Today's school is perceived as complex with great demands from many directions. Describe how you successfully lead a large school based on these demands?
As a leader in today's school, you must be clear about the distribution of roles and be careful to anchor it. That is, what role do the board, management, teachers, guardians, and not least the students have. Without this clear distribution of roles, chaos soon sets in.
Given the pressure that surrounds a school, you must dare to prioritize.
But here is an important attitude, to never prioritize away but instead prioritize down. That way, nothing is missed.
As a school leader, you must have the ability to dare to be a clear communicator. From this, the organization learns what is more important than something else, and the path towards the goal appears clearer.
At the beginning of your career, you were an officer, and for the past 15 years, you have been a principal. What do you consider to be the most important common characteristics as a leader?
A leader is a leader regardless of the activity being led. A leader leads people, and all people are unique. This unique difference must be gathered towards a common goal. Regardless of the activity being led, there is enormous power in the difference if it is treated correctly. The most important means of treating the difference correctly is a well-functioning communication where everyone understands, accepts, and enjoys their role. It is you as a leader who sets the tone for the workplace's communication.
Another characteristic is that you are among those you lead. This gives you an idea of how the business flows, but also that the employees feel seen.
During the spring surge of Corona, the discussions were heated about how to handle schooling for the children. What was successful in your leadership to meet everyone's needs?
During the spring, many guardians felt insecure about sending their children to school. Here I realized that the school must be understanding of all the different reactions but at the same time be very clear about our guidelines. At this moment, there were no controls from the Swedish National Agency for Education, the feeling was that "here you are alone". The management gathered to find a clear way forward. And the decision was simple, the Public Health Agency's recommendations apply.
I decided to concentrate all communication to me as principal and immediately began to communicate the guidelines in combination with our measures. An important ingredient was to turn the concept of insecurity around. Instead, I pointed out that in school, children are safe in an otherwise unsafe world. This was successful, and attendance increased while calm settled at the school.