Leadership is hard. With the start of the new academic year, heads of school, school presidents and principals are, once again, stepping forward to lead their respective academic institutions through known and unknown challenges. Each has asked for the leadership reins, yet leading a school during these divisive times in our country is not an easy balancing act.
Parents, faculty/staff, students, board members, alumni and the broader community look to school leaders for vision, motivation and even comfort when challenges arise. The success of school leaders hinges on many factors, some within their control and some beyond it.
I speak with school leaders across the country about the marketing and enrollment challenges they are facing. Central to these conversations and to the success of their school in attracting new students, families, staff and dollars is school culture.
While each school and its leader are unique, there is a surprisingly simple leadership trait that every leader can use. How each school leader “shows up” during the coming academic year will play a significant role in their success and the success of their school.
What “Showing Up” Looks Like
“Showing up” can mean many things to different people. From a leadership perspective, I define it this way:
- Making an extra effort to be present as a leader
- Actively engaging the various constituencies that you serve
- Going the extra mile for those communities
- And (sometimes) surprising those that you lead.
Over the years, I’ve seen exceptional examples of educational leaders “showing up,” and they include the following.
- A Catholic high school president who frequently takes time out of his busy schedule to attend the local funerals for any alumni and/or their family members. It’s a lovely gesture that speaks to his innate empathy and underscores the school’s faith-inspired value of caring for community.
- An interim head of school who, after doing a classroom visit to a long-serving faculty member, wrote a handwritten note of thanks and appreciation for the teacher’s contributions. This teacher had served under four prior heads, and this was the first handwritten note of thanks she had ever received.
- A first-year president of a girls’ high school who took an important leadership role on a community board that brings local public and independent schools together for summer programming. She not only dedicated financial resources to this community nonprofit but also hosted the nonprofit’s milestone celebration on her campus and volunteered her school as a last-minute site for one of the summer’s signature programs, when a long-term school partner had to withdraw from the program. She didn’t wait to be asked. She stepped in and solved challenges.
- A K-8 head of school who served on the local hospital board in his rural community, which clearly was a labor of love, as it took time away from his school. This role helped to strengthen his town’s only hospital, which was the major healthcare provider in his market.
The Science of “Showing Up”
A leader demonstrates respect and recognition of others by making a gesture of kindness, showing interest in their employees’ day-to-day activities, taking time out of their busy schedule to acknowledge excellence, or unselfishly giving their time to organizations that make a difference in their communities. They model for others, students and adults, the value of “showing up.”
Each of us, regardless of title, has the power to “show up” for those we lead, work alongside, and care for, including family members, friends, coworkers and neighbors. There’s real science behind it. MRI studies show that the brain’s reward centers activate when we empathize, support or help someone—even more than when we do something for ourselves. Empathy and compassion literally light up the brain. Our supportive presence (even silent) can regulate stress responses in others, lowering cortisol levels.
There’s lots of research supporting how “showing up” benefits the school leader and everyone at the school by reinforcing social bonds and encouraging acts of empathy and compassion, small and large:
- Studies in Psychosomatic Medicine confirm that emotional support activates reward regions in the brain for both giver and receiver. Just being there for someone can significantly reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Even small acts create a buffer against mental health challenges.
- Belonging is something every school leader wants to foster. The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on happiness, discovered that simple, selfless gestures (like “showing up” for someone) have been shown to strengthen social bonds and increase feelings of belonging.
- Dr. Dacher Keltner, founding director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, found that witnessing or engaging in compassionate acts leads to more generosity and connectedness. “Showing up” without expecting anything in return inspires prosocial behavior in others. It also creates what’s known as “helper’s high.”
Next time the opportunity presents itself, “show up” for someone else by doing a simple selfless act of kindness. It’s not to make yourself feel better – though you will, it’s hard-wired – it’s always to make someone else feel special. That’s what “showing up” means to me.
