The Identification of Behavioral Indicators of a Superintendent's Leadership Success: A Delphi Study

Abstract

In British Columbia, as well as other Canadian provinces, an annual report is produced by every school district. The report informs the citizens using a variety of indicators that demonstrate the level of success of the district. These reports do not include specific indicators on the level of success of the superintendent or other administrators in the district. This study sought to identify and describe behaviors that could serve as indicators of a superintendent's leadership success. It also sought to ensure that the indicators were aligned with the leadership behaviors applicable to a Total Quality Management model. The research methodology used a Delphi process that required three iterations. Questionnaires were sent to three groups of panelists: (a) chief executive officers in business and industry in British Columbia; (b) superintendents of schools throughout Canada; and (c) writers in North America. Thirty-one behaviors were identified, described and prioritized. The top seven behaviors were, in order of priority: (1) develops, shares and focuses on a vision for the organization that leads to the future; (2) focuses on the primary activity of the organization, that of learning; (3) maintains ethical standards and integrity; (4) builds, maintains and fosters relationships within and without the organization; (5) ensures that leadership is participatory in nature and/or encourages decisive decision making at the action level; (6) communicates continuously and effectively; and (7) creates and nurtures a learning community culture. The findings were compared and triangulated with Deming's 14 points of quality and with prior research on leadership behavior. A statistical analysis using the Kendall W was applied and produced a coefficient of concordance that showed no significance at the .05 level. Therefore, the null hypothesis that the two populations had no common rankings was rejected. A comparison of the top seven behaviors revealed an alignment with the principles of quality. Specific discrepancies in rankings by the two panelist groups were examined. A draft model of a behaviorally anchored rating scale model was produced. Suggestions for both further study and upon which superintendent growth and development programs could be developed or imported from industry were made.