Developing Cultures of Flourishing: Examining Positive Leadership in School Organizations

• In Event: Examining and Exploring the Wellbeing of Effective Leaders: Moral Courage and Moral Dilemmas

Short Description

Sustaining and fostering wellbeing as an essential aspect of effective leadership is garnering attention in numerous organizational contexts but surprisingly, there is a minimal focus in educational settings. Our findings provide insights into how to grow and sustain flourishing leadership that contributes to growing and sustaining organizational cultures where all may thrive.

Detailed Abstract

Sustaining and fostering wellbeing for school principals is becoming an increasingly important aspect of school improvement as more attention is paid to the toll of stress in this work (Greenberg et al., 2016; Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016; Pollock et al., 2014, 2015, 2017). However, a research emphasis on stress, anxiety, burnout and other associated conditions that can develop for many school principals is only one part of the wellbeing agenda (Authors, 2016, 2018a, 2018b; Authors, in press; Authors, in press)—what can we learn about wellbeing for school leaders by paying purposeful attention to those who, even within these stressful and challenging times, experience a sense of flourishing in their work? A significant finding from our multi-year research on school leadership is that the principal plays a tremendous role in creating conditions where teachers experience a sense of thriving. However, although we know from positive organizational research that deliberately cultivating models of positive leadership can transform individuals and culture in the workplace (Cameron, 2012; Dutton & Spreitzer, 2014; Quinn, 2015), there has been little positive organizational research on leadership conducted in educational contexts (Hoy & Tartar, 2011). Given the paucity of research on positive leadership in schools, there is an associated lack of understanding about how to develop in new principals and foster and support in acting principals the capacities and competencies needed for cultivating wellbeing at work for themselves and for all those with whom they work and lead. Our ongoing research project examines leadership in K-12 schools to better understand how to foster and support positive leadership in ways that encourage and sustain a culture of flourishing for all members of the learning community. Increasingly, wellbeing is becoming an important consideration as an element of improvement for success in organizational contexts (Cameron, 2012; Lencioni, 2012; Seligman et al., 2009). For example, research shows that attending to positive capacities, such as positive relationships, happiness, resilience results in benefits such as improved engagement, higher levels of wellbeing and happiness, and fewer sick days and leaves from work (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008; Harter, Schmidt & Keyes, 2003). Our research project is framed within the research and literature in positive organizational scholarship, positive psychology, and our ongoing research on leadership and leadership development in schools for sustainable and innovative learning communities in schools (Authors, 2012; 2013; 2016).

Methods: Framed within a positive organizational research perspective, the purpose of this qualitative case study research was to gain an understanding of participants’ own experiences of what it means to flourish in their work and how they create conditions at work for others to flourish. We carried out appreciative focus group conversations with principals in elementary and secondary schools in three provinces across Canada (N=30). We invited them to share their stories about what works well for them, what makes them feel alive and engaged in their work, and how they work with others in the school to create a sense of wellbeing for all. Focus group conversations were transcribed and thematically analysed using the conceptual model derived from the literature review that framed this study.

Findings: Findings provide insights into what it means to school leaders to experience wellbeing in their work and what it means for them to create conditions for others to flourish at work. These findings offer knowledge and practices that may be useful for others principals across various educational contexts to pay attention to, and grow more, wellbeing in their own workplaces. For example, findings indicate that when principals attend to four positive activators for growing school culture—purpose, passion, play, and presence—teachers and others in the learning community experience a shift toward more positive, generative, and productive behaviours and habits of mind that create a sense of flourishing for all. As an example of the reciprocal relationships between principals’ positive leadership and the culture in the school, we found that when principals pay attention to purpose in the work of leading schools this contributes to a greater sense of commitment to group goals, a stronger sense of achievement and pride in their work, and an increase in feelings of meaningfulness and fulfilment for the principal and for others with whom they work and engage. These experiences lead to virtuous cycles of wanting to expand and further create conditions for others to experience this sense of wellbeing in their work. This finding on the reciprocal experiences of wellbeing resonates with the emerging premise in wellbeing research that understanding and supporting wellbeing must shift from the focus that is predominantly on individuals and move toward an awareness of the importance of seeing that wellbeing as connected and tied to the wellbeing of others within the system (Greenberg et al., 2016).

Significance: We contend that a positive research perspective on educational leadership, highlighting the benefits and potentials for growing wellbeing through mindful awareness of what works well, makes principals feel alive, and on purpose in their work, has significant payoffs for cultivating school cultures that are more positive, generative, resilient, and innovative. Importantly, this research provides support and encouragement for a more social justice orientation on wellbeing, shifting awareness toward the necessity of ensuring wellbeing for all in the system as connected and tied to personal wellbeing. Although not generalizable beyond the contexts of this qualitative case study, we suggest that these findings are relevant for those interested in developing and supporting positive leadership across many organizational contexts. These findings build awareness of the payoffs and promises of paying attention to positive capacities in leadership and of the importance of supporting and encouraging positive leadership development throughout all levels of the system. The conceptual model that emerged from this research offers provides an empirical framework for theoretical and practical guidelines that focus attention on several activators of positive leadership—purpose, passion, play, presence—to nurture and sustain a culture of flourishing for all.

Participants

• Benjamin Kutsyuruba, Queen's University
  Presenter

• Keith D. Walker, University of Saskatchewan
  Presenter

• Sabre Cherkowski, University of British Columbia
  Co-Author