Durability in Leadership

Those who grow into educational leadership roles do so typically because they were terrific teachers and/or great coaches who worked effectively with students and parents. The classroom lessons or practice sessions created the perfect environment for them to hone their skills, while impacting young lives.

Then, those dynamic individuals, if they desire, work to move up. Leaders of a building, division, or school district now have to build on those skills as the audience broadens, the dynamics change, the risk escalates, and the weight of decisions grows heavier because they impact more people. Soft skills are necessary, but why are they even called soft skills when in actuality, they are quite hard? In fact, the better we are at these skills...the more durable we become. 

“Soft skills are necessary, but why are they even called soft skills when in actuality, they are quite hard?”

With that said, let's call them what they are then, durability skills. We could all benefit from being more durable. So, what durable skills are most important to learn, grow, practice, and consistently implement? Here at The Quality Coach we believe self-awareness is critically important, along with the ability to leverage and adapt behaviors to improve professional and personal interactions. We recognize that high quality communication-oral, written, and digital is what provides for clear and verified understanding and without clarity, things quickly go awry. To engage internal and external publics, we have to be great communicators! In this type of environment, we can build trust, earn respect, garner appreciation, and drive motivation. 

There are skills and/or attributes that I believe make up the foundation of each and every leader in an educational setting or otherwise. These are not things like "ability to handle paperwork" or "good with details or curriculum" - because those things can be gained or given to someone else. These are certain abilities and talents you have as a person. They are strengths and skills your Board of Education, supervisor, colleagues, staff, students, and parents see within you. They are NOT typically taught or practiced to the scale necessary and thus require upskilling or further training to perfect. And, because of the daily pace, we often neglect or forget how important they are to consistently execute. I mean, after all, you don't want to be an administrator, you want to be a leader and the road to get there and stay there is paved by your ability to manage yourself, your environment, and your relationships in a way that builds trust and respect. But with so many hats to wear as an educational leader, how can you possibly do all of that? Trust me, sometimes we have to be reminded, after all we are human. 

We'll talk more about these skills in future blogs--for now, explore our Leadership Development EDU Series which is designed to set you and your team up for success. We are always here to help.

Lori VanLeer, Ed. D.