You Can't Do It All! A Sensible Way to Distribute School Leadership Roles

As the demands on school leaders expand, it's becoming more and more important to lead from one's strengths. The authors' review of literature on essential school leadership responsibilities led them to write "Differentiated School Leadership: Effective Collaboration, Communication and Change through Personality Type," which revealed 26 separate roles for school principals that have an impact on student achievement. If one tries to fill all 26 roles by himself/herself, he/she: is headed straight for burnout, will probably struggle with some roles that simply do not suit him/her, and will rob others of the chance to add their strengths and ideas to school leadership. This article discusses the use of personality type theory to make the most of one's natural style and build effective teams. This theory can help one move from the old Lone Ranger mentality to sharing leadership in an effective, efficient way. The theory also helps to explain why literature on school leadership emphasizes some critical roles over others. (Contains 2 online resources.)