Leading from the bottom

About 10 years ago, in my leadership course, one student said: “I really enjoy the concepts we are learning about, but everything is focused on principals, superintendents, college presidents and those in positions of authority. What about those of us who want to be leaders now before we acquire those positions, or who want to be leaders but do not aspire to power?”

The student was right, because those who are not in positions of authority cannot direct resources, create a strategic plan, or mandate a change; they must act differently as leaders. And while in recent years, some scholars have begun to speak about distributed leadership where “followers” are part of the leadership process, this model is still based on the premise that leadership has to be tied to authority.

This student’s question propelled me to conduct a study of “bottom up” or grassroots leaders on college campuses. This three-year case study of five different college campuses created a new picture of leadership roles wherever one may be located in the institutional hierarchy. The study examined faculty and staff on campus. Anyone in an organization can choose to have agency and make changes. By looking broadly, we can create a vast web of collective leadership that supports important changes that we care about. While the findings focus on college campuses, they are equally applicable to schools where teachers, students, and support staff can and do also play important leadership roles.

An example from the study makes the findings more tangible. Janine is an assistant professor in the biology department who has watched students struggle in her classes for years – particularly those who cannot overcome math deficiencies. Few institutional supports exist and she has no place to send students for additional academic assistance. After talking to several colleagues, she realizes the issue is prevalent, and begins offering an informal math support skills group that gains great popularity.

This effort begins to create a great deal of work, and she speaks with her department chair about getting a course release to offer the support group, but his hands are tied by budgetary constraints. Janine organizes several colleagues to contact the chair, who accedes and temporarily allows her a course release. In the meantime, Janine sets out to get broader campus support for math support skills. She collects data to demonstrate the impact of her tutoring efforts, and presents this data to the academic senate and administration. Within the year, a math support center opens, and if it demonstrates outcomes similar to her support group, campus administrators agree to provide ongoing funds. Over the next two years, Janine works with the center director to set up an advisory board of faculty, gain campus support, and collect data on the efficacy of the center.

Janine identified a real need and made a change that made students more successful. There are hundreds of bottom up leaders who make important changes that go largely unnoticed and often unsupported. Greater understanding of the efforts of people like Janine may lead to more support for bottom up changes in educational institutions that can improve student learning and success.

Those in positions of authority can support grassroots leadership through mentoring, removing obstacles, connecting and linking people in networks, and engaging in creative brainstorming with grassroots leaders stay resilient. The overall message from this research is that there is a tremendous amount of untapped leadership in educational organizations and many unacknowledged heroes.

Working in concert toward more shared models of leadership can maximize student success for a better educational future.