Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Tip Sheet #50

Losing the locker room, losing the school.

We are now three weeks into the new NFL season and we already are starting to read about coaches that may be “losing the locker room.”  When that talks starts, the team and the coach is in trouble.  And once that talk is out there, I cannot remember any team turning it around.

Teams, just like your school, is a delicate balance of personalities.  The locker room is the mixing bowl.  A think a fair comparison to the locker room for your school is the faculty room / dining room.  That’s where the malcontents tend to meet and where trouble usually brews.  As the head coach or in this case the principal, you have to know what is going on in the locker room. You must be a regular visitor there.  I have seen some principals afraid to enter.  And if you see something that is not right, you have to step in and stop it.  You do not stop it by going in there and screaming and yelling, you stop it by using the relationships that you have previously worked hard to establish with several key people.  You need to have leaders in the locker room that are on your side.  They must also be part of your inner circle.

That is why you see successful coaches have some sort of player leadership council that meets with the coach on a regular basis.  They are looked to provide some rational guidance when things are not going well.  Losing, or being part of an unproductive school can bring out the worst in people.  It is in these tough times that some people show their true colors.  They demonstrate that they are not really part of the team because they are merely thinking about their own and perhaps selfish needs.

I recall several times and still remain amazed, when I had to deal with the reaction of a teacher when I had to move his or her classroom or perhaps change his or her teaching assignment.  Some of the responses I would hear were just out of this world.  I loved it when a teacher would respond to an unexpected change by saying, “that is fine, whatever you need me to do for the school.”  More times than not I would hear about the discomfort and “pain” associated with what I was asking that teacher to do.  Tough times, or a losing streak will show you who the real team players are.

The principal and head coach must be omnipresent.  He or she has to physically be everywhere.  You need to see things like others see them.  You need to see where your trouble lies.

Also, never underestimate the importance of one key player or teacher.  An addition or subtraction of personnel changes everything.  The group then needs to re-form with perhaps new norms.  It is stunning how one person can impact the entire team’s chemistry.  I have seen this on my teams, in my schools and on the board of education.  Nothing remains static.  That is why, you, as the principal needs to remain dynamic.  You must change with the times and with the personnel without sacrificing what you believe in and what you stand for.

Sometimes a player or teacher does not even realize they are now part of the problem.  Bruce Springsteen in his recent book said, “You can fall away from the arc of the group without even knowing it.”  The principal must be there to remind that player who is starting to wander.

Hold on to your locker room.  Hold on to that faculty room.  Your future and destiny are tied to them.