CHAPTER THREE

The First Key—Leading Learning

In Chapter Two, we saw that the principalship is hard enough, yet we have made it more complicated than it has to be. Principals are spending more and more time on instruction, but it is not time well spent, in that it does not yield widespread results. To increase impact, principals should use their time differently. They should direct their energies to developing the group. This does not exclude the role of selecting and cultivating individuals, but it places that activity within the context of creating a collective culture of efficacy.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, we can call this first role “leading learning,” “learning leader,” or “lead learner.” Hierarchical leadership can never influence the ...

Get The Principal now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.