Are+you+ready+to+lead?

=Are You Ready To Lead?=

by Craig Bystrynski*
Being an effective parent group leader requires a commitment to the big picture and a willingness to let others help achieve those goals.

Pinpointing the traits that make a good leader can be difficult. Search the Internet for leadership characteristics and you'll find lots of lists: persistence, determination, honesty, intelligence. Motivator, trainer, communicator. Courageous, imaginative, forward-looking. And so on. But nobody embodies all of those traits, and you don't have to be Winston Churchill to be a good leader.

The first step toward being an effective parent group leader is to recognize and accept your leadership role. Parent group president is more than a series of tasks that you do for a set period of time until someone else takes over. It's also a leadership role. People will look to you for direction. They'll look to you to set the tone for the group. And they'll look to you to set goals and expectations. It's human nature; people take cues, both subtle and overt, from the leader. By the nature of your job title, that's you.

What would you like your group to accomplish, and how will you get there? How would you like your group to be perceived by others? What are the priorities for the group? Questions like these are important. The time and effort you devote to them will determine how much control you have over them. And your effectiveness in answering them will largely determine your groups overall success.

To be a good leader, you don't have to be charismatic, you don't have to be a great motivator or trainer, and you don't have to be a great salesman. But you do have to be an active leader, not a passive one. So accept and embrace the role. You might be surprised at the difference you can make.

//*"borrowed" from PTOtoday and edited for length//

=**What I’ve learned from the PTA**=

by Cori Roed
This is the sixth year that I’ve had a student at Arbor Heights. During the first year I stayed in the kindergarten hall and talked to the kindergarten parents and baked cookies for the bake sale. The next year I worked at the bake sales and so it began.

Since then, I have put in countless hours, days weeks, perhaps months of my life working for no pay and minimal recognition from my kids for whom I did it. I have to say, though, that I would do it all over again and that I’ve gotten far more out than I have put in. I’ve met great people, made friends, gotten to know the teachers, learned the names of my children’s classmates, picked up a few new skills and had a lot of fun doing it.

These jobs are what you make of them. They can be a minimal commitment or a huge part of your day. They can be a hassle or fun. You can do the bare minimum or tackle a huge project. My goals for the year were modest: I wanted to put greater emphasis on ‘community’ and less on fund raising. You have your own ideas of what this role can be. I will end with this: **You’ll never have a better chance to truly influence the place where your children spend their days than this.** Step up – see what you can get done!