Hi fellow leaders!
I am faced with a leadership conundrum that I need your input on. Every leadership book, blog, article, etc. talks about being proactive instead of reactive. We need to be ahead of the curve, looking into the future, two steps ahead of the problem, seeing the big picture. I wholeheartedly believe in those things. Yet, I find myself stuck in a cycle of reactivity, and I do not know how to get out.
When I stepped into my role as executive director and principal this year, it was the first time in the school's (short) history that we've had someone in the role who is qualified (and even I am brand new and thus have little experience). As a tiny nonprofit school for special needs, I feel like we've spent most of our existence just fighting for survival. Establishing ourselves in the special education landscape has been enough work on it's own, let alone establishing a highly qualified leadership team to move the school forward on a larger, more long-term scale.
Given this history, it has been rather frustrating to feel like I am cleaning up leftover messes from the last director instead of moving the school in a positive, ground-breaking direction. I badly want to be the kind of leader I read about, but the daily "fires" that crop up often get in the way. And the fires that haven't been put out from years past still smolder and need addressing. When handed a pile of financial books in disarray, unpaid insurance plans, unissued employment contracts, a legal issue with a former bookkeeper, a second legal issue with a former accountant, and a staff who have never known what good leadership looks like, I am struggling to get out from under it-- reactive mode-- and instead preventing these things from ever happening again-- proactive mode.
So my question to you is, how do I break the cycle? How do I get from REactive to PROactive?
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thank you!
-Jen
Jen,
ReplyDeleteI have a similar feeling toward the school in which I'm working right now. We seem to always be reacting to situations rather than anticipating and planning accordingly for them.
As trite as it may sound, I believe you've already taken the first step by realizing that you're being reactive rather than proactive.
Before jotting down this response, I did a quick Google search - I know, not very researchy - just to see what was out there, and I didn't really come up with anything specific to this situation; however, I started to think about what would move my school from being reactive to being proactive - control.
What are the things that you can easily or more immediately control? Identify them & then develop a plan/system for addressing them. What are things that someone else could possibly control? Allow that person to develop a plan/system for addressing those issues. As you identify concerns/issues/problems, come up with or look for ways to prevent them from stopping them before they start.
Josh
Jen-There are some issues that you can't ignore and require your immediate situation. It sounds like you have some extra baggage because of previous leadership. The one thing I would encourage you to do is CLEARLY work to identify your vision and then prioritize based on that vision. It is true that some things can't be ignored or delayed, but other things can be. You may want to consider identifying what tasks someone else can help with and what tasks you need to be involved with yourself.
ReplyDeleteI think you will have to think about where you want the school to be in 3 years, 5 years, 10 years. Does the school have a vision/mission statement? If not, develop one with the input of the community and let that drive your work. Clearly stepping into a position such as yours, you will inherit the problems that pre-existed. Work on putting out the fires while you focus on the future and the path you want to see the school take. If you can't see past the flames, you won't survive the fire!
ReplyDelete