Every time I go down this road I know I better get ready for a challenge (Romans 5:3-5). I feel it before I see it, it's like the ache you feel in your bones and the weather is sunny and beautiful but in just a short time; a storm comes in from the west. Not just a simple one, one that guts me, the ones that are milestones in a persons' life, the ones you buy a little crystal bear with a blue heart that you keep forever in your site to remind you that "you lived".
Sometimes the hardest part as I get older is that they seem to be coming faster. I barely have time to get up and bam! another one. Sometimes they are just a flesh wound but other times they are deep and tearing.
I am a child of God
I will forever praise his name
If God is for me than who can stand against me
2 Corinthians 5:17
Revelation 3:16
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
about leadership
Today this has been on my mind.
Yesterday, I had HALL duty. It's a wonderful task for a teacher that could completely be eliminated if everyone would agree and then follow through on what they agree on but that's another blog post.
Anyway, so kids are coming down the hall AFTER the tardy bell and my job is to figure out where they are headed and get them OUT of the hall and I have several encounters that make my mind go into a dissection of leadership. I won't recount the individual incidents (yes, that's plural) but some of the students who were in the hall were student "leaders" and as I listened to why they were allowed in the hall after the bell, it just really triggered my thoughts about what qualities a leader must possess.
How can a person who wants to be or who is a LEADER in our school, a person who volunteers to go above and beyond for others and yet doesn't understand the essential characteristics of leadership?
When you are a leader, you are supposed to follow the rules MORE than ANY one else because you understand why the rules were made and if you don't- then you respect that they were made for the "good of the group" and comply with the standards, rules (whatever you want to call them) set by the organization. When you are a leader you accept the fact that you may not have all the information and don't feel the need to challenge authority because you have trust and confidence in others you are working with. When you are a leader you put "self" to the side, you forget about what you need, what you can get away with, and how you should be allowed to bend the rules. When you are a leader you don't discount as silly or ridiculous what other people are saying, you listen and you hear and you accept. You work to make a system work. It's not individual, it's collective.
If you are a leader that can't operate under these tenants then people will begin to talk about you, they will question your integrity and character, they will see you as a person who is "in it" for themselves and you will not be respected, honored, or followed. You will develop NO loyalty from anyone, except for other "leaders" with the same flawed values you possess. This mentality will damage ANY organization and contribute to a breakdown in trust, and trust is the lifeblood of any organization. So if you are a leader - suck it up and follow the rules, support the rules, help make the rules, advocate for the rules, be a REAL leader.
Yesterday, I had HALL duty. It's a wonderful task for a teacher that could completely be eliminated if everyone would agree and then follow through on what they agree on but that's another blog post.
Anyway, so kids are coming down the hall AFTER the tardy bell and my job is to figure out where they are headed and get them OUT of the hall and I have several encounters that make my mind go into a dissection of leadership. I won't recount the individual incidents (yes, that's plural) but some of the students who were in the hall were student "leaders" and as I listened to why they were allowed in the hall after the bell, it just really triggered my thoughts about what qualities a leader must possess.
How can a person who wants to be or who is a LEADER in our school, a person who volunteers to go above and beyond for others and yet doesn't understand the essential characteristics of leadership?
When you are a leader, you are supposed to follow the rules MORE than ANY one else because you understand why the rules were made and if you don't- then you respect that they were made for the "good of the group" and comply with the standards, rules (whatever you want to call them) set by the organization. When you are a leader you accept the fact that you may not have all the information and don't feel the need to challenge authority because you have trust and confidence in others you are working with. When you are a leader you put "self" to the side, you forget about what you need, what you can get away with, and how you should be allowed to bend the rules. When you are a leader you don't discount as silly or ridiculous what other people are saying, you listen and you hear and you accept. You work to make a system work. It's not individual, it's collective.
If you are a leader that can't operate under these tenants then people will begin to talk about you, they will question your integrity and character, they will see you as a person who is "in it" for themselves and you will not be respected, honored, or followed. You will develop NO loyalty from anyone, except for other "leaders" with the same flawed values you possess. This mentality will damage ANY organization and contribute to a breakdown in trust, and trust is the lifeblood of any organization. So if you are a leader - suck it up and follow the rules, support the rules, help make the rules, advocate for the rules, be a REAL leader.
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