Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Leadership lessons I learned from my seat on the bench #1

You can lose a game, but you can’t lose the locker room.

You can learn a great deal about leadership when you play on a team. You can learn a lot more when you occupy a seat on the bench. If you keep your eyes and ears wide open and your mouth shut. I have done my share of playing and, unfortunately, sitting, so I have a good frame of reference for this type of discussion.

The other day I heard one of the local sports talk radio hosts say as he was discussing coaches who are on the hot seat right now, “You can lose a game, but you can’t lose the locker room.” I could not get his words out of my head for the rest of the day. No truer words were ever spoken. Just about everyone can rebound from a loss. Few people can rebound when the locker room is poisoned.

The same is true of the school’s principal. Each day in a school presents many unique challenges. I can consider each of these little trials a small competition and, in most cases, there is a winner and a loser. I wasted a great deal of time in my career seeking that win-win situation. Most times, I wasted my energy. In each personal trial, there is a winner and loser. And just like that player, we love to watch on a Sunday after the competition, especially one in which we lose, the true champion we will show resilience. The ability to show resilience is a quality that many times separate champions from average players.

However, when the climate and culture of a school is poisoned, just like that locker room, it is tough to survive. The coach will ultimately get fired. However, that principal who has lost the culture of the school will probably stay on, perhaps for many more years. He or she then becomes the leader of malcontents. The school becomes a “ship of fools” being steered through many storms by an ineffectual and probably incompetent captain. I know I do not want to be on that voyage and I most definitely don’t want to be steering that ship.

So, why does this happen? The answer is simple. The principal never cultivated and nurtured that culture. I know I did not spend enough time on that task. And everyone in that school is part of, and responsible for, the culture. Somehow, I thought the culture would just evolve. Believe me, it won’t. Building a positive culture is hard work. I was exhausted both physically and mentally working on the school’s culture. I always thought that my projects and initiatives would lead the school in the right direction. I thought my vision and my strategies would ultimately lead the way. I forgot what Peter Drucker once said, and I will paraphrase his words. He believed that culture would eat strategy for breakfast.

To all the principals who read these words, I implore you to put your initiatives on the shelf until you are sure that your culture is right. And don’t give up on it. For if you do, you will end up leading that “ship of fools.” I ask you to close your eyes and visualize yourself steering this ship (your school) to nowhere. You know the destination. A positive school culture will help get you there. Good luck.