Principles of Principals
Although nearly every handbook and
many dictionaries warn against confusing words principle and
principal, many people still do. Principle is only a noun; principal is both adjective
and noun. I wish that all the principals (noun) will become an adjective that
their names will be referred for the best. Principals are also teachers with an
additional charge of administration. Since, they are not trained
administrators, most often they fail to manage the group of teachers and
students, eventually end up with principal (adj.)
reason for poor performance of their institutes.In
spite good natural resources and human resource, India fails to increase its
GDP. To produce one professional graduate, country is spending Rs. 12 lakh on
and 14-15 lakh on post graduate. Best brain (2-4%) will go waste as brain
drain. Even while serving the other countries, some might contribute to the
economy in one or the other forms, but it is unsustainable and causes disparity
in the society. The graduates in India
about 8-10% will find job in their field of profession; 10-20% consciously
chose different jobs and 60-70% graduates are unemployable and take up low paid
jobs unwillingly.
Unemployment growth rate is about 7.8%. This population number can be converted
into resources provided education institutes headed by right principals with
right principles.
SWOT analysis
As soon as one become a principal of
any given institute, they must do SWOT (Strength,
Weakness, Opportunities and Threats)
analysis of the institute and the people including themselves. Institute’s SWOT
analysis can be done by involving the entire faculty including non-teaching
staff and students. After carefully analyzing the SWOT, they must prepare a
Gantt chart (Plan of action with time frame) and entrust the task to each of
the faculty depending on their desire. In any institute, about 20% of the
people will contribute 80% of the productivity and 80% of the people contribute
only 20%. In a large democratic country like India, We cannot choose our
colleagues. Many principals would like to project themselves as strict
personalities and have grim face (adj. having
a very serious or gloomy expression) always and shout at the people very
often. It is a fearing strategy of a
poor leader. A good leader will follow some of the following principles:
It is an English idiom (A group of
words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from
the meanings of each word on its own). This infers that to spend time trying to
consider or understand another person’s perspectives, experiences before making
a judgment about them. Though we know that certain people can come across as
selfish, but you must try to walk in their shoes before you dismiss them too
quickly. Sometimes charging them in public makes them more arrogant. Once they
get used to such sarcastic comments and insults, they happily live with it by
killing your happiness. Have a fair idea about your colleagues’ family
background, interests, hobbies, financial status and emotions. These things
will help you to assess him and decide the management strategies.
Principal must identify the right
people in the institute and teach them how to identify the gaps in the existing
system, innovative approaches to fill the gap, resource mobilization, new branding
strategies and economic resource planning in a competitive approach. This is
possible when a principal works with his colleagues in a zero gradient level.
Principals are facilitators…
No institute will be complete in
terms of facilities, infrastructure. Faculties may give excuses. But remember,
we are the fortunate ones who have got job out of 134 crore people. Many
talented people are still searching for the jobs. Facilities do not make the
institute big; it is the results. In spite of many shortcomings, we can reach
our goals. Based on the priorities, principals must facilitate the team to
achieve its best. There are many people who are willing to help. Only we must
know how to tap them in a right time. Don’t blame the system, society or people
in front of your colleagues. If the Government support takes a longer time, try
to explore the donors around your vicinity. Some part of your earning you can
contribute and fix the small issues in the institutes. This will encourage the others to fix the
issues by themselves. Fix a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable
and Time bound) targets and facilitate them to achieve it. You must know how to
get the things lovingly. It is possible when we empower the people. If you want
to become a role model, you should be good in many things. When you perform
better, it is easy to command and expect. You must not depend on only one
person; always have a plan B and alternatives.
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Fair and Equitable
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Effective working relationships are critical to your success. Principal must be a fair and equitable person. Though there are written rules and guidelines in the Department of Education, one must use his wisdom while implementing them. Middle aged principals or teachers or any person in a normal society tends to be fairer towards female colleagues and happily discuss for hours and needless to say how they spend time with male counterpart. Never have relation at workplace. It will always be a backfire. Have a fixed behavior with everyone, so that others will not try to play with your emotions and weaknesses.
Be an empathetic leader
Don’t like your faculty-Love all. It is possible when you are empathetic person than a sympathetic. Sympathetic person feels the emotions and empathetic person will feel and act on/towards it. When you love and treat all your colleagues equally, they exhibit belonging towards institution. Without them, you can’t progress. Don’t take the horse to the water, Create a thirst in it. It will search on its own. When you inspire by setting examples and when you have high ethical standards, creative, lead by examples, be the first one take work and keep your words and actions as closer as possible, colleagues try to emulate the same. With policy, rules and regulations, one can’t run the institute. When you empower them with right inspiration, they love whatever you appeal to them. If you know the 4th rule (Walk in their shoe) and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) you can sell your ideas with least efforts. NLP is a strategic process to make the people to accept your ideas. You must pick this from marketing heads, sales representatives, street vendors, top CEOs, great leaders etc. Make them responsible and accountable. Do not depend on one person. This will disturb the progress if they leave the institute for some reasons. “Believe everybody but don’t keep your gun powder dry”- In any institution, too much of belief is also a weakness. Make sure that your belief will not go wrong by having cross checks and rechecks and necessary verifications that are bound by the office. Help them in all possible ways, wish them, greet them, treat them with good feast, and enquire about their family members; but do not cross certain limit which can be assessed during the interactions. Attend their functions with dignity and invite them for your functions. Recognize the good work; appreciate in presence of the higher officials and their family members. This inspires them to go to next levels.
General Principles
Conflicts
of interest with colleagues are one of the key issues when trying to agree on a
common purpose when dealing with the inevitable conflicts of interest. There
are three main strategies for dealing with these.
Early intervention: if you identify the conflict early, you can prevent it from
becoming an entrenched view and the situation growing out of control. By using
issues management skills, you should be able to identify what these conflicts
might be before entering into the communication process with your higher ups,
which would then give you the opportunity to intervene early.
Clear communications: Leader must be good communicator. This
resolves many problems. If there is
clear communication then you have the building blocks in place for a positive
relationship with your stakeholder. If you have this positive relationship then
you should be able to talk through your conflicts of interest and find a common
purpose to agree on.
Manage difficult behavior:
If one of your colleagues exhibits difficult behavior, it is your job to keep
calm and avoid behaving in an unprofessional way, such as shouting or using
insults. You should attempt to be assertive but use neutral language to defuse
aggression.
Data
Management:
With poor data, we cannot draw right strategy. Empirical data in an
understandable manner is must. This can be collected every month and updated
version can be sent to cloud and Google drive.
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