Personnel Resources and Communication Skills

Specific Skill Sets of Effective School Administrators

            Overall, both faculty and administrators ranked business skills as the most important set

of leadership skills, followed by cognitive, interpersonal, and strategic…. Business skills included general management skills, and management of personnel, financial, and material resources. Management of personnel resources ranked as the most important for faculty and administrators among business skills. (Kalargyrou, p.59)

 

            In this article, the management of Personnel Resources ranked as the most important skill for effective administrators.  It was ranked as the most important skill by both administration and faculty at the school.  Many of the quotes from faculty included the idea of building trust amongst team members, inspiring and motivating the staff, forming teams of people where the strengths of some team members compensate for the weaknesses of others, encouraging those teams, offering professional development, and empowering the faculty.  (Kalargyrou, p. 49) 

            This information is pertinent to me because at times, in leadership roles, we spend time focusing on the troubled staff members, and “putting out fires” for them, and we forget that a majority of our staff are competent, driven, and passionate people who can sincerely contribute to moving our profession forward.  When in leadership, I need to encourage and support those individuals with vision and resources to go out and be the change they seek.  I also need to realize that no school is a “one man show”, that it takes a team of people to accomplish the mission of educating our children and that I will be surrounded by a great team, I just need to take the time to recognize their strengths and move (if needed) them to the place where they will be most effective. 

            A study of the most effective principals in Seattle, Washington found these to be some of the most important Leadership Skills: (1) an ability to communicate effectively, (2) a tendency to lead by example before mandating desired changes, (3) a skill for empowering others to lead, and (4) a capacity for providing support.  (Seattle, p.6).  Effective communication is often times praised the most when listening is put into practice.  Many teachers noted that their principal, their superintendent and their board listened to them, acknowledged their needs, and followed up with them.  Teachers also enjoyed the privilege of the open communication where teachers felt comfortable enough to approach their superintendent with concerns, and not feeling as though they would be thought less-of for sharing.  Erwin (2010, p.12) mirrors these findings, noting that the most effective administrators she studied had very effective communication skills with both, individuals and with whole staff communication as opposed to being highly skilled in one or the other. 

References

Erwin, S., Winn, P., Gentry, J., & Cauble, M. (2010). A Comparison of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Principal Leadership Skills by Campus Student Achievement Level. Online Submission

Kalargyrou, V., Pescosolido, A. T., & Kalargiros, E. A. (2012). LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. Academy Of Educational Leadership Journal, 16(4), 39-63.

Seattle Pacific Univ., L. r. (2007). Lessons on Leadership: A Study of Distributed Leadership in Washington State. Research Report #10. Washington School Research Center