Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Message from the Lead Dog Principal #9

Does your school have heart?

This week in his weekly Marshall’s Memo, Kim Marshall shared of the passing of Roland Barth, a leader of school leaders. This news made me pause and think about the summer I had the great fortune of studying with Barth. Unfortunately, as a very young administrator, I didn’t quite get Barth’s message. Over time, I realized that Barth’s concept of school leadership was right on the money.

Barth knew, before many of us, that school leadership had to be about relationships and the creation of the right culture and climate in one’s school. He knew that shared leadership was a must. Sadly, our school leaders today, just like me as that young administrator, do not get it. Let me share with you a quote that Marshall led with in his tribute to Barth.

“The nature of relationships among the adults within a school has a greater influence on the character and quality of that school and on student accomplishment than anything else. If the relationships between administrators and teachers are trusting, generous, helpful and cooperative, then the relationships between teachers and students, between students and students, and between teachers and parents are likely to be trusting, generous, helpful and cooperative. If, on the other hand, relationships between administrators and teachers are fearful, competitive, suspicious and corrosive, then these qualities will disseminate throughout the school community.”

Education, and especially educational leadership, is all about relationships. Content knowledge, pedagogy and relationships build a strong triad; however, I contend that pedagogy and knowledge will always take a back seat to building relationships. Nothing matters if your relationships in your school are not right.

Overtime, I have disseminated much of my professional library to my colleagues who could better use it than me. However, I would never part with Barth’s signed book that he gave me that summer entitled, “Improving Schools from Within.” Today was the first time in years that I pulled it off of my shelf. It is a good time to read it once again. Rest well Roland Barth.