Effective Communication Skills for School Leaders
School leaders, regardless of the position or title held, need to be able to communicate very effectively. Activities such as greeting students on school grounds, meeting with teachers about school policies, presenting at a quarterly school-wide gathering, or writing school recommendations on behalf of a student, the choice of words and how they are presented play a large role in how the school leader is perceived.
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Public Speaking
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One of the most important communication skills that a school leader needs to master is speaking in front of groups of parents, students, school officials or politicians with comfort and ease. Students and parents look up to school leaders as role models. When a school leader exudes confidence while speaking publicly, it instills a similar level of confidence in those watching.
PowerPoint
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PowerPoint as a slide presentation tool can be extremely effective or very boring. Learning to create interesting content will take some practice. Keep each slide simple with easy-to-follow visuals and insert as few words or bullets as possible. If you have a series of bullets that are connected, try adding one bullet per slide so the audience does not read ahead. It will help you keep control of the presentation and the audience focused on what you have to say about each slide.
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Listening
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Effective listening skills means a school leader will naturally come across to the person they are interacting with as someone who really cares about what the other person is saying or doing. This is especially important in one-on-one interactions with students and parents who expect school leaders to be empathic to their concerns and questions. It becomes much easier to ask parents and students to listen to your point of view when you clearly show you are willing to listen to theirs.
Writing
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Writing skills for a school leader can mean a short note to a peer or teacher, a memo to school administrators or parents, an article for a school publication, or an e-mail updating a parent on the latest news about their child's progress in the classroom. As it is with speaking publicly, the school community expects the school leader to be effective with the written word.
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References
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