Personal Narrative: My Interview With A School Administrator

I was initially skeptical about interviewing a school administrator concerning leadership qualities because she is consistently ridiculed about the decisions she has made for the school. However, after conducting my interview, I was happy to hear that her views of leadership were consistent with a lot of our readings. I also learned that despite what I have seen in the past, my principal recognizes important leadership characteristics and works to be an ideal leader. Despite my concerns, my principal was excited to talk with me about leadership qualities and how she viewed herself as a leader.

When interviewing my principal, the first question I asked her was how she motivated teachers in the building. She quickly asked me if I felt motivated.

I was honest with my principal telling her that I felt that outside of the students, I felt no real attempts from administration to motivate staff. My principal then listed several initiatives such as “random breakfast” that are offered a few times throughout the year. She also stated that it was difficult to know how to motivate different personalities. She did mention that she had given a survey in the past that asked teachers to detail how they liked to be praised and motivated to no avail. She also mentioned that there was also an attempt to have faculty and staff weigh in often via survey and unfortunately, she has received only a handful of responses. After sponse my administrator concluded her r, it lead to my second question, “What do you find most difficult about being a school administrator?” My principal was transparent in admitting that many teachers find it difficult to talk to her and show little to no interest in participating in school activities.
After talking to the school administrator about the lack of teacher participation, I posed our previous discussion asking her what she believed was an authentic leader? I then asked if she believed she led authentically. I was pleased to find that my school administrator’s view of an authentic leader was similar to my own. She stated that an authentic leader was someone who led their organization with warmth and generosity. “An authentic leader,” she stated “is someone whose personal beliefs are echoed in the way they set goals for their organization.” She was initially hesitant when answering whether she was authentic but eventually concluded her response by saying, “In the beginning of my career, I was not very authentic. I wanted to accomplish what everyone thought was best, but I ended up learning that nothing is successful until you make it your own.”
Interviewing my principal I had to admit that I have a skewed view of what a school leader does. When you are on the other side of “leadership,” you don’t generally see what influences a decision. Initially, I had my biases when talking a school administrator. I didn’t believe there were things I simply “didn’t know. I have also reflected and realized while many of my coworkers are jaded at my principal’s lack of communication, it seems as if many of the teachers are also hesitant. While listening to my administrator, I couldn’t help but compare her struggles; I couldn’t help but compare them to the struggles I face in my classroom. While interviewing my administrator and finally getting a chance to go over my notes, I realized that despite what many of my co-workers may think of school leadership, she does possess many leadership characteristics. She is consistent, despite the low response in teacher surveys she continues to reach out for feedback, making her evaluative as well. She is confident about both herself and the mission of our school, and most importantly, she is an authentic leader. The way she spoke of our school, and the reason she leads the way she does was awe inspiring. Her morals and values are truly making an attempt to come alive in our school’s vision.