Courageous Leaders

A courageous leader is like a lighthouse who shines the path for others regardless of the weather conditions.”
 

Schools are busy places and getting busier. There are many issues pulling principals from pillar to post on a daily basis. Those issues bubble up from the bottom and surface all at once absorbing valuable time from principal’s core business. It seems like the well- intentioned plans for the day are hijacked by unforeseen circumstances be it the people kind or system kind.

It feels like every problem lands on your desk for a solution. You feel like saying “Problems get to the back of the queue and solutions come to the front.”
And that is what principals want more of. Solutions to problems that have not arrived. Problems that never made it in the queue because they were resolved by outside forces.
 

Who are these outside forces? The level of leadership that sits underneath the Deputy Principals.
 

Team leaders. Phase Leaders. Department Heads are all potential Courageous Leaders. These educators are an underutilised asset waiting to be unleashed and reach their potential. Every principal should be developing this level of leadership as another resource
for problem solving and issue resolution.
 

Do you recognise any of the following deficits in your leaders that are barriers to having more solutions than problems?
1. Collaborative meetings and not productive.
2. Leaders don’t keep individuals accountable.
3. Leaders are confused with exactly what their role is.
4. Leaders lack the confidence to answer staff problems.
5. Staff are distracting administration with problems that should be handled by leaders.
6. Leaders lack conflict resolution strategies.
 

Why is this? Leaders revert to Confused Peers rather than rise to Courageous Leader.
 

The time has come to create Courageous Leaders who understand what it takes to support educators to be their self.
 

How do I help?

• Deliver eight on-site leadership coaching sessions over a year to bridge the gap between confused peer and courageous leader.

• Conduct and discuss leadership challenges.

• Collect leadership data for insights on themselves.

• Complete reflection challenges to break self-imposed barriers and build courage to lead others.

• Connect to other Courageous Leaders on a monthly basis via the Courageous Leaders Network.

 

On conclusion they will be:

• Courageous leaders who inspire others.

• Confident in having difficult conversations with team members.

• Aware of their leadership strengths and challenges.

• Able to guide their team members to their own solutions.

• Able to hold team members accountable for their commitment.

• Confident in running a productive Collaborative Meeting.

• Create a space for team members to grow against the AITSIL standards.

 

What now?
Consider your current leader’s quality of leadership training and development?
Now consider your expectations of them to allow you to do your core business?
I doubt the development equals the expectations.
The least you could do is to explore the options of partnering with a Leadership Coach who is 100% vested in the development of leadership skills and strategies that impact school performance.