Are student-teacher relationships a significant component to growth? My answer is this: the single most significantly damaging element to student growth is arguably a student-teacher relationship predicated on the need of the teacher for any kind of personal significance within that relationship. Christian schools might be better served when dialogue begins with this question: are student-teacher relationships positively or negatively … Read More
Effective Christian Leadership: Facing Obstacles and Opposition
In the summer right after I graduated from high school, I had the privilege of working for one of my uncles, who was a general contractor and owned a construction company. During this particular summer, he was building an apartment complex, and I was there to do whatever manual labor he assigned me to do. My first day on the … Read More
How Do Schools Get Better? (Part 4)
**Doing the right thing…knowing the right thing to do. This is a question that we ask ourselves everyday as school leaders. Richard Elmore, professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University, published a paper with this title through the NGA Center for Best Practices (can be found here). He offers suggestions and practical advice on how schools can get better. After … Read More
How Do Schools Get Better? (Part 3)
**Doing the right thing…knowing the right thing to do. This is a question that we ask ourselves everyday as school leaders. Richard Elmore, professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard University, published a paper with this title through the NGA Center for Best Practices (can be found here). He offers suggestions and practical advice on how schools can get better. After … Read More
Do you have “PEP” as a School Leader?
As I have thought recently about effective leadership at the principal, superintendent, and head of school level in Christian schools, it occurs to me that there are at least three areas of focus that are critical to do the job effectively. I have identified these areas with the acronym PEP – Priorities, Entrepreneurialism, and People Centeredness. Priorities: The leader of … Read More
School Buses, Lord of the Flies, and “The Right People”
In his blog from April “The Right People in the Right Seats” Tim Van Soelen encourages Christian schools to attract talent into their school through the lens of Collins’ research on Good to Great businesses. This sparked a question from a number of friends who were in the midst of hiring for next school year, which was: How do we … Read More
Effective Christian Leadership: Motivating Your Followers
For over twenty years, I lived my life in the same (over)weight range, always believing that I needed to lose some weight, but never really doing so. I tried a variety of diets and exercise regimens, but nothing ever moved me out of that range, nor did any of them ever become a long-term lifestyle. I finally convinced myself that … Read More
Effective Christian Leadership: Let People Have a Voice
If you have been following this series, by now you realize that I have found that the book of Ezra is chock full of lessons and illustrations on leadership. I have already written about topics like understanding God’s sovereignty in my plans, preparing myself for leadership, team leadership, the work of leadership, and seeing the big picture. In my study … Read More
The Right People in the Right Seats
Jim Collins, in his book “Good to Great”, created several phrases that have become part of our institutional vocabulary. Expressions such as “The Hedgehog Concept”, “Turning the Flywheel”, and “Level 5 Leadership” have been used (and probably overused) in the last ten years. My personal favorite for schools, however, is “Getting the Right People on the Bus.” I like this … Read More
Effective Christian Leadership: Seeing the Big Picture from God’s Point of View
I enjoy puzzles. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles—word puzzles, number puzzles, brain games, etc.—but in this instance I am specifically referring to jigsaw puzzles, the ones that are pictures cut into hundreds of little pieces that need to be assembled. And I have a preferred method of assembly: first turn all of the pieces face-up, setting aside those that … Read More