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Thread (sorry): Indirect leadership (the liminal phase)
1/ Leaders always have a plan, right? Well, go back to March 2020 and any plans that school leaders had quickly disappeared. Busy though I was I arranged to meet with one of the teachers at school.
1/ Leaders always have a plan, right? Well, go back to March 2020 and any plans that school leaders had quickly disappeared. Busy though I was I arranged to meet with one of the teachers at school.
2/ “She (Arti) is doing something really special, you need to find out more.” (I had other priorities). This “something special”, whatever it was, was not a priority. So I met Arti and she talked to me about a charity she volunteers for ( @GoDharmic – check them out).
3/ She asks if she can use the school as a food distribution hub. People would come in every other Saturday morning and get a food parcel. We’d run it for a few weeks. Aim to distribute 30 packs. Fine, I say. I don’t really get it, its not a priority, but whatever.
4/ So, the plan is to run this for a few weeks with some staff volunteering. It is a group of 10 who help pick up the food, pack it, distribute it etc. And it annoys me that we have this situation in the UK in 2020/21, but that’s another story.
Fast forward to April 2021…
Fast forward to April 2021…
5/ The project is still going. The hub at school has grown (food parcels are now distributed from other HUBs including @_TSLT @TSLTChalkHills ), providing more than 200 food parcels every two weeks. A group of staff volunteers give up the bulk of their Saturdays every fortnight.
6/ The food parcels include fresh fruit and recipe cards and toiletries (including make-up). No questions asked, no ID needed, you take what you need. Serving the local community, local families - our young people.
7/ Leadership lessons:
•Leadership isn’t about control, its about empowering people.
•You will lead yet be a passenger for some parts of the journey.
•Take time to listen to people. To notice what is going on around you. Leaders are often busy with ‘important stuff.’
•Leadership isn’t about control, its about empowering people.
•You will lead yet be a passenger for some parts of the journey.
•Take time to listen to people. To notice what is going on around you. Leaders are often busy with ‘important stuff.’
8/
•The ‘important stuff’ should include people.
•Its okay to focus on more than one thing. Binary thought processes or conversations are not always helpful. Just because you don’t understand something or it doesn’t fit in with your view, doesn’t dismiss it.
•The ‘important stuff’ should include people.
•Its okay to focus on more than one thing. Binary thought processes or conversations are not always helpful. Just because you don’t understand something or it doesn’t fit in with your view, doesn’t dismiss it.
9/
•People working together can do amazing things.
•Have a plan – plans are good – but acknowledge that the river ebbs and flows with its own force. "You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust you sail to always reach your destination" (J. Dean).
•People working together can do amazing things.
•Have a plan – plans are good – but acknowledge that the river ebbs and flows with its own force. "You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust you sail to always reach your destination" (J. Dean).
10/
•Surround yourself with people who will both support and challenge you in your journey - you are learning lessons all the time, without even knowing it ( @chat2louise @cleodejong @JanWills18 for me).
Thank you for reading.
•Surround yourself with people who will both support and challenge you in your journey - you are learning lessons all the time, without even knowing it ( @chat2louise @cleodejong @JanWills18 for me).
Thank you for reading.
