Path-Goal Theory And Servant Leadership Analysis

The real person who has made an impact on not only myself, but a great deal of people in the community over quite a few years is Ms. Barbara Neiman of Brockton Avenue Elementary School. Working in different fields over the course of her life, Ms. Neiman has had to convert to various styles of leadership. Since she has had to alter the ways in which she leads, I selected pieces from three different practices that I believe best fit her: The Path-Goal Theory, Servant Leadership, and a little bit from the Behavioral Approach.

According to the text, the “Path-goal theory is about how leaders motivate followers to accomplish designated goals” (Northouse, 2016, p.115). The basic idea is that leaders: defines goals, clarifies the path, removes obstacles

and provides support making the work fulfilling for the followers.

Being a special education teacher, all of the children in Ms. Neiman’s class have an IEP, which is an Individualized Education Program. An IEP is a document that is developed for each public school child who needs special education. The IEP is created through a team effort and it is reviewed periodically. When constructing an IEP, the teacher creates the goals that each student should achieve by the end of the school year. Due to the fact that each child is on a different level of learning, the goals vary for each student. For example, one of our student’s is nonverbal and her disorder has not been classified yet. One of the goals Ms. Neiman set for her is to learn 3 words in sign language by the end of the school year. Another one of our student’s has Asperger syndrome, which is a type of Autism that is generally on the “high functioning” end of the spectrum. He is very smart, he just turned 4 and he can read books, knows his ABC’s and can count to 100. One of his goals is to formulate and write out complete sentences. Ms. Neiman clarifies the various paths that each student needs to take because they are all different. She starts by designating what special services are needed for each student to do well, where the child needs additional help and at what intervals. She has a speech therapist visit our class three times a week and observe who needs assistance with what. In this instance, we have a student with a speech impediment, he has a hard time pronouncing his G’s and K’s so sometimes he spends a little more time with the speech therapist.

Once a week, Ms. Neiman has an occupational therapist visit our nonverbal student and our student with autism. Occupational therapist uses special equipment to help children with developmental disabilities, they help students develop and improve the skills needed for daily living. The occupational therapist uses techniques that work the children’s brain, for the nonverbal student since she is at a lower learning level she is teaching her to match colors and unscrew lids. For the student with autism, she is teaching him to tie knots and how to properly draw shapes. She removes the obstacles for the children by supplying the students with the necessary specific help needed in the areas in which the students are lacking or not doing well. One of the gestures Ms. Neiman wanted the nonverbal student to learn was, “I want more”. In trying to do so, she contacted the speech therapist for her input. The speech therapist found a device where she could record her voice saying “I want more” and the student could press the button when trying to relay that message. Ms. Neiman tried the device for about a month and she realized the student was not responding to the button. She removed trying to teach the student how

to use the button from her daily schedule and elected to try sign language. After weeks of showing the student the sign language gesture for “I want more”, my coworker was eating popcorn one day, which the student loves and she randomly walked up to her and did the sign language gesture for “I want more”! We all were so shocked, surprised and happy. It was a very proud moment. She provides support by being very attentive to each child’s needs of extra support to see whether or not they are progressing. She also provides additional support by having her assistants know each child’s individual needs and knowing the support systems in place for each student. Her assistants also provide additional support for the individual services designated for every child and noticing whether or not they are beneficial for the student.

The leadership behaviors that have been examined to be a part of path-goal theory for this approach are: directive, participative, supportive, and achievement-oriented. The two that I believe Ms. Neiman exhibit the most are supportive leadership and participative leadership. “Supportive leadership consists of being friendly and approachable as a leader and includes attending to the well-being and human needs of followers. Leaders using supportive behaviors go out of their way to make work pleasant for followers. In addition, supportive leaders treat followers as equals and give them respect for their status” (Northouse, 2016, p.117). At times I forget that Ms. Neiman is my supervisor because she is also a friend. Whenever my coworker or I have a problem, she encourages us to communicate and say how we feel. Her class is like a little family and even go out to lunch all together. Sometimes if I am having an off day, she’ll take on a task she knows I do not enjoy doing just to make work a little easier that day. Ms. Neiman knows that I am currently in school, so she checks and makes sure that I complete all of my assignments for the week and even lets me take longer breaks if necessary. “Participative leadership consists of inviting followers to share in the decision making. A participative leader consults with followers, obtains their ideas and opinions, and integrates their suggestions into the decisions about how the group or organization will proceed” (Northouse, 2016, p.118). When she is creating her lesson plan for the week, she always includes myself and the other assistant to make sure that we are all on the same page and she always ask us for our ideas and our input on what the topic is for that week. In a since, I feel that these two types of leadership that Ms. Neiman display are connected to team management from chapter 4’s Behavioral Approach, which emphasizes the behavior of the leader. “Team management style places a strong emphasis on both task and interpersonal relationships. It promotes a high degree of participation and teamwork in the organization and satisfies a basic need in employees to be involved and committed to their work” (Northouse, 2016, p.77). Often times she will place one of us in charge of the art project for that week or we will pick out books pertaining to the week’s lesson plan and read them to the class. We also assist in the morning songs which help the students learn their ABC’s, numbers, the days of the week, the months of the year, about different animals, etc.

The next practice that I believe Ms. Neiman shows signs of is Servant Leadership. Robert K. Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership and the most commonly referenced definition is provided by him. “[Servant Leadership] begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. . . The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant—first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test. . . is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?” (Northouse, 2016, p.226).

In the chapter on Servant Leadership, there were 10 characteristics acknowledged in Greenleaf’s writings that are essential to becoming a servant leader: Listening, Empathy, Healing, Awareness, Persuasion, Conceptualization, Foresight, Stewardship, Commitment to the growth of people, and Building Community. Since there are many characteristics, I will just discuss a few about Ms. Neiman. Not only does she promote good communication between her and her assistants, she also promotes it between her and her students and listening is a large part of communicating. Working with small child who have special needs, sometimes it is hard to understand what they are saying and every so often they speak really fast. She tells them to slow down and makes an effort to listen and try to understand what they are saying. Empathy is attempting to see the world from another person’s point of view. Being a special education teacher for 14 years, empathy is a huge part of who and what she is now. She understands and knows that learning with special needs can be very difficult, so when the children get frustrated or do not understand something she is always patience with them and slows down if necessary.

In general, being a teacher makes you a servant leader, but being an excellent teacher and being committed to the growth of people and actually building community takes a teacher to the next level, both of which Ms.

Neiman does. Working at the same school for 14 years, she has seen many faces come and go. She knows a lot of the parents of students from kindergarten all the way up to the 5th grade, ones who have graduated and gone to middle school and even high school. Everyday there are students who walk by and yell out, “Hi Ms. Neiman!” and parents who stop by just to give her a hug and see how she is doing. She has stayed in contact with a family of a boy she used to teach about 9 years ago, because of his special needs, the family was not sure if he was going to be able to have a Bar Mitzvah. A few months ago, the boy’s mother called Ms. Neiman thanking her for having patience with her son and teaching him so many wonderful things, she invited her to his Bar Mitzvah this upcoming summer in London. Most recently, a father of one of her old students came back to visit and was expressing his gratitude for her helping his son and even offered her a position to tutor him a few times a week when she retires. For the past 14 years, Ms. Neiman has been the G.A.T.E. (Gifted and Talented Education) Coordinator. The coordinators of G.A.T.E. are responsible for developing educational opportunities for students, including underrepresented populations, by searching for and referring

students for identification in the various categories. They also develop the appropriate instructional programs that provide a balance between cognitive and affective learning and they make certain that existing school programs meet the differentiated instructional needs of gifted/talented students per the current legislation. The one thing she wishes she could continue to do when she retires is to remain the G.A.T.E. coordinator. Finding the students for the program and assisting them in developing their educational skills is obviously something that she enjoys because she has done it for so many years. She is also the Treasurer of CUE (Computer Using Educators, Inc.) Los Angeles. CUE is nonprofit educational association founded in 1978. The goal of the organization is to advance student achievement through technology in all disciplines from preschool through college. One idea Ms. Neiman picked up from working with CUE is teaching through educational games on an iPad. A few times a week we assist the children in using the iPad to help them write their letters, numbers, or learn about different animals.