Education Leadership

Criticism is hard for most of us to take, even if it is constructive. Whether it is solicited or simply given, doing a good job of handling feedback from others is a skill that can be developed. How? I am glad that you asked. I have a four-step process for dealing with criticism that I think will help you.

Know yourself- The first step is to know yourself, inside and out. You have to be introspective, sifting through criticism, and focusing on areas that have merit. This is not as easy as it seems, a few people can be honest with themselves. You know if you are impatient, temperamental, selfish, judgemental, vindictive, etc. Now you just have to own up to it.

Change yourself- Now that you know what your deficiencies are, you have to work hard to change. It doesn’t come naturally to most people, but it is a necessary part of the process. You have to make a concerted effort to recognize when you are exhibiting negative behaviors and redirect them to behaviors that are more positive.

Accept yourself- Now that you have begun the process of change, don’t be too hard on yourself. Change doesn’t come overnight. It may take weeks or months for you to see any progress, but once your habits begin to change, exhibiting a new behavior will be like second nature. However, you have to realize that you will still make mistakes, but that’s ok, as the race is won by those that endure.

Forget about yourself- Stop thinking about what people say about you. As a public figure, you are a huge target for criticism, no matter how well you lead. This is just a fact of life. With each decision that you make, no matter how common sense, you will have some people who love you for it and some people to hate you. Learn to be comfortable with the naysayers, and let them criticize you until the cows come home. It just comes with the territory. If everyone loves you and agrees with all of your decisions, that means that you are a people pleaser, and people pleasers make terrible leaders.

How do you bring out the best in others? First, you need to understand that human beings tend to be selfish and are driven by their own desires. As an education leader, you need to figure out what the educators in your school or district want. Recognize that this will be different for everyone. Some people will want to be praised, others will want promotions, and others are satisfied with growth opportunities.

How to inspire others

Your job is to understand the motivations of each every last one of the educators under your charge, using this information to get the best performance from them. You can do this by getting to know them on a personal level. Invite them out for lunch or just have informal conversations with them at work. As they begin to get more comfortable around you, they will give you a glimpse inside of their personality and what their motivations are. From there, you can leverage this information to help them maximize their performance.

Another consideration when attempting to bring out the best in others is knowing and understanding their strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t understand people’s strong suits, they may end up failing because the task that you assigned them is a mismatch for their skill set. At the very least, their level of success on the task will not be optimal, it will be mediocre.

This affects the production of the organization, and in the end, everyone loses. So do yourself a favor and get to know your employees and what they are capable of. Trust me, you will look like a genius when everyone is working within their strengths zone, and the organization is running like a well-oiled machine.

Concluding thoughts

Everyone wins when employees give the organization their all and work within their strengths zone. Bringing out the best in others is not as easy as it sounds, but with a little practice, you will be a master motivator in no time.

I remember working at a university that was delusional about its status among America’s universities. From the president and board of trustees down to some of the professors, community members, and alumni, everyone seemed to think that this private university was elite. I think that every university should have a culture of success and excellence, but it has to be grounded in reality. If it is not, you will go on believing that your organization is successful, even though all signs point towards major trouble.

What happens when universities live in a fantasy world?

The person in any organization that has to define its reality is the CEO. If they are not transparent and honest about the organization’s present level of functioning, who will be? The university that I mentioned earlier had a president and board of trustees that painted the picture of a university was highly successful, but this could not be further from the truth. The graduation rate was at 18%, the students that they admitted were not prepared for college-level work, and the residence halls had mold and vermin.

I left that organization about 5 years ago, and although there are signs that some things are improving, they have a long way to go. The new president is selling the same old bill of goods to the community and alumni, and the graduation rate is still the same. Every time I think of the situation, I get a little sad, as the university has a rich history that is being tarnished. All because the former and present leader created a reality that was grounded in fantasy, which ultimately leads it, stakeholders, to believe that the university is already operating at an optimal level.

The university that I am referring too is an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities). If you do a little research about the current financial and accreditation situations of HBCU’s, you will see that they can ill afford to absorb the missteps of their presidents and trustee boards. Since many have closed in the last three decades and many more will close in the coming decades, these universities need and deserve leaders that will define reality truthfully, instead of painting a rosy picture of the current state of affairs.

Concluding thoughts

If they don’t wake up, in 50 years or so, there will be no HBCU’s left in the U.S. They will be vestiges of an uncivil time, unceremoniously pushed out because of their ignorance and complacency. In the end, they will fail the very people they were meant to protect and uplift.

In the same way, education leaders are quick to give their team credit; they are also ready to take responsibility for adverse outcomes. Great education leaders know that when they accept responsibility for their actions, they can positively affect the morale of the team.

Leaders who don’t hold themselves accountable are useless

Here is a sad truth; whatever negative outcomes occur in your school or school district, you have to take the blame. It doesn’t matter if you inherited an incompetent leadership team and a group of ineffective teachers, you have to take responsibility for their mistakes. Why? Because, by derivation of taking the job, you promise to take ownership of what happens, the good and the bad.

You are responsible for helping your employees to become effective and experience professional growth. You have to put them in the position to learn new skills and sharpen those that they struggle with. Remember, all of these things were covered in your educational leadership program. Somewhere along the way, your professors provided in-depth information and assignments that should help you grow your instructional leadership and school improvement skills.

You find me a leader that has trouble with taking responsibility for mistakes that they or their team make, and I will show you a selfish manager who can’t quite wrap their brains around the concept of serving others. Even it does not come naturally, you can develop the skill of extreme ownership. All you have to do is take full responsibility for mistakes and little credit for successes. Even if it is forced, after a little practice, it will be genuine.

Concluding thoughts

The inability to take ownership of failures and missteps is the number one thing that prevents people from developing true leadership character. They end up experiencing one failure after another, always finding a scapegoat to take the fall for them. Their organizations end up staying stagnant as the real issues are never addressed. Finally, all out of scapegoats, they must fall on their swords, and unfortunately, many of them just end up being recycled by another organization, and the cycle of mediocrity and failure just repeats itself.

People often seek acknowledgment from people they follow, that is why it is essential to reward your team members for their hard work, especially when they go above and beyond the call of duty. Financial rewards are excellent but thoughtful; personal rewards can be more impactful.

Making a case for rewards

You may say that receiving a paycheck should be reward enough, but have you taken a look at teacher salaries lately? Many teachers all over America are working at least 2 jobs just to make ends meet. In several states, they have organized protests and strikes to demand a livable wage. Teachers are the lowest paid of all professionals with 4-year degrees, and they are sick and tired of being undervalued.

Education leaders should offset this by giving their teachers rewards to show them how much they are valued. Here is how you can do it. Contact local, state, and national businesses and ask if they would be willing to donate gift cards to your teachers. Let them know that it is all a part of your system of rewarding teachers for going above and beyond the call of duty.

At the end of every semester, distribute these gift cards equally among your staff with a little note of appreciation. It’s not a million bucks, but it is a token of your appreciation for all that they do. Make sure that all of the gift cards are well thought out and personal, which can give the reward a special touch.

Concluding thoughts

Everyone wants to feel appreciated and be recognized for a job well done. This includes teachers, education leaders, and all other professionals. Since we already now that this is a surety, why do some leaders refuse to provide rewards for their employees? Many believe that you shouldn’t be rewarded for a job that you get paid to do, and some are just doing things the way that they have always seen them done. In the end, everyone loses, and the organization’s productivity suffers. Don’t be that person.

Failure provides us with life’s most valuable learning opportunities. Education leaders embrace this as well as the uncertainty that comes hand and hand with running a school or entire district. With that being said, they are not afraid of taking calculated risks, because they understand that with high risk comes high rewards.

Don’t take risks, take calculated risks

Again, I said calculated risks. This means that even though you are taking a chance, you have weighed the pros and cons and looked at all of the available data and information. If the move bears fruits, it could mean a lot for your district. If the move does not bear fruit, don’t fret, just use the failure as a learning opportunity. Sooner or later, the experience yielded from that failure will help you make a decision that will be successful.

This is what makes taking risks so important. If you succeed, right off of the bat, you win. If you fail and then use this information to make an essential decision in the future, you still win. Basically, you can’t lose, even if you tried. Yes, taking risks can be scary, and yes, not everyone will interpret failure as you do. However, the experience of taking risks will make you a better leader. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

The truth of the matter is that most people are not comfortable with taking risks, and so they play it safe. With that being said, how can a non-risk taker turn themselves into a risktaker? Well, it is not easy to go from one extreme to another. But is possible to make some strides in a short period.

A little homework

Over the next 4 months, whenever you are about to make a decision that could be labeled as “playing it safe,” consider choosing the riskier option. What additional rewards or benefits could come along with this decision? What are the drawbacks of taking this risk? If the benefits outweigh the risks, then go for it. Your risktaking should yield favorable results over the long term, which makes it totally worth it.

Some traits are more important than others. When it comes to education leadership, the capacity to judge situations, and people with fairness is essential because it shows them that they are valued and appreciated. Would you want to work for someone who treats educators with whom they have bonded with favoritism and someone who treats all other educators arbitrarily? No, you want to work with someone who treats everyone fairly and keeps their emotions to themselves when making personnel decisions.

A little history

There are many instances in the history of education leaders who took advantage of the people they were leading; however, things rarely worked out in their favor. The education leaders who are fair to people are the ones who are loved and revered. History is usually not kind to leaders who treated people unfairly. Even if they are revered throughout the ages, sooner or later, someone writes a book that exposes their total character, not just the fictionalized version.

Of all of the skills that can be listed under leadership character, fairness seems to be an easy one to develop. All you have to do is check your misconceptions, relationships, and biases at the door, and make a rational, common-sense decision. On second thought, it may not be as easy as I make it out to be.

My process for being fairminded

Here is how I come to a decision that is fair to all parties. I ask myself a series of questions designed to help me choose the most logical and fair-minded choice. For instance, if two people are up for a promotion, and one is a close associate, I ask myself, who is more qualified for the position? If I can’t be honest with myself, I create a chart that lists the qualifications needed for and the duties included in the new position. Then I place each candidate’s name in a separate column, selecting the person who has the edge in each category.

From there, I tally up the points and make a final decision. If I want a second opinion, I ask someone outside of the organization to look at each candidates’ resume and decide who they believe has the edge in each category. Then I compare our scoring, and if we come to the same conclusion, I go with my choice. If not, I have some soul searching to do before I make my final decision.

The competition does not wait, and there will always be someone out there trying to outwork you. Education leaders understand that in many situations, the hardest worker gets the spoils, which is why they value of both perseverance and urgency. Those that operate with a sense of urgency tend to be effective leaders and those that do not tend to be mediocre ones.

The power of urgency

Education leaders don’t put off tomorrow what can be done today. They stay ahead of the curve and put in the work that it takes to be successful. They are also proactive, working hard to anticipate threats as well as opportunities. In doing so, they stop problems from materializing and recognize opportunities to innovate before others.

This sense of urgency trickles down to the rest of their leadership team, the teaching ranks, and students, with everyone adopting a mantra of carpe diem (seize the day). With everyone working hard and mobilized for action, you can focus their energies on areas that have the most urgent needs.

Why spend 7 weeks completing a project, when we can do it in 3?

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating that you work yourself to death or that you put quantity and quickness before quality. I am saying that often, we waste valuable time by taking things too slowly. For instance, your school district’s curriculum coordinator comes to you and says that the curriculum alignment project will take 7 weeks to complete. How do you respond? For me, I wouldn’t attempt to discredit their suggested timeline, but I would go through the process with them step by step, to see if we are maximizing our resources and time.

In many cases like this, the other person is amazed when I help them find a way to complete a project in 3 weeks when they believed that it would take 7. The trick is to work hard during the planning stages to find a more efficient way to complete each step or part of the project or product. This is what ends up saving you a lot of time.

Concluding thoughts

In the end, your sense of urgency and proactiveness will reign supreme and make you a leader revered for their ability to motivate others and get results. Then you can enjoy the spoils of victory and search for your next challenge.