Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way: How to Be a More Effective Leader in Today's Schools

Now you can do more than just deal with the "crisis-du-jour". Leadership is learnable, and this comprehensive guide will show you how to be proactive, prevent crises, create dreams, push the envelope, and focus on the future instead of just reacting to crises, spending all your time putting out fires, or coping with the current system—whether it works or not. In this updated second edition, best-selling author Robert D. Ramsey gives you just what you need to avoid "simply managing" and to become a true leader instead! Unlike other manuals that give you bits and pieces on how to develop a particular curriculum or handle specific day-to-day discipline problems, this unique handbook offers administrators practical, time-proven lessons on how to think, act, plan, set priorities, manage time, and make decisions—skills that will help you navigate through the unique challenges of leading in a school environment. Included are guidelines on: Getting the most out of people Bringing about change Handling politics Dealing with setbacks Thinking, looking, and acting like an effective school leader Communicating effectively Practicing ethical leadership Being a school leader can actually be exciting, rewarding, and fun again, once you′re equipped to tackle today′s challenges!

Table of Contents:
Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction Where Have All the Good Leaders Gone? Can Everyday Administrators Learn "Leadership"? You Bet! How Leadership in Schools Is Different The Difference Between Effective School Leaders and Run-of-the-Mill Managers What It Takes to Be an Effective School Leader Today 1. Making Decisions Whose Decision Is It? Where Do Good Ideas Come From? Input: How to Get It, Where to Get It, and When to Ignore It Data-Driven Decision Making: An Old Tool With New Importance Procrastination Is a Decision-Sometimes, the Right One Real-World Steps in Decision Making Intuitive Leadership: When to Trust Your Instincts 2. Planning for the Future The Planning Habit How Effective School Leaders Use the Visioning Process Strategic Planning by the Numbers The "SMART" Model for Goal Setting A Flowchart for Effective Planning Planning Is a Secret Weapon Planning for Success 3. Getting the Most Out of People Winning and Losing Leadership Styles Morale: Does It Matter Anymore? Shaping a School Culture That Works for Everyone Is Teamwork All It′s Cracked Up to Be? How to Get the Most Out of Students How to Get the Most Out of Staff How to Get the Most Out of the District Office, the School Board, and the Community How Effective Leaders Get the Most Out of Themselves 4. Bringing About Change Change: Who Wants It? Don′t Confuse Cosmetic Changes With Real Reform When to Change and When to Leave Well Enough Alone Understanding the Evolution of a Revolution: The Many Faces and Phases of Change Change Strategies That Really Work in Today′s School Climate How to Sell New Ideas and Make Them Work 5. Spending Time Who Controls a Leader′s Time? Setting Priorities: Paper Versus People How Effective School Leaders Spend 1,440 Minutes per Day The Ten Worst Time-Use Mistakes When and How to Say No Other Work-Smarter Ways to Save Time 6. Handling Politics Politics and Schools Good Politics, Bad Politics How to Be Politically Savvy: "Street Smarts" for School Leaders Everyday Political Strategies for Today′s School Leaders Tips on Working With Political Leaders How to Get Noticed, Get Ahead, and Get Things Done Without Playing Politics 7. Dealing With Setbacks Setbacks Happen Worrying Only Makes It Worse What It Takes to Bounce Back Is There a Spin Doctor in the House? Fear Less, Hope More Building a Reputation as a Survivor 8. Thinking Like a Leader Anticipatory Thinking: Getting the Jump on Problems What to Do When the Big Picture Is a Kaleidoscope Multiscenario Thinking How to Stay Focused The 7 Habits of Highly Effective School Leaders, With Apologies to Stephen Covey More Aids to Clear Thinking 9. Looking and Acting Like an Effective School Leader Walk Like a Duck Image Control There′s No One Right Way to Act-But There Are Lots of Wrong Ways Maintaining a Professional Edge Manners Still Matter Paying Attention to the Little Things That Mark a Leader 10. Using the Tools of Leadership Speaking and Writing Like a Leader How to Make Meetings Work for You Guidelines for Working With Committees Managing While Walking Around (MWWA): Leadership Up Close and Personal Don′t Overlook These Other Leadership Tools 11. Communication Tips for School Leaders Understanding the Elements of School Communication More Writing Tips for School Leaders More Speaking Tips for School Leaders Tips on Nonverbal Communication You Can′t Kill the Grapevine A New Wrinkle: The One-Minute Manager Meets the Two-Minute Mind 25 Ways School Leaders Can Improve Communication 12. Practicing Ethical Leadership Do Ethics Matter Anymore? Why Ethical Leadership in Schools Is Different The Concept of "Moral Hazard" Using Values as a Moral Compass: This Is No Time to Get Lost Principles for Principals and Other Administrators A Code of Ethics for Today′s School Leaders 13. A Final Word You Know You′re a Leader When . . . Leadership Is a Choice Resource A: 105 Ways to Be a Better School Leader Tomorrow Resource B: What Others Say About Leadership Resource C: A Beginning Bibliography for School Leaders Index

About the Author :
Robert D. Ramsey is a lifelong educator who has served as a "leader of leaders" in three award-winning school districts in two different states. His frontline experience includes positions a teacher, counselor, assistant principal, curriculum director, assistant superintendent, acting superintendent, and adjunct professor. Most recently, he has served as associate superintendent in the St. Louis Park (MN) schools, where every school has been designated by the federal government as a National School of Excellence. Ramsey is now working full-time as a freelance writer in Minneapolis.