Suggestions and Guidelines for Administrative leadership

Administrative leadership combines management skills with the art of leadership. The suggestions that follow include recommendations for influencing people, some guidelines for personnel management, and hints for improving interpersonal relations.

Appropriate use of group processes, democratic methods, and leadership tactics for emergency situations will be discussed. Some suggestions and guidelines are:

1. An organization, when well led, can be more than the sum of a group of individuals. When each individual feels the support and receives the help that colleagues can give, the final productivity far exceeds that which could be attained by adding together all the contributions the members could make as individuals.

2. Feelings of hostility are destructive, while warm and friendly personal relations are productive. Anything a leader can do to foster respect and friendship among members of an organization will pay good dividends.

3. Most individuals in a department of physical education and athletics will react favourably to a challenge. They have a need for something to test their skill and invite their ingenuity. The excitement of overcoming obstacles and tackling something involving risks appeals to many.

4. Good administrators are people who can walk with their head in the clouds and yet keep their feet on the ground. They are creative and visionary and at the same time realistic and practical. Many of the best administrators are combinations of idealists and pragmatists.

5. Where athletics and” physical education are organized as a single department or division, the highest administrative post in that unit should be held by someone who has had experience in each area of endeavour and believes sincerely in the educational values of both.

6. The physical education and athletic department or division should be so organized, and the functions so delegated, that the specializations of each staff member are utilized for the greatest effectiveness of the entire operation.

7. While planning, organizing, and decision making should be a democratic and participative process, it should be acknowledged by all concerned that certain emergency situations might demand immediate decisions, authoritative action, and willing obedience.

Violent demonstrations, fires in buildings, serious accidents, and dangerous storms are examples of situations requiring special direction and methods of coping.

8. There are for facets to the administration of physical education and athletics the students who are being educated, the faculty members who teach and coach, the activities that provide the education experiences, and the environmental setting in which the education takes place. The good manager will give attention to each of these.

9. Personnel policies, to be effective, must be developed cooperatively by governing boards, administrators, teachers, and parents. Only in this way will there be acceptance by those affected and an atmosphere of willing compliance by all.

10. It staff members are to have responsibilities; they must have the authority to take the action necessary to carry them out. Any staff member who cannot be trusted with the authority should be replaced by someone who can.

11. All who are in administrative capacities should know- that their job is to facilitate the educative processes. Administration for its own sake has no value, and its existence is pointless.

12. The successful administrator strives constantly to see things from the subordinate’s viewpoint. This should always be considered before a final decision is made.

13. Dialogue is the key to success in most organizations. One-sided conversations are seldom very productive. Face-to-face conferences where both parties speak freely, listen carefully, and keep open minds are the most beneficial.

14. Continuity in learning is essential to progress. Where both management and the other members of the organization seek to learn something new every day, the prospects for productivity and progress are good.

15. Coaches who move on to administrative positions must realize that their new “team” consists of the staff members. They must relinquish completely their authority over the athletic teams that they formerly coached and turn their attention to new challenges and goals with the same kind of dedication and intensity.

16. The development of pride in individual performance and pride in the organization are both needed for effective work. When all individuals keep the organizational goals in mind and at the same time strive to perform up to their capabilities, the education of the students cannot help but be enhanced.

17. Effective administrators are not easily deterred. When convinced of a need, they should persist and persist in their requests. A full and rational justification should away accompany the request.

18. Good administrators will make every effort to keep from getting bogged done with details. They must resist the tendency to spend an inordinate amount of time at their desk reading and shuffling papers.

19. The successful administrator keeps the major goals constantly in view. The administrator established priorities, trusts others to take care of the details, tackles important problems immediately, does not postpone unpleasant tasks, delegates both authority and responsibility freely but judiciously, and tries not to take problems home.

20. Good leaders study subordinates to see what “makes them tick.” They try to make staff members want to do things. They suggest and request rather than demand. They give reasons for their requests.

21. Staff members usually try to live up to expectation. Trusting an able staff member to get a job done can be very motivating for that person.

22. The confident leader can admit mistakes. The stature of such a person will thereby be enhanced.

23. Patience and self-control are indispensable qualities in an administrator. Tack and compassion are also important; good judgment and justice even more so!

24. To be effective, administrators must limit their span of control. When they find that they are too busy because of the number of people reporting directly, the work must be reorganized and more responsibilities delegated.

25. The good leader will have a sincere personal regard for all staff members and will enjoy being with them however friend ship can never be forced. It must reveal itself through attitude and manner.

26. An administrator should always give credit where credit is due and should make every effort to recognize individual achievements. Above all, staff members should not be ignored nothing is more discouraging then to fell that you don’t count.

27. The strong administrative leader will not shrink from unpleasant tasks or unpopular designs. Problems that cannot be solved at a lower level become his or her responsibility and must not be shirked. The way these are dealt with will reflect the courage and strength of the leader.

28. Where there is high morale, the leader takes pride in the organization and the individuals who compose it. They in turn are proud to be a part of the department and have faith in the leader.

No leaders are feet, and no human being is able to satisfy all the requirements outlined above. Those who aspire to leadership positions, however, should accept the fact that many leadership qualities can be developed and much can be learned about human nature.

It is with the hope that those who seek to become administrators will also try to be leaders and that they can find something of assistance in these outlines that these suggestions are presented.