Reflection/Leadership Interview
I interviewed our Assistant Superintendent today. It was a great experience. I learned that as an Assistant Superintendent you have a tremendous amount responsibility throughout the district. The Assistant Superintendent serves as a member of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, supervises and evaluates campus principals, assists in the orientation and professional development of new principals and assistant principals, uses data and feedback to maintain and create a positive organizational climate, communicates effectively with campus and central office staff, parents and the community, relates to staff, students and parents in ways that convey equality and mutual respect, articulates the district's mission, instructional philosophy, and curriculum implementation strategies to the community and solicit their support in realizing the mission, supports the goals and objectives of the district and follow district policies and performs all other duties as assigned by the Superintendent of Schools.
Out of the 15 questions that I asked the 5 questions that stood out the most were questions 1,2,4,6 and 8. In question 1, it asked, “What is your definition of leadership?” His definition of leadership was the ability to influence others on what you need them to do at that time. That holds true to me, because as leader you do need to have the ability to be able to influence others and guide them on that right path to complete a task that they have volunteered to do or you have delegated a task them. On question 2, it asked, “What are the positive aspects of being in a leadership position?” His response was, the ability to help create policies that will have a positive impact on student achievement. That answer really holds true, because obviously we are not in education for the money, we are here to help students reach their potential and become college and career ready and be a productive citizen in society. On question 4 it asked, “What are the attributes of being a good Superintendent?” His response was, honesty, commitment, trust, knowledge, responsibility, open-minded and delegation. I agree with all the attributes he said. On question 6, it asked, “How do you work to develop a shared vision?” His response was, make sure you engage all stakeholders in the process, which are your parents, community members, business representatives, cabinets and your chiefs in district administration. It all starts with your leadership, then goes to management, then to instruction in the classroom and then the tools you utilize to make the shared vision a reality. On question 8, it asked, “How does the Superintendent build a good relationship with the Board?” His response was, have retreats, go to workshops together, build rapport, stay true to the students and don’t play favorites. In other words, it can some times be a political game and don’t get involved. Kids come first.
What I learned from the interview that will improve my leadership knowledge and skills in this business is you’ve got to be doing a lot of things all at once, and you’ve got to be doing them in a fairly coordinated deliberative manner. I think you’ve got to have a framework for thinking about how you’re going to put them in play, and how you’re going to get your board and your community invested in supporting those sets of action plans and key objectives that you’ve set. Whether you call it a strategic planning process, goal setting process, action planning process, you have got to have one that genuinely engages your stakeholders, and gives the people a clear focus on what that is, and keeps them focused on that through the year.
