I believe that leadership is an activity, not a position. Everyone can exert leadership skills no matter where they are on an organizational chart. You don’t have to be the “team leader” in order to suggest an idea, bring a perspective, or do something that helps the group move forward to make positive progress.
This kind of leadership starts with establishing high trust and rapport in relationships with your colleagues. Listen deeply to what others say—not just at the surface level but also to their underlying message. Pose good questions from a position of curiosity and encourage others to think from multiple perspectives. Give feedback that moves people to action rather than defensiveness.
This way of being helps you become an influencer who inspires and challenges others to bring their best selves to the work. Your mindset is to help the team be collaborative and invite the members to contribute their best efforts. This perspective can be very transformative for you, your school, and your teams. It lets you step into your role of informal leader with a sense of confidence and courage.
The beauty of being an informal leader is that others begin to see you as an “expert”– not because you give them the answers to their issues, but because you caused them to think more deeply and more analytically about their own ideas so that really good solutions arise. They feel empowered and needed in order to get the work done.
This kind of leadership seeks to develop the strengths and interests of others. It is not one person who determines success; it is the group which creates success. This engenders a culture of continuous improvement and shared pride in achievements.
As the school year begins, in what ways will you “show up” as a leader?
Leadership, at its core, is about resolving problems and challenges. Ron Heifetz, co-founder of the Center for Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government, describes two basic kinds of challenges: technical challenges and adaptive challenges. Many challenges have both technical and adaptive aspects.
As the beginning of the school year nears our thoughts move to ways to build and support strong, effective school teams. They are vital to having success with students. And a key to team development is having high emotional intelligence—learning to recognize and manage your own emotions and those of others.
All educators want to believe that teachers love kids and are true advocates of them. We remember with warmth and appreciation those teachers who spotted our strengths, loved our quirks, and inspired and challenged us to dream big and do our best. In fact, it is often the memory of those teachers who inspired us to become educators ourselves.
Marceta Reilly
Jim Knight
Good leaders must lead by example. Through their actions, which are aligned with what they say, they become a person others want to follow. When leaders say one thing but do another, they erode trust, a critical element of productive leadership. Here are 10 of the dozens of ways to lead by example.
If trying to maintain balance in your life makes you feel like a tightrope walker, you’re not alone. Most of us have so many demands on our time and energy, life can feel like a three-ring circus. 
The practice of gratitude as a tool for happiness has been in the mainstream for years. Long-term studies support gratitude’s effectiveness, suggesting that a positive, appreciative attitude contributes to greater success in work, greater health, peak performance in sports and business, a higher sense of well-being, and a faster rate of recovery from surgery.
“Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
