{"id":1156,"date":"2012-10-08T01:14:34","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T01:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/?p=1156"},"modified":"2012-10-08T01:14:34","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T01:14:34","slug":"tlp-elsa-lamb-aaie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/tlp-elsa-lamb-aaie\/","title":{"rendered":"TLP: Elsa Lamb, AAIE"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of each of my interviews, I always make sure to ask the question \u201cWhat advice do you have for the next generation of international administrators?\u201d\u00a0 The answers have varied from clich\u00e9, to practical, to deeply philosophical, but all have served the purpose of providing a small window into a career filled with hard-earned wisdom.\u00a0 However, few have gone as far as Elsa Lamb, Director of the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE), to preserve practical and functional lessons for leaders in international education.\u00a0 With Ms. Lamb\u2019s leadership AAIE has created the online Institute for International School Leadership to help provide practical lessons and support for international school heads and leaders.\u00a0 With help from other experienced leaders in international education, including fellow Leadership Project<\/em> interviewees Harlan Lyso, Monica Greeley, and Sherry Miller, the AAIE institute will be one of the few formal places leaders can get relevant teaching, advice and mentoring for leadership in international schools.<\/p>\n

(If not specifically quoted, Ms. Lamb\u2019s answers to these questions have been paraphrased)<\/p>\n

After working overseas for a number of years and in three different countries, does it feel odd to be back in the states?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really depends on the situation.\u00a0 There are some things about living in the states that can be great and certainly things are more convenient \u201c[because] whatever you need, you can find it somewhere\u2026[However], it was harder to come back than it was to go overseas\u2026because when you\u2019re in a school you\u2019re [also] in a community.\u00a0 I came back to the USA never having lived in Florida\u2026so there was no community.\u00a0 The other thing is I came to a job I\u2019ve never done before.\u00a0 It\u2019s different to come back a couple times a year then it is to come back and live here, so there has been a lot of things to adjust and adapt to.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Your first headship was at the American School of Barcelona, why did you decide to step into leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t decide.\u00a0 [Like many] women my age [we] sort of fell into our careers, [where as] fortunately today women plan their careers.\u201d\u00a0 I was working as a teacher at ASB when the head was fired and the deputy head left with him in solidarity.\u00a0 So 2 months into the school year the board scrambled to search for a permanent replacement, and asked me to take over in the meantime. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Why do you think they came to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The board asked the teachers for input and my name was put forward. \u201cI think they suggested me for a couple of reasons.\u00a0 One was I had started taking some classes in administration [mostly just to fulfill the credit hours].\u201d\u00a0 I also had some experience with teacher training back in the states, so I think others viewed me as someone who had done more then just teach.\u00a0 Also I was bilingual so I could communicate clearly with everyone on the board and with the school community.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTwo months later I came to school and the board chair was waiting to tell me \u2018the board met last night and decided we\u2019d like you to take this job\u2019; and I said \u2018no, are you crazy? I\u2019ve never done this before\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 But after taking sometime to think about it I realized that no one is ever going to give me this chance again, so I said \u2018yes\u2019 and ended up staying for 12 years.<\/em><\/p>\n

Besides \u2018falling\u2019 into a headship, what else encouraged you to pursue leadership?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] being able to really impact and bring about change, if I have a good enough idea at an international school, all I have to do is sell the board on it, then get the community to buy into it, and [we] can do it\u2026In an international school you can make [change] happen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What else has helped develop you for leadership in a school?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat gave me the best background to do the job [was my experiences as a special education teacher]\u2026When you\u2019re a special ed. teacher\u2026no one knows what you\u2019re doing, you have to sell the program to the principal, you have to get the teachers on board with it, you\u2019re constantly counseling parents, and counseling students\u2026everybody.\u201d\u00a0 I think my time in SPED really helped me learn people skills and how to clearly communicate to all stakeholders. \u00a0 \u201c[What I\u2019ve found is that] administration is about 90% people\u2026[and you have to have] people skills\u2026because if you cannot connect with the community\u2026you can\u2019t get the job done.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition to people skills have you found that there are certain skills that are necessary to be successful as an international school head?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a number of important skills heads need to know in order to be successful, which is really why we decided to start the Institute for International School Leadership at AAIE.\u00a0 \u201c[As a mentor] I became more and more aware of people who were actually brand new heads who were frankly getting shot out of the saddle in the first days. What I was seeing was people who I think have a lot of potential, but were running into problems very early on and sometimes those problems meant that they left the position. So with the desire to provide some more tangible training I started to look into creating the online institute.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI started with one question, which was \u2018what are the critical competencies an international school head has to have to be successful?\u2019\u2026So I discussed the questions with a number of peers and we came up with eight competencies so far, which include:<\/em><\/p>\n

Governance<\/em><\/p>\n

Leading for Learning (Curriculum)<\/em><\/p>\n

School Culture<\/em><\/p>\n

Diplomacy and Situational Awareness<\/em><\/p>\n

Management<\/em><\/p>\n

Ethics<\/em><\/p>\n

Mission and Vision<\/em><\/p>\n

Continuous professional growth<\/em><\/p>\n

However, since the job description for an international head can be so different from what\u2019s needed in the states we really wanted to make sure the content was specialized for international education.\u00a0 So we\u2019ve worked closely with a number of international school heads to create and focus the curriculum. \u201cThere are also people who need a mentor\u2026so if you take the 2-year course, you\u2019ll be assigned a trained mentor from the very beginning.\u201d Which is great because for someone like myself who\u2019s nearing the end of my career, I don\u2019t want what I\u2019ve learned to just stay with me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Are there common mistakes that you see a lot of new heads make?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the mistakes I see so many heads make, particularly new ones, is that they become so focused on [their] school that you forget to connect at an international level\u2026[which is too bad because] although the international teaching community is spread out all over the world, it\u2019s incredibly tight and I\u2019ve learned so much from colleagues [who understand the challenges unique to our field]\u2026If you become just focused on your school you\u2019re not going to grow.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to become part of the larger international school community\u2026It gives you a bigger view.\u00a0 When I was on various boards, my schools always reaped the benefits\u2026because your school benefits from those connections.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve shared a lot of great thoughts, but do you have any specific advice for upcoming international administrators?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to focus on your own professional growth\u2026and never stop learning.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cReach beyond your school.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When making tough decisions \u201cas long as people respect you as being fair, they\u2019ll live with your decisions, even if they don\u2019t like them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of each of my interviews, I always make sure to ask the question \u201cWhat advice do you have for the next generation of international administrators?\u201d\u00a0 The answers have varied from clich\u00e9, to practical, to deeply philosophical, but all have served the purpose of providing a small window into a career filled with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[24,156],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-leadership-project","tag-aaie","tag-leadership-institute"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5BJbv-iE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/learnedleadership.org\/divi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}