Stepping Down - My Personal HR Leadership Experience

Over the summer and for the first four months of the 2011-2012 school year I served as grade-level lead for the 10th grade of Johnson College Prep, a campus of Noble Street Charter School.  I had the opportunity to mentor first and second year teachers, work towards bettering school climate, culture, and morale, and run weekly meetings with roughly a dozen staff members in attendance.  Last week I resigned the position because of too many responsibilities and stress resulting from 16 hour work days.  However, the experience gave me tremendous insight into the responsibilities and roles of a leader.  The HR component of the job - addressing climate and culture - and mentoring was the perfect complement to EDL663 (my Ed. Leadership course in human resources).  I believe it will be a short time until I will have another opportunity to lead in a similar context.  What an invaluable experience though.  Hopefully it was a mature decision to step down.

Techniques in Addressing Issues Common to HR (3) / Theories & Concepts (5) - Motivating Staff & Ethical Leadership

The HR leader, namely the building principal, is responsible for not only hiring the best teachers available, but for maximizing their efforts.  Inspired by my previous post (5 Dysfunctions pyramid) I was reminded of another must read for those wishing to promote ethics and leadership, not to mention the personal best of everyone in the community.  John Wooden's On Leadership is another recommended title for a "one book - one school community" initiative.

 

A larger version of the included image is available at: 

http://thecompanyofficer.com/files/2010/06/pyramid_lg.jpg

Techniques in Addressing Issues Common to HR (2) - "5 Dysfunctions"

 

Patrick Lencioni's 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, is a great read for any HR leader or staff.  It's another book that I recommend having an entire school staff read to better work relations, understanding between employees and administration, and productivity.  Although the included narrative details corporate interactions, the lessons are easily applied to the school setting.  An HR leader must be ready to address dysfunctions within his school and pointedly intervene.  An enlightening quick read with practical applications.

HR Functions and Positions (2) - Positions

Although not specific to the field of education, the Society for Human Resource Management - the world's largest HR organization - offers a list of positions associated with HR.  These include:

• President, CEO, Chairman, Partner, Principal
• Chief HR Officer
• Vice President of HR, Personnel
• Assistant/Associate Vice President of HR
• Director of HR, Personnel
• Assistant/Associate Director of HR
• Manager of HR, Personnel
• HR Generalist
• Supervisor
• Specialist
• Consultant
• Administrator
• Representative
• Legal Counsel 

Within schools, every educational leader has a role in human resources.  Besides the individuals who work directly in the HR department (payroll, etc.), superintendents and members of the board, principals, assistant principals, department chairs, and grade level leaders all have related responsibilities.  

HR Functions and Positions (1) - Functions

Straight from the table of contents of Human Resource Leadership for Effective Schools, human resource personnel are responsible for each of the following roles.

1.      Planning for staffing needs

2.      Evaluating and selecting applicants

3.      Selecting administrative and support staff

4.      Motivating personnel

5.      Planning and facilitating induction

6.      Researching, acquiring and/or offering PD

7.      Evaluating employee performance

8.      Managing compensation and rewards

9.      Creating and managing productive work environments

10.  Managing conflict in schools

11.  Terminating staff when necessary

They must also stay abreast of all national and state laws pertaining to public education and be prepared to engage in collective bargaining should their staff belong to a union (Seyfarth, 2008).

Role of Line Manager v. Staff Specialist

Recently, my professor, Dr. Jeffrey of CMU, sent this link to clarify the roles of line and staff managers. 

https://blackboard.cmich.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_42205_1%26url%3D

The distinction is clear.  When applied to an educational context, line managers manage specific sub-divisions of a school (or the whole thing) and are after results.  This is more of the traditional top-down model.  Line managers have authority and power.  Staff managers are management… but they are facilitators and assist line management. 

The line manager of my school is the principal and the staff managers are specialists such as the two assistant principals (assigned to discipline and curriculum respectively), dean of discipline, and operations/office manager.  

Sometimes I would much rather be a staff manager/specialist than line management.  Today's small school / charter environment sometimes necessitates that a building principal move beyond traditional line management and that he simultaneously delve into the realm of the staff manager. 

Theories and Concepts in HR Management (4) - HR Leadership Roles & Responsibilities

After reviewing my primary text for my HR graduate class, I wanted to re-state John Seyfarth’s eight traits of effective leaders:  The author of Human Resource Management for Effective Schools identifies assertiveness, interpersonal communication skills, persuasiveness, optimism, stability, calmness under pressure, organization abilities, and problem solving skills as key traits of the HR leader.  The provided leadership chart also breaks down many of the HR leader’s domains of responsibility. Although it is a generic leadership diagram, it outlines the primary responsibilities of school leaders much the same as it does other HR fields.