The Principal's Handbook

unveiling-your-leadership-identity-know-who-you-are-as-a-leader
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Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for [00:01:00] principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Hey everyone. And welcome to the Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about knowing who you are as a leader. And one of the pillars of confidence that I coach on is knowing who you are as a person in general.
And so if you know who you are, you'll feel more confident in your abilities. Thanks for now. Peace. And knowing who you are, it involves understanding your values, your beliefs, your different personality traits, strengths, weaknesses, and [00:02:00] just your overall purpose. And sometimes I think the hard part about knowing who you are is that we have in mind who we want to be, But there's a gap between who we want to be and who we actually show up as every day.
So this is why it's so important that we really take the time to get to know ourselves and understand who we are. The other thing that I think can happen Especially in the field of education, because we have to be so professional as we look at ourselves as two different people. I know that I did this for a really long time.
I looked at myself as the principal version of myself and then me and my personal life. And I would say. That was how I would talk about myself often. I felt like there was this disconnect. And as a principal, it is so important, even as a teacher to present yourself in a professional manner at school with your staff, your students, and your families, but I've learned through just over time that being yourself inside and Outside of school is so important and helps [00:03:00] you lead more authentically.
, it took me time to realize how to show up as just a more professional version of me, but continue to be myself in both settings. So today I want to talk about ways you can really dig down and figure out who you are as a leader. It took me a really long time to realize who I was as a principal, which made me less confident, especially in the beginning when I was looking at myself as two different people, or just really trying to figure it out.
But. Between getting lots of feedback from my superintendent and coaching from others and, you know, when I was an assistant coaching from my principal, I've been able to figure out who I am and, you know, what my strengths are, what my weaknesses are, but it did take a lot of time and it took a lot of work.
So I wanted to share today how you can go about doing that. So here are four tips to know who you are as a leader. Tip number one, this is the most important take time for reflection. We know that we want teachers who are reflective. And so we need to make sure [00:04:00] as principals that we are very reflective and we continue to be reflective.
So we, we know the importance, but how often are you taking the time to truly reflect on your leadership? And one way I like to do this is by journaling at the end of the day what went well and what I could have done better. So I've done a lot of journaling about, you know, this went well at school, this did not.
So that's one way, but I wanted to also give you some questions that you can just even reflect on. And again, these could just be questions you talk through with someone. These could be questions you journal, but I really think that you should take the time reflect on these questions so that you can really know who you are as a principal.
So the first question to reflect on is what are my core values and beliefs? Why do I get up and do what I do every day? You know, what are your beliefs about your students? What are your beliefs about staff? Do you share these beliefs with your staff? So this is another thing I've learned over time. It's just the importance of letting them know what you believe, letting them know what your core [00:05:00] beliefs are, your core values, and sharing those.
Also thinking about what are your strengths and weaknesses. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you figure out what you can delegate to other people. So for example, for me, my strength is instructional leadership. I love how all things that have to do with curriculum. So I, I'm very lucky in my district.
I get to work closely with the curriculum director, you know, because I love learning about curriculum. I love, uh, teaching reading, especially in the early grades. I help lead the district reading committee and these things just keep fueling my passion for, you know, Instructional leadership. So having those opportunities are so important, but I know that's my strength, but my weakness that I love to joke about, but it was even as a teacher is the fun activities, right?
I'm very like routine. I'm good at doing, you know, the instruction stuff, but I'm not the best at. Just planning fun activities and having great [00:06:00] creative ideas when it comes to that. So I utilize a committee, we have a spirit committee that comes up with fun activities and one of my secretaries loves to do that stuff.
So she leads that committee. I go, I participate, but that committee is leading all of it because that is a strength of the people on the committee. It is not a strength of my, of mine. Also thinking about your passionate interests. So for me, like I talked about with my strength with curriculum. So finding that passion of learning about the science of reading and helping teachers implement that, that keeps me going.
That keeps me excited about my work. And so, um, you know, knowing that that's my passion, knowing ways that I can use my passion in my job and help other teachers is really important because it makes me want to be there. If I didn't get to do the things I'm most passionate about, I'm. I'm not going to enjoy the job as much.
Um, also in my personal life, I have a passion for fitness, so I try to incorporate this by doing like a yearly fitness challenge. You know, we've had a [00:07:00] healthy month, month challenge where staff had different activities they did and crossed them off. And it, you know, made me feel good that, you know, People are getting more steps or being more active and that my passion for fitness could help other people incorporate some fitness.
So using even what your own passions are inside the building to help others. , then also thinking about what are your longterm and short term goals? So goal setting, I'm a huge fan of goal setting because. It provides you direction, motivation, focus, and just a framework for your personal and professional growth.
So every morning I write out my goals and these are personal goals. I write out in the morning, but, , when I'm journaling, I write them out because doing this daily, it reminds me of what my goals are and it keeps them in the front of my mind. It also, , you know, I've read a lot where if you're writing your goals down daily, it puts that into your subconscious.
So you're automatically doing things that align with those goals. , that's so important to actually write them out, not just say them or not just know what they are, but write them out daily. And in the evening I'm able to [00:08:00] reflect on what did I do today that moved me towards my goals. Now at work, I do my goals weekly.
, it just helps keep them at the forefront of my mind and then monitor my progress towards my goals, just like my personal goals. But like I said, I do it weekly. , and then I like to reflect on my time for the week. That's why I choose to do it once a week. And C, was I using my time in the most efficient way to meet those goals?
So I've been doing a lot of reflecting on, you know, my instructional leadership and my goal to help teachers implement all this PD that we're doing on the science of reading. You know, I want to help them actually implement it and not, we just did the PD, now we're done and we're moving on. And so I've been really thinking about what is the best use of my time and what I've come up with is PLCs.
Are the best use of my time. I need to be in PLCs, which I've been in PLCs before, but sometimes I'd have observations or meanings or different things going on while I've been more intentional, intentional at [00:09:00] scheduling, , PLCs into my schedule and not planning anything else at that time, because I do think that it makes a difference when I'm there.
So that's one way. Another way is walkthroughs. You know, when I can walk through and see something and get, give the teacher feedback on that and give them different ideas. That also helps and is a great way, , to continue to grow and lead as an instructional leader. So, You know, writing out my goals, knowing how I'm using my time and really trying to use my time to reach those goals is so important.
So writing them out is huge. My second tip for knowing who you are as leader is doing some sort of personality test. I've done a lot of different ones. Um, I've done the Enneagram, which I love. Uh, I actually, there's a lot of trainings on the Enneagram, which if you're able to go to those, I would recommend because it's really, There's a lot to the Enneagram.
Um, there's also the Myers Briggs. I've never done that one, but I've heard about it. I've done a book with my BLT, my building leadership team called the five voices of leadership. That was [00:10:00] a really good one. We, um, it gives you different personality types and then how you lead based on those personality types.
And it was really good in a building leadership team to know how we lead and knowing that we needed to have different voices on the team and what our, , strengths and weaknesses were. and how that helps build the team up. So doing that personality test and figuring out who you are is really helpful and can, you know, guide you in knowing yourself.
I did the Enneagram and like I said, I felt like my results were describing me to a tee. , I, some people are between different types of personalities. Mine was like exactly. me when I read it, it described me perfectly. , but what I love about the personality tests that I've done is it gives you strengths and weaknesses of each personality test, each personality type.
So one isn't better than another, but it tells you like for me, , I'm considered. You know, a loyalist on the Enneagram. And so it tells me what the [00:11:00] strengths of that are, but then what the weaknesses are. So for example, a strength is I am loyal to others. You know, I'm committed, but a weakness is I can be a people pleaser.
So I like that it helps you know your strengths and weaknesses as well. Um, so these again, they're great to do for yourself just to learn about yourself. And they're great to do with teams and see how you work with other people. Um, my third tip for knowing yourself is getting feedback from others. And it can be really hard sometimes to get that feedback, but getting feedback from others, it just allows you to see how they view you, how they view your strengths, how they view your weaknesses.
And you want to make sure when I say get feedback from others, that it's a reliable source. You don't want to. You know, just take feedback from random people, but use a mentor, use a supervisor, use a friend who's known you for a long time. Um, also giving your staff a survey. I try to do surveys a lot with my staff and it can be really hard.
I did a leadership course where I had to give this very big survey to staff and, [00:12:00] you know, it was hard to read some of the results. Because it wasn't always how I viewed myself, but that was the point, right? I had to be reflective and I had to be willing to change in some areas. So the other thing is if you give a survey, you have to look at the entire survey and look for trends.
You can't just focus on one person's, , survey results because obviously when you're leading, someone could be upset with You know, how you handled a situation or a hard conversation you maybe had to have with that person. So you need to look at the results overall, look for, you know, trend data, look for patterns, , and not just focus on maybe one person and what their bias could be.
You don't want that to become something that you, you know, use to know yourself, but just looking for trends and patterns. And it's really nice when you can do a survey over time, you know, multiple times to see if things have changed or if things are consistent for you. So getting feedback from others is really helpful and can be huge in getting to know who you are.
, and my [00:13:00] last tip is accepting that you can grow and change. I think this is so important because often we think about our personality and we think. The way we lead and the way we act is in a fixed mindset. We think about that in a fixed way. , so for example, I've been a people pleaser my whole life.
So if I talk about being a people pleaser, you know, that's become part of my identity because of what I tell myself about it. Or, because of what others have told me about it, but I want you to remember that you get to decide the person you want to be. So if you become aware of personality traits you don't like or weaknesses you have, you can change them.
So for me with people pleasing, you know, that's not a great trait for a principal. And so instead of saying, I can't be a principal because I'm a, People pleaser, you know, I just know it's a weakness that I have to work on and I know it's something that, you know, with time and mindset work I have overcome and it's still something that I have to watch about myself and know that I have people pleasing tendencies, but I no [00:14:00] longer define it as my personality because.
You know, now I can tell myself affirmations. Like I'm a person who makes decisions that are right for the building and not to please others. And I think this is so important. I've let that go as part of my identity and I've just used it now as something I need to watch. It can be a weakness of mine. I need to watch being a people pleaser, but it's no longer part of my identity because I know I can grow and change.
I know that. You know, having, being a people pleaser, having tough conversations used to be so hard for me and with practice and coaching and, you know, being aware I've been able to change that. So just knowing that you can grow and change and no part of your personality or leadership style is fixed. You can change any of that and decide to be the person and the leader that you want to be.
And affirmations like I used the example earlier, but it is a great way to create the behaviors or personality traits you want to change because you're describing yourself as if you already are a person who does [00:15:00] that behavior. So I'm going to give you a couple examples. I thrive on presenting confidently in front of others and genuinely enjoy it.
So. You hate presenting, but as you're part of your job, you have to present in front of staff. Often you just tell yourself, I thrive on presenting confidently in front of others and I genuinely enjoy it. And the more you tell yourself that the more it's going to become true. Another example, if you struggle to listen and to, you know, really seek understanding from others, I actively listen to others, aiming to understand rather than focusing on being right.
And then just remembering I'm a person who continues to learn about myself and can grow and change. So that's huge. Just knowing that, you know, having that growth mindset and knowing that you can grow and change in any way that you decide and you choose to. So just to recap, the four tips to know who you are as a leader are take time for reflection, complete a personality test, get feedback from others, and accept that you can grow and [00:16:00] change.
So I hope that you found those tips helpful. I hope you go back and reflect on some of those questions. Like I said, whether it's out loud with someone or journaling, I think that it's so important to really take that time to self reflect and be aware that's going to help you so much. In getting to know who you are as a leader.
And if you're interested in one on one coaching more or more tips throughout the week, you can find me on Instagram at Bart flowers, coaching, or on my website, Bart flowers, coaching. com. Um, I also provide a free confidence strategy planning session. So what we do during this session is I use a tool and we evaluate your confidence, utilizing the five pillars of confidence, and we develop personalized goals tailored to the areas that you need improvement.
So this is completely free. So if you're interested in this, reach out to me, but thank you for listening to this podcast episode. If you found it helpful, please leave a review. So others are able to find this podcast as well. , I hope you have a great week and stay tuned for next week's episode.
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