Starting a job that I never had before, and the 3 leadership principles to guide my first 100 days.
I officially start a new job today at a private K-12 Christian school as the Head of School. I felt nervous and excited. I am nervous because this is my first time being a Head of School, and there is no one around me to mentor me or guide me through the process. I am excited because I enjoy doing new things and learn new skills.
I am thankful that my first official day is a Friday, and during the summer, the office has the Friday off. So I walked into an empty office, and I had time to sit and pray. I thank the Lord for the guidance as I prayed through the decision to accept the job and lead an amazing school. I am also grateful for an office with a lot of natural light and an office big enough for me and my bike. I also ask the Lord to give me courage as I embark on a journey that’s completely new and foreign to me.
I am coming into a team that has gone through many transitions in the past few years. I am in an environment that is familiar and yet foreign. I am familiar with education and ministry, but I have never worked in a place where ministry is intertwined with education. I am entering new working relationship that I never experienced before, which is working with a board for the first time. There are a lot of firsts with this job.
So what do I do in a situation where there is no playbook and no mentor? There isn’t a pre-established plan for me to carry out during this transition. So what do I do?
I couldn’t help but thank the Lord for putting an interest of leadership in me for the past 18 years. I have similar experiences and knowledge that I can draw and put into practice. I also witness many leaders transitioning into new leadership roles, and watched how they succeeded and failed. So I am not completely alone in leadership. I am now joining these leaders in practicing leadership.
So what will I do? Here are the three principles that I will be practicing in the next 90 days.
Principle #1: Be a noob.
To coin a gaming term, I am a noob (a person who is inexperienced in a particular sphere or activity). A noob, or a newbie, is a term that became popularized in early 21st century, when computer gaming became even more popular. When new players join a game, they are considered a noob. As you gain experiences playing the game, you become further away from being a noob.
But that initial phase of learning a game is so important for a player to succeed later on. And this is not exclusive to gaming. Everyone is a noob before they were experts. So why not owning this phase of my leadership development. I am new to this role, to this responsibility, to this organization. So I will embrace being a noob, and plainly respond to questions with, “I don’t know” followed by, “but tell me more about this problem / question.” Or “let me get back to you later.”
Being a noob gives me the courage I need to ask questions. I don’t feel the pressure to pretend I know everything. It is very freeing to be a noob.
Principle #2: Listen, and keep on listening.
As a new leader, I have the least amount of knowledge regarding the school. So I will try not to speak or give my opinion. I want to focus on listening. I have heard countless stories about people feel their leaders don’t listen and the leaders don’t understand the people working in an organization. Then there is a lot of resentment and gripe towards the leader. The leaders who have been successful are the leaders who listened and keep on listening to their organization. Good leaders listen to their leadership team, listen to the teachers, listen to the students, and listen to the parents.
So I am bought into the idea that leaders need to listen, especially as a new leader. So in the next couple of months, I want to keep on listening, and ask questions to draw out more from my team so I can learn about the school and the team.
Principle #3: Don’t change anything.
I am new. The school has operated for 40 years before I got here. There is a program that serves many students. The parents have many positive things to say about the school. So why would I change it right away?
As many seasoned leaders shared, leaders who come in and change everything will face a lot of opposition. Why change something that is already working? Learn about the program and figure out what is working. Get to know the ins and outs of the program. Then when your team trusts you and bring issues to your attention, then work with the team to address these issues. But don’t change anything in the beginning.
My goal for my first year is to really observe and learn the ins and outs of the school, and carry out the changes that has already been scheduled. I will try and put in the effort to resist the urge to make changes. It won’t be easy, but it will be better for the school at the end.
Even though I have no play book nor do I have a mentor to guide me through the process, there are so many great leaders that I admire and learned from that have shared their wisdom with the world. This is a great time for me to try and figure out if these principles work in a school setting or not. I am excited about this journey, and I look forward to learning more about leadership.
