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Building Leaders

15 January, 2016 - 09:14

As teachers become less dependant they are no longer approaching the principal with problems that need to be solved, but rather they are presenting him with solutions to problems they are experiencing. They are asking for support and guidance rather than answers. A principal needs to continue to serve his staff and build servant leaders among them. Spears list ten characteristics of a servant leader: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and building community. These characteristics are what a principal will try to build in his staff. "Servant leaders will listen to what is being said and what is not being said" (Spears, 2002, p. 5). A servant leader is not only aware of what is happening around them, but is also self-aware. Servant leaders should rely on persuasion, rather than on one's positional authority to make decisions (Spears, 2002). A servant leader needs to have vision and have a grasp of the "big picture". All of these things help prevent a school from being stagnant and keeps it moving forward. Even with well-established core values, a school may need to revisit and possibly update the core values in order for the vision to continue moving forward. A principal needs to be aware of the importance of foresight to head of possible problems. The principal should introduce the idea of stewardship to his leaders to reinforce the commitment of serving others and helping others to grow. Together a principal and his leaders can work to build community within the school by developing unity among the staff.