I consider a key element of leadership as
providing an environment where individuals can express their talents and skills
to the best of their ability, within the framework or strategy outlined. Sadly,
few Leaders have the courage to allow this, preferring to dictate and even
create clones of themselves.
Stevie Johnson announced his retirement.
He is an Australian Rules player whose skills, style and also sense of team are
admired by fans of all clubs.
He played with rare flair and
could do things few others even imagine doing. This does come with an element
of risk. He credited his three coaches, with allowing his flair and never
demanding a more conservative approach as long as he expressed his flair as
part of executing the overall game plan.
I have a teacher friend who came to teaching
as a 40 year old. At the time her teaching career started, her daughters were
11 and 13 and she was looking to downsize the succesful business she had developed
over the preceding 7 years so as to spend more family time.
She was qualified in business and had
worked in banking, again with some success. Hers was not the traditional route
to teaching.
Having qualified and received her first
appointment, she set about providing a different classroom environment. It is
hard to explain, but she wanted a more dynamic and interactive class room and
to put it in theatre terms, taught “in the round”. The students were also often
standing in a circle that she was also a part of. With everyone standing there
was a sense of equality and as there was a circle formed, there was no pecking
order.
This created increased energy and
engagement. They wanted to participate and engage in learning.
At the same time, she stuck fastidiously
to the syllabus.
The school was in a low socio economic
area with less than stunning academic results. Many students were what might be
called “hard cases”. Not only were her Maths and Business students enjoying
lessons, their results went through the roof. They also tried harder in other
classes. Many attributed staying at school and completing further study to the
motivation to learn discovered in her classes.
This could not have happened if her Head
of Department and Principal had not allowed her to express her flair and ability
in a different way. Like Stevie Johnson, she did this in accordance with the
game plan, in her case the syllabus.
If Stevie’s coaches had denied his flair
and skill, his club would not enjoyed the success it did.
If Maree’s Principal had demanded the
traditional class room we would have more competition for supermarket jobs and
fewer qualified tradespeople and professionals graduating university.
Both Stevie and Maree were allowed to
express their flair in accordance with the game plan
Both are products of excellent
leadership, and many are better for it.
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