The Reluctant Leader

I am a reluctant leader. I prefer to be more of a cheerleader and support person for those who are in the leadership roles. That being said, I have reluctantly taken on some leadership roles. 

As the only librarian in my school, I chaired the committee last year when we were awarded the Year of the Book grant from the Children's Literacy Foundation. That was a whole year of organizing monthly events and author visits. My approach was to recruit the most brilliant minds among our staff, pick their brains, choose the best ideas and then divvy up the responsibilities. It felt very awkward to me but I had an amazing group of teachers, administrators and parents so it all worked out well, I think.

I have been a mentor for a few years now at my school. I was sweet-talked into taking on the role a number of years ago. Our principal at the time said that the new teacher needed a mentor who had success with building positive relationships with all the families in our community and he thought that I was the person. Since then, I have been asked to mentor a new teacher every year. This year our curriculum coordinator asked me to mentor two people the same day my principal asked me to mentor two others. I tried to decline both requests and ended up mentoring just two people, one at the district level and one within my school. Clearly, I am not great at saying no. Thankfully, I adore both of the people that I am mentoring. 

I have been told by many people that I am a good listener. I do think that is important in good leaders. I don't think that I am as decisive as a good leader should be though.  I have worked for many principals over the years. The best principals gathered lots of information and asked lots of questions, then made the final decision. It is the decision making part that I struggle with.