Want to be an International School Leader? Start off by Keeping Your Word.

I've interviewed hundreds of school leaders around the world - each conversation, its own unique and rich individual blend of leadership, aspiration, culture and context. Being afforded the keys to the innermost thoughts of some of the great school leaders of our international schools is an honour. The experiences, aspirations and increasing vulnerability within which leaders place themselves in is a powerful listening chamber. It takes trust, a growing level of respect and a desire for new opportunities on both parts. By far, one of the single most important threads that weaves its way collectively around the highest performing leaders I have talked to is - keeping your word.

"The world is divided into two types of people - those who make good on their promises and those who don't. Get in column A and stay there. You'll be very valuable wherever you go.

Robert Towsend (Former Avis CEO).

Contract yourself - Honour your words

Nicholas McKie, Director and Leadership Coach at Persyou talks about the importance of 'contracting' as a foundational tool for successful coaching. The power in doing what you say you will do, when you say you will do it, lives and breathes confidence, improves your personal accountability and skyrockets the trust staff have in you. It is also a key component of coaching. Yet you don't need to study it, become qualified in it or spend countless hours trying to create a strategy for its implementation. The simple act of being to others who you say you are is leadership gold dust. Managing change, developing others, fostering and building relationships that create a successful school culture start with you doing what you say you will do. By keeping your word and doing what you say you will do, you:

? Model this expectation in others, embedding it in your school culture.

? Create clarity, focus on and direction of your school goals.

? Allow staff to focus on what matters most - learning.

? Create pockets of opportunity that lead to cultural exchange, improve your diversity of thinking and improve your marketing position. This helps:

? Build a personal brand, your overall reputation/that of your school; you get to watch your stock value soar.

So, how do we honour ourselves and those around us? Here, we explore further.

Modeling commitment to others

One of the simplest leadership mantras I have always carried with me is not to expect of others what I am not prepared to do myself. If you aren't prepared to follow a decision through, meet an irate parent or deal with a shortage of resources in the Art Department, then can you expect others to do the same? Time is THE most valuable currency in our international schools, so keep your pledge to share it with staff, especially those with ambition, curiosity and a desire to follow in your footsteps one day. Dedicate specific time that allows you to keep your word. Be honest if your diary is full, but always fulfill commitments you make to meet people.

Create clarity, focus and direction on your school goals

When you maintain commitment over time, you increase clarity and effectiveness, particularly if you build in systems of accountability and a rigorous form of self-assessment. If you set out expectations for Learning and Teaching at the start of the year, it is critical to embed them. Celebrate how people engage with a commitment to improve curriculum planning and practices over time. Support those who need it to get where you need to go as a school. Repeat, repeat and repeat your school goals. Keep you word in how they will be achieved. Deal precisely and effectively with 'rogue pirates' (Deal and Peterson, 2017) who seek to undermine your attempts to keep your word.

Build systems and successful habits

Atomic habits author James Clear says, "You?do not?rise to the level of your goals.?You fall to the?level of your?systems". When it comes to keeping your word, set a system in place that challenges you to keep you word. Set personal reminders, write and reflect, involve others in the conversation and seek the professional opinion from others in how you are doing. Build strong personal habits that underpin your personal identity when it comes to keeping your word. Make integrity one of the defining characteristics of your leadership team and interview for it.

The temptation to over commit

Ask any Founding School Principal around the world and they will tell you the same thing - under promise and over deliver. Never make promises that you cannot keep. Parents are increasingly savvy and will hold you to account for photos in your prospectus, comments you have made in speeches or articles and pictures on your website. Share what you know you will do. In today's increasingly fast paced digital society, the opportunities just keep coming and coming. It is hardly surprising that we get lost in a medley of events.

Learn how to say 'no'

Keeping your word when it comes to certain decisions and actions can also mean at times that you will have to say 'no', close the door and separate yourself between operational and strategic thinking/planning. Finding the right balance between living in the now and planning for the future has caught many an international school leader out. When staff come to you with ideas, however great they may seem, buy time with an initial filter that saves time effort and energy on both sides.

Summary

Keeping your word is a highly desirable leadership characteristic of the international school leader - and leader in general. It develops self-confidence, and confidence of others in you, particularly when it comes to making effective decisions and managing change - two key tasks school principals are faced with.

Key Takeaways:

1. Keeping your word is an integral behaviour of the high-performing international school principal.
2. Make a 'contract' with yourself to those you enter agreements with.
3. Dedicate allocated time to those who have questions and want to learn from you.
4. See commitments and engagements as learning opportunities - not as distractions. Ask as many questions of others, as they do of you.
5. Model comittment and keeping your word in your personal actions and commitment to whole-school goals.
6. Build a personal brand of reliability that allows your overall reputation/that of your school to soar.
7. The finest international leaders in our schools around the world, find the time.

Question: When was the last time that you made a commitment, agreed to do something for someone or promised to be involved in an event or upcoming project? Did you honour that commitment? If not, what did you learn form the experience?

"You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do. – Carl Gustav Jung"

Thank you for reading.

If you enjoyed reading this, please consider ordering a copy of my book 'Leading Your International School'. Available from:

Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leading-Your-International-School-Practical/dp/9395986441/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1356884

Apple Books https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id6447771402

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940166047571

Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9789395986502

Scribd https://www.scribd.com/search?query=9789395986502&language=0

Odilo https://marketplace.odilo.us/opac/?query=9789395986502

Gardners Extended Retail https://www.gardners.com/Search/KeywordAnonymous/eBook?Keyword=9789395986502