Years ago, I was blessed to be in a position to hold seminars with groups of educators designed to discuss and build leadership skills both informally and formally, internally – for the individual and externally for the school. As we discussed leadership skills and qualities, we would talk about new tools being put in our toolboxes as leaders. This year in Teach & Serve, I have decided to talk about many of those tools.
WELCOMING SPIRIT
It seems appropriate, as we begin this new school year (students actually arrive on my campus tomorrow!), to start here. A welcoming spirit is critical to a leaders’ success. This is not only important at the beginning of a school year or a semester or trimester or a Monday morning. No.
Being welcoming to students, parents, faculty, staff, fellow administrators – to everyone – is important for a leader to succeed. Part of being a leader is engaging with people. If one does not wish to engage with and listen to and learn from, why did one become a leader in the first place?
In my experience, I can point to instances where I was less than welcoming, where my presence was off putting, where I did not provide a comfortable space for someone to interact with me. While I can point to reasons why these contacts happened in the manner they did (I was just out of a “bad” meeting, I was tired, I was sick and so forth), the results of them were the same: those who did not feel welcomed did not as readily come back. They did not as readily engage. They did not as readily trust.
Having a genuine, welcoming spirit is one of the tools that good leaders have. It is one of the skills good leaders employ.
I hope having a welcoming spirit is one of my defining leadership traits.