My Thoughts about LEAD Program

Not all encounters in interviews have ended up being successful. Last week, I have had such an encounter. I came to find missed opportunities, mistakes I made in the choices of discussion topics which after the interview I came to regret. Today, I spend some time identifying and reflecting on the “mock” interview experience. I decided to engage in this exercise not to rewrite what had already happened or to wallow in blame, but to learn something important from the “mock” interview.

In retrospect, I came to realize that I have neglected to use important information that I had discussed with my school leader and through my own reflections. That is to clearly define my leadership – in terms of demonstrating my leadership, what exactly am I doing? My focus of leadership has been to develop and release potential and talents of my teachers. I need to articulate the type of relationship I as a middle manager has been developing with my teachers and how that relationship might differ from other management style with reviews of my actions to determine how well I have lived up to the values. This area of being my teachers’ people developer adequately captures what I believe is the essence of my leadership. What has enabled me to do this? The answer lies in looking at my leadership from the perspective of my character rather than tactics – in order words, looking beyond what I do and see who I am. I relied on values, one of which is restraint. This is a habit of the mind and action, and it has helped me in my leadership journey in a responsible, effective ways. If anything, the value of restraint seemed ordinary. But this is, in fact, I feel the source of its value. Sometimes, I see my fellow middle managers in situations in which their instinctive reaction is to call a spade a spade. But I believe that such individuals are just venting their immediate thoughts and feelings without really thinking. I personally believe that taking a forceful stand may not be the way out of a problem or can make matters worse, so I restrain myself. I need to be patient and self-discipline – pausing and waiting to give my teachers time to learn, drill down into complexities and nudge events in the right direction. I do not see life as a classroom in which the smartest kids are the ones whose hands shoot up first. I try to separate sound instincts from strong impulses. Even when I think something is clearly wrong or mistaken, I try, if possible, to pause, look around, listen and learn. Sometimes a strong reaction is a moment of insight; sometimes it is a bias or misunderstanding. Habits of patience and restraint may just give me enough time to tell the two apart – something which I am doing now.

This reflection is an example of how I paused, identify the leadership area which I truly believe in, think about and learn from my “mock interview” experience so that I will resolve to express myself in future.