Newsletter – The Habits of Highly Effective People
How Can You Support Your Character Development To Become More Effective?
The workplace is made up of many different character types and schools – which often feel like a microcosm of society – are no exception. Recognising one’s own strengths and weaknesses and knowing how to build on them give us the ability to maximise our own effectiveness.
Different departments within educational settings naturally need to have staff with different character types. Finance staff are generally more analytical; teachers more confident in group settings; reception staff need to be warm and friendly. What skillset do you bring to your team? If you are on the senior leadership team or indeed, are the headteacher or bursar, you need to show you are comfortable taking the initiative. This is your environment and you can fashion it as you think best – but your leadership skills should be built on being motivational and acting independently but having high levels of self-awareness. Your plans need to be goal driven and communicated effectively with the understanding you have the responsibility to make it work. Look at how you want things to be and put the steps in place to make it happen.
Of course, many of your aims may be long term and with a broader arc of achievement. Focus on what you want to do first – important before urgent – and make sure your plan involves you being proactively engaged and organised to know at every stage where you are and what comes next, along with the aim of the overall outcome. Show courage, be determined and have belief in yourself and your project but don’t forget your staff! People like to feel consulted and that they have a say in major decisions, and your colleagues are no different. How can you create a win-win scenario?
This is where your people skills come in. By listening to your colleagues’ potential fears and queries, you will exhibit empathy, show you care about what they think and understand their reasons. In this way, you will ensure true collaboration to create the most possibilities thus ensuring your project is driven forward with teamwork. And remember; this is about your leadership skills and how to enhance them more effectively, so keep questioning, reflecting and looking at any challenges creatively and positively.
Ultimately, changing your perspective will change your behaviour to directly influences your school’s outcomes, creating a stronger, more successful and increasingly effective workplace.
