Transforming from Amazing Educator to Successful Leader Darlene Wadham > Absolute Support
So, you are an amazing educator, you nurture others, you care about their feelings, you like to see everyone happy, and you love to have fun! While these traits are incredibly important for both an educator and a leader, they can make the transition to leadership a little challenging. Finding the right balance is important for both you and your team so you don’t burn out quickly.
and empowering your team, it is crucial for succession planning and it frees up time for you to achieve other tasks including spending time with your team. Don’t be fooled, delegation isn’t easy, and it can fail if not planned correctly.
Finding time for yourself as a leader is a priority, it is easy to have a revolving office door where you listen to others and support them on their journey but don’t get time to fulfil your other roles. That isn’t to say that you shut your door and don’t give your team time, it simply means that you need to schedule time for both yourself and your team.
Key tips for delegation:
While there are always tasks to manage at a service, the real success comes from effective leadership of people. Leading a team to achieve greatness includes providing clear direction, guiding practice, and motivating and inspiring others to be the best they can be. As a leader, strive to be caring, consistent and clear with your communication. Don’t let the little things slip, conflict can build quickly so address things early and agree on common goals to move forward. Recognise that sometimes you need to make the hard decisions, just do them with integrity and kindness. Effective time management and delegation are essential to give you time for leadership. I often hear comments like “It is quicker to do it myself” or “I know if I do it, it will be done correctly”. This is where good leaders can fail. Delegation is essential to building confidence
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EARLY EDITION > SUMMER 2021
• Identify suitable tasks for delegating, not just the ones you don’t like to do. • Select the right person to delegate to, consider their skills, interests and experience. • Define the task clearly and provide suitable training on how to complete. • Recognise that few will get it right the first time or do it the same way you would. • Use encouragement to support their development and future success. • Provide enough time and resources for the task to be completed. • Motivate and celebrate success. • Importantly, spend time to check the completed task, the responsibility of a delegated task still lies with you.
