10 Things I’ve Learned Since Being a Children’s Director – Number 9
Leading isn’t like Playing!
Just because you are good at football doesn’t mean you’ll be a good football coach. Neither does being a good teacher make you a good Children’s Director! I experienced several times in my teaching career when I watched an amazing teacher take on a leadership role and observed from the outside as the wheels fell off. I can actually remember telling Johnny about a principle I had “——— is an amazing person and thinks the world of me, but s/he doesn’t have a clue how to lead me!”
On the other hand, I had absolutely amazing leaders that I would have jumped off the cliff for if they had asked me to. I trusted them, believed in their vision, and wanted to be a part of what they were doing. I almost went to teach middle school (the grade levels I said I would NEVER teach) just because that leader was the principle and I loved working for her.
It’s funny though, when you get to the place where you are having to make decisions others won’t like, the perspective changes. How quickly I forgot what it was like to sit in a meeting where the leader couldn’t make a decision and where everyone’s opinions were heard over and over again without any resolution. The frustration and irritation with just wanting someone to make a decision would make me nuts. Yet, I forgot?
How quickly I forgot how clear and high the expectations of those great leaders I had so faithfully followed had been. Those leaders didn’t waiver. They didn’t compromise! They persued with a passion what they believed was right for the children we were serving and they expected the same commitment from anyone that worked for them. They never made apologies for what they asked us to do. They assumed if we were there, we believed in where we were going and no apologies were needed.
There was a moment during this year when I realized “I am that leader – not the good one, the one that frustrated me to no end. The one I said was a great friend and thought the world of his/her teachers but had no idea how to lead them!” Talk about a punch in the gut. Realizing you are what you absolutely loathed is a little heart wrenching. So I simply began examining what about that leader I didn’t like and what I did love about the other leaders I’ve known, started reading leadership books and began making some changes.
Teaching came easy for me, leading is a work in progress!
Remember when you got married? Remember that honeymoon feeling – when the sun rose and set on the amazingly awesome spouse you got to spend the rest of your life with? Remember when the honeymoon starting wearing off – when you started noticing the 8 pairs of socks that were so randomly left all over the living room floor, or (if you are my husband) the 10 glasses left sitting on the night stand?
Today at Kid’s ROCK we had an exciting problem. 
