School systems in the twenty-first century place a great deal of emphasis on selecting good leaders at all levels because they recognize that the success or failure of that system depends largely on the quality of its leaders. Not only should good leaders be selected, they should also be developed so that they are able to make the best of their leadership abilities within the school system. Coordinators, principals, faculty, staff, and even bus drivers should be supported by their leaders, as a teacher gives positive reinforcement to a student, so should a principal give positive strokes to the faculty and staff. Regardless of the leadership role, the quality of that leadership will have a daily impact on the quality of life of all concerned. A leader is one who has the ability to lead or guide others, the person in charge. The leader must have the ability to motivate, encourage, and empower others, all the while allowing the staff to share in the leadership of their respective parts of the school community. I believe that the principal should develop strategies and communicate these to the staff so that everyone can share in the leadership role.

Communication is the key to getting one’s ideas, plans and goals implemented. I feel that a good leader must have a vision and must possess the ability to communicate this vision to his or her subordinates in such a way that they buy into the vision. There should always be an open flow of information from the leadership team to the faculty and staff. This open flow of information must be both vertical and horizontal. I am a natural introvert; therefore, I feel that I would need to work on improving my interpersonal skills, so as not to be a threat to others or to be threatened by them. Maintaining the open flow of information that is both clear and open helps persons from all areas of the school to understand what the institution intends to accomplish and the way it will be done. If there is a collaborative effort on the part of everyone, the odds for success increase significantly. Blase and Kirby (l992) talk about influencing by expecting. Open communication is emphasized. Expect certain behaviors and attitudes, communicate what is expected, communicate consistently, repeat, restate, and clarify. They emphasize that effective principals communicate the same expectations consistently to all persons. They are careful to model effective attitudes and practices. In other words, they set their standards by modeling the behavior they desire in their subordinates. This, in tern, gives the subordinate confidence that the administrator is competent and this interaction promotes trust among all concerned.

A school with organizational adaptability has open and direct channels of communication (Schmuck & Runkel, l995) between all groups within the domain. I feel that the principal must be an active listener. Unilateral Communication is not an effective form of communication. Although some things can be accomplished through the use of unilateral communication, the successful administrator will deal with the faculty and staff face-to-face so that both verbal and nonverbal interactions can be communicated. The free and clear expression of thoughts and mutual feedback is critical to the empowerment process. If there is no exchange of thoughts the communication is frequently not effective.

The ability of the leader to build trust is an essential component of communication and it is best if this trust is initiated at the beginning of the relationship. Ideally, all persons should share in values, beliefs and assumptions about the school. There must be a degree of emotional closeness among the people in the organization so that people trust that they are safe in voicing their ideas. All staff members must recognize that the behavior of others is influenced by their own behavior. I need to work on being able to communicate in a positive manner when I am feeling emotionally threatened. I feel that I must learn to covey to others the things that happened to make me feel threatened. The suppression of emotion leads to mistrust. I must learn to act constructively and collaboratively when I feel emotion.

A leader with good communicative skills can more easily encourage and empower people to become the very best their abilities will allow them to become. An open flow of information to and from the various groups must be maintained (Schmunk and Runkel, 1995). I must strive to be open and candid because by bringing conflicts out into the open some creative tension will be released and this in tern will inspire some problem solving.

Motivation is another key component of a school system. The person who feels motivated will be more productive and will have a greater feeling of satisfaction, involvement and commitment. The unmotivated teacher will not seem to care about doing a good job and will therefore not expect the best of his or her students. Being motivated is important for all members of a school system since we spend one-third to one-half of our waking hours at school it is not mentally healthy to be frustrated, dissatisfied and unhappy, especially given that these feelings will carry over to ones family and social life and ultimately affect ones physical and emotional health. I believe that a good leader should motivate with sincerity and praise. I remember this daily as I manage my classroom and students. I try to always put a positive message in things. I attempt to praise each student at least once each day for something no matter how small. No matter what the role of the leader is he or she should make sure everything assigned has some value to that person (whether it be student, teacher, or staff member) and be sure that the person is aware of that value. Any successful leader understands that motivation is necessary for complete success. If a person is motivated he or she has a reason or purpose for acting in a certain way. The principal must be able to impel a person to move forward through moral pressure. The faculty or staff must have an incentive to act in the desired way. The behaviors of the principal contribute substantially to the work stress of the faculty and staff (Blase, l984).

Positive reinforcement is essential in supervision. Children and adults react to verbal and non-verbal praise. A gesture as simple as a smile, nod or a touch communicates approval. It should always be sincere, and the person doing it should feel comfortable with this type of communication. It should not appear contrived, awkward, or required (Blase & Kirby, l992). I have worked in a situation where the administrator only praised me prior to making a request that required more work or that seemed like an unreasonable request. I will be told what a fine teacher I am, and then a troubled child will be put into my class, or I will be asked to work longer hours. Competencies must be task-relevant. A successful leader must define, organize and evaluate the work of others, and must also express concern for the social and emotional health of subordinates. Behaviors of the leader must enhance the self-esteem and job satisfaction of an individual. Clear expectations are critical to success or failure of the school community. Expectations must be clearly defined in such a way that all persons can vividly recall those things that are expected of them (Yuki, G. 1988). If the leader makes clear expectations, morale of the organization will be enhanced. A good leader must be objective, consistent and fair. We must keep in mind that consistency means treating everyone the same, but fairness means treating everyone the way they deserve to be treated depending on the situation. A principal or leader who is warm but firm, transmits messages clearly, both face-to-face and in writing, reprimands and praises fairly, all the while providing a positive learning environment for the students will typically elicit respect from everyone (Blase & Kirby, 2000).

Consistency is a must for the school administrator. Policies must be clearly defined and communicated to all teachers and staff and they must be followed fairly and consistently. When I think about consistency and communication, I recall one administrator at the high school. The discipline policies were clearly defined. They were communicated to all faculty and staff in a faculty meeting. I then communicated these policies, both verbally and in writing to my students through open and straightforward discussion, giving examples of many of the rules. Then when problems arose in the classroom, we all knew how the situation would be handled. I handled the problems consistently and fairly, and generally was effective. The administration enforced polices consistently and effectively and everyone thrived.

Since I am a perfectionist, I always try to give it my best effort and work toward the thing that will benefit the students most. Trust is built slowly and in small increments, mostly by deeds rather than words (Schmuck & Runkel, l995). I know that administrators must perform regular observations and if real trust is to be developed, that administrator should not just give satisfactory when it is not warranted. My vision of how this is to be accomplished would be to give the entire faculty a checklist. These are the things that I expect when I observe your classroom interactions. I would explain my expectations for “satisfactory”, “needs improvement” and “unsatisfactory”, both verbally and in writing at the beginning of the school year. Then the teachers would know what to expect because the expectation has been effectively communicated and, in tern, trust will be built.

School Systems today are complex institutions that place a great deal of emphasis on selecting good leaders. A good leader is one who possesses the ability to communicate effectively, motivate efficiently and spell out clear expectations to all of his or her subordinates. When a teacher or a staff member has an idea, he or she has the luxury of focusing strictly on that idea, while the leader must look at the big picture. A leader must be well equipped to give positive reinforcement and must possess the ability to take corrective action. An exemplary principal will spell out clear guidelines and expectations and model these. The leader must be able to recognize people who do good work and give constructive criticism to those who don’t. If a leader motivates and empowers others and has good communication skills, that person should be able to stand back and watch subordinates succeed and feel that he or she may have had something to do with that success. If one day I were to become a principal or curriculum director, I would probably try to remember that I should make decisions on what is fair, not what is popular and I should always keep in mind that not everyone will be pleased with every decision that I make.

References

Blase, J. J., & Blase, J. Empowering Teachers What Successful Principals Do.

Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc. 2001.

Lambert, L., Walker, D., Zimmerman, D., Cooper, J., Lambert, M., Gardner, M., Stack,

P. J. The Constructivist Leader. New York: Teachers College Press, 1995.

Owens, R. G. Organizational Behavior in Education. Boston: Pearson Press, 2004.

Pellicer, L. Caring Enough to Lead: Schools and the Sacred Trust. Thousand Oaks,

California: Corwin Press Inc., l999.

Sergiovanni, T. The Principalship: A Reflective Practical Perspective, Fourth Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2001.