by Dr. Lee Dieck, LL’13, Ethical Leadership Coordinator, The Masters School (NY)
“The vision is, first, that the school will be a community, a place full of adults and youngsters who care about, look after, and root for one another and who work together for the good of the whole, in times of need and times of celebration. Every member of a community holds some responsibility for the welfare of every other and for the welfare of the community as a whole.”
-Roland Barth
Much has been written about leadership, and there are leadership theories which articulate various attributes and values. In order to define our own, the questions we asked when we launched our Ethical Leadership Project at The Masters School were these: “What does it mean to be a leader” and, “How can we help our students become better leaders?”
Answering these questions provided clarity about our vision of leadership:
- Leadership is not about the title you have, nor is it primarily an authoritative activity.
- True leadership is about the choices we make each day to make the world around us better in small and large ways.
- Good followership is an act of leadership.
While we were cognizant of the need to teach specific skills of leadership (communication, listening, organization, observation, collaboration) we also held deeply to the conviction that good leadership isn’t possible without a deep understanding of the self. In developing our program, we set out to accomplish this first — helping students understand who they are, what they value, and how to hold true to those values when challenged by life circumstances. In our direct work with students, we accomplish this through readings, reflections, goal setting, study of current and past leaders, and dilemma deconstruction while asking critical questions such as, “What is my purpose in life?”, “What do I want to accomplish?”, “Who do I want to be?”, “Who will I need to care for in life?”, and “What are the difficult decisions I may face as I move forward in life?”
These are powerful explorations for adolescents, and in our work we have found that students have learned a great deal not only about themselves, but they have also developed a deeper understanding of other people in their lives. They’ve identified this as a major impact of their work with us: understanding others’ perspectives and appreciating the complexity of others’ experiences.
The work we do directly with students has been impactful, but we knew it could be strengthened by helping our colleagues understand how they could replicate these concepts for students. With this in mind, we started two initiatives. The first of these is a monthly lunch to which all faculty are invited, which focuses on various topics including academic integrity, effective collaboration, hidden bias, autonomy-based classroom practices, and empathy.
Our second initiative allows faculty to take a deeper dive into the ethical leadership lexicon. With the generous assistance of a colleague and mentor, Martin Stegemoeller at St. Mark’s School of Texas, we developed a Summer Institute for our faculty that entered its fifth year this June.
The Ethical Leadership Summer Institute for Educators has four main goals:
- to share with colleagues the work we do with students and the research that supports it, focusing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT), adolescent brain research, and Social Emotional Learning/Emotional Intelligence (SEL/EI).
- to promote the inclusion of ethical leadership concepts into their various roles as core subject teachers, coaches, dorm parents, and advisors.
- to emphasize the faculty’s role of mentor to students, and to help our colleagues learn to recognize and take advantage of teachable moments.
- to identify one focal point in which they can pilot this work in the year ahead
The Institute takes place over a two and a half day period immediately following our closing faculty meetings. We initially worried that teachers might have difficulty generating the necessary energy at year’s end, but we’ve learned that the opposite is true; they are close enough to the past year to have insight about opportunities, and the Institute has provided renewed energy for the year ahead:
My experience with end of year efforts to reflect on teaching and new approaches for the following year has mostly been unfavorable. People are usually feeling too worn out. This was different. You created a very productive learning environment and a nice sense of camaraderie. It was a real pleasure to take part in this and I learned some valuable things to carry forward in my work as a teacher, advisor, and colleague.
The institute helped shape and sharpen ideas that I plan to implement into my work with my students. It greatly helped flesh out my thinking and provide some direction.
-Institute Participants 2017
The Makings of Our Institute
The Institute starts with an afternoon session focusing on our aspirations for students and exploring ways in which we can help them realize their goals. We introduce activities we use with our students, outlining the aspects of SDT, SEL/EI these employ. Teachers experience firsthand the shift in their own engagement when a learning process digs more deeply into who they are and what matters to them. We discuss various forms of extrinsic motivation, and how to move students toward intrinsic motivation.
We then frame the personal project that each person will design over the next two days, providing examples of past projects and brainstorming with them about what their focus might be. We end the evening with fellowship over dinner, continuing to build the collaborative relationship that strengthens the remaining time together.
We start day two with an overview of character and ethical leadership education and the research-based principles we utilize. We then discuss readings assigned in advance and the relevance of research findings to work that we all do. We delve into methods for incorporating ethical leadership elements into core subjects: study of historical figures and characters in literature can consider the values at stake and the outcomes that resulted at various decision points in the narrative; ethical decision-making can be explored in science (research ethics, pharmaceutical leadership, environmental stewardship), math (the implications of statistical manipulation), and in study of government, politics, and business.
After a working lunch where participants continue work on personal projects, we provide an overview of our work with students to introduce common language and practices. We then conduct an exercise that involves unpacking a practical ethical dilemma to demonstrate how common life challenges become powerful teaching moments when we recognize them as such and allow ourselves to explore available choices. Decision making is a practiced art in this context; we’ve found that this exercise has been particularly resonant. We close the day by working with each faculty member on their personal project, helping them refine their vision and goals and develop effective action steps.
On the final morning of our institute, faculty members share outlines for their projects, and the group provides feedback. It is most rewarding to observe the trusting working relationship that has developed among the participants in a few short days. By mirroring what we do with students, we are able to replicate the experience they have when they allow themselves to be authentic and to share deeply. For our faculty participants, it provides a personal connection to our work that keeps them engaged over the ensuing years.
When we started our work in ethical leadership at The Masters School, it was our hope that we could positively impact the culture of our school and the larger world through our work with students by helping them develop a deeper sense of their ethical selves and mentoring them through meaningful life experiences and challenges. We’ve come to understand that by engaging faculty and staff, we can amplify the impact on our students and on our school community, and the Ethical Leadership Summer Institute is at the heart of driving our work ahead.
A retired physician, Eileen (Lee) Dieck returned to education in 2004, accepting a teaching position at the Masters School. Viewing her educator role as one of mentoring and helping students become their best selves, Lee transitioned into a grade level dean role, while collaborating on a program in ethical leadership for the school. The resultant “Leadership Project” engages students, faculty, parents, and alumni at Masters in exploration of the values they hold dear and the challenges to staying true to those values as they move forward in life.