There are a number of messages about leadership in the
sector that have emerged from our work so far, and which we have reported on
in several CEL dissemination activities. While one strand of our research
has emphasised the growing importance of technology (technologies -
including management information systems (MIS), email, and other forms of
information and communications technology (ICT)) in leadership work. Another strand points to
the continuing importance of everyday,
ordinary, or mundane aspects of leadership - such as meetings and talk as
leadership work. Another major finding concerns the importance of the 'audit
culture' on everyday leadership (and other) work within colleges. More
recent emerging themes concern ‘learning
leadership’ and the experience of leadership development programmes.
This also includes a more considered analysis of some of the everyday
skills, or ‘organizational acumen’, that is acquired and used by educational
leaders in the course of their everyday work. Such skills involve
storytelling, calculation work, planning and
strategy, and the importance of delegation, listening and silence in the
accomplishment of certain kinds of distributed leadership work. These new
themes and their potential ‘teachable’ qualities will inform our next round
of research outputs and publications.
All files are in PDF format:
Review
of the leadership literature
Leadership as
mundane work
Leadership and the value of a good story
Accountability, audit and bureaucracy
Leadership
development
