Supportive and Shared Leadership
One could reasonably ask, If the staff of a school are working together and making decisions about its programs and
processes, what is the staff’s relationship to the campus principal? Lucianne Carmichael, first resident principal of
the Harvard University Principal Center and a principal who nurtured a professional community of learners in her own
school, suggested an interesting angle on this issue.
Carmichael (1982) discussed the authority and power position held by the principal in which the principal is viewed as allwise and all-competent by the staff on the lower rungs of the power-structure ladder.This “omnicompetence” has been
internalized by principals and reinforced by others in the school, making it difficult for principals to admit to any need
for professional development themselves or to recognize the dynamic potential of staff contributions to decision making.
Furthermore, it is difficult for staff to propose divergent views or ideas about the school’s effectiveness when the principal is seen in such a dominant position.
Carmichael proposed that the notion of principal omnicompetence be “ditched” in favor of principals’ participation in
professional development. Kleine-Kracht (1993) suggested that administrators, along with teachers, must be learners:
“questioning, investigating, and seeking solutions” (p. 393) for school improvement.The traditional pattern that “teachers
teach, students learn, and administrators manage is completely altered. ... [There is] no longer a hierarchy of who knows
more than someone else, but rather the need for everyone to contribute” (p. 393).
This new relationship forged between administrators and teachers leads to a shared and collegial leadership in the
school, where all grow professionally and learn to view themselves as “all playing on the same team and working
toward the same goal: a better school” (Hoerr, 1996, p. 381).
Leithwood and colleagues’ studies (1997) reinforced these values where principals treated teachers with respect and as
professionals, and worked with them as peers and colleagues.
Louis and Kruse (1995) identified the supportive leadership of principals as one of the necessary human resources for
school-based professional communities referring to them as “post-heroic leaders who do not view themselves as the
architects of school effectiveness” (p. 234). Prestine (1993) defined three factors required of principals in schools that
attempted essential school restructuring: the ability to share authority, the ability to facilitate the work of staff, and the
ability to participate without dominating.
A principal in a school where the staff demonstrated a collaborative relationship in a well-instituted professional
community shared reflections: The two principals who preceded me had a real commitment to share decision making and move teachers toward ownership in what was going on in the school, so when I came it was clearly understood when I
interviewed for the position that was the way we did business. ... If you are not intimidated by that, then you put your faith in people you work with . . . and get a great deal accomplished. (Boyd & Hord, 1994a, pp. 19-20)