We have all had them. Bosses that we try to avoid at all costs. Supervisors who you feel are always on your back or constantly looking over their shoulders at you. It is reasonable to say that we have all had a supervisor that was not our favorite and then we have had one that was our favorite. How does one determine that? Is your favorite the one that you were able to do pretty much whatever you wanted or the one that you were able to develop a good relationship with?
I think for many it comes down to the path of least resistance. At the secondary level, many high schools hire teachers who are independent contractors. Their room, is their way. While there is some truth to that, they makeup only one classroom as part of an entire team and depending on the size of your school determines the size of the team.
When it comes down to that leader, you like them for not what they said or what they did for you, you like them because of how they made you feel. It is easy to want to stay away from somebody who make you feel bad, but when that person makes you feel good, you want to be around them.
Everybody prefers leaders over managers. That is almost a given. We have all seen those pictures online that show managers riding on top of the teams back pointing the direction and making them do all the work vs. the leader in front of the team encouraging them on. But in aspects of the job, there are things you must manage, and people you must lead.
Dan Rockwell wrote a post entitled HOW TO KNOW IF YOU’RE A MANAGER OR A LEADER
In his post he gives some great examples of what you do when you are a manager. Managers write budgets, solve day-to-day problems, track processes and monitor results, hire, fire, and concern themselves with job descriptions.
Leaders on the other hand set direction and vision, align people, inspire, and seize opportunities. Managers work with things, leaders work with people.
I would encourage you over these next few months to look into your daily life and put yourself in check. Are you working with things or are you working with people?