The Challenges of Leading

In my work with school administrators, I often hear people discussing the difficulties they encounter in moving the school deeper into its mission.  Sometimes, it dissolves into a conversation about people's personalities and how that influences forward momentum. Sometimes, it evolves into a dialogue about leadership in schools in the twenty-first century and the complexities that need to be incorporated. 

• Teachers taking greater personal responsibility and self-initiative.
• Teachers and administrators working more effectively as a team.
• Tolerance and responsive attitudes with personality conflicts.
• Resolving conflicts in schools that are typically conflict-avoidant.
• Responding proactively to resistance to change,
• Encouraging buy-in for the needed changes.
• Retaining the right people.
• Responding to the difficult people.
• Communcating, clarifying and aligning the school's objectives.
• A process for solving problems.
• Nurturing leaders.
• Cultivating the best in people.
• Maximizing communication within and across teams.
• Intervening when something just is not working.
• Keepng people motivated by anticpating what they require in special situations.
• Identifying and maximizing the benefits of cross-affinity groups.

Something to mull at your next administrative retreat or faculty in-service.