[Keywords:] school management; Leadership art; Group style; Team style; Influence; Cohesion; positivity
In management psychology, the word "leader" can be used as both a noun and a verb. As a noun, it means "manager". That is, the head of a group; As a verb, it refers to a process of managing and influencing people's behavior to achieve group goals, or exerting psychological influence on groups or individuals to achieve organizational goals and keep in line with the environment. The "school leadership" discussed here refers not only to the leadership (management) in the verb sense, that is, how to manage the school, but also to the leadership in the noun sense, that is, the person in charge of the school.
First, form a "team-style" team and implement "team-style" collective leadership
It can be said that to manage a school well, there is no good leader. And a good leader must rely on a good team. What kind of team is excellent? Throughout the history of school management at home and abroad, there are probably four kinds of teams. One is the "paternalistic leadership team", whose leaders often lack relevant knowledge, are not proficient in majors, psychology and leadership art, and act according to personal experience and administrative orders. The second is the "hard expert leadership team", which is proficient in leading business and has a high academic level. Leaders are often leaders of specialized courses or "leaders" of teaching and research. It has a certain appeal among teachers, but it is not well managed and often gets into trouble. The third is the "soft expert leading group", which has an obvious feature that the group leader is a "soft expert" who understands management and psychology. The management is level and artistic, which can effectively play the role of various departments in the school and the school management is in good order. However, due to the lack of professionalism and communication conditions with teachers, it is difficult for such team members to play the role of teachers and their appeal is not great. Fourth, the "Youth League Leadership Team" is the best combination of the school leadership team. Its characteristic is that team members have both "hard experts" who know business and "soft experts" who know management. The two are organically combined in a group, brainstorming, brainstorming, adapting to the needs of modern school development and meeting the requirements of modern education.
From the above analysis, we can infer that if a school wants to manage successfully, on the one hand, it must eradicate the overbearing feudal paternalistic leadership; On the other hand, we must avoid appointing school leaders who know management but don't know it; On the other hand, great progress will be made by setting up an expert group led by "soft experts".
With a good team, the key to effective "leadership" in schools lies in leaders. American management scientists Blake and Morton divide school leaders into five categories: mediocre leaders, task leaders, club leaders, intermediate leaders and team leaders. Mediocre leaders lack ambition, self-motivation, sense of responsibility, autonomy, escape from reality, and care less about school development and teachers' study and life, which can be described as "the worst" leaders. Task-based leaders are in charge of "things" regardless of "people" and only know how to complete "tasks" regardless of teachers' feelings and welfare. They are arbitrary, suppress different opinions, and deceive the upper and lower. This kind of leadership may improve the school in a short time, but over time, teachers will be full of complaints, which will inevitably affect the "morale" of the faculty and lead to the failure of school management. The leaders of the community only care about "people" and don't manage "things", thinking that as long as they have a good relationship with teachers, the tasks of the school can naturally be completed. In fact, this is a very naive idea, because there must be good and bad support and being supported, good and evil are unclear, and black and white are confused. In the long run, it will not be conducive to the completion of school tasks, and finally it will not be good for interpersonal relationships. Middle-level leaders divide "people" and "things" into two, and advocating "compromise" and "moderation" is not feasible. Because when dealing with personnel conflicts, instead of seeking optimization strategies that are beneficial to both people and things, only "compromise" methods will not only affect the completion of school tasks, but also dampen the "morale" of teachers. Of course, it is not enough to lose both sides.
School leaders should be "team leaders". This kind of leader has the spirit of unity and cooperation. On the one hand, he cares about the completion of school tasks and the realization of goals, and promotes the development of the school. On the other hand, he is very concerned about the feelings, attitudes, needs and motives of school members, and tries to find ways to optimize the problem, so that caring for "things" and caring for "people" can interact and coordinate with each other and promote the overall solution.
Second, strengthen the leader's self-cultivation and be an influential leader.
"Influence" refers to people's ability to influence and change the psychology and behavior of others in the process of communication. A mature and prestigious school leader must have a certain "influence". Where does the influence of leadership come from? I think the most important thing is the cultivation of leaders, so it is particularly important to strengthen the cultivation of leaders.
In all fairness, the influence of leadership is not only the accomplishment of leadership, but also the "power influence" that cannot be ignored. In addition, the traditional concept of "official" and seniority factors also have great influence. But these are hard to last. What convinces teachers is the influence of non-power, that is, the influence of self-power, or the influence of "leadership cultivation" and "leadership quality", such as personality, ability, knowledge and emotional influence. A leader's proper use of "power influence" can make teachers feel awe, respect, majesty and obedience, but this is short-term. With the development of the times and the improvement of democratic consciousness, this "sense of power" is gradually weakening. Therefore, non-power influence becomes more and more important.
A good school leader not only depends on "power" to influence the staff, but also depends on "self", "nature" and "non-power" factors to influence others. The cultivation factors of school leaders include a wide range. According to the survey of "Principal's Quality" published by National Defense University Press 1987, political thought, moral quality, work style, work ability and professional knowledge are the five most important aspects of school leaders' "own quality". In other words, a school leader can have a strong "influence" only by strengthening political study, improving his ideological level, perfecting his personality, knowing his business, working actively and constantly improving his work level.
Foreign countries attach great importance to the quality training of leaders. Psychologist Stogdi believes that leaders should have ten qualities: intelligence; Strong sense of responsibility and motivation to complete tasks; Pursue the goal unremittingly; The original spirit of bold innovation; Confidence; Cooperation; Willing to bear the consequences of decisions and actions; Able to endure setbacks; Social skills and the ability to influence others' behavior; Ability to handle transactions. Giselle, a modern American psychologist, believes that leaders should have thirteen qualities: management ability; Intelligence; Creativity; Self-supervision; Decision-making; Mature; Affinity of work team; Men are strong and women are gentle; Career achievement needs; Self-fulfilling needs; The need to exercise power; High economic return demand; Work safety needs.
Summarizing the research of Chinese and foreign scholars, I think the most influential qualities of a leader are four aspects: personality, emotion, knowledge and ability. First, personality factors. The moral quality, personality characteristics and styles of school leaders are the most powerful. Some people say that to be a good leader, we must first learn to be a good person. Being a man is the condition, foundation and premise of any work, which makes sense. School leaders are modest, kind, approachable, lead by example, honest, diligent and rigorous in their studies. They can leave a good impression on teachers and students and even imitate them consciously, thus greatly improving his authority and influence.
Second, emotional factors. Emotion is a general term for emotions and emotions, and it is a reflection of people's attitudes and corresponding behaviors towards objective things. The feelings of leaders are not only attractive, but also infectious and influential. In this regard, school leaders must deal with "interpersonal relationship &; r
It can be said that no good leader is indifferent to his subordinates, and no bad leader is harmonious and happy with his subordinates. Therefore, leaders and subordinates are closely related, and subordinates have a sense of intimacy with leaders. Leaders are kind to teachers, students and employees, and their influence naturally expands. On the other hand, leaders who are overbearing and nervous about their subordinates will naturally lose their influence.
Third, the knowledge factor. This is the business knowledge factor mentioned in the book "The Quality of the Principal", the intelligence factor mentioned by Stogdier and the intelligence factor mentioned by Giselle. Knowledge is the crystallization of people's understanding of objective things and the source of people's wisdom. Without knowledge, there is no wisdom and ability. Undoubtedly, leaders are "hard experts" who know business and have rich knowledge. Teachers will naturally admire him, and leaders will naturally have influence.
Fourth, the ability factor. Among the qualities of leaders cited above, such as "the quality of principals", "Stogdier" and "Giselle", ability and quality account for the highest proportion, which shows their importance. If we summarize the school leadership ability, there are roughly three aspects: first, the school management ability; The second is the ability to deal with interpersonal relationships; The third is to guide education and teaching ability. It goes without saying that the stronger the ability of a school leader in these three aspects, the greater his influence among teachers. Because a competent school leader will not only bring success and development to the school's career, but also give teachers a sense of admiration and security.
Third, establish harmonious and good interpersonal relationships and form a cohesive group.
The school is a group, and the group needs "cohesion". The formation of cohesive groups is based on good and harmonious interpersonal relationships.
What is interpersonal relationship? Theoretically, it refers to the relatively stable psychological and behavioral relationship between people through communication in order to meet certain needs. The formation of good interpersonal relationships is conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of school members, the healthy psychological development of school members, and the formation of a strong "cohesion". Of course, good interpersonal relationships can also promote the improvement of education quality and a strong guarantee for consolidating and developing school organizations.
How to deal with interpersonal relationships in school? First of all, leaders should "communicate" with the help of "communication". Communication is a way for people to exchange information, eliminate strangeness, deepen understanding and gain positive feelings. Secondly, leaders should use "interpersonal attraction" to close interpersonal relationships. The so-called interpersonal attraction is a psychological phenomenon of friendship, closeness and love between people. There are many factors of interpersonal attraction, such as proximity (geographical proximity is easier to establish interpersonal attraction), talent (talented people are easier to attract) and so on. As school leaders, we should make use of various factors and create various conditions to improve interpersonal relationships. Thirdly, meet the needs of members appropriately and increase the vitality of interpersonal relationships. From the psychological point of view, people always communicate and engage in activities to meet certain needs. In other words, meeting needs is the driving force for the formation of interpersonal relationships. Only when people's normal needs are properly met can interpersonal relationships be full of vitality.
In addition, a successful school leader will make use of internal and external conditions to make the group "cohesive", such as the charm of teachers, the unity and cooperation between teachers and other internal conditions can increase cohesion; For example, external conditions such as group external pressure and social status are also signs of the rise and fall of cohesion.
Fourth, learn some psychology to arouse the enthusiasm of school members.
Schools are contemporary schools and teachers are contemporary teachers. Of course, school leaders should also become "contemporary" leaders. What is a contemporary school leader? The most basic feature of contemporary school leaders is that they are familiar with psychology and apply psychology to school management. Psychology covers a wide range and has rich connotations, but to sum up, school leaders should carefully grasp and skillfully use it from needs, motives, feelings and attitudes.
(A) properly meet the needs of teachers, is the key to mobilize enthusiasm.
Demand is an unsatisfied desire, demand or internal tension caused by deprivation. According to American psychologist Maslow's demand theory, people's basic needs include five aspects: physiological needs, security needs, love and belonging needs, respect needs and self-realization needs. Generally speaking, it is people's material needs and spiritual needs or physiological needs and social needs. To arouse teachers' enthusiasm, it is necessary to meet their material and spiritual needs appropriately.
In addition, we should also know that teachers' needs are unique in addition to those of ordinary people, such as the simplicity of material needs, the stability of development needs, the urgency of self-esteem needs, the intensity of achievement needs and so on. "Teacher Psychology" also tells us that schools have different needs for teachers, so we should meet their different needs respectively. Generally speaking, young teachers have little demand for safety, but their communication needs are very strong, and their development needs rank first. Middle-aged teachers and young teachers have similarities and differences. For example, there is little demand for safety, but there is a stable demand for communication in school, work and some social activities. Among all kinds of needs, the achievement needs of middle-aged people rank first. Older teachers are different. Security needs are prominent, communication needs are gradually fading, and respect needs are in the first place. If school leaders understand these psychology, treat them separately and meet them appropriately, they will naturally arouse the enthusiasm of all kinds of teachers and manage the school well.
(B) A deep understanding of teachers' motivation is the premise to arouse their enthusiasm.
The force that drives people to act is called motivation. People's actions are sometimes unconscious, and this kind of behavior is aimless, incomprehensible and unsustainable. Motivational behavior is "conscious behavior" and has a purpose. I will try my best to overcome difficulties and strive for success. Therefore, opportunities bring strong "enthusiasm". In the psychological sense, the main factors that affect one's motivation are needs, interests, values and aspirations. How to combine these non-intellectual factors with teachers' practical work? We think the following two points are crucial:
1. The significance of teachers' profession. It is of great significance to let teachers know that their work is closely related to the fate of the country and the happiness of the people, so as to cultivate rational beliefs and a sense of contribution, responsibility and obligation to society.
2. Teachers' professional mood. To cultivate teachers' interest in teaching, as Marx said, we should enjoy our work as our own intellectual and physical activities, and generate a sense of accomplishment and interest.
(3) Cultivating teachers' positive and healthy emotions is the basis of mobilizing enthusiasm.
People have feelings, and feelings can be cultivated. Positive and healthy emotions are the basis of mobilizing teachers' enthusiasm, while negative and vulgar emotions will dampen teachers' enthusiasm.
Psychological research shows that feelings can promote people's work, stimulate people's intelligence and regulate people's body and mind. School leaders should stimulate the enthusiasm of teaching staff with positive and healthy emotions. How to arouse the enthusiasm of teaching staff? First, creating good interpersonal relationships and keeping the staff in an optimistic and happy mood is conducive to improving work efficiency. Second, create a beautiful campus environment, let the faculty live in comfortable houses and let them live and work in peace and contentment. Third, do a good job in transforming teachers' negative emotions, turn contusion into encouragement, and stimulate teachers' enthusiasm for work.
(D) to promote the formation of a good attitude of faculty is a condition to mobilize enthusiasm.
Attitude is an important factor affecting the behavior of school members and a regulator of interpersonal relationships. If the teaching staff keep a good attitude towards the people and things in the school, it will greatly improve the cohesion and enthusiasm among the school members.
As a school administrator, we should not be ashamed to ask questions, be close and considerate to the teaching staff, eliminate misunderstandings and win the support and respect of school members. As a school administrator, we should also learn to change the incorrect attitude of school members. Only in this way can we give full play to the enthusiasm of each teacher and improve the teaching quality of the school in an all-round way.
To sum up, as a "leader" of school administrators, only by constantly improving their self-cultivation, improving interpersonal relationships with members, using incentives to mobilize the enthusiasm of school members, forming a "group-style" team and implementing "team-style" collective leadership can we really manage and lead the school well.