Over-Coming Weaknesses- Building Relationships

      

Before starting my internship experience I identified a few areas of weakness that I felt would hold me back as a school leader. One of the areas that I was most concerned about was being proactive, specifically when it came to getting my self out to meet teachers, parents and other stakeholders. I feared that I stay in my office or workspace unless I was specifically told I had to work with the public.  While this is still my weakest area, I have made significant improvement during my internship experience.

     They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step. This is very true. In one of my first reflective experiences as an intern we were asked to identify some of the weaknesses we had in order to work on them. By acknowledging that putting myself out there was something I did not do well naturally, I was able to make it focus, especially in my first month on interning full time.

 My first intern experience was at a year round school working full time to close the school year. There were many opportunities to interact with parents, students and teachers. Because I had decided to make being proactive and social a focus, I tried to use the events as an opportunity to practice working with the public. I was not perfect at this, I often found myself hanging out near walls and waiting for parents and community members to come to me. However, as the experience continued and I was able to attend more and more school events I found myself being more comfortable.

As an intern, I felt it was difficult to build the relationships with parents because often they did not understand who I was, or I wasn’t there often enough to make a lasting impression. However, I think I used this an excuse. Every time I did approach a parent I was met kindly and most parents were interested in knowing who I was, and what I was doing to help their child. This was true at both the elementary and secondary levels.

I still find myself fighting with myself over getting out of the office and being present among the school community, especially with parents. However, I know it is a problem, and I know the right thing to do. Therefore, more often than not I can get myself out there and start building relationships.

Work-Life Balance

Throughout the past two years in the educational leadership program, it is probably fair to say that we have all struggled balancing work, school, and family.  One cannot go through such a program without having the values of hard-work, determination, and selflessness.  There have been several times that I personally have missed family events and pulled an all-nighter in order to complete assignments and I don't feel like I am an an exception.  Now that we are coming to an end of the program that does not mean that we will have less to do, but will have different demands and deadlines. 

When beginning our careers as school administrators, this can be our chance to build some good habits for our health.  By setting some guidelines when it comes to when we work, our home life will benefit.  One administrator I heard from suggested that you not check e-mail on the weekend or after leaving work and put away cell phones when engaging with family.  He also mentioned that if we do not take care of ourselves, we have nothing to give our students, faculty, and community.  This type of thing does not come naturally for most of us educators, but for our sanity and effectiveness it might be the first thing we need to focus on.

Nichole Goodliffe