Leadership
Can a Leader be Open and Honest?
Wow, what a question! I hope everyone who reads this article today takes a moment to reflect and think deeply about this topic. I was taken aback last week when a good friend and colleague of mine told me that he does not think any school superintendent can be open and honest. I was a bit shocked inasmuch as I was his superintendent for five years and thought of myself as nothing but honest and open. Was he talking about me? Was I included in his broad statement? Since our conversation last week, I have not stopped thinking about the comment and began to re-examine my crucial decisions and actions as a superintendent.
Take a minute and do a quick search of leadership traits and you will most likely find that just about every article or book lists honesty as one of the most important traits of a leader. One can conclude that to be an effective leader you must be honest. Linked closely with honesty is integrity and trust. Each effective leader that I know possesses these three qualities. These leaders have the ability to have the crucial conversation in difficult situations, even if the result of the conversation will be negative. These leaders know that to grow these conversations are essential. These leaders also possess a tireless work ethic and demonstrate this through the approach to the job. Trust is also communicated in what you do, not what you say. These are personal qualities that you either have or you do not have. I am not convinced that they can be developed where they currently do not exist.
Does the school’s, the district’s, or the business’s environment support openness and honesty? Once again, the importance of school culture and climate is illustrated. It seems that almost everything that we discuss on these pages comes back to refer to climate and culture. If people on a daily basis operate with a spirit of honesty in their daily communications and actions, I would bet that the leader is perceived as open and honest. The actions include how we interact with one another and how we interact with the leader. In a school, one can look at how teachers treat one another, how the principal interacts with the teachers, and how everyone interacts with the students. Honesty breeds honesty at every level.
I know some people that continually lie. I have come to believe that the more one repeats a specific lie the more they believe that it is true. These people are mocked behind their back inasmuch as it becomes a given that everything that comes out of their mouth is not true. If this is the leader, it quickly builds an environment where everyone is operating in a myriad of lies. No one really knows the truth. How can an organization succeed like this? These continual lies could for a quick moment make people feel good, but this exhilaration will quickly fade when the lies are uncovered.
Some people are master manipulators. They are able to take a grain of truth and spin it in such a way that the new spin of the information becomes true. I know that most leaders will take negative information and try to paint it in the best light. Others are gifted in the art of exaggeration. They are always seeking to top the current story. They always have to be the one who catches the biggest fish. It is easy to cross the line separating truth and lies. Be careful!
It is also quite easy to tell everyone what they want to hear. They have this innate desire to be liked, and they will avoid anything controversial. Everyone may walk around feeling good about themselves, but nothing gets accomplished. Everyone likes to be liked. If this is your need, leadership may not be for you.
One of reasons I do not feel that the wave of new teacher evaluation systems has been successful or really changed anything is that evaluators still are not being honest. Although people have gotten better at receiving and giving feedback, most administrators still are not able to call it like they see it. I think this occurs for two reasons. Primarily, they do not want to create “waves” with their staff. They cannot be honest with the teachers who they also perceive as “friends”. They will sacrifice the truth for a smooth ride. They question whether the battle is worth it. Change is hard work. Secondly, these same evaluators do not possess the skill set or confidence to constructively enter this conversation.
Lying is also a slippery slope. Once one lies, more lies most be told to cover the first lie. I have seen this snowball on people and become very destructive, not only to the individuals but to the organization.
Finally, it is imperative that an honest leader take full responsibility for his/her mistakes. They must own the situation, even in failure. I have seen many leaders fail to do this. They will most often blame the people that work with them or somehow the culture or environment. They blame anyone or anything but themselves. This type of leader is clearly not a winner. I have always encouraged young administrators, when a mistake is made, to own it, tell me about it, come to me with a plan to correct it, and create a plan to not let it happen again. I never wanted anyone to be afraid to tell me about a mistake, yet I wanted them to come prepared to correct it. Each of us must grow from a loss.
It seems so easy to tell the truth. Yet for many people, it is almost impossible. Being honest can be difficult. Those in leadership positions will verify this. Read the newspapers. Celebrities, politicians, and other public figures make headlines daily because of the lies they tell. Although some may disagree, for leaders, being open and honest is not only the best policy it is the only policy.
