Informal and Formal Leadership

Baxter (unpublished, 2010) says that leaders come in two types: informal and formal. He draws from many sources in making his comparison.

Leithwood et al (1999) is the source to which I am most drawn because my own experiences with leadership sink home when I relate them to Leithwood's language. For example, Leithwood et al (1999, p. 6), according to Baxter (unpublished, 2010) say that influence "seems to be a necessary part of most conceptions of leadership". Baxter further explains that statement on his own page 10 by saying, "One of the luxuries of considering informal leadership in isolation is that influence is only likely to occur if desired by those influenced. We are not dealing with ineffective leaders; potential informal leaders can try to lead, but without a formal designation, no one is required to follow." With that being said, what can we as teachers do to promote informal leadership? Because often, we are in our classrooms and want to stay in our classrooms, but we need to be leaders, nonetheless. In fact, the term "teacher-leader" has become quite a buzz word these days.

Baxter cites Leithwood et al (1999) as making some recommendations "for promoting informal teacher leadership." Baxter says informal teacher leaders need the support of their administrators to be effective and that guided reflection helps promote effective leadership. Informal teacher leaders, according to Baxter's report of Leithwood et al, are more effective in collaborative cultures, as well.

In my experience with informal leadership in the teaching of Taekwondo, all of Baxter's and Leithwood et al's points hold very true. When I have been an informal leader in a Taekwondo school, I have found that the more my administrators have supported me by arranging the schedule to assist with time management, the more the administrators have sought to encourage me to do for myself as much as I do for the school, and the more the administrators have reminded me to balance the number of tasks I take on, the more effective my leadership has been. Also, I have found that more students are interested in following me and learning with me when I am actively engaged in pursuing my own learning, and I am more apt to do that when I am in a cooperative culture. When I have people around me who have similar interests and who share with me, then we can all work together for the betterment of our organization.

Throughout our informal leadership practices, we find that more and more students in our Taekwondo practices rise to the challenge of informal leadership. Students volunteer to lead class exercises, provide demonstrations, assist in school clean-ups, serve in training assistant roles, and attend tournaments. Successful leaders breed successful informal leaders who in turn breed more successful informal leaders.