Educational Philosophy of Leadership

2016-

My educational philosophy of leadership, in a nutshell, would indeed begin and end with developing a positive culture that students, staff, and community members race to be a part of, rather than finding ways to escape. If the bookends of my philosophy are cultivating a positive culture, the contents within are how to sustain it.

Educational administrators must be able to build relationships with all stakeholders, discover and play to the strengths of their staff and school community members, build leadership capacity by empowering students and educators to embrace an innovator’s mindset, be REAL, and lead by doing. I want to be a leader who explicitly communicates with all stakeholders and passionately implements the above key components for creating a positive learning culture within a school or system.

Leadership Style:

My leadership style by default is a collaborative, coaching style yet it’s transformational. If I were to break my “style” of leadership into action steps, it would look like this.

I believe it is important to:

• Build relationships and trust with clear communication
• Motivate those I lead with a shared vision and effectively   communicating how our professional development, new initiatives, instructional practices or any other everyday practice aligns with that shared vision.
• Challenge the status quo
• Listen attentively
• Team-mentality, use “we” statements
• Use questioning to allow others to think critically and purposefully
• Encourage and empower educators to have an Innovator’s Mindset
• Sense of urgency to create sustainable results
• Committed to continual growth–personally and professionally
• Connect via external networks and partnerships, as well as internal 

Goals:

I envision becoming a building administrator and applying my leadership training thus far while learning new skills, on the job, daily. I plan to launch my administration experiences to a global audience via my website and collaborate with other administrators both locally and globally, via Twitter and social media, to keep my practices current and relevant.

I am passionate about building a positive school and district culture as well as building lasting relationships with all stakeholders to ensure sustainability.

I am currently writing an educational book I hope to have published. I desire to share my message abroad and empower educators to keep their “REAL” in the everyday practice of teaching and leading. I plan to continue engaging educators in breakout sessions on relevant, brain-based instructional strategies at various conferences both state-wide and nationally.  

Honestly the sky is the limit when it comes to my professional aspirations, but for now, these are the goals I aim to achieve in the next few years.