Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Tip Sheet #3

 “Does your staff own mirrors?”

You can’t judge a book by its cover.  Maybe you can.  I know for me, when I visit a book store, the cover of the book gets my attention and makes me want to dig deeper.

I think the same can be said for many of the people that work with and for us as a leader.  In a school setting, before a teacher ever opens his /her mouth, the image of the teacher is the first thing that the student sees.  Last week, I spoke of the importance of the image that your secretary presents.  This week I will focus on the teachers.

You may throw your hands up in the air and say that there is little that you can do about it.  Perhaps you do not really want to be bothered.  Or perhaps your roots are in the 1970’s and will argue that the teacher should dress to relate to the student.  All of these reasons are nonsense and if you as the leader live by them, your organization or in this case your school is starting off on the wrong foot.

When I visit a school, I always wonder.  Do some of the people own a mirror in their house?  And if so, do they take the time to look in it?  (Next week we will take a look at the mirror in a more symbolic way.)

I must be candid.  There were times that I fell into one of the aforementioned traps.  I basically did not want to commit the time to deal with it.  Now I look back and wish I had taken the time.  I was doing a disservice to the students and to the staff member in question.

By setting clear expectations to your staff early and often, you may be able to prevent some of the problems from happening.  Each staff member must present themselves to the students with dignity and pride.  Sone general guidelines to adhere to are:

• Remember that first impressions are critical—capture the moment.
• Dressing appropriately helps to establish credibility, maintain respect and helps establish the adult as the authority figure in the classroom.
• Business casual does not mean slovenly.
• Dress as if you are serious and prepared to meet and interact with people.
• Make sure your garments fit appropriately and modestly.
• Be aware of the non-verbal messages that your grooming is sending out to people.

I remain amazed at the desire to wear blues jeans to school.  I own many a pair of expensive jeans.  But I would not wear them to school.  Perhaps I am too old.  To me, blue jeans, (my mother called them dungarees) still communicates that I am off cutting the lawn and I have decided to come in and teach a little.  When jeans were prohibited in my district, it was like I killed someone.  Staff would try to come up with a million reasons to wear them.  You know the examples, such as, Friday is dress down day, or paying money to wear them for a charity.  I wish many teachers would have put as much energy into their teaching.

I could ramble on about many more items.  Those thoughts will be embedded somewhere in a future book.  For today, I am asking each principal to think about it and maybe do something about it.  I am convinced that it is worth the effort.