Social Red Bull: exploring energy relationships in a school district leadership team

Educational leaders have long been expected to be not only effective leaders, but also motivators who? can move change efforts forward. Although there has been attention paid to the role of “effective” leaders, much less work has contributed to “affective” relations between and among educational leaders. In this study we explore the idea of positive affective arousal through “energy relationships” between and among a district leadership team. “Energizers” in social systems have been associated with positive individual and organizational outcomes, but are rarely studied in education. Drawing on theories of social networks and using multilevel network modeling, findings suggest that perceptions of job satisfaction, innovative climate, and leader efficacy, as well as work experience and gender help explain the likelihood of sending, receiving, and sharing energy relationships. Implications are discussed.