Leadersip for 21st century learning. London: Kogan Page Limited.
