Abstract
A Study to Determine the Strategies, Skills, and Leadership Behaviors of Secondary Principals When Motivating Others to Embrace Educational ChangeBy Dawn BowmanPurpose. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the strategies, skills, and leadership behaviors of secondary principals when motivating others to embrace educational change.Methodology. This qualitative study explored 10 high school principals' experiences when motivating others toward educational change. All participants were interviewed twice and took the Actualized Leader Profile (ALP). Participants served as a principal for at least three years and came from three districts (Anaheim, Corona-Norco, and Rialto). Phenomenological analysis techniques were used for the data analysis through a lens of humanistic psychology, Freudian psychoanalysis, and Behaviorism.Findings. Six themes emerged from the data: communication, relationship building, preparation, buy-in/ownership, self-awareness, and deeper understanding. Themes from the interviews bared several commonalities and differences among the principals, and the study revealed the difference between low and high self-actualization scores regarding strategies, skills, and leadership behaviors when motivating others toward educational change.Conclusions. The principals in this study demonstrated the value of knowing their motivational drivers, shadows, and self-actualization score. The participants realized that before they could motivate others, they had to know their own motivational drivers and leadership style because knowing one's self was more important than knowing others during times of change.Recommendations. The study included five recommendations for qualitative and quantitative replication of this study to add to the body of research on motivating others toward implementing change.