The 2nd class that I am enrolled in to obtain Principal Licensure is entitled Visionary Leadership.
Our text: “The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations” outlines 5 Practices of Exemplary Leaderships
Our first assignment was to determine what type of leader we think we are and what we aspire to be based on those 5 practices.
Here was the question:
Which of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership is easiest for you? why? Which presents you the most challenges to implement? Why? (we were also asked to highlight a leadership blog to support our answer)
Here is my answer:
Only just recently, I have adopted the “Challenge the Process” practice. I have read a few discussion threads that mentioned that this trait (or practice) is the most difficult to embrace, and with that I have to agree–it is difficult.
But, overtime, it gets easier. After teaching at my current school for over 8 years, I have found that my voice does really matter and that other teachers come to me when they need support, assistance, re-assurance, or confidentiality. It is only because of how I have been treated (I have found that I am considered a leader by other teachers) that I can now say that I am not afraid to “challenge the process”. I have learned to speak up at meetings, question administration, discuss issues and ideas, with tact. It has been a long learning process and I am sure that I am not finished learning how to do it even more effectively.
Of the 5 practices that I find the most difficult is “Enable others to act”. Now this isn’t always the case. I get along great with several of the teachers in my building, but there are a few that choose to separate themselves from the group, and I am having a difficult time communicating with them and enabling them. So I need to learn how to reach them – enable them?!?
I follow Dave Truss on Twitter and he has a great blog: “Dave Truss: Pair of dimes for your thoughts”. (Twitter: @datruss)
http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/leadership-and-capacity/
Dave is a Vice-Principal in Canada and I have been inspired by him in the past (and hopefully in the future). One of his blog posts from July entitled: Leadership and Capacity — he writes about making time for everything that is required in an administration position. He mentioned this quote:
“Stuff, not people. When things get really busy, and you can’t do everything, things will ‘fall off the back of your truck’. When that happens, make sure that it’s stuff, and not people.”
He writes further:
“I’m not sure if it is just my personal capacity, or if it is the role of an administrator in this day and age, but I’m really struggling with how much of my job is not about educational leadership, and how much of it is more managerial and even secretarial in nature…So how do I fit it all in? The reality is that I don’t want anything falling off the back of my truck. I want to have the capacity to effectively meet the managerial aspects of my leadership position AND also provide effective educational leadership.”
I thought that he really hit home on meeting the demands of administration and appealing to my inability to “enable others to act” difficulties – now I have some work to do…I can’t lose any people off my truck.