Growing Leaders

This year I have had the privilege of working with emerging leaders in our schools. I would like to share with you three of my learnings from this experience.

1.   Work life balance

New leaders are struck by the extra work coming their way when they take on leadership roles. Not only do they have to continue to balance their teaching responsibilities with their home lives, but now balance their leadership responsibilities with their teaching and home lives. New leaders want to prove themselves in their new leadership roles and hence find they need to spend extra time on this work. It is hard for them not to let their teaching or home lives suffer as a result.

2.   Hard conversations

New leaders naturally balk at the prospect of having hard conversations with their team members and colleagues. However, they gradually realise the longer they are in their leadership roles, the greater importance they need to place on having such conversations, not only for their short term value, but certainly for the long term benefit.

3.   Forming staff

New leaders have great hopes for the students who come under their care. Inevitably, some teachers pay more attention to the needs of students than others. When leaders see some students getting insufficient attention, they feel caught. Should they, as leaders, intervene and give the extra help to the students themselves or is it preferable to work with the teachers who are directly responsible for the teaching of those students? The more experience leaders gain, the more they see it as important to work with the teachers to help them provide a better quality education for the students in their care rather than going and filling in the gaps themselves.

Is this your experience of growing leaders?  You are welcome to leave a comment below if you wish.

John McMahon