Education Leadership

When we talk about devotion and leadership, it’s usually about the followers, but commitment is not a one-way road. At the beginning of your career, make the decision to be trustworthy, and reap the benefits. When educators trust you, they will give you 110% every day and always have your back.

Can I trust you?

Garnering the trust of your fellow educators makes it easier to put your plans in action and have others buy into your vision. When you enact a new policy or rule, there may be questions, but few will doubt your motives, as they know you have their best interests at heart. This only happens when you have a track record of being a trustworthy leader. Your word is your bond, and people know that you won’t break it for anyone. This level of trustworthiness takes a high level of courage and bravery, as sooner or later, it might put you in direct conflict with your higherups.

If following orders means breaking a promise, what will you do, will you stand tall or back down? If your higherups are as principled as you, if possible, they will work with you to find a compromise. Even if you have to break that promise, your followers will understand that you did everything you could to keep it. No matter how principled you are, you can’t beat City Hall. Evoking a sense of trust in your followers is one of the keys to being a successful leader. When employees respect you, they will trust your ability to lead them in good times and bad times.

Concluding thoughts

Education leaders garner trust by letting their actions speak louder than their words. They outwork everyone else and help other leaders and educators grow and elevate their skills. When it is all said and done, everyone wins, especially the students. When students trust the leaders in their school, they will work hard to achieve academically and to meet behavioral expectations.

To be an effective educational leader, you have to build relationships with students, parents, teachers, other leaders, etc. Relationships don’t just happen, it takes hard work to build a genuine bond with someone. Sometimes the process happens fairly quickly, and sometimes, it takes months or years. The key is to be patient and let relationships form naturally. Nothing makes people not want to be your friend than an awkward or forceful eagerness. Trust me, I have seen plenty of people make this mistake and end up coming across as weirdos.

It is true that people want to work with and be around people they like and distance themselves from people they do not. You don’t have to be something that you are not, but you do have to be friendly.

What if I am an introvert?

Being affable is not hard, all it takes is the ability to treat people with respect and to acknowledge their worth. Even if you an introvert like me, saying hello to people and inquiring about their well being are easy to accomplish. It only takes a second, and it will instantly make you a more friendly person.

What if I am a grumpy person?

Not to worry. You were not born grumpy, so it probably took some time for your demeanor and outlook to become sour. Because of this, it will take some work to turn you into an affable person. All hope is not lost; you can change your demeanor. All you have to do is work hard on your leadership character, and your grumpiness will subside and be replaced with compassion, selflessness, and accountability.

Why can’t I just fake it?

A person can’t have two opposing personalities, as sooner or later, their true character will be revealed. I spent a lot of years working for leaders who were abusive curmudgeons behind the scenes, but their public face was affable and friendly. We all knew the truth, and so did most of the city in which our school district resided. Don’t be something that you are not, as sooner or later, the truth will be revealed, and your peers and subordinates will expose the real you.

Successful education leaders are charismatic, which inspires devotion in others. This charisma can be hard to learn, as it usually requires most educators to go outside of their comfort zone by becoming more sociable as well as learning how to command the attention of and speak to a group of any size.

Charisma is not my strong suit

Luckily, charisma is a skill that can be learned. If you are an introvert, it might be hard for you to come out of your shell, but I believe that inside of every person is a beautiful peacock waiting to get out. All it takes is for you to get used to showing your feathers in front of small and large audiences.

How can you accomplish this? Most introverts are not introverts in front of family and close friends. Even the biggest introvert, like me, has a group of people who know the real them, that they would not dare show to other people. Just practice extending this side of your personality to the people in your school. Once you establish relationships with enough people, with their support, you will feel comfortable and empowered enough to show your true self to the rest of the staff. That’s how you turn an introvert into a charismatic peacock.

Charisma is very important, but it can only take you so far. To be an effective leader, the style has to be paired with substance. I have known plenty of charismatic leaders who were all style and no substance. They talked a good game, never met a stranger, and endeared themselves to the school community.

One, in particular, created a false reality concerning our school’s academic progress, and when our annual test scores were released, the school community found out that our students were not progressing academically; they were regressing. I knew that this would happen because I looked at the data for myself and posited that we were headed for this result. I tried to warn the school board, but my warnings fell on deaf ears.

It might be a platitude, but your career should be something that you love and something you are passionate about. As the old saying goes, if you find a career that you love, and would do even if you were not getting paid, then you will never work a day in your life. It might be a bit of an exaggeration, especially since you have so many extraneous variables that can make the job that you love a living nightmare.

Purpose is the thing that will keep you motivated to work hard and be the best version of yourself that you can be. As an education leader, passion is what will allow you to help your teachers grow and their students to achieve academically. You don’t have to tell people that you are passionate about something, it will resonate in your speech and your actions.

Let the purpose be your guide

Let’s end this leadership tip with an anecdote. After a mountain climbing accident that claimed the lives of 5 people, a reporter asked the guide/mountain climber why he keeps taking people to the top of the mountain even though there is a chance that many will die. He replied, “You obviously have never been to the top of a mountain.” He did not say this in a sarcastic way or tone.

His point was that the joy and exhilaration that you get from summiting the top of a mountain is an experience like no other. That’s why he continues to live out his purpose, even under the threat of death. He knows that he has found something that he loves and would do even if he were not getting paid.

Education leadership is a lot like mountain climbing, as it comes with its own risks and obstacles. Overcome them, and you can see what it looks like at the top of the mountain. If being an education leader feels like work, and you are starting to question it is the career for you, then you may be operating outside of your purpose. If so, you may want to consider a career change. You can be a good education leader, without it being your purpose, but you will never reach your potential as a human being. Do some soul searching and let us know what you decide.

The capacity to understand and control your own emotions and those of the people around you is crucial. Education leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence understand what they are feeling, what their feelings mean, and how these feelings can impact other people. They are also masters of sensing the feelings of others and helping them to find a place of emotional balance.

For education leaders, emotional intelligence is vital for success. If you are not born with it, don’t worry, it is a skill that can be developed. You can start by training yourself to listen more than you talk. By listening first, you can observe the tone that the person is using. This will allow you to understand the mood that you are in, and counter it with a tone and language that will help bring them to a healthy emotional space.

Also, you have to learn to read facial expressions and body language. This, more than anything, will allow you to gauge a person’s emotional state. When they speak, what facial expression are they conveying? How about their body language? Do they seem loose or uncomfortable? Once you know this information, you can counter with an appropriate emotional response.

We almost forgot to talk about emotional self-control

Emotional intelligence also includes the ability to control your emotions. If you can control your emotions, you can better control the outcomes. One thing is for certain, the high paced world of education leadership is a place where emotions and tempers can easily flare. One moment you may have a teacher that is upset because you didn’t respond to their email or a student who thinks that suspending him for 10 days is unfair.

Couple with that visits from disgruntled parents and also higher-ups, and you will find yourself dealing with a powder keg of emotions. However, regardless of how much you want to react to negative energy with some negative energy of your own, you have to remain calm and be the voice of reason. Self-control is an essential education leadership skill.

Education leaders know that many situations and decisions in education include risk, and there is an opportunity cost attached to every decision you make. If you make the wrong choice, the opportunity cost can have negative or catastrophic consequences. I first learned about opportunity cost in a college economics course. This simple concept changed the way I viewed and approached life. Before making major decisions, I always consider the opportunity cost, and it hasn’t failed me yet. It can do the same for your personal and professional life.

What is the definition of opportunity cost? An opportunity cost is the consequence of a missed opportunity. This is usually explained in terms of money, but it may also be conveyed in terms of time, or any other resource.

Opportunity cost in action

For instance, on Tuesday morning, you are supposed to attend a retreat with your leadership team to do some strategic planning for the next school year. Since you are the superintendent, you have to be there, as you must lead the meeting. However, the night before, you get a phone call from a wealthy alumnus that has made the decision to donate 5 million dollars to your district, but he can only meet with you tomorrow. You have been in talks with them for months, and now they are finally ready to pull the trigger. What will you do?

Great education leaders understand the consequences of their decisions before making them. The consequences of missing the retreat are negligible when compared to the opportunity cost involved in missing out on a 5 million dollar donation. Your deputy superintendent worked with you hand in hand on the details of the retreat, your vision for next year, and the presentation that you planned to present. They can facilitate the retreat while you meet with the potential donor. You can always schedule a followup meeting to the retreat to finalize things, but this donation is a once in a lifetime thing.

In this world, people seem so intent on letting everyone know how great they are. Everyone wants their fifteen minutes of fame, and they don’t care who they have to hurt to get it. As far as education leaders go, being humble is the only way to go. You may be highly capable and educated, but don’t brag about it and just let your work speak for itself. Nothing is more frustrating than a person that insists on always singing their own praises. It makes them come across as self-absorbed and as if they are only out for themselves.

A little humility goes a long way

Being arrogant or self-absorbed as an education leader can have negative consequences. It can blind you from what is really important and lead to you making decisions that are best for you and not what’s best for the entire team. Remember, educators should make decisions based on how they will affect students, not adults.

 If you didn’t get into education to help students maximize their potential, then you are in the wrong profession. If you want to get all of the attention, you should have become a boxer, author, or some other profession, where being a team player is not necessary.

Unfortunately, many education leaders have not gotten the memo. They seem more concerned with making themselves look good than actually being leaders. Trust me, being arrogant will not get you far in the field of education. People will grow tired of your oversized ego, and will absolutely abhor being around you. You probably won’t even notice it, because your attention is on yourself twenty-four hours a day.

Concluding thoughts

Do yourself a favor, and be humble and realize that being an education leader is a blessing, not an opportunity to make yourself the new social media star or fatten your wallets. Being an educator is all about serving humanity and helping the next generation of students reach their potential.

Sometimes the best solution is right in front of us, but we are too close to see it. Sometimes it is because of relationships, and sometimes it is just because of our own egos. Education leaders know how to remove themselves from a situation and observe it from multiple perspectives before they make a decision.

Finding your perspective

I am not saying that this is easy, but it isn’t hard either. When I find myself in this position, I like to leave the office and spend a couple of hours at one of my favorite parks. Why, because since I was a little child, I have always found that being in nature calms my mind. Once I am completely centered, I begin the process of looking at the problem from as many perspectives that I can think of, and 9 times out of 10, I find a definitive solution to the problem.

9 times of 10 isn’t bad, but it’s still not 100%. So when I can’t find a definitive solution on my own, I call up some of my most trusted advisors and ask for their opinion. I know that since they are detached from the situation, their perspective is pure. By the time I talk to a couple of them, I can isolate a solution to the problem. Now its time to put my plan into action.

Perspective is a very powerful leadership tool. It allows us to isolate the potential pros and cons of a situation or to find the right solution to a problem. It allows us to make the most important decisions look easy. One this is for sure, you can’t be a great education leader without the power of divine perspective.

Concluding thoughts

If you don’t currently have the power of perspective in your leadership tool box, just know that it often takes a lot of time and effort to perfect this leadership skill. Just keep practicing the skill and solicit the perspectives of others for now, and when the time is right, you will find that you have acquired the ability to view all things with an incredible perspective.

As an education leader, you need to find and address risk so you can positively impact the outcome by handling that risk in the best way possible. They often say, “there is no reward, without risk.” However, effective education leaders know which risks to take and which not to take.

Risk assessment and management in action

Let me give you a scenario. In a lot of areas of the U.S., school districts lease their school buildings out to other organizations, after hours and on the weekend. Your district leases some of its buildings to a church and also a university that uses them to house a satellite campus. Things have been going well, but the university payments have started to become increasingly late. I mean 30 to 60 days.

Do you bring this up to their president, or do you say nothing out of fear of jeopardizing the arrangement? Your school uses this money to make up for funding shortfalls, and can ill afford to lose this revenue stream. As the superintendent, you assess the situation and decide to schedule a meeting with the president.

At the meeting, you ask the president if they are happy with your services, and he says yes. Then you bring up the issue at hand, and he seems puzzled. He was under the impression that we were being paid every month on time. He informs you he will look into the matter, and you can consider it fixed. He also thanks for you letting them know and walks you out to your car. The problem is fixed permanently, and your risk was rewarded.

Concluding thoughts

I used this scenario to illustrate how responsible risk management looks and how you can decide if a risk is worth taking. As a rule of thumb, remember that high risks usually bring high rewards and low risks often bring low rewards. This rule also illustrates the potential rewards that come with each level of risk. If you let your leadership character light the way, you can’t go wrong?