It’s almost July, and the perfect time to reflect on the 2018-2019 School year. Last year, I shared my thoughts about the first year in school leadership. Year two is over, and I have some additional thoughts. Perhaps they are not groundbreaking, but these two ‘agreements’ have been invaluable to me this year. Experience really is the best teacher, so bring on year three!
Leadership is a constant balance of dichotomies. Jocko Willink writes about this in his book, and boy is it true. As a leader, you are constantly in a battle of knowing how hard to push, when to say something, when to remain quiet and so on. One thought I found really powerful, and think about frequently is the dichotomy in relationships. We talk about relationships in education more than anything else it seems. But of course, relationships can be unprofessional if not plain inappropriate. You can be too close and too involved where staff feel like they can say things that may not be professional, or don’t see you as their leader. Of course, you can be too removed where you don’t even know a single thing about those you work with – tough family situations, challenges you can help with, or even their personal and professional goals. You can be so distant that those you work with won’t even share their struggles with you or give you honest feedback. Building and keeping appropriate relationships is one of the major dichotomies that I think is VERY tricky when it comes to leadership.
Leadership can be lonely – that’s actually a really good thing sometimes. I find that in the interest of shared decision making, I’m given a lot of information and data from numerous perspectives. We live in a world of podcasts, youtube, books, constant communication, and other “inputs.” These are important for personal and professional development, but the ability to sit and think on a problem, with no other minds involved, is critical. You have to able to shut the door, physical or otherwise, and think. Even with tons of input, shared philosophies, strongly upheld opinions- a decision will come down to you. Make sure you take time to think about your decision by yourself. This could be a single minute or an hour. I’ve enjoyed journaling for this reason – it allows specific time for reflection and deep thought. I’m still learning and growing in this area – but I loved the book Lead Yourself First as a way to begin the process of solitude and how it relates to leadership.
What’s next? Well, through deep thought and solitude, I realize more and more that next year, I have to work on delegation and building capacity. I’m big on servant leadership, but with the discussion of dichotomies above, I often find myself just doing things for people, rather than leading them to learn for themselves. That’s the dichotomy I’ll be working on next year, so please send any resources my way!
Sean D'Abreu 