School Leadership

While there are a host of legitimate concerns regarding the potentially negative effects of hiring school resource officers in our nation’s schools, the benefits of having such staff members in place could be a tangible increase in lives saved. Back on March 20th of 2018, school resource officers Blaine Gaskill rushed straight towards a shooter who had opened fire in a common area of Great Mills High School in Maryland. The shooter had already wounded two students.

Gaskill’s act of instinct and heroism effectively kept the incident from becoming a tragedy akin to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida back in February 2018. Video footage of that shooting shows school deputy Scot Peterson inactive and standing outside of the school as a mass shooting was underway. 17 people, most of them students, were killed. While it is unfair to place blame on Peterson for the tragedy itself, it is indicative of a divide between those school resource officers who are well trained for such situations and those who fail to act.

The need for universal training standards

There are no national standards in place for how student resource officers are trained for their jobs. Incredibly, there are is litany of states who also do not have standards in place. With a lack of regulation and coherent oversight, there is a massive lack of consistency when it comes to how student resource officers are prepared for situations such as the two aforementioned shootings. 

Furthermore, a student resource officer is crucial not only for how they respond in such situations but for their adeptness and awareness when it comes to their prevention. The current SRO training which does exist throughout our nation’s schools tends to focus on legal issues and security. A more comprehensive and nuanced take on training is necessary for these officers to spot warning signs such as symptoms of trauma, along with learning de-escalation techniques, issues surrounding bullying and cyberbullying, key factors of child development, and the care needed to work with special needs students.

A lack of training, or proper training

While there is a concerted call by researchers and criminal justice experts for extended and specialized training for our nation’s school resource officers, the fact remains that very few of the 19,000 or so school resource officers in our schools are trained. This alone could explain the difference in the responses by the officers of the Maryland and Florida shootings. Universal specialized training could spell the difference between life and death, near-death, and actual tragedy.

Furthermore, additional training in the use of and access to specialized equipment used to gain forcible entry to locked buildings and classrooms would help our school resource officers to be action-oriented as the moment happens, rather than having to wait for help and it potentially being too late. But, the key remains in prevention. If we can build an adequate training system for our school resource officers which helps them identify students at risk and act accordingly, tragic shootings like the one in Parkland can potentially be avoided altogether.

More often than not, education leaders are charismatic, outgoing, friendly, and approachable. They can speak with anyone in a calm, respectful, and engaging way. Educators want to work with people they like; you need to develop social skills to be the type of person that people want to be around.

How to build or sharpen your social skills

If you are an introvert like me, becoming a social butterfly may be a bit of stretch, but you don’t have to be. You just need to develop a decent set of social skills to be successful. Start off by thinking of people that seem to thrive socially. What common traits do they have? More than likely, they are the type of person that has never met a stranger and has natural charisma and, as a byproduct, comes off as bring approachable.

Now that we know the observable traits of people with good social skills, how can we develop them in ourselves? Start off by practicing a social skill that is easy to master. For instance, tomorrow, speak to everyone that you meet and ask how they are doing. Although this may not come naturally, notice the responses that you get.

Most people will speak back and ask you how you are doing in return. Many of these exchanges will be the starting points for a reciprocal conversation and a chance to learn something new about the person. Even if their next remark is about the weather, it can be used as a conversation starter.

Continue to do this for about a month, and it will begin to feel like second nature. You will gradually start to feel more outgoing and approachable, and others will see you in this way as well. As far as charisma goes, most of us have it, but we just don’t show it. As you continue your journey, you will notice that your natural personality will begin to shine through, and this is all the charisma that you will ever need.

Education leaders must be comfortable talking in front of large crowds. Public speaking is required in situations that can range from conducting a meeting to pitching an innovative idea in a room full of other education leaders. Not only is this essential for you to be able to get your message across, but it improves your trustworthiness as an education leader.

Becoming the best public speaker that you can be

If you are like me, then public speaking is not your forte, but as I have learned over the years, it is not as hard as it looks. I used to prepare incessantly for meetings and speaking engagements, only do an ok, bare-bones job. You know what I found out, I was overpreparing and overthinking things. After this revelation, I started a regimen of adequately preparing for talks and meetings and then letting it go, focusing on the next task at hand. I told myself you are prepared, and as long as you follow your heart, things will work out.

It turns out, I was always enough, I just had to shut off the voice inside of my head. Nowadays, speaking in front of audiences is much easier, as I prepare and move on to the next task like its second nature. I know I have the expertise and skills to handle any meeting, talk, or question that comes my way. I am not saying that you should follow my regimen, I am saying you should find your own process for handling meetings and speaking engagements. Ultimately, you can decide what approach works best for you and your personality.

Concluding thoughts

Here is another tip for improving your public speaking skills. Join your local Toastmasters International club, and you will become a better speaker in no time. Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization that operates clubs worldwide to help people perfect their communication and public speaking skills. I have plenty of friends that are members, and it has worked for them.

There are no more secrets today; everything worth knowing is on the internet. That is why transparency is the best way to go for educational leaders. People respect those who share and react calmly to positive and negative news and act accordingly. We operate in a transparent world, and we must use it to our advantage.

Unfortunately, I have worked for several school districts and universities that did not believe in total transparency. If the information could be potentially damaging to senior-level administration, it would be buried or delayed until a time deemed more fortuitous.

What a lack of transparency looks like in higher education

For instance, delaying data that shows that the university’s graduation rate has fallen 5 percent over the last 5 years, and releasing this information after the football team finishes their season with a bowl win and the school experiences record-setting numbers in alumni and corporate giving. Then blaming the graduation rate on area high schools who graduate students who are not ready for college and subsequently drop out because they can’t handle the rigor.

The alumni buy the story, and the university and area school districts form a coalition aimed at helping high school students enter college prepared to tackle college-level work. The university’s administration ends up being praised for being proactive on the matter and helping to clean up the big mess that K-12 made.

What a lack of transparency looks like in K-12

Let me give you an example from the K-12 arena. My hometown school district was in dire financial straits. Things where so bad that the district’s bank accounts where constantly overdrawn. People in the town knew that money was tight, but they did not know that the district was bankrupt. This would have gone on for several more months, but a central office employee became a whistleblower and informed the state department of education. Of course, this was the right thing to do.

The truth of the matter is, the school board and the superintendent knew exactly how bad things were, but they did nothing. They were too concerned about their positions and reputations, and their arrogance led them to think that they could turn things around before things fell apart. They should have been transparent about the situation and informed the state department of education, their employees, and the citizens. Things were bad, but their lack of transparency made things untenable.

At the end of the day, the kids suffered. The quality of the education that they received was inadequate before, during, and after this crisis. At the end of the day, the state took over the school and stabilized its finances. There were minor increases in academic performance, but the state did not understand the economic, social, and cultural complexities of the district. After about 10 years of being led by a state team, the district is now under local control. Just one of the many nightmarish scenarios that can happen when education leaders are not transparent and put their needs before those of children.

Most people will accept your decisions, as long as they are fair. However, if they believe that your decisions, such as promotions or task assignments, are biased, then they will resent your leadership and possibly file a complaint with your higherups or Human Resources. That is why effective education leaders are fair, sensible, and have sound judgment when making decisions.

Becoming more sensible

How can you accomplish this? When making any type of decision, take a step back and think about what course of action you are leaning towards. What is your motivation for making that choice? Is it because it is what is best for the organization? Is it a decision that will create a win-win for everyone involved? Or is it based on personal feelings (positive or negative) that you have about a person, group, school, department?

If it is the latter, you need to check your ego at the door and realize that you are displaying poor leadership character. Instead of serving others, you are serving yourself and your ego. Great leaders make the right decision, even if it means promoting or elevating someone who is one of their rivals. What matters most is that this person gives the leadership team the best chance at winning. So do yourself a favor and be sensible in your decision making. Over time, you will see a difference it makes.

A little homework

In the coming weeks, even if you consider yourself to be a sensible person, work on the skill nonetheless. What do you start to notice about your interactions with other people? Are they starting to treat you differently, but in a good way? This is more than likely because they are starting to see another side of you, one that makes them reassess their original perception of your leadership.

Now that your level of sensibility is starting to increase, you give your peers and employees the impression that you will make sound, fair decisions in every situation, which makes them trust you even more. Now your relationships have been strengthened, all because you became a little more sensible.

Education leaders do not hesitate or appear fearful in any aspect of their lives. They take the lead despite the possible dangers. It doesn’t mean that they have an absence of fear, it means that they keep pushing forward even when they are afraid. That is what makes brashness such an important leadership trait. It’s like a superpower for education leaders. Brashness does not mean recklessly offending others in the process, it means doing the right thing even if you ruffle a few feathers.

A little brashness is needed

By working on your leadership character and, more specifically, your ability to lead courageously, you can begin to implement a little brashness into your leadership toolkit. Remember, this means making the right decision regardless of how you will be viewed by others. For instance, even if it means being alienated by everyone in their school district, a courageous superintendent will make choices based on what is best for everyone involved, especially the students.

Yes, being brash will mean that you will ruffle a lot of feathers and make you a divisive figure, but when you lead with your heart, good things tend to happen. It’s strange that when people get a brash new leader, most are excited. They will tell you that you are just the person to clean up some of the issues that have been plaguing the organization. They want you to hold people accountable, but when it’s their time to be judged, they sing a different tune. Don’t worry about them, they will be ok. Just keep leading with your heart and doing what is best for the students and not the adults.

Concluding thoughts

Brashness has gotten a bad rap over the years. Most people view it as being overly assertive and downright rude, but I look at it as being a bit harsh, but only when it is the only possible reaction. Sure, I advocate being nice to people, but sometimes people can take your kindness for weakness. Sometimes, they don’t get the message until you show your bad side. Then they realize the importance and seriousness of the matter.

To give your followers the feedback and support they need to be successful, you need to make a genuine effort to listen when other people are speaking. Most people are waiting for their turn to speak, great education leaders speak second and listen first. While others are speaking, they use this time to fully comprehend what the person is saying and also observe their facial expressions and body language. When it is their time to speak, they have most of the information that they need to make proper responses.

Listening 101

Listening is not just about being quiet; you also need to ask the right questions. After listening to someone speak, you should always ask clarifying questions to clean up any misconceptions and get your facts straight. This, coupled with the information that you learned from listening and observing body language, will give you all of the information that you need to respond with an informed, thoughtful response.

Being a good listener gives people the impression that you are honest, trustworthy, and interested in helping them succeed. It will also help you make the best possible decision and come across as being firm, fair, and consistent. Because of this, never stop working on your listening skills, as there is always room for improvement.

A little homework

If you are not a great listener, in the coming weeks, make a conscious decision to allow the people with whom you are communicating with to speak before making your response. Do this, as if your life depends on it. After about two weeks, ask yourself, how are my interactions and relationships with others starting to change? You should notice that you are starting to understand the experiences of the viewpoints of others more fully. This allows you to be more compassionate and nuanced in your responses.

It also helps you to get to know who they really are, which is a crucial part of developing meaningful working relationships. Other people will start to appreciate what a thoughtful listener you are and see you as a magnanimous leader that seeks to understand before making assumptions. All in all, everyone wins. Keep up the good work.

Education leaders stay true to the things that make them unique and tirelessly move towards their goals despite outside pressures to conform or change. Hard-work, dedication, and long-term focus are essential to genuine leadership. Genuine leaders are not trying to be prototypical, they are trying to be themselves. They understand that trying to be like someone else will leave you exhausted and unfulfilled.

You need to work on your authenticity

How can you become a genuine leader? Decide early on in your leadership career what your principles and core values are going to be. Use these to guide your decision making and don’t second guess yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of attempting to make the decision that someone else would make, make the decision that your heart is calling you to make. Remember, there is only one of you, and you have all of the charisma and wisdom that you need to stand on your own. In the end, genuine leaders reap the benefits of breaking the mold and following their own path. They experience longevity in the field of education, and people love their authenticity.

So the next time you feel as though you have to fit into a certain mold to be respected or accepted, resist this urge and be yourself. In the end, you have to go home and look at yourself in the mirror. If you are not being yourself, then you will not like what you see.

Concluding thoughts

Believe you me, there have been plenty of times when I either felt like I needed to conform to someone else preferences or was pressured to do so. In the end, I resented the individuals that attempted to make me conform, as I knew I would be selling my soul as a leader and compromising my individuality.

I resisted, and in the end, I prevailed, eventually deciding to move out on my own and become my own boss. I am not saying that entrepreneurship is your path, but when a company does not respect your individuality, it is time to make a change. Who knows what your change will be or look like.

When you are laser-focused on your goals, it can be challenging to focus on the needs and feelings of other people. But in education, leading with your heart is essential. You need to be aware of how your actions affect people and what you need to do to show sympathy and empathy for others.

Empathy and sympathy are essential

For most of us, displaying sympathy and empathy is easy. It is natural for us to place ourselves in other people’s shoes and imagine how we would feel in that situation. We, in turn, treat them the way that we would like to be treated in that situation, so we respond with kindness and compassion. Sometimes this means bending the rules, sometimes this just means bending over backward. In the end, it is worth it because we get to lessen the suffering of another human being.

For others, being sympathetic and empathetic is not second nature to them. They just don’t have the capacity to put themselves in other people’s shoes and treat them as they would like to be treated. They just see everything as being business and not personal. Unfortunately, this type of attitude will get you in trouble in the field of education. Essentially, you will end looking like Scrooge.

Becoming more compassion

So how can someone who is not naturally empathetic, learn to be? Well, as I eluded to earlier, if you are an education leader, you don’t have a choice. You will be dealing with children who are vulnerable and impacted negatively by adults with a lack of empathy or sympathy. I assume that there is someone in your life that you love. How would you want them to be treated? I assume you would want others to treat them with compassion, right? Well, how can you want this for them, and be unwilling to do it for others?

Hopefully, from this perspective, you can begin to see that leading with compassion is not a difficult thing to do; you just need to approach it from a place of selflessness. It may seem unnatural to put others first, but try it out for a while, and over time it will become second nature.