Greetings,
Thank you for taking the time to review my Educational Leadership Website. I appreciate your attention and time to my pursuits.
Simply put...my immediate goal is to secure a full-time Administrative Position in a Public School District.
Throughout this self-generated website, you'll find my Administrative philosophies blended with strong examples of how I fulfilled my competency requirements along with meaningful clock hours, resume and other required components.
Sincerely,
Michael T. Schmidt
6th Grade Teacher and Forestview Middle School Activities Coordinator
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Leadership: The ability to lead or an act or instance of leading; guidance; direction; the leader of a group.
Leadership is more than a single role within situation…it’s a required and instinctive understanding of people, both individuals and groups, intermixed with the variables involved in the common goal(s) needing to be met. Leadership requires the person to take ownership of task management, the delegations of duties, problem solving (including the comprehensions of the dynamics of all factors involved, both seen and yet to develop), the handling of all politics potentially involved and one that I think gets overlooked: the handling of success for both oneself and those around you.
Communication is a multi-dimensional foundation to leadership. Whether it’s public speaking, one-on-one with a colleague or a small group, your words are desired to be heard and scrutinized and kept on the fore-front of accountability. This requires some vision and knowledge of what you’re speaking of to ensure your ability to lead those attached to the goals or results and be successful in any regard.
Sharing your leadership role can be a delicate balance. As the leader, you alone have to be willing to take the ownership of your actions…there is no one else to pass them off onto. For myself this is where the necessity of “big shoulders” and “having a backbone” comes in to play, otherwise know as, integrity. In leadership you will have setbacks and how you handle them (more than likely) will have a profound impact by interpretation to those around you more than the successful times you may have endured.
I believe that humor and vulnerability within ones self is very important along with a realistic perception of who you are. Be real and be yourself at all times. This may include your actions, words and thoughts. The repercussions of not maintaining a steady identity…can be condemning to a leader within the perceived role. If you demonstrate too many personalities, or vary with how you handle situations with any consistency, it becomes difficult to keep them straight for yourself, let alone for those around you. The impact of this to a leader is one of mistrust on a loss in confidence within your supporters.
In leadership, you must be ready to make difficult decisions and accept that not everyone is going to like them or you for the decisions you’ve made. Establish your boundaries and expectations clearly before making any decisions and be ready to take the criticism. If for some reason, the decision you made proves to be incorrect or not the best, don’t run from that…accept it, apologize if necessary and move on. Stick to your decision and own it.
As a leader, you have to keep moving forward…personally, professionally and emotionally. Continue to grow, develop, be the diplomat and recruit those around you to join in the process, it’s empowering for you and the ones you lead.
-Mike Schmidt