Derek J. Keenan, Vice President, Academic Affairs, ACSI
This year the CSE theme is authentic Christian education. Our intent is to stir readers to think about what they want to be as individuals and schools. Our calling as Christian educators is to create worthy institutions—ones that in most cases bear the name of Christ, whose very name is Excellent. Ted Engstrom asserts that many Christian organizations are characterized by “fuzzability thinking,” defined as the failure to use their statements of mission and goals to frame an ongoing process leading to mission fulfillment (Larson 1988). Authentic school leaders are motivated to achieve their organizational vision and mission by a pervasive passion to take their people and their institutions to the next step.
Hans Finzel (2000) notes, “A leader takes people where they would never go on their own.” Leaders must be clear about both where the school is going and how to get it there. To paraphrase the remarks of James Stronge (2002) in Qualities of Effective Teachers, school leaders have a powerful and long-lasting impact on schools—leadership influence is far-reaching. How is your passion as school leader expressed? I trust you use some of those great leadership phrases such as leading my school toward …, challenging our school in becoming …, and giving distinctive direction.
Why would you combine the word authentic with leadership? Is there leadership that is not authentic? I am afraid so. Leadership in some places is ineffective and far from authentic. Elton Trueblood once remarked, “Holy shoddy is still shoddy” (Hendrix 2000). Once equipped to lead, genuine leaders accept the challenges of the role and step into it with the full intent of influencing the organization through its people toward increasingly higher levels of effectiveness.
Leadership is always influential. Inherent in that statement is the understanding that organizations are never static. Institutions are in flux, typically in the direction of their leadership. Schools are particularly susceptible to the vagaries of leadership. Building strong schools is usually a long and incremental process, but the reverse is true for creating weak and ineffective schools. The decline of an inadequately led school is typically swift and dramatic.
Authentic leadership does not necessarily require years of experience, but it does require a passion to learn what it is to lead well. Leaders must have a fire to develop, improve, and mature in their positions. They are hungry readers, seeking out colleagues and collaborators who feed their desire to know.
The challenges of being a leader have been addressed in previous issues of CSE. In spite of the many daily decisions and demands confronting administrators, their calling is to pattern continuous excellence. They must achieve ongoing effectiveness in relational decision making by planning for their school’s future and responding to the daily needs, always with a pervasive drive toward building their school to be its very best. The often overwhelming demands of their role require leaders to work in dependence on God, with a passion for influencing the lives and institutions they serve.
Reference List
Finzel, Hans. 2000. The top ten mistakes leaders make. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Cook Communications.
Hendrix, Olan. 2000. Three dimensions of leadership. St. Charles, Ill.: ChurchSmart Resources. Larson, Robert, comp. 1988.
The best of Ted Engstrom on personal excellence and leadership. San Bernadino, Calif.: Here’s Life Publishers. Stronge, James. 2002.
Qualities of effective teachers. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Editor's Note: Passion to Lead 6.2