Continuum of Follower Readiness - R2

Continuing with our discussion of follower readiness (see post from August 20), the next level of student readiness would be R2.

Readiness Level 2 (R2) - Unable but willing. The student lacks ability, but is motivated and is making an effort . . . or, unable but confident, the student lacks ability but is confident as long as the teacher is there to provide support.

Readiness Level 2 indicators include:

• Speak quickly and intensely
• Seek clarity
• Nod head, make "yes I know" type comments, seem eager
• Listen carefully
• Answer questions superficially
• Accept tasks
• Act quickly
• Preoccupied with end results rather than incremental steps

Continuum of Follower Readiness - R1

Think of the readiness level of your students to be successful in the given task as part of a continuum. Readiness is fluid and will due to many variables. The readiness continuum ranges from a very high level (R4) where the student is able and willing or confident, to a very low level (R1) where the student is unable and unwilling or insecure. 

Looking more closely at the readiness continuum:

Readiness Level 1 (R1) - Unable and unwilling, the student is unable and lacks commitment and motivation. Or, Unable and insecure, where the student is unable and lacks confidence.
The unable and unwilling indicators include:

• Defensive, argumentative, complaining behaviors
• Late completion of tasks
• Performance only to exact request
• Intense frustration

The unable and Insecure indicators include:

• Body language expressing discomfort: furrowed brow, shoulders lowered, leaning back
• Confused, unclear behavior
• Concern over possible outcomes
• Fear of failure

Learning Requirements

Learning requirements are the what . . . 

What do my students need to know and be able to do as result of being in this class?

The learning requirements are tied closely to the district curriculum standards and are ideas that spiral throughout the year. The emphasis on not on some specific set of facts but rather big pieces of knowledge and understandings.

For my classes, we use the acronym C.A.R.S. for our learning requirements:

Cause and effect relationships

Analogies - how to use them and evaluate their accuracy

Research and evaluation of resources

Sense of history - how the past impacts the present

Cause and effect relationships - A critical skill for the understanding of history is an ability to determine and understand cause and effect. It allows one to understand why events happened as they did. This is also a life skill, as young people try to better understand their world.

Analogies - To understand both history and the events of our current world, it is often useful to employ analogies . . . "this is similar to that." The problem is often analogies are over-used and therefore incorrect. We spend time working on a strategy to clarify analogies. When one is suggested, we examine the likenesses and the differences between the situation being studied and the suggested analogy. When properly used analogies can be very useful in understanding and problem-solving, when incorrectly used they can lead to confusion and poor decisions.

Research and evaluation of resources - Here we learn how to find out what we need to know. With knowledge growing exponentially, it is vital to know how to get information. This also involves evaluating the usefulness of resources. Additionally, we examine the advantages and limitations of both primary and secondary resources.

Sense of history - A sense of of where we have been is critical to developing a true understanding of where we are. Having this ability will not only allow us to understand our history class, but will also help us make better decisions in the present. We begin to understand that our decisions today will have ramifications in our future.

As students develop and refine their skills and abilities in these areas, they will be able to consistently learn and improve in any history class . . . and in many other areas. These requirements are imbedded in every unit and allow for greater depth of understanding of the material. Additionally, these requirements provide purpose and meaning for what we study.

Ability and Willingness

For teachers employing Situational Leadership, it is the student who determines the appropriate leader/teacher behavior.

The key here is a function of student readiness, defined as the extent to which a student demonstrates the ability and willingness to accomplish a specific task. Ability is the knowledge, experience, and skill that an individual or group brings to a particular task or activity. Willingness is the extent to which an individual or group has the confidence, commitment, and motivation to accomplish a specific task.

How Much Freedom to Give Followers

Leaders/teachers should give followers/students greater freedom if they possess:

1. A relatively high need for independence
2. A readiness to assume responsibility for decision making
3. A relatively high tolerance for ambiguity
4. An interest in the problem/task and feel it is important
5. An understanding of and identity with the goals of the organization
6. The necessary knowledge and experience to deal with the problem/task
7. An expectation to share in the decision making

Students will be at varying levels which requires the teacher to differentiate his or her approach. Just as it would be inappropriate to restrict freedom of students who possess very high levels of each of these things, it would be ineffective to grant excessive freedom to students who possess very low levels. The key is in the evaluation and adaptation by the teacher. Students may say they want freedom, need independence, know what to do . . . but what does their behavior indicate?

The goal of the leader/teacher is to raise the level of each area for each student . . . to assist each student on the road of continual quality improvement where he or she will be ready to accept greater levels of freedom and responsibility. Differentiation is the key to making this happen.

Successful vs. Effective Leadership

Success has to do with how the individual or group behaves. Effectiveness describes the predisposition of an individual or group. 

Individuals who are interested only on success tend to emphasize position power and use close supervision. Individuals who focus on effectiveness depend on personal power and use more general supervision.

The difference between successful and effective often explains why many teachers can get satisfactory level of behavior and performance of their students only when they are right there supervising. Many teachers are very successful, it is more rare to have the effective teacher - one whose students, because of the training and practice that has taken place, perform just as well when the teacher is not there.

For effect leadership to take place, the common goals of the entire class or organization must be established and accepted.

Immaturity-Maturity Continuum

According to Chris Argyris, seven changes should take place in the personality of individuals if they are to develop into mature people. First, individuals move from a passive state as infants to a state on increasing activity as adults. Second, individuals develop from a state of dependency upon others as infants to a state of relative independence as adults. Third, individuals behave in only a few ways as infants, but as adults they are capable of behaving in many ways. Fourth, individuals have erratic, casual, and shallow interests as infants, but deeper and stronger interests as adults. Fifth, the time perspective of children is very short, involving only the present, but as they mature, their time perspective increases to include the past and the future. Sixth, individuals as infants are subordinate to everyone, but they move to equal or superior positions with others as adults. Seventh, as children, individuals lack an awareness of a "self." Agryis suggests that these changes reside on a continuum and that the "healthy" personality develops along the continuum from "immaturity" to "maturity."

Immaturity-Maturity Continuum

Immaturity - Maturity

Passive - Active

Dependent - Independent

Behave in a few ways - Capable of behaving in many ways

Erratic shallow interests - Deeper and stronger interests

Short time perspective - Long time perspective (past and future)

Subordinate position - Equal or superordinate position

Lack of awareness of self - Awareness and control over self

People are not a specific place on the continuum based upon a specific chronological age. Each individual is different. As teachers, we must recognize that difference. Additionally, we need to help each child develop along the continuum. In order to do this, different children require different strategies. 

Keeping people immature seems to be built into the very nature of formal organizations such as schools. This concept of formal organizations lead to assumptions about human nature that are incompatible with the proper development of maturity in human personality.