Collaborative Leadership in Education

COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION A. Leadership: Theory and Research Leadership has been defined in many ways. Stogdill (1974:259) wrote that 'there are almost as many definitions as there are people who have attempted to define the concept.' Bennis and Nanus (1985) reported finding over 350 definitions in the literature and many more have been added since. Burns (1978:18) tells us that leadership over people is exercised when people purposefully mobilize, in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological, and other resources to arouse, involve, and satisfy the motives of followers.' Sergiovanni (1987:2) believes that leadership is a persuasive process by which a leader or a leadership group (such as a nation) induces followers to act in ways that further the leader's or a shared purpose.' Greenfield (1986:142) describes leadership as 'the deliberate act by which one person attempts to construct a social world for others.' Beare, Caldwell and Millikan (1989:123) suggest that 'leadership is about gaining commitment to a set of values, statements of "what should be", which then become the heart of the school culture. In the leadership activities carried out by the principal of SMAS Labschool UPI, there are several obstacles. Located in the differences in perception between organizational elements, be it the homeroom teacher, the initial stock report to the janitor and there is a school vision and mission, so it will be affected by the goals, needs, to the allocation of funds, time, budget and so on, it will later appear so that after it appears, it can be said that this can be implemented according to the expected target, the obstacle is the difference in yours, therefore it is necessary to hold socialization and there needs to be a common perception of all residents. Then in creating a conducive work environment, the principal chose to emphasize giving rewards to teachers and holding gathering activities held once a year. Then apart from that, the emphasis on deliberations between teachers carried out by the education office is one of the opportunities for the principal to motivate teachers to be more committed to the school's vision and mission. Then in more crucial activities, the school leader of SMAS Labschool UPI, such as curriculum evaluation, is carried out by checking the completeness of the RPP and also the invaluable student attendance list, up to several students who must receive media, how many students must receive enrichment, and so on, so that the total of all fields of study is the target achievement, how many percent, as well as coaching, all of which are evaluated for improvement. B. Collaborative Leadership In this case, Wilson (2013) concluded that there are 5 (five) key elements in collaborative leadership, namely utilizing collective intelligence, developing trust, maximizing talent and resources, sharing influence and power, and accelerating innovation. There are 4 important perspectives in building collaborative leadership practices according to Raelin (2006), namely the first perspective, leaders must understand that there is more than one leader at the same time so that leaders voluntarily share power with others. The second perspective is that collaborative leadership is not only joint leadership but also collective leadership. This means that leadership does not come from individual influence, but comes from the process of people working together for the same goal. The third perspective is that collaborative leadership is mutually beneficial. This means that all members of the organization can control and communicate for the common good. While the last perspective is that collaborative leadership is compassionate leadership. This means that leaders maintain dignity and respect each member of the organization. On the other hand, Hopkins et al. (2011) explained that in order for mutually agreed goals to be achieved, collaborative leadership needs to develop a vision, have interpersonal and managerial skills, and be confident in encouraging collaboration. The important thing to note is that the vision must be created and developed together. The availability and allocation of resources fairly also need to be considered by leaders. The success of implementing leadership to overcome complex situations is influenced by experience and skills. There are 3 (three) sets of skills that must be possessed by the principal, namely (1) mediation skills, leaders must be able to handle conflicts as quickly as possible constructively and effectively, (2) influencing skills, leaders must be able to choose the best approach to influence people, understand organizational culture and people's personalities and objectively analyze the situation that occurs, (3) skills to involve others, leaders must be able to build networks, relationships and communication and involve others in decision making at the right time (Archer and Cameron, 2013). Furthermore, in addition to these three skills, collaborative leaders must also have agility, patience and empathy. Principals also need to emphasize that collaboration occurs between organizations and between individuals and groups within the organization and need to ensure good collaboration occurs so that common goals and organizational success can be achieved (Hsieh and Liou, 2018). Meanwhile, Wilson (2013) identified the success of implementing collaborative leadership depending on the creation of an environment of mutual trust, respect and involvement and contribution of all parties to achieve goals. Sanaghan and Lohndorf (2015) suggest that in implementing collaborative leadership, there are several things that need to be considered, namely: 1. Heirarchy. The organizational structure of schools which is generally vertical will cause the flow of information to be slow, less agile, less flexible and less proactive towards opportunities and challenges, thus hindering collaborative work. 2. Organizational culture. Leaders need to understand the culture of the organization, for example regarding how decisions are made, how conflicts are managed, how power is used and how success and failure are rewarded. 3. Capacity of senior members in the organization. Only senior members who have the capacity are involved in the collaborative process. 4. Networking. Extensive networking will help strengthen collaborative mechanisms, allowing stakeholders to cross institutional boundaries and work together to achieve organizational goals. 5. Limiting collaboration as needed to be more effective. Collaborative leadership is not only created, built and implemented, but more than that, its implementation also needs to be managed. Hsieh and Liou (2018) explain that this management is carried out through collaborative activities such as (1) activating resource assistance through identifying and combining resources in achieving common goals, (2) framing the work environment through the role of leaders in influencing individuals to build and maintain commitment to common goals, (3) mobilizing stakeholder support by involving both internal and external stakeholders for program success and (4) synthesizing collaborative processes through the role of leaders in creating and maintaining collaborative processes.