When Egos Soar

If there is one thing in education that quietly and effectively hinders achievement and interrupts the smooth flow of information within individual schools, that one thing is ego. Overbearing egos stifle collective reflection and teamwork, limiting the meaningful exchange of ideas. This, in turn, limits problem-solving and the ability to generate and apply new ideas to the never-ending supply of new challenges that educators face daily. In short, dominating egos get in the way of learning organizations.

What does the term ego mean in relation to good educational practices? How should leadership deal with people who simply refuse to consider new ideas or allow others workers to shine?

First, management has to identify where areas of disagreements or non-performance are appearing. As a rule, by using simple observation and some careful prodding, management can soon discover that one or two individuals are dominating an entire section. This often occurs during brainstorming sessions or team assigned projects. The egotist will often obstruct the simplest ideas to garner attention, or ignore any ideas that don't fit in with his/her worldview.

The actions of egotists tend to stifle creativity by the use of subtle mockery or derision towards minds that don't necessarily fit their pre-conceived notions of linear thinking. Often egotists will reject people who are valuable assets to any school. The use of phrases such as "Yes but", “I suggest you'd better", “My Students can’t do this”, or "This isn't the way things are done here", are subtle ways of creating a negative and tense environment.

Once you've identified the issue and the person(s) causing them, what needs to be done? I don't support throwing people away, so I would try a frank, one-on-one discussion. The use of honest feedback from others, offered in a non-confrontational manner will in some cases, fix the problem. Not allowing the obstructive personality to participate in group or team projects, but utilizing them in less interactive tasks is another idea. If they have valued skills (and often they do), any of the above are worth trying.

Perhaps the best approach to this is not to hire this type of personality at all. Though I don't know much about conducting an employment interview, I do know that there are techniques that can be utilized in the interviewing process to uncover the traits that signal a controlling egotist. Also, if the principal makes it crystal clear that his/her school or organization is team-centric, then that makes the interviewers job much easier.

Most importantly, leadership must lead by example and be team players themselves. If leadership is open, transparent and highly motivated to seek input from others, the teams will quickly discover that ego has little place in his organization. Generally, strong, open leadership is usually surrounded by a very strong and committed team that shares the successes and the failures equally as part of the growth of their school.