Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it (Marian Anderson)

Photo by Skyler Gerald on Unsplash

Understanding the needs of others is the most important aspect of this quote. That's at the heart of servant leadership.

In schools, 'others' includes students, parents, teachers, support staff. So, it's obviously tricky for leaders who find themselves needing to balance a variety of competing needs, but Marian's words hold a basic truth than many leaders struggle to appreciate.

Seth Godin frames this as a great question for leaders/ managers: How do we create the conditions for our people to get to where they are heading?

Metal guru has it been just like a silver-studded sabre-tooth dream? (T Rex)

Photo by Mathias Jensen on Unsplash

I'm currently working my way through a six week leadership programme - from the Center for Creative Leadership (sic). It's snazzily called Frontline Leader Impact!

Currently, I'm on week two of six.

It's an enjoyable way to consider a key challenge that I'm currently thinking about.

I chose the District Principal themed one from a few posts ago.

Here's where I am at:

• My focus will be on the areas/skills/strategies I need to develop to be effective as a District Principal.
• Greater alignment with what is happening in other similar regions (North America, Europe); a greater sense of what the role entails; a greater understanding around what my CPs need to adjust to working within this new organizational structure; what strategies I could use to be successful in this role; what skills I need to develop to be successful in this role.
• In summary - How might I develop my skills and strategies to be an effective District Principal?

There is no land but the land (up there is just a sea of possibilities) (Patti Smith)

Photo by Acton Crawford on Unsplash

Teacher inquiry time again. What could I do this year?

Some random thoughts:

Last year's inquiry was focused on our Learning Centre. I came up with some next steps which I could focus on.

I could revisit my deeper learning inquiry from a few years ago.

I could look at a leadership topic. I have a six week course to complete this year. The course title is Frontline Leader Impact, so I'll need something in the leadership vein to focus on for that.

Always good to combine things if I can.

Some possibilities:

• The effectiveness of teacher interventions on lower performing students
• How I could be more effective as a District Principal
• Improving the avenues for promotion and career advancement within OSG
• Revisiting my thesis on programmes for aspiring Principals and making suggestions for OSG 
• Comparing leadership styles/approaches of those in the corporate world - Jeff Bezos etc and seeing how they could apply to OSG
• Culture impact on organisations - Looking at lessons from the best sports organisations

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities (Stephen Covey)

Currently, I am leading/supporting three OneSchool Global campuses (Palmerston North, Hastings, and Gisborne) and that's a very privileged thing for me to be doing, as it provides a window into the various leadership teams in those campuses.

All are very different and all are very successful.

As well as that I have a recent memory of the Maungituroto campus (where I was Campus Principal from 2017 to 2018).

So, not counting my two campuses in England, I have knowledge and a very particular set of skills gained from experiences fronting the leadership structures in four OSG New Zealand campuses.

My over-riding take away - the leaders in all four campuses are all very different people, with different strengths, and that's why they are so good.

So, this post is a special shout out to the strong leaders in those four campuses: Mandy; Terese; Justine, Rebecca, and Sonja.

They are exceptional people who have done/are doing a phenomenal job in their roles (Junior Lead Teachers or Learning Leader in Sonja's case) and I have learnt a lot from each one by observing their very different leadership styles. 

They certainly provide superb evidence to back up Covey's point.

Imagination is more important than knowledge (Einstein)

Photo by Karine Germain on Unsplash

We're knee deep in election coverage in New Zealand; everywhere I go there are billboards advertising political parties and leaders; all the noise is about the changes that need to happen! So buy our brand!

An aspect that is sometimes forgotten when change is mooted in any forum is the one that articulates a dynamic vision for the future.

It's always advantageous to provide a vision story, one that explains where we're going. It grabs people's imagination and let's them board the train to a worthwhile destination.

According to Paul Smith, “A vision is a picture of the future so compelling, people want to go there with you.” 

All it takes is a story that captures the emotion of the vision and connects people to what life will be like when you get there.

As Einstein knew in 1924, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution".

Pretty simple really, but it's a story that is not often told I find.

War! Hah, what is it good for? (Edwin Starr)

Ever since I was a nipper I have been captivated by the example of Winston Churchill. This is an on-going appreciation (recently I watched Darkest Hour and rewatched Dunkirk on Netflix).

He features in this excellent piece from Time magazine's look at ten lessons from history of what makes a great leader.

Education is not war, but the lessons do apply to school life!

If I were you, I'd make it better (Al Green)

Painful leadership vs inspirational leadership.

The Leadership Freak blog by the wonderful Dan Rockwell recently highlighted this distinction.

His painful list included:  

• Nit-pickers  
• Ball-droppers  
• Drama-makers  
• Down-in-the-mouthers  
• Hand-wringers

These unattractive characteristics don't require any further explanation. 

According to Dan, on the other side of the leadership coin (yes, I know, it's not a binary situation but this is still cool and relevant) are leaders who:

• Care deeply about relationships - (it’s not just results) 
• Invite and act on feedback 
• Advance the agenda of others, without sacrificing your own 
• Understand the difference between advising and advocating 
• Say what others fear saying

I'll be aiming to keep these two models in mind as I move back into a senior leadership role for 2017.

Sitting on a cornflake waiting for the van to come (The Beatles)

One of my missions during the Review and Reflect process (or is it Reflect and Review?) this year is to investigate my skills more thoroughly. Clearly, one of which isn't remembering stuff like which comes first - review or reflect, but I digress.

We have a function on Kamar, our school's student management system, that profiles potential pathways for students based on their results, so I thought it might be worthwhile for me to do this too.

Larry Kim's Four Dimensions of Personality Type is a potential reference for this investigation. So I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Basically these four dimensions are:

• Energy Style: introverts and extraverts 
• Thinking Style: sensors and intuitives 
• Values Style: feelers and thinkers 
• Life Style: judgers and perceivers  

Although I'm wary of the science here, sometimes these rubrics can be useful. 

Calculating a personality type begins with identifying which of the two types in each of the four personality dimensions best describe you. For example, maybe you are an ESTJ (extravert, sensor, thinker, judger). 

Once your selections are made, you are led to one of four career categories:

• Pragmatists: enjoy using logical systems to generate results;
• Caretakers: enjoy work when they can do things that help others;
• Theorists: interested in careers that allow them to think outside the box; or
• Empaths: enjoy careers that make the world a better place.

So, what about me? Well, at various times I'm across all four categories, but generally, I fit more into Caretaker and Empath categories.

What does that mean?

Well, apart from my teaching career, it seems I could have also explored one of the following professions: child care director; recreation director; social worker; non-profit director; PR specialist; writer; school counsellor; interior designer; travel writer; librarian.

My LinkedIn profile also gives some apposite information.

Clearly, my colleagues think my top skills, via my career in education to date, lend themselves to educational leadership and management! Nice!

It's a start.