Have you ever worked somewhere and you couldn’t wait to
leave every day? There are so many
people who absolutely hate their job. In
some cases, they don’t like what they are doing. Perhaps it’s simply not a good fit with their
skills and abilities. In other cases,
the boss may be a micro-manager who is clueless. I’ve been in that position in my early career
days. There is nothing worse than
someone who wants to tell you what to do when they don’t know what they are
doing, never mind know what you are doing.
There are other cases where people are dissatisfied with their place of
employment because they don’t really like the people or the culture/atmosphere
at work. When you find the right match,
you will find that you enjoy it so much, it feels less like work and more like,
well like fun.
I happen to be a very lucky person in this regard. I
absolutely love my job. I not only love
what I do but more importantly, I love who I do it with. I have the absolute best staff. I’ve worked with some of these teachers for
16 years and some just a few months, but we have a good working
relationship. I think
what’s important here is that I trust my staff to be professionals and to do an
excellent job - they certainly do. Is
everything always perfect – no. That is
not the expectation. The expectation is
that we will do our best job every day and that happens. The most favorite part of my job is teacher
observations. This is when I get to see
the magic happen. I get to watch
teachers do a fabulous job of educating students in caring environments conducive
to learning. I know they work hard, but
they make it look effortless. Their
efforts are genuine and natural and that is evident. My teachers come in early at times, they
leave late. I know they take work home,
they want the best for their students.
It’s a pleasure to work with these ladies.
If you are lucky enough to work with people who are
passionate about their job, who get along well with each other and understand
the big picture, you understand the value of excellent staff. An import part of any leader’s job is to work
with staff to create a work culture and then give them the leeway and support
they need to accomplish the mission of doing their job.
These are just a few things I learned along the way:
1.
Trust people to do the right thing – they
will. And for the one or two that won’t,
they now showed you how to work with them.
2.
Appreciate the talents and skill set that each
person brings to the job. Let people do
what they do best.
3.
Celebrate diversity. We are all different, yet we are so much
alike. Appreciate each person as their
individual self. This is not a one size
fits all kind of thing. Take the time to
learn about other cultures and respect all of them.
4.
Fairness is the best policy. You can’t supervise people who can’t trust
you to be fair.
5.
Kindness is paramount. Yes the work must get done, but respect and
appreciate individual situations and help people work through personal
difficulty. In short, be supportive.
6.
Listen more, talk less – Director’s don’t always
have the answers, I have so many staff that have skill
sets that enhance my
own. You can learn from your staff,
respect that.
7.
Appreciate leadership. You don’t have to be the only leader, provide
opportunity for those who are interested to do so.
8.
Morality, ethics and work standards go a long
way. Be the first example of what you
want to see in others.
9.
Support your staff. If you are not prepared to support your
staff, choose another field. Teachers
are as effective as their leaders. If you
don’t provide them with the assistance they need to do a good job, you’re the
biggest part of the problem.
10.
If you are in a leadership position you don’t
have to act like “the big boss”, it’s so last year. If you’re the boss everybody already knows
it. Team work works.
Always stay “in the know”.
Study, research and investigate.
But above all, do a great job and support your staff, people work best
when they know you care.
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