This discussion provides an opportunity to connect your personalized leadership strengths and motivation with your skills as a leader to further develop into an efficient change agent. Being an effective leader who successfully implements change in a school or other organization can be a challenge! Kouzes and Posner (2007) claimed “leadership is an identifiable set of skills that are available to all of us, not just a few charismatic men and women” (p.20). While this may be true, it takes work and inspiration to learn about yourself and the characteristics that build an effective leader. There are multiple theories that indicate that effective leaders can be cultivated through the deliberate acquisition of certain skills (Senge, 1990). According to Senge (1990, p.3):
…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.
By cultivating these abilities and knowing our own strengths, we can become leaders who can have a significant impact on our classroom, school site, or other organization. You previously read chapter two of Buczynski and Hansen (2014), which discussed the various types of leadership and the mix of behaviors and other skills that are necessary to be an effective leader. Lord and Hall, as cited in Buczynski and Hansen (p. 57) suggest the “leadership role must become part of one’s self-identity.” Chapter two is an effective source of information for this discussion as well.
Digital poster presentations are increasingly the norm in the field of education as well as other professions. The use of technology in these types of forums is becoming essential in staying updated and competitive in the field. It is essential that you have experience in creating a digital poster presentation. Here you imagine you are presenting a high quality digital presentation to a group of key stakeholders regarding your action research. Therefore, the purpose of this discussion is to link your personalized leadership motivation into your skills as a leader in order to further develop into an efficient change agent. In this case, the change you are instigating is conducted through your action research. This process, in turn, greatly affects your followers, and the organization in which you work. Being motivated to understand and invest in your strengths and areas of challenges greatly informs your practice (Rath