Building Influence-Principals of Success

Forgive the pun, but your "Principal Relationship" at work is your relationship with the principal. You may be the best school librarian to ever grace education, but you won't get the opportunity to prove that unless your principal values what you do. Being ready, willing, and able is only three-quarters of the key to your success. The fourth element is opportunity, and your principal plays a large part in that.

The good news is that research has shown that the librarian is a principal's best source of information about the library's value. There is legitimate hope that you can build a better working relationship, but you must take the initiative in getting your principal's attention—or you'll grow old waiting for him to come to you. Here are three quick suggestions on how you can get started:

1) Find ways to interact with the principal regularly. Arrange a formal meeting each quarter of the year to bring him up to date on what's going on in the library. Carefully prepare before each visit, and create a short executive summary that you can leave behind. Emphasize the teachers you've collaborated with and the number of students that were served—not circulation. Circulation doesn't mean anything to a principal, but instruction does. Suggest new projects that involve more interaction with teachers and students.

2) Don't stop with formal exchanges. Try to interact with faculty and students during coffee breaks or at lunchtime. Social psychology research clearly demonstrates that we tend to like people more if we have continuous contact with them (assuming that they're pleasant). But be careful not to overdo it, or the principal may think that you're neglecting your duties.

3) Keep abreast of activities in your school, and find ways to show the principal how you and the library can help deal with challenges and take advantage of opportunities. How often should you do this? Anytime you get the chance. The mountain men used to say that the best time to shoot bears is when bears are around. There is no shortage of bears in schools. Watch for your opportunity, and then seize it.

Pay attention to your colleagues. You're in an ideal position to monitor school events and trends because of your contact with those who use the library. But take it one step further: get out and talk to people. Network with those involved in the school play, dance, or ball game. This not only provides you with better information sources, but it increases your visibility and familiarity with the faculty.

Most importantly, pay attention to what the principal talks about—whether it's information shared at a faculty meeting or a seemingly idle remark made in the hallway. Every topic the principal mentions offers you an opportunity to make an impression.

Take the first chance you have to conduct a quick search for information on that subject. There are dozens of online resources you can tap into. Education Week (www.edweek.org) is a good place to start. Another useful resource is the ERIC Digests (www.ed.gov/databases/

ERIC_Digests). After you've completed your research, prepare a report (perhaps just a package of some pages you've printed out) and deliver it to the principal as soon as possible. Imagine the impression you'll make if the principal mentions that he is interested in or worried about topic "x," and a half-hour later you put a summary of related research and descriptions of model programs on his desk.

Doing this once, or even a half-dozen times, won't reshape your principal's perceptions of libraries and librarians, but by repeatedly taking the initiative, and coupling that with greater contact and visibility, you'll become a fixture in his thinking—and that is the goal. We all value those who help us become more successful, make our jobs easier, and make us look good.