Leadership, new and improved

Last year I was an epic failure in the way I tried to lead the science department.  Sure there were somethings I did right but for the most part... Epic failure.  When I took my new job I was under the impression that I would be just a member of the team not the leader.  I was thrilled!  No responsibility beyond myself.  Failures and successes would be of my own.  Wrong.  I found out on move in day that I had been chosen to lead my new teammates into the battlefield of education and win victory over standardized testing.

I was asked to join a PLC leadership training.  Two days to figure out why I sucked as a leader previously and become a new and emproved version.  I immediately felt like the speaker was talking specifically and almost exclusively to me.  Here are a few of my take aways from those two days.

1. Don't try and perfect a plan.  The Wright brothers made a plan and almost immediately executed the plan with the full expectation the plane might not fly YET.  All members of the team were expected to arrive to work with five replacement parts for the aircraft and ready to crash planes.  I loved perfecting a good plan but rarely felt prepared for the aftermath of the crash because I was confident in "the plan". This year I will work with my battle buddies (my teammates) to put plans into actions and crash planes with replacement parts at the ready, even prepared to fly an incomplete plane and assemble mid air.

2. Don't try to move someone who has made up their mind.  It is the quiet thinkers that need the most encouragement.  They are sitting on the fence deciding on the right course of action.  They are ready to make a change and just need to see enough of a benefit to make the move to join you in your desire to make a plan, crash some planes, and prepare to fix them.  I wasted countless hours hating and complaining about the steadfast rocks within my habitat that I never noticed the sweet birds on the fence waiting to make up their minds.  I will look to the fence first from now on.  The rocks decide to be birds once they realize they are alone and if they don't... Well heck you are a bird and have flown away from the rock anyways.

3. Expectations must be outlined and norms set.  I have rules that I enforce in my classroom with ease but have never thought once to have norms in a meeting.  Stupid!  Teachers make the worst students. For real, stick me next to my bestie in a staff development and good luck getting anything productive out of either one of us.  Setting norms as a group creates comfortable perimeters for all and allows for the most productivity.  I will be setting norms in my classroom this year with my kids and with my teammates so we have the most time to crash planes.

4. I might have the title but we are equally yoked in the team and all have responsibilities to one another.  In the past I have felt that if one of the teachers I was leading didn't have the scores they had hoped for then it was my fault, I had not lead them or our students to success.  We kept our scores a top government secret and often times wore them as scarlett letters of shame.  In the words of my mother-in-law, "it is, what it is".  We will own it ALL as a unit.  No Teacher Left Behind.  We are a team and we will succeed and fail as such.  One of my teammates said that we should get Phoenix tattoos if our kids score 95% or better.  Being a team player I agreed and added to that I would also get my teammates names on the Phoenix.  I agree to the goal but mildly regret adding my aggreance to the tattoo.  My teammates get me so fired up about the work we will be doing together that I get carried away.  I fear I will end up getting coaxed into other outlandish things throughout this year.

All in all I am so blessed to be given another chance at leadership.  We have several more leadership training sessions and I am so excited to hear more ways to get my battle buddies and I closer to our Phoenix tattoo. To my previous teammates... I am sorry I failed you and I am grateful for the lessons I learned in that journey the hard way.  Best wishes my fellow educators to a week filled with meeting and chaos.  Hug your battle buddies this week and get prepared to crash planes.  The children with be here ready for a first class seat in one week!