Reflection On School Leadership

REFLECTING ON SCHOOL LEADERSHIP.

You and I discussed the role or function of a principal during the last term in 2016 which I said I would think about - this gave me a lot of food for thought and took me back to my role in leadership and how I managed. This is what I decided.

I see a school principal’s role as one of leadership – not management. Management – at least the admin side of it - can be left to others if necessary, but if you are not an effective leader either somebody else will step in and fill that role or even worse there will be discord in the ranks due to that lack of leadership.

Challenges you will face:

To be an effective leader in a school is a challenging exercise.

• School principals work in a field where everyone considers

Challenge/encourage your staff to think and debate.

• Be able to handle failure and mistakes and bounce back – that is how you grow. See failure and errors as challenges to learn and improve.

• Be committed to an ethical leadership – integrity and openness are paramount. You have to be honest particularly in difficult situations – don’t change something you have done or said to put yourself in a better light. Own up to your mistakes and bad decisions, apologise, people will admire you for this and you will grow in stature. This is how you start to be an ethical leader.

• Stick your neck out for something you believe is right. You have to be able to do this - if you can’t do this, what makes you think you can lead? You have to be able to stand up for what is right in any situation – at times it takes guts to stand up to the powers that be – but if you believe in your idea, your staff or what is right, then it’s worth fighting for it or them against all odds.

• Have planning and organizing skills as well as the ability to prioritise – or at least look as though you do!

- You need goal-setting

• First and foremost get rid of your ego! Your job is about leading your staff, your pupils – the school. It is not about you and your status. It is about whether you really have what it takes to be an effective leader. Do your staff think you are effective? What changes would they like? Ask them and learn!

• Develop the frame of reference from which you want to operate, One that values, among other things, the staff’s input and suggestions.

• Brainstorming should become a way of life at meetings or discussion groups, not an unusual event. Create an environment which will welcome, support and reward innovative thinking and problem solving. Develop an “idea factory” (I saw this phrase somewhere, can’t remember where.) which will consistently generate creative thinking. You will find this invaluable if you are to make sound decisions. Remember Britney inviting politicians of various parties to talk to our first time voters in matric? Or Lynne’s innovative way of doing the Bible Quiz? That was innovative/creative