Learning to Lead: a Handbook for Postsecondary Administrators.

by James R. Davis. Westport, CT: American Council on Education and Praeger Publishers, 2003. 249 pages, $39.95. Reviewed by John A. Downey.

Community college administrators can finally consult a volume that affords a wide-ranging summary of the essential qualities of effective leadership. James R. Davis provides such a volume in his Learning to Lead, which is a practical guide, rooted in the literature, for those who aspire to the highest levels of college administration. The book is arranged as a series of brief literature reviews about critically insightful topics that community college leaders will find especially instructive. Each chapter begins with an engaging description of a day in the life of Mary, a fictitious college administrator, and it ends with a list of leadership truisms Mary would do well to remember. In between, Davis provides an overview of specific leadership topics arranged around the chapter theme. Reflective questions that force readers to apply leadership concepts to the context of their own institutions help make the theoretical practical. The most important leadership themes are reinforced by the author's summary of each section, presented in boldface type. A comprehensive list of references is included for each chapter, allowing readers to pursue the themes in greater depth. Far from being repetitive, this structure helps readers reflect on, and perhaps internalize, the leadership skills that are advanced throughout the book.

Davis envisioned the book to be useful for any higher education official charged with administrative responsibilities, but the content is particularly significant for community college leaders to assimilate. Much more than a mere cookbook of administrative skills, the text promotes a general set of abilities administrators can employ to become more effective leaders in higher education settings. Community college administrators will find ample subject matter to reflect on, with the goal of further developing the myriad of leadership skills discussed in the book. For the novice community college administrator in need of guidance, or the seasoned public servant in search of the most up-to-date literature on a specific leadership topic, Davis provides both with a valuable resource.

The author makes four assumptions about leadership that set a framework for the book's themes. Davis takes for granted that leadership is an authentic administrative trait, rather than a mere symbol for administrative figureheads trying to function in inflexible academic organizations. Davis also views leadership as a necessary quality in academe, an attribute that emerges both in the academic hierarchy and in surprisingly diverse recesses of the organizational chart. Finally, the author makes the vital assumption that leadership can be learned, and he promotes the lifelong learning of leadership theory as an imperative obligation of effective administrators.

The first two chapters of Learning to Lead are subsumed under the broader category entitled "Understanding the Context of Leadership." The author distinguishes between mere administration and true leadership by providing definitions of both terms and offering several insights from the literature about the nature of leadership excellence. Whereas the term administration implies sustaining the organization's mission, leadership is characterized by the promotion of positive movement and change. Concluding that "there is currently no unified theory of leadership" (p. 10), Davis presents a number of modern theories and advocates the careful study of each. He then proceeds to advise readers to apply applicable leadership behaviors within the context of the particular organization they serve. At community colleges, such leadership behaviors may include the ability to articulate how the dual missions of access and excellence coexist and flourish.

In Chapter 2, the importance of institutional context is emphasized. Davis urges the reader to take great pains to understand his or her own institution's structure and mission. The author delves into the literature to inform the reader about the components, types, and categories of organizational structure. From Birnbaum's organizational models (Birnbaum, 1989) to Scott's organizational components (Scott, 1998), a thorough overview of higher education governance is presented. The writer appears intent on ensuring that administrators understand the important influence of cultural and behavioral norms on campus climate. While Davis acknowledges that leaders frequently have to redefine campus roles, he also suggests that they need to be respectful of those "institutional sagas" that set the parameters for how leadership is exercised on campus.

"Building the Skills for Leadership" is the overarching theme that subsumes Part II of the book. Davis's decision to begin this section with a chapter on program planning and assessment is a remarkable choice. One may assume that the author's intent was to suggest that program planning is a primary leadership skill lacking in the modern collegiate environment. Nonetheless, the need for leaders who are academically savvy is presented as almost secondary to the admonition for leaders to develop a persuasive influence within their organization. Davis does assert that the most important function of the academic leader is to ensure that collegiate programs and services fit the institutional mission. This task is all the more critical for administrators at community colleges, who occasionally struggle with policy makers regarding the breadth and scope of their institutional missions ("Community College Mission," 2003; Evelyn, 2003; Levin, 1998; Tollefson, 1998). Persuasion is the method Davis advocates for leaders to use while ensuring that programs are linked with mission, and therefore Davis concludes that program planning is a political process that demands the skillful use of power, influence, and negotiation. Most community college administrators will be familiar with the information provided on long-range and strategic planning, but references to the newer practice of contextual planning should be useful for those who seek to influence the external environments that impact their college. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on assessment by suggesting that the enhancement of learning outcomes is the litmus test for colleges documenting quality with evidence.

The ability to collaborate through meetings and on teams is the leadership skill discussed in Chapter 4. Davis discusses both the purpose and structure of meetings in higher education settings. Noting the dual functions of process and task that occur during meetings, the author acknowledges the multiple roles of academic leaders in managing groups. Sometimes leaders are called to facilitate in order to help a group achieve its purpose. At other times leaders are required to manage projects more actively to ensure successful outcomes, while simultaneously guarding against manipulation of the group to achieve their own desired ends. Most importantly, effective administrators regularly verify that groups are clear about their mission and are engaged in actions that strive toward accomplishment of institutional vision.

Collaboration and group interaction sometimes lead to conflict, and Davis stresses in Chapter 5 that followers expect their leaders to be effective communicators. Noting that most of the work done by administrators occurs in the context of relationships, Davis warns that leaders ignore the practice of building interpersonal skills at their own peril. Administrators are urged to be proactive in building relationships and to strive unceasingly for an open communication style. Conflict is often necessary and useful to an organization, although destructive conflict can breed mistrust and stagnation. Effective leaders perceive the differences between useful and destructive conflict and are adept at achieving the management of conflict, rather than its elimination, as the ideal outcome of a dynamic organization moving forward.

The ability to solve problems from ethical, rational, and legal perspectives is the next essential leadership skill advanced by the author. Problem solving focuses on the leader's creation of a variety of solutions and is distinguished from decision making as an action that merely involves selecting the best course of action among a given set of alternatives. Chapter 6 deals with mental models, which Davis refers to as strategies for breaking complex problems into smaller and more manageable parts. Mental models are methods that help administrators avoid becoming overwhelmed by problems. Davis suggests that solutions generated by the use of mental models should be checked frequently for compatibility with institutional values and desired outcomes. Legal considerations are also cited as important, and Davis asserts that effective leaders anticipate the legal consequences of the solutions they advance. Finally, principled administrators are aware of the moral implications of their decisions, and Learning to Lead includes references to a list of ethical principles that community college administrators can consider in the practice of daily decision making.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of community college leadership involves the efficient stewardship of financial resources, the subject of Chapter 7. Davis mentions the statement of financial position and the operating budget as two financial documents every college administrator should seek to understand. However, stewardship goes beyond mere knowledge of these documents to a deeper understanding of how the budget supports the mission, vision, and values that the college espouses. Creative budget management, since the majority of college expenditures are fixed, involves planning adequately for contingency funds that allow managers some "wiggle room" to implement visionary programs. Davis also notes that effective stewards learn how to expand financial resources for an institution through grant writing, philanthropy, or revenue generating programs.

The focus of Chapter 8 involves the role of leadership in managing change. The pace of change, and its corresponding scope, is acknowledged by Davis to cause significant stress to higher education administrators, since they are often called upon to be agents of the very change they would prefer to resist. Effective administrators understand theories of change and seek to nurture the need for change within the context of the institutional norms that defend against it. Ultimately, leaders cultivate change as an essential means toward the achievement of institutional advancement.

The second section of the book ends with a discussion of positive work environments. In Chapter 9, the author highlights the importance of administrators knowing about workplace laws and policies, but he emphasizes more the research that demonstrates that positive interpersonal relationships contribute the most to worker satisfaction and productivity. The influence that academic leaders have on creating such positive work environments begins with a keen understanding of human relations. For example, effective community college leaders provide ample professional development opportunities for their employees, thus modeling the core value of lifelong learning as an integral element of learning centered institutions.

The author of Learning to Lead expounds on the importance of lifelong learning in the final section of the book, "Continuing to Learn about Leadership." Davis contends that many administrators believe the fallacy that leadership can be self-taught or easily mastered. Perhaps community college administrators are so used to doing more with less that professional development is viewed as an unaffordable luxury in lean times. Davis attacks that perspective, calling it a "formula for stagnation, isolation, and eventual decline in performance, not to mention pervasive unhappiness" (p. 204). The author goes on to suggest that leaders ought to create carefully planned professional development opportunities for themselves that are targeted to specific development needs and focused on deficiencies in their educational background or experience. In an incomplete but helpful appendix, Davis provides contact information for associations, journals, and websites where administrators can begin their process of development. The goal for administrative professional development is the formation of a leader who is a "reflective practitioner" who consistently strives to find meaning and purpose in the work that he or she does. Leadership, according to Davis, is the "triumph of hope over experience," not merely because the work of leadership is often difficult, but rather because difficult leadership is so meaningful.

Unlike much of the literature on academic leadership that community college administrators may consult, Learning to Lead marries both the theoretical and practical perspectives into one comprehensive text. Although the concepts espoused by the author do not differ considerably from the content of similar leadership texts, Davis includes aspects of leadership in higher education settings that are often overlooked by other authors. For example, Davis views financial management and program planning as essential aspects of academic leadership because they relate directly to an institution's purpose and mission. This perspective is refreshingly insightful, and new administrators in particular will benefit from the author's call to become "reflective practitioners."

The nation's community colleges are in desperate need of the type of leaders Davis wants to instruct through his text. Citing the fact that nearly half of the nation's community college presidents are expected to retire by 2007, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) recently secured a grant from the Kellogg Foundation to establish a leadership development program called Leading Forward (Machanic, 2003). The program will build upon successful AACC initiatives that have already identified many of the qualities of effective leadership. In fact, as the AACC renewed its Mission Statement in 2001, leadership development was identified as a primary theme (American Association of Community Colleges, 2002).

The problem of the impending shortage of community college presidents provides urgency to the need for effective leadership development initiatives across the entire spectrum of community college educators. Faculty, staff, and administrators at community colleges can all contribute to the advancement of our fundamental mission to provide access to lifelong learning if they first nurture the need for learning within themselves. In Learning to Lead, Davis offers the hopeful perspective that leadership can be learned and nurtured when educators perceive the broader purpose in the routine tasks they accomplish every day.

References

American Association of Community Colleges (2002, November 8). Leadership 2020." Recruitment, Preparation, and Support. Retrieved June 3, 2003, from http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Content/ContentGroups/ Leadership_Programs1/Leadership_2020.htm

Birnbaum, R. (1989). How Colleges Work: The Cybernetics of Academic Organization and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

The Community College Mission. (2003, February 11). The Baltimore Sun, p. 14a.

Evelyn, J. (2003, January 10). Virginia Weighs Banning Illegal Immigrants From State Colleges. The Chronicle of Higher Education, p. 19.

Levin, B. H. (1998, August 4). Community College Mission: A "60s Mission Looking at a Y2K World. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association for Community College Research, Pine Mountain, GA. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED421182)

Machanic, K. (2003, May 28). AACC Receives $1.9M Kellogg Grant To Develop New Leaders. Community College Times. Retrieved August 23, 2003, from http://www.aacc.nche.edu

Scott, R. W. (1998). Organizations: Rational, Natural, and Open Systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Tollefson, T. A. (1998). The Evolving Community College Mission in the Context of State Governance (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED417776)

John A. Downey is the Dean of Health and Human Services at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Virginia. He is also a doctoral candidate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Virginia. [e-mail]