As I trailblazed a path through the weekly discussions around the web, I came across my weekly digest of TEDtalk. Armed with my cuppa, I ploughed my way through a few different topics. As always, I found the talks engaging, but they always seem to ignite my passion for what I believe leadership should be and how it should be allowed to encompass everyone that is exposed to it, especially within the realms of education. So I started thinking is there a top 5 signs of a leader?
As I listened to Simon Sinek, Peter Northouse and Roselaide Torres, I realized that everyone tries to identify what an excellent leader is by using their own examples and definitions. This got me thinking that maybe a Leader is only mystical figurehead. As I read on I began to appreciate that these people also felt the need to seek out and separate Leadership from being a Manager in this modern world.
Management always resonated with me growing up as a fantastic job title to have, but with my experiences in life it brings more questions than answers. Managers these days it seems are as popular as fuelling my car with leaded fuel or buying my next coat made from polar bear. I guess shark fin soup is also off the menu.
So here are my top 5 traits of a successful Leader.
- People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.
Great Leaders inspire not only the people they work with, but also everybody else involved in the system. If I look at education, then this includes children, kitchen porters and everyone from the front office to the janitor. Everyone believes in the Principals’ vision that the school is based on for success. This is the reason that staff want to work there and parents want their children to go there.
- Great leaders dare to be different.
Does a school need to run 8-3pm 5 days a week? Steve jobs wanted to get into education and turn it upside down with his voucher system, would it have worked? Who knows. There is no rule that says it has to be this way or that way, comfort is generated from conformity. Set your own rules and others around you will find comfort with you.
- Trust and Cooperation is the feeling that flourishes in the workplace as a result of action by a leader.
Some people come to work because that’s how they earn a living to pay the bills, and they will have managers who in turn, come to work to earn money to pay the bills and that is how work is viewed. Of course, this is completely fine; if that’s what you aspire to do. But to develop trust and cooperation, you don’t need to be a manager; you don’t even need to have a position of power. Leaders are all around us. They create an environment that everyone feels they can trust and become themselves in, instead of feeling they need to conform. It’s just harder to see them through the bureaucracy. If its hard to work out who is in charge, then when you do eventually figure it out, they will most likely be an excellent Leader.
- Leaders create a work environment where people don’t fear the very people they work for.
It’s a lot harder to see people be the best they can be when they are so frightened of getting something wrong. People should be allowed to make mistakes, get things wrong, ask questions and challenge the norms. They should be allowed to learn from their experiences. It will encourage people to become better, and in education, a teacher that strives to better themselves is worth their weight in gold.
- Leaders will be those who empower others.
A leader should be the one who encourages all staff around them to make their own decisions. Give staff your trust and the ability to take decisions and they will repay your with fortitude, resilience and loyalty. School leaders should be able to recognize the strengths and attributes of the team they have working for them, they should explore, develop and seek to create the independent, critical thinking.
These attributes are only my opinions of how I feel a Leader should conduct themselves in order to succeed, regardless of the industry they work in. Being able to empower a staff can be very liberating, but hard to do. It reminds me of skiing. In order to fully control skiis, you need to lean forward facing down the mountain. This of course, is the last thing you want to do as everything in your mind and body is screaming otherwise. But when you have the confidence to let go, only then can you really appreciate the benefits and reap the rewards.
Leadership for me is having the ability to think differently, having the confidence to dare to be different and allowing people the freedom to buy into my idea about how education can be improved in the future. It’s about starting something new, some would even say its about starting a movement.
Derek Sivers talks about creating a movement, well can this applied to any industry? Even education?
Does any of my thoughts resonate with you? How do you feel reading this?
I would love to read your thoughts, opinions and feedback as always. Please feel free to comment and share.
Thomas Rolt 