In their busy day-to-day role, principals can often get so caught up with leading others that they forget to reflect on other critical facets of their role.
For a principal, taking time to reflect on the type of leader they are can be a grounding, and motivational, experience.
Matthew Johnson, the President of the Australian Special Education Principals’ Association (ASEPA) believes that every leader needs to be able to deeply answer two questions. “What’s it like to be led by you?” And… “How do you know?”
“To answer these questions effectively, a leader must understand their own leadership styles, strengths and motivations, but more importantly, they must have accessed feedback on their leadership from a variety of sources,” Johnson told The Educator.
“Authenticity and vulnerability are also key facets in a leaders’ repertoire.”
Johnson said the ability to reflect on action and inaction is pivotal to understanding and responding the constant change and challenges faced every day by school leaders.
“Leaders within schools and education in general can be our own worst enemies, by taking on too much and trying to be everything to everyone,” he explained.
“In the modern world of schools this is simply unsustainable. Reflecting on recent Principal Health and Wellbeing Survey results the complexity, pressure and accountability is unending.”
Johnson said leaders must be proactive in protecting their own wellbeing, not just everyone else’s.
“If a leader doesn’t model effective work-life balance and humility we risk making the role unsustainable for ourselves and unattractive to aspiring leaders,” he said.
“As leaders we also need to look beyond the gates of education to learn from leaders in other sectors who can provide mentoring, coaching and new perspectives on similar challenges.”