Blog #9 - Chapter 11 - Leadership, Advocacy, and Coordination

There are certain qualities that define a leader. It is not, nor should it be defined on how someone feels about himself or herself. Perceptions can be extremely misleading. Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) include the qualities "courage, energy, and determination to be a leader and advocate" as a professional school counselor (p. 187). Of course, there are also multitudes of other qualities. I had great difficulty in reading Mason and McMahon's (2009) findings of school counselors' self-reported leadership activities. The authors were informative on leadership practices, the transformation of leadership in the role of the school counselor, as well as having great insights into the potential reasons for their findings. What I disagree with is the methodology and participant selection. From their study, we have a narrow view of leadership practices from 305 counselors who each reside from the same state. We are hardly able to generalize the data to our nation as a whole. I also disagree with the "Leadership Practices Inventory Self Instrument" (LPI).  This is self-reported data, not outcome results. Unfortunately, seniority plays a vital role in American culture. Whether or not the individual is truly effective or not, self-efficacy is usually raised as time passes. It is believed they 'should' know more, while a younger counselor may potentially still question their abilities as they acclimate to a new profession, potentially resulting in a lower self-efficacy. "[T]hey have higher expectations of themselves as leaders" (p.114). It is overwhelming to think that a new school counselor can walk into a new job and effectively develop, manage, advocate for, and lead a comprehensive school-counseling program within a system that may or may not support the role of the school counselor. Some of us, school-counselors-in-training, are visionaries, others are strategists, and yet others are activists. Yet, we need to employ all these qualities to become effective leaders within our schools. That is a large task, not undoable, but daunting nonetheless. It is fortunate that we have Guidance Program Development to construct a comprehensive program in order to have the necessary tools in our toolbox as we launch into our profession.

            It is vital for the school counselor to become a team player. Being a leader is like learning how to play on everyone's team, and knowing the students' team comes first. Collaboration with all stakeholders is also necessary. I believe that true leadership has its roots in passion. When you are passionate about something, you are more than likely to learn more, research, and develop what is necessary.  

 

Dollarhide, C. T. & Saginak, K. A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mason, E.C. M. & McMahon, H. G. (2009). Leadership practices of school counselors. Professional School Counseling. 13(2), 107-115.