Positive Educational Leadership - Letting Values Light the Way

In their book on Positive Leadership, Lucey and Burke state that ‘Positive leaders have a clear understanding of what their value drivers are.’ (p.94, 2022). Additionally, Murphy (2018) suggests that one of the nine pillars of positive school leadership is being values-centered, as well as being virtues driven when you are consistently putting your values into action.

As well as being an important component of positive leadership they are a contributing factor to our flourishing. The Ecological Model of Educator Flourishing (Rehal and Nieuwerburgh, 2022)  highlights authenticity and integrity as ingredients of educators thriving, citing that educators who are flourishing ‘own their values’ (p.43) and ‘feel a consistent alignment with their values’ (p.44) when teaching or leading.  

This matches with measures of subjective meaningful work which identifies one component of meaningful work as integrity to self - when personal and work values are aligned (Lips-Wiersma and Wright, 2022). Additionally, feeling your life has meaning is, in part, due to identifying and achieving valued goals (Steger, p. 682, 2009). 

Stelter (2016) states that values are a ‘central part of our identity’ (p. 334) and as such, you would think they would be readily and easily articulated. However, in my experience, both for myself and those I work with, this is not always the case. Spinelli highlights that they are often  ‘implicit and inadequately acknowledged’ (cited in Stelter, 2016, p. 340). 

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There are many forms of coaching that can help shine a light on your values, allowing you to then act with intentionality to develop a greater sense of meaningful work and also a meaningful life. These include narrative coaching approaches, exploring past stories that demonstrate your values and Acceptance and Commitment Coaching which helps to place your values at the forefront of your decision-making.

On a personal note, knowing my values has given me greater clarity in decision-making, enriched my life, and hopefully had positive benefits for those around me. When I was leading a school through Covid and I faced multiple differing perceptions and opinions, my value of non-judgment often helped bring me back from taking actions based on feelings and thoughts to those that were more values-based and demonstrated greater acceptance and open-mindedness (a life long work in progress!). 

My core value of joy means I plan leisure activities in the same way I plan out my work week and my core value of love of learning means that I am crafting my business through engaging in research and sharing this with others. 

I would love to know your core values and how they help you light the way to create thriving school communities.

If you would like help clarifying your values via one-to-one coaching then get in touch via the link below. 

https://www.lightupedu-leadership.com/

If you would like to explore some coaching questions designed to help you work with your values, then sign up to the Light Up Edu-Leadership newsletter which features articles and recommendations on coaching in schools, positive leadership, educator flourishing and positive schools.

References:

Bachkirova, T., Spence, G. and Drake, D. (2016) The SAGE Handbook of Coaching. 1st edn. SAGE Publications. Chapter 18 Reinhard Stelter from section PROMOTING THE ‘VITA CONTEMPLATIVA': COACHING AS THE ART OF LINGERING.

Lips-Wiersma, M., Haar, J., & Cooper–Thomas, H. D. (2022). Is meaningful work always a resource toward wellbeing? The effect of autonomy, security and multiple dimensions of subjective meaningful work on wellbeing.

Lucey, C., & Burke, J. (2022). Positive Leadership in Practice: A Model for Our Future. Routledge.

Murphy, J. (2018). Positive school leadership: building capacity and strengthening relationships. Teachers College Press.

Rehal, B., & Nieuwerburgh, C. van. (2022). Understanding the factors that contribute to Educator Flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 12(2).

Steger, M. F. (2009). Meaning in life. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (pp. 679–687). Oxford University Press