Inspiration-for leaders!!

Acknowledgement: Magazine-- "Technology and Learning".


Ten tips for leaders:


1. Practice acting with intention. Prepare for important meetings by asking yourself "what is my intention for this meeting"?Begin your meeting by stating your intentions and desired outcomes.


2. Practice grounding yourself by stating in one sentence the technology vision and in a second sentence how that vision aligns with yourpersonal beliefs and values.


3. Practice surfacing your own beliefs by listening to the belief statements of others. Provide as many written responses as possible.


4. Practice connecting with others by giving your full attention to the speaker Any time your mind wanders regain your focus. Anything that distracts you from listening including taking notes should be set aside.


5. Practice your listening skills by observing what is not being verbalised.When you oserve that some one or a whole team is in a closed negative or angry mood do not try to deliver a message. They will not be open to listening if you sent the message to be heard,surface the mood and shift it to one of openness. "It seems
like something is bothering you. What is it?" Mood first, content second.


6. Practice speaking with authenticity a prerequisite for inspiring others, by taking time before important presentations or meetings to centre yourself around your vision,values and beliefs as well as those of your audience. Remind yourself that a leader comes from the heart not just the head.Then speaking check to ensure that you connect to the concerns of your audience first. Once you have connected with them they will be more open to your point of view.


7.Practice connecting to the needs of your key constituents by making a list of what you think they value and prioritizing what you think is most important to them.


8. Practice maintaining integrity in your vision, values and beliefs by periodically doing a self-audit. Find a partner or coach you can trust who will give you feed back in this regard.If professional development is a top priority work with teachers to find out other areas to cut when budgets must be slashed.


9. Practice courage by asking that some requests be put in writing. Train your staff to plan ahead with requests for new projects by setting a policy that requires a written rationale for the project as well as an evaluation of the return on investment that can be expected.


10,Practice courage by negotiating time frames and conditions for satisfaction for completion of tasks.
When a project is completed in the time frame requested and the conditions of satisfaction are achieved as agreed,there should be a recognition of completion.It can be a simple question "are you satisfied?" that elicits a response "yes.I am,thank you " or it can be a small celebration of a job well done before moving
on to the next project.