"Empowerment is exactly what happens in a collaborative group, in terms of how everybody's opinion is valued and everybody is allowed to express themselves and be heard"(McMahon, 2001, p. 5). As a servant leader a principal constantly incorporates ways to empower their teachers. Some of these ways include freeing people to "do their thing," delegating with full responsibility, offering and receiving feedback, and the encouragement of self-evaluation (McMahon, 2001). The more a principal uses these strategies the more individuals become empowered and develop leadership qualities. This development becomes vital to improving the school. With additional leaders to make right decisions in the interest of the school, the core values will become the school norm.
For example, imagine the simple task of coming to school. Each teacher leaves from a different house and drives down different roads. In time they arrive at school. Think of this in terms of reaching the shared goals of the school. Each teacher may be at different starting points (homes) and may take different paths (roads) to reach the goals, but each one has a vision of where to head (school) and arrives there. Imagine the power of having all of these people working to achieve the same goal, working to change the school, and working to make the core values a normal part of the school's culture. This is why the empowerment of a staff becomes so valuable to a principal. A principal should allow his staff to make their own decisions for reaching the schools goals, as long as they stay within the standards of the school's core values.
- 1053 reads
