The Paradox of School Leadership: Support
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A director I was coaching a few weeks ago told me about a repeat problem that kept coming up in her center. She was constantly being interrupted by teachers coming to her office asking for help with little things. She was glad to support them, but it was getting to a point where she couldn’t focus on her own tasks.
Her own behavior—going out of her office to give them what they asked for, every single time—was enabling their behavior and dependency, instead of empowering them to be resourceful.
We want to be encouraging leaders with all the answers, but there’s a paradox here. We have to balance this urge to provide on-demand support with the necessity of giving our teams the environment to develop autonomy, independence, and individual growth.
This week, join me for a conversation about:
- Why support is related to people pleasing and anxiety
- How the paradox of support shows up in education, such as the push-and-pull between dependency and empowerment
- Three practical ways you can balance support with autonomy
- Journaling questions to investigate how you can navigate the paradox of support
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If you’re holding back your center’s success because you’re afraid of what comes next, or if you’re struggling with the new challenges that come with leveling up, I want to support you. Let’s work together during a Schools of Excellence Leadership Day Intensive, where you’ll get a full day of on-demand, in-school training with me, plus various accountability check-ins, to help you and your team work through growing pains, and build a stronger, healthier center.
If you’re wrestling with the paradox of success, and you feel you would benefit from the guidance, camaraderie, and support of a community of like-minded ECE leaders, I encourage you to apply for our Owner’s HQ and Director’s Inner Circle membership programs. As a member, you’ll gain access to tools, resources, coaching, and community that will help you as you continue building a school of excellence.
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More about the show:
If you are an Early Childhood director or owner, prepare to transform your school and life with the Schools of Excellence podcast. Tune in each week to learn from Chanie Wilschanski, the founder and host of the Schools of Excellence Podcast and a mom of 4 little kids. Each episode will be packed with tools and strategies – equipping you to build schools with higher staff retention, teacher motivation, parent partnership, collaborative culture, and beautiful quality of life.
Every week, Chanie shares the truth about the journey to excellence, the strategies that are working TODAY, and the mindset about the critical decisions and choices that you make every day which impact yourself, your teachers, parents, family, and children who you serve every day.
In addition to weekly solo episodes, she’ll also be inviting industry leaders and the changing makers of the landscape of education to give listeners the inside knowledge of what it takes to sustain excellence.
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