How do YOU think its going?

This school year, like others before it, begins with new formal leadership in my school.  How many new formal leaders have you experienced as the principal, dean, or like?  It seems like each time a new one arrives, many hold their breath with great hope, and one of the first hope hoops is this one, “Does the leader engage individuals in dialogue?”  (Perhaps not in THOSE exact words….)

Particularly, people want to be asked, “What do YOU think?”  I’ve heard so many versions of hallway talk that lamented, “If only s/he would just stop by my classroom (or in my case, office) and just ask me how I thought it was going.”

I glean a couple things from this:

1.     We want to be asked.  Sure….all these folks could have marched in and said, “Here’s what I think!”  But they wanted to be valued by being asked.

2.     In the same vein, we want to be perceived as having valuable feedback.  New leaders don’t enter a vacuum, and there are so many times when we think we might know something that could contribute.  We can help!

3.     And, we want to begin building relational trust, understanding that it is the foundation of productive, positive future work with new leaders.  To build it, we need to be perceived as having something to offer, and be given the opportunity to give it safely to another in need.  Too often we think that the other has to give us what we need (course schedule, funds, etc.) – when in this case what we need is simply an opportunity to connect.

So, I wonder – why doesn’t this happen more often?  Are we not supporting new leaders to engage in this way, and what would it take?  Imagine the time it would take to connect one-on-one with every staff member.  New leaders, experiencing tidal learning curves, likely tend to the urgent and important and may not be able to indulge in the short hallway conversations that might pay off more in the short and long-run than any non-negotiable office paperwork.  I can foresee other issues as well.  (Maybe this is why the process is not formalized?)

For myself, I am going to try to start hijacking more folks - students, faculty, staff, administration -  in the hallway to ask, “How do you think it is going?”  And then…I’m going to shut up and listen.  No problem solving or explaining – which, believe me, WILL be a personal challenge.  I plan on simply acknowledging that others have valuable feedback and I hear them. 

How will you honor someone’s expertise today?