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headers: LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY: FINAL PAPER

Katie Bates
Leadership Philosophy: Final Paper
March 16, 2016
EDAD 5700

LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY: FINAL PAPER

As we have discussed within class, the specific needs and expressions of

leadership are often dependent on context. Context is the only way I know how to
cohesively discern these concepts because I find the discussion of leadership too easily
moves into theoretical frameworks, which loses some of the complexity when thinking
about leadership in action. Throughout my Leadership Philosophy, I hope to dive into
these questions within a specific context. In this manner I will be able to delve into
leadership as it relates to myself and then apply that to a larger community context.
As much as I have thought about the development of leadership, I did not
consider my identities very deeply during the early years of formation. Most likely this is
because many of my identities are rooted within privilege, and I did not have to face the
pieces of me that I chose to form and the pieces of my leadership that were
subconsciously formed for me. However, as I have evolved and grown as a leader, I have
been more aware of how my identities show up within my leadership.
During college, I was a quiet and reflective leader who identified with the idea of
servant leadership. As I entered my professional career, many things changed. My time
working in Atlanta largely formed and shaped me into the professional I am today.
During those years, I was thrust into a formal leadership position within a community
that I felt unprepared to relate to. I came from a middle class, white family from the
West Coast. I was working within a low-income, historically black neighborhood within
the South. In my mind, these two communities were worlds apart and my identities
represented power and privilege.
The most salient identities that came to the surface during this timeframe were my
race as a white person, and my socioeconomic status as a middle class individual. I

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remember having a conversation with my supervisors about their trepidation at hiring

someone who was white to lead that office, as most of our clients were black. At first I
felt uncomfortable and incompetent trying to navigate conversations and create
programming for the people who I saw as very different. I had a lot of learning to do, and
I think this really impacted the way that I lead. During my first year I tried to listen and
act as little as possible. This decision meant that I gave autonomy to the community
volunteers who worked within our center in order for us to continue to function. This
form of leadership mirrors collective leadership, by acting on the belief that each
community has the wisdom it needs to make a better life. We tap into that wisdom by
sharing our stories, by asking many questions of each other, and by listening openly to
the answers (Ruder, 2010, pg. 1). While this leadership was enriching and fulfilling, at
times I struggled to make hard decisions as I continued to see myself as an outsider.
Throughout my time in the Student Development Administration program I have
felt my identities at the surface of who I am. I have internalized these identities and it has
taken me awhile to feel like I can speak beyond my own experiences. I have been
challenged working with TRiO at Highline College, where again I feel unqualified to
create programming for a student population that had very different experiences as me. It
always takes me time to feel comfortable opening up to students or peers with different
identities as me. I know that this fear of making a mistake limits me as a potential ally for
different identity groups throughout campus and it is something that I want to continue to
examine as I grow as a student development professional. However, I trust that with time
and openness, I can engage students within different identity groups to act with a sense of
greater purpose and connection.

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There are two frames that articulate the way in which I prefer to practice
leadership, both through collective leadership and by encouraging the heart. I tend to
operate in a similar fashion as collective leadership, based in the work of Karma Ruder
(2010). Collective leadership speaks to me because it is based within relationships. It
allows us to be fully human, sharing our sorrows and our laugher. It does this by inviting
us to be part of something bigger than ourselves (Ruder, 2010, pg. 1). This framework
allows me to be human first and a leader second. Collective leadership connects those
inside and outside of institutions that allow everyone to bring her/his gifts, energy, and
love of community into the work (Ruder, 2010, pg. 3). This type of leadership allows
me freedom to participate within groups that are new to me and allows a richer
experience as people come together as a community, which I will talk about more deeply
during my experience in Atlanta, GA.
Collective leadership has some very powerful and transformative aspects,
however it can be difficult to find consensus. I experienced this with my Peer Mentorship
program at TRiO. As students entered into conversation about their own struggles with
navigating their identities on campus, they came face to face with their own biases about
each other. Listening in this deep way forces us to cross boundaries and to share power
with people we might ordinarily keep at a distance (Ruder, 2010, pg. 1). These students
wanted to develop a training to support each other through the process of mentoring
incoming students. However the process was not quick. It is critical to know your
community, its history and heritage before you undertake change processes (Ruder,
2010, pg. 4), and this change process takes time and energy.

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I also found connections within the guidance of Kouzes and Posner to seek out
ways to encourage the heart (2003). What struck me about Kouzes and Posner was that
the single factor that differentiated the top from the bottom was higher scores on
affection- both expressed and wanted (Kouzes and Posner, 2003, pg. 9). I feel as a
leader I need just as much support as my group mates when working together. I
remember leading our senior citizens activities group while in Atlanta and feeling like I
heard much more criticism than positivity. When I brought this to the seniors attention,
we had this really transformative conversation about our need to express our thanks and
care for each other as a group. As you take on the role of caring leader, people soon
begin relating to you differentlyIn this environment, people open up (Kouzes and
Posner, 2003, pg. 77). I prefer to lead within a group where everyone is trusted and cared
for, however not everyone responds well to this type of dynamic within a group. This can
be a con of utilizing the method of encouraging the heart. In order to prepare for this
dissonance I should approach leadership with many different tools and frameworks.
I have found that being able to ground my leadership in a relatable framework
opens me up to more growth. I want to think more critically about the ways in which I
show up as a leader and how my identities continue to shape me. I also want to be aware
of how my leadership affects the people around me. This will help me be more proactive
to fill the holes in my leadership and to adapt my approach to the situation or group of
people that I am working with.
Collective leadership was a framework that spoke to me during my formative
experiences rooted within community development. During my time in Atlanta, GA, I
was seeking out an experience that could help me grow and relate to a context that I saw

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as completely opposite from my world. I spent five years living and working within
Peoplestown, a predominantly black, low-income neighborhood located just south of the
city center of Atlanta, GA. During this time, I was formed within a dynamic environment,
developing my own leadership and understanding the leadership of others.
Leadership has the capacity to take many forms. Sometimes it is positive and
proactive, as it fulfills the needs of both the individual and the community. Other times,
leadership springs from an individual filling a gap and feels more like a response to move
away from a harmful and toxic situation. In order to answer the question of what purpose
leadership serves within Peoplestown, its important to start with the relevant history.
Peoplestown is a neighborhood with a long history of neighborhood-based organizing
and action. The neighborhood has been severely impacted by the development of
Atlantas freeway system and the construction of Atlantas baseball field, which
displaced longtime community members and demolished neighborhood businesses. The
neighborhood fell into more abject poverty because of these changes. In response, people
within the neighborhood formed one of the first Welfare Rights Organizations in the
country, where community members advocated for their rights specifically around
adequate income, dignity, justice and democratic participation.
Daloz Parks speaks about leadership fulfilling the five hungers, which include
personal agency, authority, complexity, change and a new moral movement (Daloz Parks,
2005). The history of community organizing within Peoplestown has elements of this.
People who participated in the social action felt personal agency to take on the issues that
were facing them through action and advocacy. They created a new moral movement by
pursuing desegregation of their schools, development of comprehensive welfare benefits

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programs, and through participation in the democratic process. Leadership in this sense is
a formative experience for the individual while seeing a need, transforming the system,
and building a new reality.
However, if you ask individuals within this community about their personal
experience with leadership, you might hear a more conflicted response. For example, I
refer to Columbus Ward, the unofficial mayor of Peoplestown. Columbus has been
actively engaged with community organizing since he was a teenager and has emerged as
a strong voice from Peoplestown. However, he fights day in and out because of necessity.
Linders study expressed this sentiment as the women of color in this study felt a burden
to become activists; two expressed that becoming a activist was not a choice for them- it
was a responsibility and form of survival (Linder, et al, 2012, pg. 390). Leadership is a
daily struggle and grind that puts the needs of the community before the individual.
Effective leaders take many forms and act for many different reasons, however I
have discovered that effective leaders are values driven and can grapple with complexity
as they move towards a greater vision. One of the developing issues within Peoplestown
is a struggle that is caused by gentrification. There are two neighborhood organizations
that are comprised of the two groups within the community, one being the more
established, low-income families while the other is formed with the newer families who
often come from middle class backgrounds. There has been great tension in the
neighborhood and a struggle for power and control. Daloz Parkss strikes a chord.
Todays complex conditions require acts of leadership that assist people in moving
beyond the edge of familiar patterns into the unknown terrain of greater complexity, new
learning, and new behaviors, usually requiring loss, grief, conflict, risk, stress and

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creativity (Daloz Parks, 2005, pg. 9). The leaders of both community organizations are
able to comprehend that they must find a way to work with their neighbors. Even though
they do not share the same goals, they are able to create space for cross group dialogue.
One of the most effective moments of leadership I witnessed was when the school
board in Atlanta attempted to close down the elementary school located in Peoplestown.
There were two open forums that the school board hosted to hear community opinion and
the response from Peoplestown was staggering. Every facet of the community showed up,
including parents, children, educators, community activists, religious leaders, politicians,
and business leaders. In this case Acts of leadership depend less on the magnetism and
social dominance of heroic individuals and more on the capacities of individuals (who
may be located in a wide variety of positions) to skillfully intervene in complex systems
(Daloz Parks, 2005, pg. 11). In just two days, these groups came together to create an
extensive plan to keep the school open. They made the school a focal point of community
efforts in the years that followed. Because of this communal effort, the school is still
open and thriving.
My vision of myself as a leader has evolved and swayed since my experience in
Peoplestown. During college, I molded myself into a leader on campus because of
positional leadership positions I held and from my actions to spur leadership in my fellow
students. I can relate to the work of Komives, that when I valued the diversity of talents
and perspectives brought by group members to accomplish goals, [I] began to engage
with others in more meaningful, interdependent ways (Komives, et. al., 2005, pg. 605.) I
felt that I had grown into a self assured and grounded leader.

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However, when I entered Atlanta, I stepped into a very real and complex world.
The stakes of effective leadership had a real impact on the quality of life for people in the
community and the issues that people were facing did not have a simple solution. At this
point, I feel a bit murky about my leadership capability. As Daloz Parks states,
Leadership for todays world requires enlarging ones capacityto see the complex
often volatile interdependence among the multiple systems that constitute the new
commons (Daloz Parks, 2005, pg 3). My time in Atlanta helped me to realize the
complexity around issues of poverty, community development and social change.
However, I emerged feeling overwhelmed by this complexity and at times paralyzed by
this uncertainty. I have great hope that I will continue to evolve into the values driven,
systems thinking leader that I aspire to become. For now, I can just keep exposing myself
to new ideas, taking uncertain steps, and learning from my mistakes.
Often my most formative experiences with leadership are tied to these mistake
and difficult growth that I experienced. During my graduate program, I completed one of
my internships for the Student Development Administration program at Highline
College. I was working with Highlines TRiO Student Support and Retention Services,
tasked with creating and implementing a Peer Mentorship Program between first year and
continuing TRiO students. This internship seemed personally challenging, as I had not
done programming in many years and the timeline was very fast paced. However I was
excited at the idea of working with mentorship, which is something I had a lot of
experience with during my undergraduate years.
I spent my summer developing the program from scratch. During the fall, I started
to implement the program by recruiting students to participate and began to train them. I

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put a lot of my time and effort into the recruitment and development of student mentors.
We built up a strong group of mentors, who completed training sessions and met monthly
to become competent and responsive mentors. They were to be matched up with a student
who was new to TRiO. The next task was recruiting students who would participate as
mentees, and I did not show as much initiative with this task. I relied on my colleagues to
do much of the recruitment for me, as they met with incoming students and referred them
to the program. We had a lot of difficulty finding and keeping students who would act as
mentees for our program. Because I was stretched for time, I skipped out on interviewing
student mentees before accepting them into our program. I was anxious to match students
up and get moving with our program, so I cut corners with these students. When I
attempted to host a mentee training, none of my new students came. My reaction was to
just keep moving forward. I matched students up with their mentors and asked the
mentors to follow up with students to try to engage them more within the program. I
heard from many mentors that they were unable to connect with their students, but
unfortunately I did not provide any sort of solution for these students. By that time, my
responsibilities had grown within the office and my priority shifted to other projects. By
the time the end of the quarter came around, the peer mentorship had ceased to function,
and our peer mentors were left feeling unfulfilled and frustrated.
Looking back, I made many mistakes along the way that made this program
unsuccessful. There were many opportunities to hit pause and further develop the
relationships with mentees or reevaluate my approach. However, I felt pressure to make
the program come to life within a certain timeframe. There were multiple factors that
went into this need to get the program off the ground. The Director of TRiO had a lot of

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personal motivation tied into starting a mentorship program and I did not want to
disappoint him. Secondly, we had a group of student mentors who were engaged and
excited about the idea of taking on a leadership role. These students had committed a lot
of time and energy to be trained, and had even been offered a small scholarship for
completing their responsibilities. Finally, I personally had a hard time admitting to my
own faults and failures throughout the process, and this experience was supposed to boost
my professional skills and experience.
All of that aside, I was left with facing up to a failing program. I had a decision to
make, either to close down the mentorship program mid year, or see if there was any sort
of solution that could revive the program. At this point is when I opened up and started to
engage with some leadership framework. At this point I decided that we needed to
reframe the program and the approach we were taking. This fits into the Human
Resources leadership framework. As Bolman and Gallos say, When you are feeling
overwhelmed by everything coming at you, slowing down is counterintuitive and hard to
do. But it is vital (Bolman & Gallos, 2011, pg. 24). I chose to engage with reframing the
program at this point because forging ahead with the original plan had lead to a dead end.
Also closing down the program would disappoint many people and leave the students
who were new to TRiO unserved. Also, I had been encouraged to experiment and take
risks when developing this program. This is important because stretching oneself
broadens life and work skillsThink carefully before you leap and then keep an open
mind (Bolman & Gallos, 2011, pg. 26). If we shut down the program mid stream, the
learning would stop. By reframing our purpose, we could continue to learn about the
needs of our incoming students and what role mentorship might play in this transition.

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The first step in reframing our vision was to open up the conversation to a wider
audience. I solicited input from my colleagues in TRiO, who had seen the evolution of
the program and knew the population of students. [Constituents] can offer alternative
ways to view situations and help to identify our frame gaps and tendencies (Bolman &
Gallos, 2011, pg. 26). However, I also opened up the conversation to our peer mentors
who had invested their time, energy and ideas into the programming. This conversation
lead us to the decision that we needed to take a step back and open up the conversation
around mentorship more widely within TRiO. Student mentors wanted to lead listening
groups with first year students to hear from them about their needs. My colleagues and I
came to the conclusion that we should develop some focus groups to discover how to
structure student leadership within TRiO and how to best support first year students in
their transition to college. We decided that our student leaders could play a vital role in
this process, and help us develop a comprehensive approach to our focus groups.
We have started the process of developing our focus groups and students seem
engaged in this idea. Student mentors are taking a strong lead in this process because they
feel like they have some ownership of the programming creation. We have not seen an
end to this program, but the movement makes me think the focus groups will be more
well attended and give our office some extremely insightful information about the needs
of first time in college students who participate in TRiO.
The things that I have learned from this experience are wide and deep. The
biggest thing I learned was that I cannot ignore a growing issue and expect it to fix itself.
When things are not progressing the way they should, they need more attention and not
less. If problems arise, I need to reach out for more support from my colleagues and the

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constituents who are involved in the program. With collective input, we can come up
with multiple solutions and approaches. Secondly, I learned that I need to give myself a
time frame that will allow myself to be successful. I walked into this project feeling that
it was overambitious. I wanted to spend more time connecting with the campus and
participants in TRiO in order to understand the needs of the students and the culture of
Highline College. I didnt get a chance to spend time doing the ever-important sense
making. The third thing I learned from this experience is that leadership is a process. It is
not an endgame. It does not end when an event happens or does not happen. Every piece
of this program development required me to make decisions and then readjust. It was
hard work and scary at times, because often it required me to face the missteps from
before. I did not know where the program would end up. However, we were able to build
a foundation that TRiO can move forward from in order to holistically and intentionally
support students during their transition to college.
My ideas around leadership have shifted due to the context I found myself in.
Depending on the needs of the community and the individuals I am working with,
different frameworks are called for. I have learned that to be an effective leader, I need to
approach each situation with flexibility and an open mind to find ways of connecting
within the group. Often times, leadership means that I take a back seat and let the group
decide how they want to proceed. True leadership is nimble and adaptive. It requires all
participants to own their identities, their missteps, and their ultimate goals. This type of
personal insight allows leadership within all individuals and communities to flourish.

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References
Bolman, L.G., & Gallos, J.V. (2011). Reframing academic leadership. Jossey Bass: San
Francisco, CA.
Daloz-Parks, S. (2005). Leadership can be taught: A bold approach for a complex world.
United States of America: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation.
Kimives, S.R., Longbeam, S.D., Owen, J.E., & Mainella, F.C. (2005). Developing a
leadership identity: A grounded theory. Journal of college student development,
46(6), 593-611.
Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2003). Encouraging the heart: A leaders guide to
rewarding and recognizing others. San Francisco, CA: The Leadership Challenge.
Linder, C. & Rodriguez, K.L. (2012). Learning from the experiences of self-identified
women of color activists. Journal of college student development, 53(3), 383-398.
Ruder, K. (Ed.) (2011). The collective leadership storybook: Weaving strong
communities. Seattle, WA: Center for Ethical Leadership.