The Blogs: Strengthening and Inspiring Head of School and Principal Leadership

“A leader should never try to be all things to all people. A leader should be content to be what he or she is. Leaders must have the strength to know what they cannot be if they are to have the courage to be themselves”…………. (Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks, z”l)

Over the past several decades there have been a variety of articles, papers and research regarding the evolving role of the head of school as “instructional leader,” This reality takes place against an expanding landscape of schools which are faced with the difficult challenge of identifying, recruiting and retaining the best and brightest talent to”lead” their schools into the 21st century.

In an excellent 2010 paper entitled New Thinking about Instructional Leadership, Eileen Horng and Susanna Loeb, (Kappa Journal) posited “schools that improve student achievement are more likely to have principals who are strong organizational managers than are schools with principals who spend more of their time observing classrooms or directly coaching teachers.”

According to Horng and Loeb, “the quality of teaching in school, in many cases, can be affected only marginally by a principal’s direct involvement in the classroom.”

Whether or not one agrees with this hypothesis, one thing is clear – today’s head of school must spend less time focusing on “hands-on” in-the-trenches classroom learning, instruction and curricula at the expense of spending more time as a forward thinking inspiring leader, strategic thinker, change agent, motivator, influencer and vision-driven innovator. By doing so, the head of school will be able to focus on other critically essential requirements such as board recruitment, retention and development, financial resources development, developing school-wide standards and benchmarks, branding, teacher recruitment and retention, admissions and community development – to name a few.

The head of school who micromanages his/her school, is by definition caught-up in the organizational minutia, weeds and trees as opposed to focusing on the forest.

Today, heads of school are faced with a myriad of ever increasing complex challenges, exacerbated by limited resources, greater calls for accountability, transparency, institutional competition, and demands for greater educational quality assurance. They are required to lead and manage vertically and horizontally and at the same time, build capacity and an operational infrastructure and systems as well as an educational culture for effective education service delivery. This also assumes that our heads of school are appropriately trained, experienced, skilled and well prepared to take on these monumental and at times daunting leadership tasks and responsibilities.

As we know, today the head of school is by and large challenged to inspire and lead more so than ever before; and not limit their time and energy to teaching teachers how to teach. In order to do so, they must learn how to hire, lead and manage staff, empower faculty and delegate to those school personnel who are trained to assume greater responsibility with authority and accountability.

More often than not, heads of school fall prey to micromanaging their respective faculty and staff due to a variety of factors – ranging from a lack of confidence in their respective staff to their own individual insecurities or just plain inexperience.

Leading and directing 21st century organizations, requires exposure, experience and skill. It also requires big picture strategic thinking and tremendous self confidence, maturity, modesty, trust, authentic vulnerability and a true willingness to take calculated risks anchored in model educational practice. This is not to say that there are a growing cadre of emerging school leaders who are true exemplars of best model practice and who are continuously at the top of their leadership game. These successes are due in large measure large measure to the amazing impact of institutions of higher learning on school leadership practice, more sophisticated and sustained professional development programs, greater access to high quality mentors and coaches, hands-on experience in the field, and a greater awareness and consciousness regarding leadership standards, expectations, transparency and accountability.

In the final analysis, leading and managing our Jewish day schools and yeshivot should not be mutually exclusive.

Several ways in which the head of school can merge and blend the confluence of leadership and management skills, include the following beliefs, practices and behaviors:

ensuring that all school policies, educational and administrative decision-making processes are data-driven, and not based exclusively on political expediency, just an item on a check list, or for personal gain;
offering ongoing constructive, reflective, sensitive, authentic and often-times difficult feedback to administrative staff and faculty anchored in best practice;
providing administrative staff and faculty with well-defined opportunities for professional growth, development and reflection;
designing and conducting faculty meetings as learning opportunities ( remember…all administrative stuff can go into emails – no need to expend precious staff time to review basic administrivia);
ensuring that the school’s curriculum is always in-sync and aligned with the school’s core values, mission, vision and hashkafa;
ensuring that all faculty, staff and board agendas are “action focused” – otherwise, why meet or convene….reports can easily be committed to paper and read – why waste precious time at meetings?
making conversations with faculty and staff more about them and the school – not about the challenges facing the head of school;
carving out quality time to engage in personal and professional reflection;
engaging a coach (if feasible) in order to help inform, inspire, counsel and guide you through the complex and often stressful leadership maze of school administration;
ensuring that your time is well spent by being committed to quality of your time on task. Is your time being well spent, directed or utilized effectively? Its not about time-on-task, but rather the quality of time-on-task;
exhibiting and demonstrating Jewish role-modeling and behavior;
always being transparent;
not using too many buzz-words, cliches or overly quote management/leadership gurus, or catch phrases – they get stale very fast; Folks are not impressed by the use of million dollar words or phrases, but rather actions;
always commence meetings with a Jewish value or inspiring words of Torah in order to set the stage for a meaningful dialogue and conversation;
hire and engage administrative staff who you can delegate to…..otherwise, why are they employed by your school?
never anticipate or expect reciprocal trust on the part of your faculty, staff or management team unless you yourself have exhibited trustworthiness on a consistent transparent basis;

Leadership Power-Principles:

The following is a summary of twenty-two (22) leadership power-principles this writer developed several years ago. They are intended to help inform and guide the manner in which heads of school, principals or department heads can evolve, develop and grow as true leaders, role models and exemplars of leadership excellence.

always strive to delegate and empower others, utilizing and maximizing the strengths of your team members; channel and help direct their energy and strengths;
you do not need to have all the answers; or be an expert in everything; if you do not have the correct answers, seek them out from others who may;
always seek candid advice and authentic feedback from your staff and faculty;
hold everyone on your team (including yourself) accountable;
always exhibit midot tovot, derech eretz, empathy and compassion for your students, faculty, staff and parents;
be passionate about your job;
the school’s core values, mission, vision and philosophy must be your compass and road map; use them wisely and strategically;
take calculated risks seriously, and, ensure that your decision-making processes are well-informed and data-driven;
trust is earned, not acquired – it should never be transactional;
always admit mistakes, but don’t over-apologize or misdirect the blame (never play the blame-game);
always assign credit to where credit is due – seek ways to celebrate your faculty and staff’s accomplishments;
always keep your board of directors continuously well informed – no surprises;
keep your team motivated and inspired;
act decisively – procrastination will paralyze;
be committed to building leadership in others;
think, act and react strategically;
always admit mistakes;
articulate your vision with clarity and conviction;
don’t mistake sizzle for steak – its not about charisma or style, its about true substance;
metrics are far more valuable than optics;
enjoy your leadership role and responsibilities – positivity can be extremely rewarding, motivating and contagious;
never try to be perfect – perfection is the enemy of excellence.

These power-principles can very easily be applied to any c-suite leader environment or senior level professional.

Our challenge however is to apply these principles directly to our professional leadership roles in Jewish day school education, by first recognizing their importance, relevance and application. Only then will we be in a more credible position to celebrate and enhance Jewish day school leadership excellence – a sine qua non for effective Jewish schooling.

At the end of the day, heads of school will always be required to navigate crises, exigencies, problems and pressures of the 21st century day school.

These leaders will not be judged by the number of fires extinguished, speeches or pronouncements offered or the number of crises they faced…but rather by the manner in which they were able to direct, channel and lead their schools in order to ensure high educational standards of excellence…. and above all, measurable student achievement, progress and success,