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.
PINCH HITTING
I never played baseball – not organized baseball. Okay, I never played any organized sport beyond middle school basketball and I was not any good. So, when I write about the tool of pinch hitting, I am coming from a place of very little first-hand knowledge.
But I do know that leaders who are committed to their schools are absolutely unafraid to pinch hit. They are ready to step into gaps. They are ready to fill holes. They are ready to pinch hit. Put them in, coach!
Actually, in this metaphor, the leader is the coach. The leader who is ready to take a class, to mop a floor, to set up chairs because they know it is the right thing to do is a leader who understands servant leadership.
Leaders who are ready to pinch hit for anyone at any time get it.
Be a leader who gets it.