Today's school is perceived as complex with high demands from many sides. 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 division of roles and be careful to anchor it. That is, what is the role of the board, management, teachers, guardians and not least the students. Without this clear division of roles, chaos will soon ensue.
With regard to the pressure that surrounds a school, you must dare to prioritize.
But here there is an important attitude, never to prioritize away but instead to prioritize down. In this 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 others and the path towards the goal becomes clearer.
At the beginning of your career you were an officer and for the last 15 years you have been a principal. What do you consider to be the joint most important qualities of a leader?
A leader is a leader regardless of the activity being led. A leader leads people and all people are unique. These unique differences must be brought together towards a common goal. Regardless of the organization being led, there is enormous power in diversity if it is treated correctly. The most important means to treat diversity 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 workplace communication.
Another characteristic is that you are among those you lead. This allows you to get an idea of how the business flows but also that the employees feel seen.
During the spring rush of Corona, discussions were heated about how to handle the schooling of the children. What was successful in your leadership to meet everyone's needs?
In the spring, many parents felt insecure about sending their children to school. Here I realized that the school had to be understanding of all the different reactions but at the same time be very clear with our guidelines. At this moment there was no guidance 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. A key ingredient was to turn the concept of unsafe on its head. Instead, I pointed out that in school, children are safe in an otherwise unsafe world. This was successful and attendance increased while calmness in the school prevailed.