This document discusses personal mastery and leadership skills for school principals. It begins by outlining three commandments from Socrates about knowing oneself, being oneself, and being one's best self. It then discusses principles and practices for personal mastery, including developing a personal vision, balancing inquiry and advocacy, and managing mental models. The document also covers emotional and social competencies like self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills. Finally, it emphasizes that the success of a school lies in the principal's leadership through empowering teachers and enabling them to work towards a shared vision.

1. PERSONAL MASTERY
A Prelude to Leading Successful School

2. 3 Commandments of
Personal Mastery
Socrates said:
o Know thy self
o Be thy self
o Be your best
self

4.  Have learned to perceive and work with
forces of change rather than resist those
forces
 Are deeply inquisitive and committed to
see reality more accurately
 Feel connected to others and to life
itself

5.  Feel as if they are part of a larger
creative process which they can
influence but cannot unilaterally
control, Yet sacrifice none of their
uniqueness
 Live in a continual learning mode ,
are acutely aware of their
ignorance, their incompetence,
their growth areas, yet are deeply
self-confident ( paradoxical ?)

6. Principles and Practices for laying the groundwork
for continually expanding personal mastery
 Personal Vision
 Holding Creative tension
 Commitment to the Truth
 Using the Subconscious
 Integrating Reason and Intuition
 Seeing our connectedness to the world
 Compassion
 Commitment to the Whole

7. Personal Mastery
Learning through managing mental models (Senge)
 Recognizing “leaps of
abstraction”(noticing our jumps from
observation to generalization)
 Exposing the “left hand column”
(articulating what we normally do not
say)
 Balancing inquiry and advocacy (skills for
honest investigation)
 Facing up to distinctions between
espoused theories and theories-in-use

8. EQ: Managing our inner world and social
adeptness (Daniel Goleman, et al..)
• Emotional & Social Competencies desired in the workplace:
• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social Skills

9. 1. Self-Awareness
• Knowing what we are
feeling in the moment, and
using those preferences to
guide our decision making ;
having a realistic
assessment of our own
abilities and a well-
grounded sense of self-
confidence.

10. 2. Self-regulation
 Handling our emotions
so that they facilitate
rather than interfere with
the task at hand; being
conscientious and
delaying gratification to
pursue goals; recovering
well from emotional
distress

11. 3. Motivation
Using our deepest preferences
to move and guide us towards
our goal , to help us take
initiative and strive to improve,
and to persevere in the face of
setbacks and frustrations.

12. 4. Empathy
Sensing what people are
feeling, being able to
take their perspective,
and cultivating rapport
and attunement with
abroad diversity of
people.

13. 5. Social Skills
Handling emotions in
relationships well and accurately
reading social situations and
networks ; interacting smoothly ;
using these skills to persuade and
lead, negotiate and settle disputes,
for cooperation and teamwork.

14. 5. Emotional Competencies
1. Self-control
2. Trustworthiness
3. Conscientiousness
4. Adaptability
5. Innovation

15. People Skill
 Understanding others - Sensing others’
feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest
in their concerns.
 Service Orientation - Sensing others’
development needs and bolstering their abilities.
People with this competence
 Developing others – understand, assist
and increase costumer satisfaction

16. People Skill
 Leveraging diversity - Respect
varied backgrounds, Understand diverse
worldviews, See diversity as opportunity
 Political Awareness - Understand
the forces that shape views and actions of
clients, customers, or competitors

17. Social Skills
Influence – wielding effective tactics
of persuasion
Communication – sending clear and
convincing messages
Conflict management – negotiating
and resolving disagreements
Leadership – inspiring and guiding

18. Social Skills
 Change catalyst – initiating,
promoting, or managing change
 Building bonds – nurturing
instrumental relationships
 Collaboration and cooperation –
working with others toward shared
goals
 Team Capabilities – creating synergy
in working toward group goals

19. Leadership
“If you want to manage somebody, manage
yourself. Do that well and you’ll be ready to
stop managing.”
Lao Tsu
To lead people, walk beside them
...As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their
existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate .
When the best leader's work is done the people say, "We did it
ourselves!“

20. Delegation / Empowerment...
• is the collective effect of leadership
(Bennis, 1989)- Empowered people feel that they
can make a critical difference, are significant and
have a sense of meaning;
• benefits to an organization (Goens &
Clover, 1991) - Accountability for student outcomes
and instruction will depend on individual teachers
and not with the bureaucracy

21. “Much of humanity’s
miseries and failures
stem from leaderships
that aim more to control
than to enable.”
(EZAntonio, 2006)

22. Final words…
The success of any school lies on the leadership
of the school principal. And in today’s world
leadership entails a lot of working with people,
empowering them to buy-in and deliver in the
attainment of the common vision of the school.
As such, personal mastery bares you of your
weaknesses for you to able to see others strength that
when complements each other, results to learning
and excelling schools.