If you’re in leadership at a school today, this article is meant for you.

When it comes to teachers, it’s been said that even though teachers complete a rigorous curriculum which defines such things as learning styles, multiple intelligences, learning domains, along with preparing pre-assessments, lesson plans which are aligned with curricular standards, and assessments to measure a student’s mastery of a particular concept or topic, and are placed in real-life learning situations to provide experiential exposure to the dynamics of the classroom prior to accepting a teaching position, teachers gravitate toward the teaching style that was the exhibited by their favorite teacher when they were in the grade where they will be teaching.  For example, if a teacher was hired to teach 7th and 8th graders, they’ll take into consideration all those things they’ve learned to help their students succeed, but generally revert to the style of their favorite teacher as their “go to” way of presenting  a new concept to their students.

So what about administrators?  If you’re an administrator, do you also emulate the same leadership style that was exhibited by your favorite principal in your educational experience?

Here’s a great article about the difference between management styles from Hubspot.  While you may think that this is geared toward “business,” make no mistake.  Education has a “business” side to it, especially when you consider that your “customers,” that is, the parents of your students, have choices today regarding where their children will be educated.  It might be the local public school, but it might be a charter school, a cyber school, a faith-based school, or even homeschooling since many parents have not just college degrees, but advanced college degrees, and might feel they are better suited to educate their child than your teachers are.  In fact, that might be why many of them may provide their feedback to numerous school situations, or choose to volunteer at your school.

Also note that the article lists four standard management styles to strive for, and four to avoid: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/management-styles

You’ll note that one of the management styles to avoid is “Servant Leadership.”  It puts people over tasks.  While many will criticize this and say that we’re called to be “servant leaders,” it must be realized that people are important AND so is getting what needs to be done, done!  Otherwise, the leader will be loved, but may not be viewed as effective when it comes time for their evaluation.

In that light, if you’re looking for a great text to help you develop a management style to create a team of devoted followers, visit /tap this link to check out “Jesus, CEO: Using Ancient Wisdom for Visionary Leadership” by Laurie Beth Jones.  It’s not servant leadership: it’s transformational leadership.