Have you ever met a great leader? If so, what attributes made you so confident that you were in the presence of such a model? If you had the opportunity to inherit one competency or personality trait that would bring you closer to join the Great Leader Club, what would you wish for?
Some Biblical characters may give you some ideas. In his dream, Solomon asked for wisdom and received much more. Nehemiah demonstrated courage as he and others rebuilt the wall. Moses demonstrated meekness as he led the Israelites.
Dr. Todd Whitaker, a professor of educational leadership at Indiana State University, provides some ideas in his book entitled What Great Principals Do Differently. Based on his experience, research, and consulting; Dr. Whittaker shares 18 findings that matter most. Think about this statement from that book: “...the quality of the teachers determines our perceptions of the quality of the school” (p. 5).
Let’s try a little exercise to illustrate. You are starting a new school. Parts of the new school include parents, programs, support staff, playground, students, board members, teachers, and facilities. You have the power to place either the adjective AVERAGE or GREAT in front of those school parts. You may only classify one as GREAT. Which one would it be?
Jim Collins in Good to Great wrote the oft-quoted sentence “...get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus.” Dr. Whittaker’s advice is “...to get better teachers or improve the teachers you already have.”
Your leadership is about people. After all the meetings, all the planning, all the organization, all the visioning; the main focus needs to be student learning. All the activities are completed so that students engage in beautiful, authentic learning to aid them in fulfilling God’s plan for the world and their role in it. The person in the organization with most control over that aspect is the teacher.
So, what is the one competency or character trait I would like to inherit to make me part of the Great Leader Club? I want to search my family tree and DNA for the ability to hire teachers well. If can get that under my belt, the rest should be a breeze!
REFERENCES
Collins, Jim. 2001. Good to Great. Toronto: Harper Collins.
Whitaker, Todd. 2013. What Great Principals Do Differently. New York: Routledge.