“I was once told the secret to being a great principal is to hire great people and then get out of their way”. Keith Simmons, principal of Griffin High School in Griffin Georgia stated this as he looked out over a crowd of parents, students, and community stakeholders at an event for the newly formed “Academy of Fine Arts and Journalism’. I stood their smiling at him and the crowd but inside my head I was thinking “Finally, someone has put into words what I truly believe to be my philosophy of education”. He was referring to his staff in this comment – but really it can be applied with students. Great teachers help their students ask the right questions and then get out of their way in finding the answers.
I truly admire Simmons leadership style. I have worked for principals who believe in leading by fear and retribution, who are constantly micromanaging. These are also the types of leaders who don’t really care what’s truly happening as long as it “appears to look good”. They are about perception not reality. These leaders are so afraid of looking bad or not knowing an answer that they refuse to seriously address the real issues or problems. Under that kind of leadership – teachers lose, but more importantly kids lose.
In contrast to those type of leaders Simmons’s takes the role of supporting and helping his teachers lead, adapt, and get better. He explains to his staff what he is looking for and then trusts them to get the job done. Much like the opening in our book The Art of Possiblity – he takes the time to offer positive reinforcement to help change peoples perspective! He wants to hear the problems, as long as you bring some ideas for the solution. Bottom line – he does what’s best for the kids and he surrounds himself with others who do as well.
I have adapted this same style in my teaching because it gives the students ownership in their learning. I hope that as I move into other areas of education in the future – I would like to go into a communication specialist role – that I learn to encourage and lead like Simmons.
Great observations. I've also worked with administrators who felt is was their task to get out of their teachers way and run interference of all the district busy-work and worked for those who didn't trust themselves and thus couldn't trust their staff. Sad. I'm glad that you have someone who inspires you to free up your students to excel.
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