Especially when we’re starting out as a school leader or we have new members join our team, we want to present ourselves as the person with all the answers. It makes sense. When people come to us with a problem, we want to give clear direction, not have them leaving our conversation thinking “She just doesn’t understand.”
I call this leadership fraud. I have experienced it and I’m sure you have too. We get told that if in doubt, we have to fake it until we make it. However, that does not serve you and it certainly doesn’t help your teachers. Contrary to what we might think, we don’t actually need to have all the answers.
We’re into July now, which means we’re switching up the theme for the podcast for the next few weeks. This month’s theme follows on from the last theme of influence and is vital in applying the work we have done over the last few podcasts.
I was in New York recently for a networking event with some amazing people. They were the kind of people that when you are speaking to them, they really care and they want to know absolutely everything about you. Just the way these people were was so eye-opening to me and I came back with a ton of realizations around influence to share with you guys.
We are now into June, and that means that most of you, if not all of you, are at the end of your school year. That’s amazing, you did it! But you and I both know, it’s not long before you have to really focus on what’s to come next year.
We’re are officially into June now, and the topic that I have for you this month is absolutely critical for any effective leader. We’re talking about influence and how to be an influential leader. Some people think of influence as being manipulative or consider it a somewhat dirty word, but that attitude is not going to get you anywhere.
As we’ve discussed this month on the podcast, acting courageously as a school leader is incredibly important. We’ve discussed what courage is at length on the show, but what specific things can you do as a principal to act in courage every single day?
One goal that almost every client I have had wants for their life is to be able to act in courage. When I ask them what that really means for them, the common response will center around not feeling fear when it comes to making decisions and taking action.
