School leadership is like a contact sport. You never know from where or whom the hit will come. And it can be fatal. In fact, school leaders get a fatal hit every three years, on the average. Very few have a leadership coach to help them avoid fatal blows. Yes, the average tenure for school leaders is about three years. After that, they’re fired or move on because they’ve taken too many hits.
As a leading school consultant once told my board and management team, “You gotta have your head’s back. It’s an open target. Protect it.”
Unfortunately, boards and management teams don’t always have your back. When push comes to shove, they’re more interested in their backs than yours.
You need someone who has your back. Who does? Who can you count on unequivocally?
A school leadership coach. Do you have a leadership coach? They make their living off of having your back. If you don’t have one, you should get one.
The National Association of Independent Schools studied coaching for school leaders. Here’s what school leaders said about school leader coaches and leadership coaching:
- Supported, encouraged and validated me
- Affirmed me, so I knew that I wasn’t crazy
- Gave me perspective by zeroing in and then out to get the big picture
- Served as a sounding board and as someone who could challenge, push or nudge my thinking
- Confirmed my own intuition or knowledge of a situation or relationship
- Contextualized and validated my reality
- Provided an outside perspective that was most useful in thinking through crisis situations
- Gave me courage to make and implement difficult decisions
- Helped me transition to a new school culture and the challenges of being an outsider in the community
- Improved my self-knowledge or self-awareness
- Helped me negotiate a new contract
- Balanced the power relationship between me and my board
- Helped boards hear my important messages
Who doesn’t need what a leadership coach offers? Every leader needs a coach. Every school needs a coached leader.
In the corporate world, most executives and their corporations enjoy the benefits of executive or leadership coaching. Leadership coaching is used extensively to help leaders improve, prepare for new challenges, launch new initiatives and manage change – to mention a few.
The return on investment for leadership coaching is estimated to be about 500%. Imagine that for you and your school!
So, obviously, leadership coaching is not just about protecting your back. In fact, it’s much more about your front and where you and your school are headed.
Leadership coaching will make a huge difference in your life and in the life of your school. It will help you become an exceptional leader and create an exceptional school.
Contact us now to begin your school leadership coaching.