Foundation #5: Stay Positive

This article is a selection from the introduction of the new book, Five Foundations for Great School Leadership, available now. Click here to order your copy on Amazon!

The fifth foundation, Stay Positive is all about attitude.

It’s easy to keep a positive attitude when the sun is shining, your test scores are good, and you feel in control. But the weather, the yearly cycle of the school calendar, or your feelings about the new initiatives that are being handed down from the district this year should not determine the emotional climate of the school. 

Great educational leaders structure physical space, school schedules, celebrations, and rewards with the school’s morale in mind. Creating a strong, positive culture that can withstand the ups and downs of the school year is vital for leading a great school or district. 

Everyone who has ever been coached in a team sport has heard the phrase “attitude is everything.”

Zig Ziglar, the famous motivational speaker, puts it more eloquently: “Attitude, not aptitude, determines your altitude.”

But although the sentiment is nice, it’s just not true.

Attitude is vital to reaching any goal, but attitude cannot be the only element of success. Instead, a school’s or district’s trajectory is determined by a combination of attitude, skill, and context.

If you don’t get the results you want, try to improve one of those three components. Making improvements in any of these automatically leads to improvements in the other two.

The phrase “stay positive” implies that once an attitude becomes positive, something must be done to keep it that way.

It’s not “be positive,” something that can be turned on or off with the simple flip of a switch. Instead, maintaining positivity takes effort. 

The leader should keep his or her finger on the pulse of the school to find out if morale is flagging.

If it is, why? What are the steps that should be taken to improve morale?

We all have sat through an end-of-the-school-day meeting that should have been an email. No one pays attention because everyone is ready to go home.

What if a large percentage of your teachers and students start to feel that way every day?

As the leader of the organization, you must remain vigilant to make learning fun and make school an exciting place to be. Staying positive starts with you. 

Being an educational leader can be stressful.

You live under constant scrutiny, you may feel judged or pressured based on test scores, you put in a lot of hours at the school or office, and it’s sometimes hard to stop thinking about work once you arrive at home.

You spend a majority of time working with people, and people, especially children, are unpredictable.

Parents can be critical, and there always seems to be an emergency happening somewhere that requires your immediate attention.

How can anyone stay positive under such circumstances?

The first step is to take good care of yourself. Eating the right amount of healthy food, getting enough exercise and sleep, spending quality time with friends and family, and doing things that you enjoy are minimum requirements to be able to effectively handle the stresses of the job. 

Next, understand that your attitude, demeanor, and even your tone of voice make a major impact on the people around you.

Even in the most stressful situations, educational leaders should remain calm in public. Just being a calm presence in the room can help de-escalate tense situations.

Educational leaders also work toward increasing morale among students and staff.

One of the best ways to increase morale is to reduce uncertainty whenever possible.

Communicate clearly and often–in my opinion, there is no such thing as overcommunication. I would rather risk seeming redundant than to have some people miss the message. 

Another way to increase morale is to celebrate wins publicly.

Affirming teachers’ and students’ efforts lifts the spirits not only of those being recognized, but of those around them, as well.

Show appreciation both publicly and privately, and you’ll gain more dedication toward the school’s goals.

Want to read more about the Five Foundations? Learn more in Five Foundations for Great School Leadership, available now.

Click here to purchase a copy on Amazon!