Mentoring a Few and Encouraging Many
A couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to meet with a friend who is in the same profession (High School Principal). We spent nearly half a day together, connecting, sharing ideas and picking each other’s brains. It was truly an ‘iron sharpening iron’ experience. As we went through the day, we got talking about how personal change shapes our professional perspective. And in that context, he asked me:
How has your leadership changed over the last five years?”
One of my goals early in my career as a Principal was to flatten the organizational hierarchy, to make vertical relationships horizontal. I believed that this was a good move to foster ownership and decision-making among staff.
However, I found that — no matter what my desire and capacity was for moving things horizontally — there were gaps, and I was exhausted. I just couldn’t meet the needs of everyone or grow the mission and vision for the organization when I was spread thin. So the leadership team and I started to articulate a more focused organizational structure in which I would work. Now, instead of being the one who responds to everyone about everything, I am re-habituating myself towards a new personal/professional mission: ‘Mentor a Few and Encourage Many.‘
Mentoring a Few and Encouraging Many has become a way to frame my work, to strategically invest my energy into key staff. While at first it may seem that this new structure exists at a cost to the many relationships, the opposite seems to be true: as I mentor a few, they, in turn, can mentor a few more, and all these relationships expand and widen the impact of the school’s mission.
While for me this means a more vertical approach to organization than I originally envisioned, it ironically also means that I am now more available for the many; because I am not investing in so much time in a large number of relationships, my schedule is more open for informal check-ins and by-the-way conversations. As well, this model allows for the mentored few to carry more responsibility for, and be more a part of, multiplying the mission and vision within the organization.
Through this change, I have been pushed to let go of some things, to manage less and to lead more. By mentoring a few, I have actually become a greater encouragement to more people than I could effectively have been before.
Nathan Siebenga
Principal, Hamilton District Christian High