Fostering the capacity for distributed leadership: a post-heroic approach to leading school improvement

Principals are being encouraged to distribute leadership to increase schools’ organizational capacities, and enhance student growth and learning. Extant research on distributed leadership practices provides an emerging basis for adopting such approaches. Yet, relatively less attention has been paid to examining the principal’s role in fostering the leadership capacities of others to create the capacity for distributed leadership. In this article, we examine the specific practices of six high school principals who fostered the leadership capacities of 18 other leaders in their respective schools. Our findings illustrate the key steps these principals undertook in identifying potential leaders, creating leadership opportunities for them, facilitating their role transitions and providing them with continuous support.