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I heard an administrator say this the other day regarding the use of Twitter:
“When would I have time to go on there? I have 150 emails a day that I need to take care of! When would I possibly have time to tweet?”
I thought about this statement. A lot.
The thing is, you don’t have to tweet but you do have to keep up with your email, just like you have to keep up with paperwork. Those are all details that have so much to do with management, and very little with leadership.
Now using Twitter to improve your professional learning is different. I don’t have to do it but I do know that if I want to be a leader and help find the best ideas for my school/division so I can help them grow, I will make it a priority. The reality is that extra work that you put in to better your school has so much to do with leadership, and very little to do with management.
There is some element of management that is needed in schools in every position including that of teacher, and sometimes even student. I am not going to say that management is not important. Imagine a world class chef owning a restaurant but never paying the bills? The place would get shut down.
But leadership is so much more than keeping up with your emails.
I remember talking to an aspiring administrator about the job of principal and telling him that the job is as challenging as you want to be. If he wanted to do great things, it was going to take more time. But if he wanted to just “maintain”, the work load is much less.
With all that being said, I don’t want to say that the administrator is not a leader. I only heard that one statement. But when we discredit what we don’t know, we can often look foolish.
Whatever you are wanting to do to move your school forward, the time is there. It really never is about time, but in actuality, it is about priority.
