Leaders tend to believe in what Mark Twain said, ‘Always do the right. This will gratify some and astonish the rest’. This pretty well sums up the teacher- student interaction too.
Teachers by and large follow the principle of ‘doing the right thing’ and students by and large are mostly astonished – to put it mildly. This easily applies to any leader-follower relationship in any context.
It, indeed, is never an easy task to carve out pearls, which is what leaders do. It has approximately five thousand small details to be looked into. It takes about as many restless days and sleepless nights to create an environment where people can meet and minds can compete. It needs robust driving skills to venture into the highways and byways of molding minds. The expected and the unexpected roadblocks keep appearing and reappearing.
Probably a single joke could convey the kinds of situations that are universally faced, specially by teachers as leaders.
“A community orchestra was vexed by attendance problems. Several musicians were absent at each rehearsal. As a matter of fact, every player in the orchestra had missed several rehearsals, except for one very faithful violin player. Finally, as the dress rehearsal drew to a close, the conductor took a moment to thank the violinist for her faithful attendance. She humbly responded ‘It’s the least I could do, since I won’t be present on the performance day’.
However, leaders are dealers in hope. And our dealings in hope energise us towards carving out true pearls.
Before I mention the great good that comes out of teacher-students/leader-followers scenarios, I am reminded of Alfred Whitney, who would say – “Could Hamlet have been written by a committee, or the Mona Lisa painted by a club? Could War and Peace have been composed as a conference report?” In other words, most examples of creativity spring from individuals in their privacy and not from groups.
But classroom scenarios defy even such truths to a large extent – creativity born in solitude flourishes here, best compositions find a platform here and the divine sparks of expression become tools for others to use for their betterment. From one Hamlet a hundred others are born, from one Mona Lisa a thousand others are inspired and from one War & Peace a million others are shaped. That is the beauty of collaboratively-led classrooms. Here creation and inspiration happen. Talent, refinement and spirit are highlighted. Teachers, like all leaders, help students find within themselves the individual creator while emphasising the pivotal role of social behaviour. Teachers give an opening, where noise and silence could convert into music!
To sum up, I could easily quote a line I read recently: “If you want to be incrementally better: be competitive. If you want to be exponentially better: be co-operative”.
So collaborative leadership, a diamond blend of competition and co-operation, is the key to develop ‘exponentially better’ individuals under a leader’s care.
&uuid=(email))