How are You Unique as a Leader?

As a leader, what is it that makes your leadership unique?

To be successful as a leader, you need to know your strengths and what special skills and qualities you bring to your role. If you can't articulate them, you can't expect others to see them either. Here's a four-step process to identifying what makes your leadership great:

• List your strengths. Include skills and knowledge you've acquired through experience and education as well as softer intrinsic strengths, such as insightfulness or empathy.
• Ask for input. Ask colleagues for honest feedback - either directly or anonymously.  Just be sure to hear from those you lead.
• Revisit past feedback. Reread old performance appraisals or think back on coaching experiences.  Have you grown in these areas?  How? 
• Modify your list. Adjust your original list to reflect what you've learned. Make sure the strengths are specific so that they are credible and useful.

Adapted from "Five Steps to Assess Your Strengths" by Bill Barnett.

Avoiding or Reconnecting after Giving Tough Feedback?

As a leader, after giving tough feedback, do you avoid or reconnect with your staff member?

Hearing that your performance is lacking in some way or that you've made a mistake can be harsh, even alienating. That's why as a leader, you need be thoughtful when delivering difficult feedback to your staff. You probably know to do two things: first, articulate what your employee is doing well, and second, provide input on problematic behaviors or gaps in performance. But don't forget an important third step: reconnect. After hearing difficult input, a staff member may avoid you or feel s/he can't come to you for advice.  Equally, you may feel ill-at-ease and unintentionally avoid the person.  Reestablish your relationship and reiterate what you value most.  Highlight something you can compliment - the person's writing skills or thank him/her for asking tough questions during meetings. You can also check in on a personal matter: Ask, "How was your daughter's play?" or, "Did your wife hear back about that new job lead?" Do this at the end of the feedback session or wait until the next day. Just be sure to connect so s/he is comfortable continuing the relationship with you.  You can help a colleague improve their performance and maintain their dignity at the same time.


Adapted from Guide to Giving Effective Feedback (HBR OnPoint Collection).

Habits of Mind & Leading

As a leader, do you invoke the habits of mind in your leadership? 

Habits of Mind:  modelling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection, exploration

Modelling - Modelling of leadership behaviours.  If we want others to be leaders, we need to demonstrate what leadership looks like.

Coaching - Helping others to think through what they are trying to do.  Teachers raise questions with each other rather than telling others what to do.

Scaffolding - Providing the content bridges necessary for the task, raising the necessary questions, and giving others, particularly new teachers, the opportunities to explore and perform the task.

Articulation - Explaining what you are thinking about so that thinking is visible to colleagues, parents, and students.

Reflection - Being reflective and thoughtful about the work.  Raising evaluation questions:  What went well today?  Why?  If I did this again, how would I do it differently?

Exploration - Modelling risk taking so others understand that uncertainty is involved in all new learning.



From:  Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement by Linda Lambert
Published by: ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)