Are You a Successful Principal / Head Teacher? (Part2)

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I am welcoming you to the concluding part of this discussion on being a successful and good principal / head teacher.

These are the other things to consider.

Delegate Appropriately

Like we said earlier, you need to know those working under you. Know their capabilities. This will help you in delegating responsibilities. Don’t be a control freak like people have known principals to be. If you are a control freak, it is not a bad thing, it is just that you want things done perfectly and you feel you are the only one that can get it done.

But now you need to free your shoulders off these heavy tasks so that you can be more effective. There’s value in delegating. Since you know your teachers well, you can easily make them responsible for tasks that you are sure they can and will carry out perfectly. You are thereby giving them a sense of responsibility and in another way boosting their confidence.

All these will help you reduce stress so that you can perform optimally.

Create and Enforce Proactive Policies

I won’t say much here. Don’t wait for things to come up before looking for ways of tackling or solving them. Different schools with different needs. You know yours needs. You should know what could come up. Be prepared before they happen. That is what we mean by being proactive. Make policies and enforce them. Put them in writing and make sure all your teachers are familiar with it. Even in your absence, you can be sure that things will work just fine.

Solve Problems Once and for All

It’s easier to find a quick fix to problems but on the long run, it could be disastrous. It’s better to invest more time so as to find a lasting solution to problems. Successful principals are proactive as we said earlier, they are always steps ahead. They don’t solve problems merely looking at the surface cause, they dig to the root and solve once and for all.

Become a Vault of Information

Pardon me to say that you as a successful principal need to be jack of all trades. You must know little or more in so many fields. Stay updated. Make yourself a vault of information. Be vast in research focusing on education, IT and trends. You must be able to teach in all the classes in your school. Be conversant with educational policies of the state you are. Update your teachers, encourage them, give them tips and walk-throughs to best classroom practices. They will appreciate you and enjoy their working with you.

Sometimes you could be inaccessible, its fine but it should never be all the time. Good principals are accessible to all stake holders; Teachers, students, parents and the non-teaching staff. More especially, the students should have easy access to you. Some students are so afraid at the sight of their principal. This shouldn’t be.

Know this, when anything goes wrong, the only person that comes to their mind is you. Therefore, great principals / head teachers know that maintaining a cordial relationship with everyone is the key to their success on their job.

Students are the First Priority

A good principal has a system in place for core values which are centered on the students and it is shared by all the teachers. This means that all the teachers are carried along in the decision made. When the decision is mainly focused on the students, there can hardly be a clash or infighting.

You are there to nurture, counsel, discipline, and educate each and every student. As a principal, you must never forget that students should always be our focal point.

Now you can answer the question. Are you a successful principal?

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