Are you aspiring to become a leader or to lead a great team? Matthews (2005), in his book Aim for the Heart, reminds us that to have our wildest dreams come true, we must first have wild dreams. My first wild dream was to be part of a leadership cohort, and it came true when I joined IELOL Global 2022. There, I met people from all walks of life, each bringing unique leadership perspectives and experiences to the table. I have also been flexing my situational leadership muscle through volunteerism at the OLC and am still dreaming wild dreams. The keys to unlocking your dream of leadership may be embedded in this article. I invite you to read on to find it.

I never expected a poor digital connection to teach me a profound lesson in leadership. During a professional development session on Blackboard Collaborate in 2013, a technical failure revealed the true essence of leadership beyond traditional roles. Our technical support staff member, we’ll call him H, stepped up and got our session back online. Looking on, someone might say, so what? They are just doing their job. However, H led in this crisis. This incident highlighted how leadership can manifest in unexpected ways, transcending physical and digital barriers. I was the pedagogical lead, but my influence did not extend to troubleshooting the technology, verifying the connection, and assuring our clients that we should now have a strong connection and therefore would be fine. At that moment, H and the other tech team members were the leaders who successfully influenced the outcome of our engagement.

Similarly, in the digital learning ecosystem, leadership transcends traditional boundaries, revealing itself through subtle yet powerful waves of influence that create a cohesive and effective subculture. As technology reshapes educational paradigms, leaders emerge not only through positional authority, but through their capacity to inspire, adapt, and effect change. The concept of leadership as influence captures this nuanced approach. It is openly curious and asks questions, some of which I will share here for your consumption.

Influence – Authority – Leadership

The dropped connection was a technical failure that led to a leadership revelation. In that digital disruption, I acknowledged that leadership operates through invisible networks of influence and connection. In fundamentally reimagining how educational innovation takes root and flourishes, I invite you to connect with Maxwell’s (2019) ideas of authority and influence from his book Leadershift: The 11 Essential Changes All Leaders Should Embrace. Calling on leaders to be agile aligns well with Maxwell’s concept of ‘leadershifting,’ where influence transcends conventional hierarchies. Maxwell believes one can call oneself a leader without having earned the right to be followed. He shares these nine examples of authority in his work:

Natural Authority: Some people naturally lead better than others and therefore step into leadership roles.

Positional Authority: This kind of authority comes with a title or a formal position in an organization. Maxwell considers this the lowest level of leadership.

Knowledge Authority: Knowing more than others do or having specific information can give people an influential edge.

Situational Authority: A certain circumstance can arise that requires the most qualified person to lead in that situation.

Relational Authority: When people have built relationships with others, that gives them influence to lead.

Proximity Authority: When individuals are close to the real leader or authority figure, they can borrow from that leader’s influence to lead others.

Success Authority: Success gives people credibility and others want to be on their team to be part of their success.

Mentoring Authority: Developers of other people increase their influence with the people they mentor and gain a reputation for credibility.

Seniority Authority: In some cultures, being an elder or having seniority in an organization gives authority.

Maxwell’s ideas on authority and influence resonate with our experiences. Beyond formal titles, everyone exercises leadership in various aspects of their lives, such as managing household budgets or work schedules. As the CEO in these areas, you decide on the priority items and allocate time and resources to each category. In this, you possess, situational, relational, knowledge, success, proximity, and positional authority and influence.

Spheres of Influence: 5 Cs of Leadership Development

Leadership in digital learning environments operates through interconnected spheres that encourage and support the growth and development of the team. For example, at the University of Central Florida (UCF), our online programs are supported by various teams: instructional designers, web administrators, technical support, student support and success services, marketing, and IT support. Each team operates in its discrete sphere but is interconnected to support the overall growth, development, and success of the program. This approach relies on the ideas of evaluation and reflection as shared by Davis (2024) in Reinvent Yourself. She suggests that there is no better time than now to reassess success when making critical decisions in life. She speaks to preparation, packaging, and presentation as critical change makers for success that can be applied to leadership as a subset of your development.

As a vital part of the interconnections in your role, you are asked to use the following question as a lens for reflection. How do you claim a space in leadership in your work, and what leadership characteristics do you already possess that can contribute to your growth and that of others? Think about yourself as a brand, and consider how much you work on your preparation, your packaging, and your presentation. I will share five areas of influence and questions to consider as you reflect on leadership and your role in building an extraordinary team through the things over which you have influence and authority. We will call them the 5 Cs of leadership development: Culture & Community, Communication, Care, Capacity, and Commitment. While I will attempt to address each individually, they are interconnected, and some aspects may overlap from one section to the next. They are also not an ordered list and the questions may be addressed in whatever sequence works best for you.

The first C is Culture & Community: As a leader, how do your goals align with your institution’s values? This involves building relationships and creating psychological safety through authentic interactions. This community culture should support the growth and development of the group and specific individuals. It requires an awareness of the people in the room and the organization, their value and its interplay with organizational value, and what you encourage in the work of others. It is formed by building trust through intentional and continuous interactions. This developing environment values collaborative networks over hierarchical structures. As influencers, we must challenge traditional hierarchical boundaries and promote a mindset of curiosity that incorporates cultural differences in the mainstream.

Communication is our second C: What is your leadership mindset and philosophy of work and service? Knowledge authority is valuable in this regard where adaptive communication strategies are not just vertical and horizontal but look more like a connected web. This communication approach leverages strategic influence, enabling the emerging leader to guide organizational adaptation by aligning the strategic goals with the work of teams and individuals. If you are leading situationally, it is crucial to interpret and share technological shifts effectively, and to anticipate emerging learning and ecosystem needs for yourself and your team.

The third C is Care: How are you prepared to consider the needs of your team? Demonstrating empathy beyond physical proximity is essential. As a leader, you must create psychological safety in both physical and virtual spaces. While having an open-door policy is good, ensuring privacy when needed is even better. By first recognizing and addressing your own needs, you will be better equipped to care for others. Consider the advice given during flights: put on your mask first. Self-care is the first step in showing empathy and concern for your team’s needs. Those who come to you with their ideas, innovations, or insights must know that you care enough to hear them and support their plans for implementing or sunsetting a process. They must see you taking care of yourself to trust that you will take care of them.

C number 4 is Capacity: What is your capacity to lead with integrity? When stepping into a leadership role, building a culture of trust, deepening relationships, and caring for others requires considering the ‘time on task.’ With 40-hour work weeks, community involvement, family responsibilities, and other significant life commitments, you must effectively address the question of capacity. Leadership demands showing up on time, consistently completing your responsibilities, and performing work with excellence, knowing that this brings you recognition and the potential for additional duties. As you shift into this role, you recognize the value of flexibility over rigidity. You answer questions like: Are you prepared to navigate all of this and lead with integrity, doing well even when no one is looking?

The Final C is Commitment: What will allow you to show up consistently in this space? Traditional leadership models emphasize positional authority and direct control. However, digital learning leadership requires relationships of trust. Team members need to know that as a leader you are committed to the job, not just the bottom line. They need to feel valued for who they are and for the work they do and trust your word. They should be confident that you will complete the tasks you undertake and rely on you to develop your skills as new challenges arise, while also providing space for them to do the same. Your commitment to individual and team innovation ensures that everyone has equitable opportunities to try, innovate, and shine. They need to know that you encourage their individuality and integrate their skills into the collective effort. They should be able to rely on you to listen, help solve problems, and support a safe space for experimentation and failure.

Navigating Leadership Complexity

Every day as a leader, you have the same amount of time. We are encouraged to fit our work into slices of time, but there is no magic formula. It’s always only 24 hours in a day. There is no perfect time slice for everything you need to do, so you will always be balancing what you can control and how much you can adapt. The secret lies in knowing your limits and setting boundaries.

Intangible leadership isn’t about managing every detail but creating environments where transformation naturally emerges. By understanding complex ecosystems, leaders become catalysts rather than controllers. The future of leadership lies in our capacity to shape change through subtle and strategic influence. Sometimes, we must channel Carol Dweck’s concept of the “not yet” mindset (2010), working through failures, allowing ourselves the space to transform the leadership journey one question, one shift, and one connection at a time.

I leave you with a few of my favorite resources. I have found them easy to read, and think might help with expanding some of the ideas shared as you shift into your wildest dreams, improve your brand, and influence change.

Further Reading

Davis, S. (2024). Reinvent Yourself: Strategies for success in every area of your life. Shirley Davis.

Dweck, C. S. (2010). Even geniuses work hard. Educational leadership, 68(1), 16-20.

Mathews, T. (2005). Leading to build great teams: Aim for the heart. Simple Truths Press.

Maxwell, J. C. (2019). Leadershift: The 11 essential changes every leader must embrace.

HarperCollins Leadership.