9 Leadership and Development of Higher Education Organizations

Prior to this class, my knowledge of leadership theory was nonexistent. I had not given much thought to leadership or what defines leadership. I now have a much better grasp on several different leadership theories and I have been able to view them in practice from thinking on my own personal experience in my professional life. For our final paper, we were asked to develop a personal theory of leadership. I tied three theories from the course materials and implemented them into a trauma-informed leadership theory approach.

Implementing a Trauma-Informed Leadership Practice in Higher Education

The beauty of leadership is that it cannot be contained to one singular idea or definition. One limitation is that it can also create confusion or misinformation when discussing leadership with other people. Some people may believe that leadership is about order and discipline, giving orders and keeping others in line. As a woman and as a feminist, my personal theory of leadership takes a softer approach. Leadership suggests a single person leading, but it has the potential to be inclusive and interactive. I have never been particularly drawn to the topic of leadership, nor have I ever personally considered myself to be a leader. Before when I thought of leadership, I pictured men who have led our country and those who are in power today. In retrospect, I can see many women who have influenced my life from a place of leadership: teachers, troop leaders, and even some of my own relatives. Female leaders have always been a part of my life and my upbringing, but in the moment, I did not have the proper words to describe them as such.

As practitioners of higher education, how can we implement leadership into practice in a way that will advocate for our students’ rights while also allowing them to develop the necessary tools needed to advocate for themselves? The first thing to do is address what it means to be a leader and what it means to practice leadership. Can you practice leadership without being a leader? A leader is someone who works hard to ensure that those around them at work or at school are seen, heard, and understood. They speak up for those who have been silenced without speaking over them. They extend a helping hand to marginalized groups and work towards eliminating barriers and hurdles that have historically hindered them. From a higher education lens, the ideal practitioner would be a trauma-informed student advocate who would work with students to discuss their goals and options available to achieve them. What does this look like from a leadership theory perspective? Leadership means service, empathy, and the ability to work well with others. When one possesses these qualities and implements them into their practice, they exhibit leadership. Three leadership theories that tie these qualities together are servant leadership, emotionally intelligent leadership, and team leadership. Together, they encompass a trauma-informed leadership practice.

Personal Leadership Narrative

Story of Self

Growing up, I was raised to do what was expected of me without question. My parents married young when they were still practically kids themselves. The arrival of my older brother was an unplanned surprise, and so they married. Because that is what they were expected to do. My brother wasn’t like me when we were growing up. He was popular and he got into just enough trouble to keep things interesting, but not so much that he suffered any major consequences. Seeing the stress that was often brought from his rebellion made me terrified to step even one toe out of line. And so, unlike my brother and most of my friends, I never defied my parents or acted up at school or at home. I was in girl scouts, an officer in my local 4-H club, and I participated in band and choir.

Out of high school, I went to college because I was expected to. Rather than studying creative writing or art history, I declared pre-med because I felt like that was what my parents wanted for me. College brought new challenges, and I often questioned whether I could handle it. No one from my immediate family had finished college, so I didn’t have much guidance on what I was getting myself into. Being a first-generation college student is something that I am proud of, but weirdly I didn’t even know that I was a first-generation college student until I read about them this past summer. Halfway through my graduate program, I came to understand some of the personal struggles that I endured during my time as an undergraduate. The self-doubt. The anxiety. The feeling of isolation. The disconnect from my peers. I now hope to help other students like myself, who have so many things they’re passionate about, but are unsure of what they are meant to do or how they will succeed within their personal endeavors.

My family likes to joke about my current career goals. They ask me, how are you going to help students figure out what they want to study when you didn’t even know what you wanted to study? As an undergraduate, I declared several different majors before settling on a Spanish degree with a classical Latin studies minor. Right after graduation, I felt like I had it all figured out. I had worked through some of the identity crises that had plagued me. I felt confident in my faith, my gender identity, my sexual identity; but little did I know that some of the biggest struggles I’d ever face were still yet to come. After graduating with my Spanish degree, I felt drawn to the graduate program in history. I applied, I was accepted, I enrolled. Veni, vidi, vici. Everything was lining up. But one small comment from my mom would change everything.

When I broke the news to my mother, she did not support me. She questioned my motives, and she didn’t understand why I wished to return to the classroom when I had just graduated. She questioned how I intended to pay for tuition since she and my stepdad had paid for my first degree, and she made it very clear that they wouldn’t be paying for this one. Her reaction broke my spirit, and I ultimately withdrew from the program. I instead entered the workforce, telling myself that this would only be temporary, and that in just a year I would be back in academia, working towards my master’s in history. Little did I know that five years would pass me by before I would be in school again. Although I have gained experience while working after college, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I didn’t have a purpose. I had mundane job tasks, repetitive and unchallenging. I grew to hate my daily routine, and I began to experience some of the deepest and darkest depression I’ve ever had. It was around this time that I began to realize that I had been living for other people, and not for myself.

When I think back on some of the decisions I made about my education and about my career, I realize that many of those decisions were for the sake of others and not for my own. I was compromising who I am and my values to make those around me happy, but what about me and my happiness? I knew then that it was time to start living for myself, regardless of what anyone else thought. I formulated a plan to help me along the way. I called upon some of my former professors, mentors, and supervisors for advice and for recommendation letters. Their hope and guidance ensured me that I was making the right choice. When I was accepted into the online higher education program, I felt like I had finally done it. I felt like I finally had a purpose. I couldn’t wait to begin my classes and to get closer to my goals. Higher education has done so much good and has provided me with so much opportunity within my academic career as well as within my professional career.

Story of Us

Higher education has greatly improved over the last century. It has become more inclusive and more diverse and more accessible with the help of student financial aid, scholarships, grants, and assistantships. Many of the improvements that have allowed more people to access higher education have come from the efforts of higher education practitioners. Like a stagecraft team, we maintain the chaos behind the curtain. Our daily work assisting students provides insight on the shortcomings of our field and how we can improve the resources we offer. We work with students each day, putting their needs at the forefront of our practice without needing or expecting anything in return. We are student advocates, we are counselors, we are advisors, and we are student program coordinators.

Although there are some who believe that college students do not need additional support, it is no secret that students who have more support succeed more overall. Students with a support network feel more accepted and welcome by their institutions and they are more likely to get involved and stay enrolled. Higher education practitioners help students with a multitude of things, both inside and outside of the classroom. While lectures and assignments are important, college students often have other needs and priorities like jobs and families. As the economy continues to fluctuate with the rising costs of living, many may be experiencing food insecurity, financial strain, or mental health problems. What can we do to support them in and out of the classroom?

Story of Now

As higher education practitioners, our focus should be on the well-being and academic success of our students. How can we help them achieve success? How can we go the extra mile to ensure that their academic needs are being met? Students often carry the weight of their pasts with them. The adverse effects of trauma can make navigating through school unbearable and challenging. The stigma that surrounds mental health issues like anxiety or depression make it even more difficult for them to reach out for help when they need it. When we work with our students, we should utilize a trauma-informed approach because we never truly know what those around us have been through. What exactly does this mean? How can we know if someone has witnessed trauma? The truth is that we simply cannot, and so we should assume that those we interact with are likely to have a history of trauma. As higher education professionals, we see a great number of students within our daily careers. Utilizing a trauma-informed approach can help to remind us to be compassionate, empathetic, and understanding with every single person that we encounter. We never truly know what someone else has been through, and so we should always lead with a kind heart and an open mind.

Personal Theory of Leadership

Servant Leadership

Although they may not be aware, higher education practitioners practice servant leadership in their work every day. They assist students and other staff members with a plethora of things without the expectance of something in return. Serving others is their primary focus and is by no means reciprocal. Initially presented by Greenleaf in the 1970s, servant leadership argues that leaders should act as servants first and leaders second, giving back rather than having self-serving motives (Dugan, 2017). The core values that encompass this theory from a higher education perspective include conceptual skills, emotional healing, putting followers, namely students, first while helping them grow and succeed, ethical behavior, empowerment, and creating value for the community, or rather the institution (Dugan, 2017). Higher education practitioners must be well-informed about the learning environment in which they help students with their academic goals and degree plans.

When it comes to emotional healing, they often interact with students who may be stressed or anxious. College can be overwhelming and the transition from high school into higher education can adversely affect one’s mental health and academic performance. When serving students, practitioners put the needs of those students first. They prioritize the personal and professional development of their students by providing necessary support and resources, all while administering an ethical approach in which they offer solutions to potential problems, encouragement, and guidelines on how to work towards self-improvement (Dugan, 2017). Of course, no two people are the same, and so the ideal practitioner will know how to balance these factors to provide the best form of concern and care for each of their students. An ideal leader will know the best way to provide guidance and instruction while assessing students’ needs.

The concept of a “servant” carries a negative connotation, so understandably servant leadership has not been unanimously accepted and implemented by everyone. The concept also has been argued to have religious ties, which can be controversial if implemented into practice somewhere that thrives on the separation of church and state. While it is certainly okay for someone to have their personal religious beliefs, a public state university may not be the best place to practice them. A good leader knows that not everyone will share their values or their faith. Rather than discussing the implementation of servant leadership in higher education, practitioners should consider calling it by a different name. Another beautiful thing about leadership theory is that one can take bits and pieces from certain styles and sew them together into a new theory.

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

One of the person-centered theories that stands out when thinking about leadership in practice is that of emotionally intelligent leadership. Initially proposed by Salovey and Mayer in the 1990s, it involves the capability of monitoring one’s emotions while also gauging those of others and utilizing them to navigate how to act (Dugan, 2017). When working with students who have trauma, practitioners may sense their tension or discomfort. Empaths may feel tension and discomfort also, but the mastery of emotionally intelligent leadership will allow one to better address the problems of their students while remaining calm and approachable. One of the most important things about working within higher education is that students feel comfortable reaching out for help when needed. Emotionally intelligent leadership focuses primarily on facilitating positive change while necessitating continuous self-reflection (Dugan, 2017). When working with students who may not be helpful or open to accepting assistance or advice, practitioners should try to meet their students on their terms. Emotionally intelligent leadership operates on multiple facets and knowing when to utilize certain ones for specific circumstances (Dugan, 2017). For example, flexibility and optimism would be ideal for practitioners who may be working with the needs of underserved student populations. Being able to adapt to unforeseen changes or issues that may pop up unexpectedly will save them a lot of unneeded grief.

While many of the capacities that fall under the umbrella of emotionally intelligent leadership could positively impact the work that practitioners do each day for their student’s academic needs, the theory is still relatively new and there is mot much empirical support to back it up (Dugan, 2017). Perhaps practitioners should think of this limitation as a silver lining and an opportunity to conduct further research in practice.

Team Leadership

Finally, the other leadership theory that ties together the trauma-informed leadership practice is team leadership. How can practitioners implement teamwork strategies into their daily tasks to work towards a mutual goal? Team leadership boils down to what those in charge do to facilitate overall performance within a team (Dugan, 2017). This means that those who operate as the delegators by overseeing job tasks are essential because the end results will depend on them and their abilities to keep things running smoothly. In higher education, practitioners work alongside each other, but even in student affairs offices there are supervisors in place. They ensure that everyone on the team has control over their individual tasks, and they provide further support when needed. For the team to function like a well-oiled machine, all the moving parts must be operating and contributing to the cause. This means that for the theory to work in practice, there needs to be a formal authority, namely the supervisor. This may seem like a weakness, but if the person in control can delegate effectively, then the rest of the teams’ functions should carry out nicely and efficiently. Student affairs departments conduct assessment regularly to gauge how effectively their practices impact their student populations. The aim and cooperation that practitioners implement within their day-to-day work exemplifies the philosophy of team leadership.

Implementing Trauma-Informed Leadership Training

One of the foundations of emotionally intelligent leadership operates on the idea that it is easily taught to others. Who is to say that servant leadership and team leadership cannot be taught also? Higher education practitioners should be confident in their capabilities to work well with students as well as with their colleagues, thus they may benefit from additional preparation and training. Institutions should provide leadership workshops or training programs to better equip their employees with the necessary tools needed to address student needs. Tying the three leadership theories together into one trauma-informed practice could be accomplished by implementing the most effective qualities from each of them.

The most effective trait from servant leadership involves putting the students’ needs first. This also means putting aside personal opinions or beliefs that may hinder practitioners from addressing a student’s specific concern. This theory also operates on the practice of emotional healing, which also applies to the theory of emotionally intelligent leadership. Empathy in practice allows trauma-informed leadership to be successful. Another effective trait from emotionally intelligent leadership involves the variety of useful facets and how they can be interchanged to ideally fit the situation at hand. Humans are complex subjects, and emotionally intelligent leadership addresses how oftentimes practitioners will need to be able to assess a certain problem or concern and approach it with the facets that are best suited for it. Trauma-informed leadership can also inhabit team leadership because practitioners must work together to ensure that policies that directly affect students consider the impact they will have. Programs in operation rely on the efficiency and delegation of supervisors or department chairs to oversee their practices, and with the help of assessment tools they can monitor how well these practices serve the needs and concerns of the students they serve.

While the concept of leadership can mean something different for every person, it has the potential to be taught and shared with others. My personal leadership approach is one that is softer than most. In higher education, practitioners can benefit from implementing a trauma-informed leadership theory into their practice. Three theories that align with this leadership style are servant leadership, emotionally intelligent leadership, and team leadership. While each has its own weaknesses, the trauma-informed leadership style draws a select few beneficial traits from each of these theories to combine them into one. Placing the students and their needs first exemplifies servant leadership, mastering the ability to gauge others’ emotions and determining the best way to approach their needs demonstrates emotionally intelligent leadership, and working together to officiate job tasks to better assist students illustrate team leadership. When utilized together, these efforts embody a trauma-informed leadership style.

Reference

Dugan, J. (2017). Leadership theory: Cultivating critical perspectives. Jossey-Bass.

ACPA and NASPA (2015) Competency Statement:

The competency concerning leadership concerns the needed qualities of a leader regardless of whether or not they have positional authority. Cultivating leadership and learning the needed skills to be a good leader can be encouraging and can allow people to become more comfortable in supervisory positions or even to just be more comfortable working one on one with students or colleagues.