Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Message from the Lead Dog Principal #17

Gratitude: Can you make it real?

Happy Thanksgiving.

I hope this brief break in your busy schedule will give you an opportunity to recharge your personal battery. And perhaps this break gives you an opportunity to step back and appreciate all the things that you are grateful for. For me, this is a hard task. I especially want to thank all of teachers and school administrators for “making it happen” over the last several years. You have done a remarkable job.

I have said it before on these pages that as a leader I was terrible at expressing my gratitude to the people that I worked with. I implore all new principals and school leaders to not make the same mistake that I did. Make sure that your team knows how grateful you are for the work that they do. This gratitude by the leader is essential for building a caring and nurturing culture and climate in your school.

Please never forget that everything begins with culture and climate. It is a foundational cornerstone for your work. You must build on this foundation every day. Everyone in the school is responsible for the culture and climate. It is not a one-person job. You can forget your vision and strategy without this sound culture. Schools, organizations and companies that have a positive culture thrive. I think that is indisputable.

But let us not forget that your gratitude must be real. Forget the “bullshit.” It doesn’t work. Oh, it might be a quick band aid for someone in need, but in reality, this bullshit will do more harm than good to the person and the organization. I can recall laughing at the bullshitter behind his or her back. I saw right through it and I am sure others did as well. He or she became a joke instead of a leader.

Over the next several posts, I want to write about the concept of toxic positivity and how that leads to a dark withdrawal by your team. Both concepts are killing our schools and sadly, many principals and leaders never see or realize the deleterious effects of these concepts on his or her team members.

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving!