Leadership: What Office Space can Teach us about Leadership.

Yeah.....I'm going to have to ask you to go ahead and do that...... Many of us remember the classic Office Space, and many of us remember the horrendous work environment that drove Peter out of his job.  Bill Lumbergh is that boss that most would dread.  He's sarcastic, dry, devoid of personality, and doesn't much care about his employees. DON'T BE A BILL LUMBERGH!!!!!

When we talk about leadership, none of us want to be a Bill Lumbergh.  He stands for everything a leader is not.  He struts the office making sure people are doing what they are supposed to.  Offering little in the way of feedback and support and using his title and position as a means for getting people to do what he says. Now entering my second year as a technology leader in my school, I wanted to take a renewed approach to the first couple of weeks.  Last year as a first year Tech Admin.  my priorities were to just not mess anything up.  Plain in simple I was more afraid of making mistakes then anything else.  Reflecting on this mindset bothered me, a lot.  It was important to me this year to take a different approach. A simple question like "how are you?" is a great start.  Everyone is stressed out for the first couple weeks of school, and another scowl is the last thing anyone wants to see.  Saying "how are you?" means you care, and that you want to engage with other people.  That question followed by "Is there anything I can help with?"  is the next question.  Again, everyone is stressed and leaders look to support those they work with at every turn.  Last, but certainly not least, is listen.  Just being an ear to bend may be all someone needs to get through the day, or think through a problem. I know I'm not perfect, but this year I'm hoping to be a better leader and in order to do that it's not about how many leaps I take, it's about the taking a lot of small steps towards lifting up others.