School Counselors Leaders on Campus

Courtney Garza - CNDV 5330 - CNA

What is Leadership?

“the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation”

“the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations”

True Leaders

ARE NOT Dictators Drill sergeants Bullies

ARE Motivating Encouraging Positive

A true leader is only effective when he or she is able to identify intrinsic motivators and motivates others to

act on their own will

Five types of Power

1. Reward Power – power to provide benefits important to the follower

2. Coercive power – power to impose punishment or remove benefits

3. Legitimate power – the follower believes the leader has the right to make the request and the follower feels they must comply

Five types of Power (cont.)

4. Expert power – the follower believes the leader is an expert or knowledgeable in the given field or area

5. Referent power – the follower admires, respects, or desires approval from the leader and therefore complies with the leader’s requests

Power of School Counselors?

Generally, school counselors do not have a formal power in the school setting.

The power they have is bases on expert or referent power. Parents and colleagues view counselors as experts in their field and on students, and, therefore, comply with their requests. Counselors are often respected for their work with students.

Leadership ModelsBolman and Deal (1997) identified four leadership “frames” or models

› Structural Leadership – building viable organizations

› Human Resource Leadership – empowerment and inspiration

› Political Leadership – distribution of power› Symbolic Leadership – interpretation and

reinterpretation of meaning within our society

Structural Leadershipand school counseling

Requires that counselors are current on field related research and best practices of counseling and education

Using this knowledge, counselors must plan effectively for change in the counseling program and in school

Counselors must take action and implement necessary changes

Structural Leadershipand school counseling

Power bases tapped Expert power because by making

positive changes to the counseling program and school, the counselor is showing an expertise

Legitimate power because by making changes, others recognize the school counselor as a leader on campus

Human Resource Leadershipand school counseling

Believing in students, families, and colleagues and telling them so

Being visible on campus and available for conversations even without appointments

Power base tapped Referent power – the power of

personal connection and influence

Political Leadershipand school counseling

Counselors must be realistic in their expectations for change

Understand who is both officially and unofficially in power to make changes

Know who important stakeholders are and how to connect with them

Able to persuade others and to negotiate for benefits to the counseling program, school, and students

Power bases tapped - ALL

Symbolic Leadershipand school counseling

Counselors themselves symbolize many things:› Mental health› Profession of counseling› Advocate for students› Etc.

Counselors lead others by being positive role models

Power bases tapped Legitimate power, expert power, and referent

power

Counselors are Leaders!

Counselors take on many leadership roles within the school.

As counselors, we must be positive role models for the students and staff and lead our campus in developing and keeping a strong school counseling

program.

Counselor’s Leadership Roles

A counselor is a(n): Visionary for the program, school, and students Designer and author of mission statement for

counseling program Consensus builder for counseling program,

developmental domains, and values of the developmental curriculum

Information provider about the program, school, student issues, and current research in education and counseling

Standard bearer for the quality of the counseling program

Counselor’s Leadership Roles

A counselor is a(n): Architect for implementation of program Role model for the values of the

counseling program Risk taker for development of all students Communicator for the program Collaborator for the success of the

program Resource provider for ways to integrate

the program

Resource

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