Leadership Challenge

Leadership Challenge was introduced to me at our Dublin June retreat. So, I thought it was time to see what I could learn by reading this book. I was amazed by the information and details of becoming a successful leader as well as gathering five tools for my toolbox.  They are as follows:

• Model the way - students, parents, teachers (people are watching);
• Inspired shared vision - trust;
• Challenge the process;
• Enable others to act - collaboration; and
• Encourage the heart - appreciation.

Three points of emphasis in the book were (a) trust (assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something) - being able to trust your staff, students, & parents when envisioning what the school should represent; (b) collaboration (to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor) - bringing all stakeholders (parents, staff, students, secretaries, custodians, transportation, etc) to the table either by completing a survey or in-person for informal/formal discussions; and (c) appreciation - (an expression of admiration, approval, or gratitude) - ability to praise and recognize your staff, students, parents, community for the work they have done or will do in the future.

Coming up in the next blog, will be a discussion regarding organizational structure - eliminating the waste by using the Six Sigma Lean philosophy defined as a proven systematic approach to improve measurable results for any organization. Lean is a process to identify and eliminate sources of waste and activities that do not add value to create maximum productivity.