Strategies used by superintendents in developing leadership teams

2013-04-29The purpose of this study was to determine the strategies public school superintendents across the nation use to develop executive leadership teams. Extensive research has been conducted in private for profit and medical settings, however relatively little research on leading teams has been conducted in the public education sector. Research based practices from the current research were considered and the following three research questions were asked: 1) How do superintendents select leadership team members? 2) What strategies do superintendents use to foster a collaborative climate? and 3) How do superintendents distribute and share leadership responsibilities? A mixed methods approach was used to ascertain how superintendents select their leadership team members, develop a collaborative climate, and distribute leadership responsibilities among the executive team. The study included the purposeful sampling of five superintendents and 51 leadership team members who work in large K-12 districts across four states. The results indicate that superintendents in this study balance person-focused and task-focused competencies in the selection process for new team members; however, issues of recruitment and retention are barriers to the selection process. Superintendents utilize six major collaboration strategies (clearly defined roles and responsibilities, climate of trust, openness, honesty, consistency, and respect) and also use individual reflective practices as a means to build leadership capacity. Superintendents use participative strategies with their leadership teams at a higher rate than delegation strategies when distributing leadership across the team. Implications for practice are provided in the researcher-developed “Framework for Building a Leadership Team.