PMP:080 A Reality Check for New or Aspiring Principals—10 Takeaways for the Road Ahead
Summary: The other night I was invited to visit a university classroom with sixteen educators who are working on graduate degrees in educational leadership. <br> I listened to each of them present vision and mission statements related to their work with students. It was obvious they had a strong understanding of the road ahead–they understood the “why” of school leadership. I was encouraged and optimistic thinking about the future of our schools in the hands of these potential leaders.<br> At the end of the evening, I was asked to say a few words to the students. I wanted to give them both a reality check as well as some encouraging reminders. So, I broke the conversation into two parts. Part I: Five things you should know about school leadership. And Part II: Five reasons why you will be strong school leaders. If you know someone preparing for a move into administration, these takeaways may be helpful for them too. Or they be good reminders for veteran admins who need a perspective check as well.<br> Part I: Five things you should know about school leadership<br> 1. You will fail.<br> I know this doesn’t seem encouraging, but I think it is important to realize that leadership comes with lots of challenges. I often tell new admins to imagine the most challenging moments from their classroom experiences—the day when you had a major conflict with a student you go home thinking about the rest of the evening. <br> Now multiply that ten times a day. Every day is different, but so many of them include resolving conflicts that are larger or more complex than what you encountered while teaching. Or at least those conflicts are yours to manage on a larger, school-wide scale now instead of for one classroom. The sooner you admit that you will not always do it perfectly the better.<br> Failing doesn’t mean you are a failure. It means you do your best with the information, policies, and relationships as you see them. Over time you become better at resolving conflicts. If you’re committed to constantly growing, you will keep trying new ideas or practices. No success comes without some failure. So be courageous and accept you won’t do the work with perfection.<br> 2. When you do fail, learn from it and take the next best step.<br> Knowing you will not always be perfect doesn’t mean not being professional or decisive. When you have good policies, procedures and people, you will have the best structure for managing a school like a good classroom. But when you make the wrong call, take a breath, assess what can be done differently the next step. And then keep moving forward with new knowledge in hand.<br> For instance, I remember one time when I accused a girl for a theft from a locker. The incident had happened after school in a dark hallway, and her description matched some sketchy footage from on our school camera. But as I probed further, I realized I had the wrong kid. We eventually found the right one, but it was humbling when I realized how I had made the innocent student feel like a criminal in the process. Of course, I apologized to the student and her parents, and they forgave me. <br> But I have kept this lesson in mind over the many more years I had to deal with other crazy situations. If I gave up on working with students because I’m not perfect, I would have never kept serving after my first year.<br> 3. Never stop being a learner; you never figure it all out.<br> Earning a degree or moving into a new position never means you have arrived at a final destination. And practicing something for twenty years doesn’t mean you know it all either. It’s okay to admit when you don’t know the answer to an important question, but it’s even more important to know how to find answers to questions you have. Just as we want our teachers and students to be life-long learners, we can’t give others the impression that we know it all. This doesn’t mean you don’t demonstrate confidence, assertiveness,
