by Ryan Pemberton, Ed.D., Director, McCain-Ravenel Center for Intellectual and Moral Courage, Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA
Leaders should work to view a situation from both the “dance floor and the balcony”– wise words and great advice shared often by our gcLi faculty during the 2024 Leadership Lab. I understood this to mean that leaders need to know how decisions impact their colleagues while simultaneously looking toward the horizon at challenges and opportunities that impact the organization. After reflecting on our preparation for election season at Episcopal High School (EHS), one leadership lesson stood above others: the need to empower faculty, staff, and yes students.
The ability to engage and empower by using transformational leadership techniques is the connective tissue between the “balcony and the dance floor.” Pioneer in the study of leadership, James MacGregor Burns writes that transformational leadership “occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and others raise one another to higher levels of motivation…(where) power bases are linked as mutual support for common purposes.” In comparison, he describes transactional leadership as a style where “one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange.”
As outlined in Part 1 of this piece (published on the gcLi Leadership Blog in September), the administrative team at EHS did a number of things to prepare the community for the 2024 election season, and many of those choices highlighted the use of transformational leadership techniques with the hopes of engaging members of the faculty and staff. The goal from the “balcony” was to create the conditions for an election season filled with reflection, confidence, and respect. The goal from the “dance floor” was to build capacity to facilitate student learning. The linked, higher level goal from both the “dance floor and the balcony” was to create the best possible learning environment for our students.
Recursive Learning: When implementing professional development opportunities for faculty we opted to provide personal choices, offered continuous learning opportunities, and worked to solicit input from faculty and students. Faculty got a chance to pick summer reading and to lead ongoing discussions about the books. The hope was that the offering of choices would lead to increased engagement. During the August in-service professional development week, faculty were asked to envision and share challenging or concerning election scenarios that might occur during the election season. Professional development time in September and early October was used to work through those scenarios and to identify best practices. The leadership team did not simply provide a set of rules to faculty and ask colleagues to transactionally follow new expectations. Faculty shared their concerns and learning opportunities were specifically crafted to adapt to the needs of our educators. Similarly, student leaders were engaged in these conversations during summer leadership training and our McCain-Ravenel Center (MRC) liaisons, a group of student leaders who help create MRC programming, have provided ongoing feedback and advice about how best to engage students in discussions about the election.
Solicitation and Incorporation of Feedback: When the administration felt a need to draft formal rules or to reinforce expectations, we did not do so in a vacuum. The leadership team created processes for faculty to weigh in on expectations to come. That insight helped in three ways. It made the documents explaining new or reviewed rules stronger, more fulsome, and more robust, establishing a greater sense of buy-in and ownership among faculty members. Those conversations also provided an opportunity for faculty to better understand what leaders were concerned about from their view from the “balcony,” making it more likely the work done on the “balcony” and “dance floor” was in sync. Finally, the conversations provided the leadership team with a better understanding of faculty concern which in turn influenced the work and decision making of the leadership team.
Prioritization of Norms: Additionally, school norms and values were prioritized during all aspects of decision making. Our Portrait of a Graduate qualities and our classroom norms are lofty ideals indeed. However, those ideals are part of the ethos of our community, entwined with our mission. These ideals have been at the heart of all conversations. Most importantly, those values have been prioritized knowing that rules cannot be in place to work through every challenging situation we will face. The election-related issues move too quickly to be adjudicated simply with a laundry list of new rules. A student may be hurt or confusion may reign even when formal rules have been developed and followed. Administrative decision makers cannot be in all places at all times; they are not in classrooms when faculty must respond to insensitive comments that technically break no rules. Likewise, there is no guarantee that caring adults will be on dorm duty or in the dining hall at every moment when students talk amongst themselves when something hurtful might be said. Therefore, it’s crucial that student leaders are adequately equipped to uphold the best aspects of school culture. By prioritizing norms and values with the entire community, we strive to make this election season something from which we can learn and use our values as guideposts that can and should serve as a compass that can guide our interactions during challenging times.
When entering into a challenge that requires responding to new, unknown, and changing circumstances, leaders are best served by creating opportunities for recursive learning; soliciting, valuing, and implementing feedback; and by prioritizing school norms. These transformational leadership techniques can serve as a link between the “balcony and the dance floor” raising all in the community to new heights of healthy exchange and respectful interaction.
Links:
The Leader’s Companion: Insights on Leadership Through the Ages
Leadership Profile, James MacGregor Burns
Portrait of a Graduate, Episcopal High School (VA)
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Ryan Pemberton joined the Episcopal High School community in 2023 after serving as the Director of the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest at Hampden-Sydney College. While at Hampden-Sydney, Ryan taught classes focused on leadership, public policy, government, and public administration. The Wilson Center coordinated two academic minors, provided extensive public programming, and created a four-year leadership program for students. Before his service at Hampden-Sydney, Ryan worked as an Analyst in the FBI.
The McCain Ravenel Center for Intellectual and Moral Courage is a hub of activity on campus charged with creating connections between agencies, institutions, organizations, and corporations in Washington to inspire students to become ethical, courageous leaders in the mold of its namesakes, Senator John McCain ‘54 and his mentor, longtime beloved EHS teacher, William “Bee” Ravenel. Ryan leads a team and works with faculty across campus to support experiential learning, design senior May activities, and provide programming for the entire community that focuses on leadership, civil dialogue, service, and civic engagement.