The synergy of teacher leaders: identifying the characteristics of a teacher leader community
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2014-08
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Leaders exist at many different levels within a school system; headmasters, principals, school administrators, etc. Leadership within a school also includes teacher leader communities who are critical in school success. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences that foster synergy within a group of instructional teacher leaders called Ka 'Ike Loa. In this research, synergy is referred to as multiple characteristics of the group, that when combined, create a greater effect than the sum of their individual effects. For Ka 'Ike Loa, the characteristics that contributed to synergy were the ability to put disparate pieces together through synthesis and combining these pieces into a new whole in order to meet the needs of the teachers with whom they worked. The participants within this study helped to further define synergy of teacher leaders. I was part of Ka 'Ike Loa and a practitioner researcher in this study. I combined qualitative research methods in ways that brought meaning to the phenomenon of synergy. An institution that understands working as a team is key, will unlock the creative power of the organization. The data analyzed were the words of participants collected through a series of open-ended interviews; two individual and one natural group interview as well as the Teams That Work assessment tool. The objective of this phenomenological case study was to identify the characteristics within Ka 'Ike Loa that have enabled success and review the barriers encountered and how the group worked to overcome them. Aligned to the two major research questions of the study, along with the literature reviewed, and the data collected and analyzed, were three threads of synergy. The threads identified to nurture synergy within a group are 1) environment fosters synergy, 2) people fosters synergy, and 3) passion fosters synergy. The research indicates there is a need for synergy and attention to cultivating a culture of organizing to learn. Organizations that foster synergy through characteristics that were identified in the study can move groups from working groups to teams through deep social connection.
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team dynamics
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Theses for the degree of Doctor of Education (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Professional Practice.
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