The school leader sets the tone for the learning community and significantly impacts the school’s culture and climate. While being positive and upbeat is important, some leaders go too far and lose credibility by not facing realities and planning accordingly. Even worse are school leaders who are always negative, see the worst in situations, blame others, and lower expectations. Negative leaders are toxic individuals who can destroy the foundation of a school.
Like most things in life, a healthy balance between optimism and reality is essential to set high expectations, sustain a positive culture, and gain commitment among staff to work toward those goals. That is, effective school leaders build realistic optimism.
Research and Organize Your Vision
Effective school leaders set high expectations for themselves, fellow staff, and the outcomes of the learning community. It is essential that leaders build positive energy and optimism throughout the school. Innovative thinking and collaborative effort help ensure high expectations can become a reality.
School employees are more devoted and promote schools in which the vision is clear, articulated, and drives daily operations. People will be more optimistic that strategic goals can become a reality when all cogs within the organization operate seamlessly.
A strategic plan can organize optimism in a way that can lead to reality. All pieces of the plan must be essential because too many initiatives can lead to chaos and burnout. School leaders should work with all stakeholder groups and listen to earn support. When there is a plan and innovative practices with formative measures, the leader operates with realistic optimism.
Formative data checkpoints and times for reflection should be included in the plan. Data aligns with reality, while reflection leads to optimism by focusing on solutions.
Working Toward Balance
Appropriate balance is the key to success in most aspects of life. Similarly, strong school leaders achieve and work to maintain an appropriate balance of realism and optimism as both stances are necessary for effective leadership. Leaders who are idealistic but lack planning and follow-through will likely fail.
Likewise, leaders who complain and are negative about circumstances will likely fail. Yet, leaders who focus on reality while being optimistic about potential initiatives to lead to better outcomes are likely to find successes along the journey.
Address Realities
Being overly confident and joyful while not acknowledging current realities subtracts from authentic leadership. School staff want a leader who is both visionary and authentic. To develop authenticity, a leader must be self-aware and acknowledge both the successes and challenges of the learning community. School leaders praise the successes to build optimism and support, while openly noting areas for improvement.
This vulnerability actually promotes support among stakeholders. Leaders grounded in reality see challenges with potential solutions. Schools based on realistic optimism face realities, plan accordingly, and work collaboratively to achieve common goals that align with the central vision. This process builds trust. Further, the school community can be optimistic about achieving and sustaining growth measures.
Find the Positives in Pursuit of Goals
It is natural for everyone to feel defeated and focus on the negative at times in life. Yet, we must reframe the problems in a way that can lead to actionable solutions to these realities. School leaders need to be realistic yet look for the positive pieces of an overall situation. That is, effective leaders recognize circumstances and work to overcome these challenges. These individuals work to advance goals with informed decision-making and a positive outlook.
Transparent, Clear, and Timely Communication
Strong communication practices are central to a successful school community. Effective leaders are sincere as they acknowledge challenges and facts but balance the communication by sharing ways to work toward solutions. Strong school leaders do not blame or waste time complaining or being negative.
Blame and negativity are significant hallmarks of ineffective leaders. Rather, confident leaders use communication to inspire fellow staff to become more optimistic in pursuit of strategic goals that align with the central vision. This practice leads to innovation.
An often forgotten but essential aspect of communication is listening. Effective leaders use active listening to gain valuable feedback as they plan for the future. Further, active listening helps stakeholders feel valued and respected. In turn, staff will work harder to support the school and its vision.
Help Staff Find the Joy in Their Work
Sometimes the advice we give others is the advice that we most need to hear. Effective school leaders can often see what will help others become more joyful and optimistic in their work. Coaching fellow staff to prioritize what matters most can lead to self-reflection. As such, investing time in helping staff find joy in their work can also help the leader find more joy in their work. By helping one another, the leader and the staff will become more optimistic while looking for realistic solutions to current challenges.
Model the Optimism You Want to See
We all find ourselves struggling at points along the journey as education becomes ever more stressful. School leaders need to invest in the parts of the job that have the most impact and bring the most joy. Often, we focus on negatives or minority opinions that are not significant but can become overwhelming when leaders obsess over these issues. As leaders model realistic optimism, they must try to find joy in their work by prioritizing what matters most. Modeling is an effective way to overcome negativity within a learning community.
As leaders acknowledge both current successes and challenges, plan accordingly, and devote time to what matters most, they will become optimistic about the implementation of strategic goals to achieve fruitful outcomes. One of the most effective leadership strategies is to model the way for fellow staff. Respected and authentic leaders are able to model optimism which then spreads throughout the learning community.
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