LEADERSHIP COACHING: INFLUENCERS OF CHANGE
I have been thinking about this quote lately from Kenneth Blanchard - “The key to being a successful leader today is not authority, it is influence.”
I believe the best leaders are able to influence us in positive ways regardless of how long we have been in education. Admittedly, most of what I believe in, model my ideas from, and emulate who I aspire to be like has been profoundly impacted by people I genuinely admire and respect. They are my "influencers." They are people just like you and me who have shaped my fundamental belief system in what it means to be a leader. Whether I have known them for years, months, or only days, the power of time and knowledge doesn't discriminate. It doesn't care. What it does care about is how another person’s words, beliefs, and/or actions move us to want to take our own action. In other words, they influence us and move us in a way that makes us strive to want to influence others in a similar way.
Years ago while I was completing my clinical for my Superintendent’s license, I had a discussion with a district leader who asked me if I would be interested in attending his professional development session. Professional development session? I wondered if I had heard correctly. He then explained to me that this was his time with his building leaders to teach and try and influence their thinking on leadership and teaching. Wow, I thought to myself. How refreshing it was to hear someone I had just met share something I felt should be common sense, but yet when he shared it, it seemed remarkably profound. So I asked myself, “Was I modeling that same type of leadership to my team and my staff?” Although I wanted to believe I was, there were times I knew I got caught in the managerial side of things that needed to be done because in those moments I felt there was so much that needed to get done!
That experience changed me. The simple idea of taking time to invest in others so that our focus never sways from what is most important – that we are agents of influence and that we must be a learning leader in order to have the greatest impact on our students and staff.
Here are 5 Ways You Can Influence Others
1. Sense of Purpose: If you are going to bring a team of people together, make sure there is a purpose to what you want to accomplish and communicate what it is you want them to take away from your time together. When your purpose is consistently clear, your team will walk away with a feeling of accomplishment and so will you.
2. Maintain Focus: We must not lose sight of the fact that we are all teachers so therefore, our focus should be on modeling what we expect our teachers and building leaders to do – teach. Book studies are a powerful way to reflect on and discuss how a staff can come to an understanding of the characteristics and practices that effective teachers and leaders have in common and more importantly, are willing to commit to in order to influence each other in meaningful ways.
3. Share the Positive: We must recognize that the positive stories we are writing about in our schools can sometimes take months and even years to develop and write. High performing cultures don’t get wrapped up in all of the problems and things that are not going well. Stay committed to the positive and even the smallest of victories that occur each day in your experiences with students and staff. An example question – “What is one story you can share about a student, parent and/or a colleague that influenced your thinking or behavior in a positive way that you will carry forward from this moment on?” When we are intentional in our support and our purpose, we can build and establish a community that states, “We are one team!”
4. Learn From Your Team: To a fault, many building and district leaders can get caught in feeling they have to have all of the answers when in reality, they don’t. None of us do. But sometimes the pressure to solve all of the problems clouds our judgment and we forget that we can rely on our team to guide us through these challenging times. The next time you are feeling pressured to make a decision, come prepared to share your vision, ideas, documents, etc., and work that you yourself have invested in to address the dilemma, and discuss your plan with your leadership team and ask them to review the information. Ask them what is being done, what is not being done, what is working well, what is not working well and what if anything needs to be added or eliminated. In other words, ask your team for their help and input and allow them to help you develop a goal/plan that you will ultimately be held responsible for, but trust your team to help you develop it.
5. Follow Through: Whenever you ask for feedback or someone comes to you with a concern, or you take the time to share a building/district wide issue with your team or staff that is bothering you and you ask for help, be sure you follow back up, communicate a plan, and then act. People don’t always expect their leaders to solve every problem, but they do expect you to listen, gather information, seek out the cause of the issue, communicate what you found it, and then take some type of action to resolve the concern. As I stated above, we must be willing to demonstrate that we value our team member’s opinion, feedback and help, but more importantly, be willing to follow through with action.
Listening to others, watching closely, and emulating those leaders who have demonstrated the skills necessary to lead and inspire others can not only have a profound impact on our ability to lead effectively, but can move us to want to be great!. After a lifetime in education, I am reminded again how we must allow ourselves the opportunities to be influenced in positive ways if we aim to inspire others in a similar way to be impacted by our words, our beliefs and our actions.
I am blessed to be surrounded by outstanding colleagues and educators who shape and influence my thought process on a daily basis. I am sincerely honored to be a part of your circle of greatness.
So ask yourself, how are you allowing others to influence you in positive ways?
Each week I share out 1 Reflection, 2 Ideas, and 1 Resource for you to consider that I hope will encourage you to explore new and better practices in your daily work. My aspirations are to support you and others in developing your skills and shifting your thinking so you will invest in your own development and maybe, just maybe I can inspire you to want to live your excellence so you can bring your best self to school every day!
Live your excellence…
Jimmy
INFLUENCERS OF CHANGE: 121
1 REFLECTION
By investing our personal time and energy in others, even through the simplest of actions, we can play a part in helping others become better. And at the same time, we become better.
2 IDEAS
Reflection: The fact is many of us in leadership roles don’t take enough time to reflect on the things that are going to help us improve our organizations. We dwell too much on what is not working rather than spend time reflecting on what we can do to make it better. Practice a Daily 5 with your team - ask each team member after a problem has been resolved to take a mere 5 minutes to reflect and write down how together, we can manage it better for future reference. Then share out written reflections with the entire team. This simple process can take leaders to another level when it comes to staying ahead of issues that can sometimes deter us from more meaningful tasks. What a great opportunity to teach, develop & build a culture of shared leadership.
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Honor a Staff Member: How many times have a team of leaders at the building level come together to talk negatively about a staff member’s performance? Or perhaps you have observed this happen at the district level where building level principals are questioned about their decisions or practices in a negative manner by members of the central office? Let me tell you how refreshing it is when leaders take a different approach - “Talk about a staff member that has made tremendous progress this year?” Start with this question the next time you meet with your team. A great leader recognizes her success depends on the success of her staff and/or principals. Substitute the negative talk with positive success stories in order to model and cultivate the culture of excellence we all strive for in our buildings/organizations.
1 RESOURCE
Students are inherently the most important people entering our school building. The Students 1st Banquet is designed to recognize the accomplishments of students who have overcome adversity and personal challenges in order to reach their full potential in school. The nominating process calls for staff members to recommend those students who improve or maintain excellence in their academics, attendance, behavior, or overall citizenship. This recognition is a testament to the positive impact these students make to the school community. Families are invited to be on hand to celebrate their student’s success. The banquet is a formal dignified event, including a dinner and a keynote speaker who provides a testimonial to their personal challenges and the skills they utilized to overcome adversity and succeed in life. Moreover, the Students 1st Banquet allows students to recognize the accomplishments and support provided by staff members who championed for them. Students 1st recipients invite a selected staff member to the banquet and write a testimonial regarding the positive impact the staff member made on them by taking a personal interest in them as a student and recognizing their potential. Below is a video you can use a first step to launch your own program.
Video: Students 1st Banquet
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