Years ago, a teacher acquaintance told a story about two different building principals she’d worked under.
Paul’s building was immaculate, and he ran a pretty tight ship. Some thought he was hard to work for. He even wanted to see, and sign off on, any correspondence that a teacher was sending home to parents. He had seen inappropriate things sent home in the past, and knew his teachers, his building, and the district would be judged by anything negative.
Bert, on the other hand, knew each of his 400+ students by name, and greeted them as they came into the building each day, and his teachers loved working for him. He left them alone to teach in their own way, and was always willing to help if asked.
Paul only knew the names of his trouble-making kids, and one bathroom in Bert’s building had an offensive spot on the toilet seat for two weeks running!
Two different styles, and two different personalities. Was one wrong, and the other right? Of course not—just different from each other.
One man was decidedly task-oriented, and the other far more people-oriented! We need both, of course.
If you lean too heavily to one side at the expense of the other, your organization will suffer. Fortunately, we can compensate for our strengths by making sure that someone with our missing traits can pick up where we leave off.
- What are your strengths as a leader?
- What part of leadership makes you stretch the most?
- In what areas do you wish you had someone else handy who could pick up the slack?
- Is there someone already in your organization who could fill that role for you?
Comments and questions welcome!
