Leading when you aren’t in charge

As an agriculture teacher, you are the leader of your classroom, chaos coordinator, captain of the ship, and the CEO of learning to do. 

But, what if you wanted to lead MORE than just your classroom? Now, there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to lead kids. HELLO THE YOUTH IS OUR FUTURE. And leading them to be productive citizens and exceptional employers/employees is paramount. 

But, sometimes we want to be able to lead our peers at a professional level. Maybe that looks like moving to administration, supporting student teachers, being an adjunct education professor, leading on a committee/non-profit, or heck starting your own thing. 

Unfortunately, we know that specifically in education, those leadership positions might be limited by specialized degrees, longevity in the system, and (hate to say it but it's true) favoritism sometimes weighs heavier than skill. 

And you might find yourself in a situation where you wish you could do more but there isn’t a position available for you. 

We get it and know that you have it in you to lead. And we also know that leadership isn’t bound by a position on your email signature. Leadership is determined by action and there are a few simple things you can do to lead even if you don’t have a Dr. Ph.D, EDS, Department Head or State Director as your title. 

And the answers have been here all along. I just needed to reach into the interwebs, and dust off some digital dust from our Green & Growing values to help you find actionable ways to lead when you aren’t in charge. 

While yes these are values for our organization, we want you to know as an agriculture teacher that our whole organization was created to help support and encourage agriculture teachers. Sounds like a leader right? 

To be honest, this is what G&G did. We went rogue back in 2017. We decided there was a need for agriculture teacher support in a new and different way. Nothing to take away from other support organizations but to add in addition to because we believe there is space for everyone here. There was no position or place for an organization like us, we just did it anyway and stayed committed to our values every step of the way. 

And if you are someone that feels that itch to lead but knows that based on zip code, school hierarchy or family dynamics that now isn’t the time or place to be in a leadership position know that 1. You ARE  a leader already and 2. You CAN lead when you aren’t in charge. 

4 Ways for you to Lead Even when you aren’t in charge

Share Abundantly

This might be the most obvious connection to leadership, sharing abundantly. This was one of the first values our team landed on. We knew that we couldn’t serve others well without being able to open our hands to share abundantly. 

A lot of times this might be mistaken as “let’s give everything away” which is usually met with the statement “I worked hard for this, you should have to as well.”

And TBH I kinda hate that mentality although I sometimes catch myself in that trap. 

In education we aren’t meant to do it alone. Heck in LIFE you aren’t meant to do it alone. You are made for community. And sharing abundantly is part of that community. 

When sharing abundantly we don’t mean that you need just open up your Google Drive to the world. We mean lending your expertise to enrich the profession.

That might look like:

-Having coffee with a teacher who wants to learn the CDE you absolutely dominate

-Sending some example scripts or training materials to a fellow teacher

-Doing a joint-practice with a closeby school for the same CDE

-Having a phone call with a teacher who needs help with their lesson for tomorrow

-Sharing a teaching tip that has saved your butt multiple times via social media

-Being a speaker at a conference like Germinate

The list can go on and on and on because sharing abundantly doesn’t look the same in every situation. 

I remember (tearfully) one day at a teachers conference that I was presenting at and my son (he was a couple months old) was not having it. And a few teachers took him so I could finish presenting. While you might not classify that as a “typical” sharing abundantly they selflessly gave me their time so I could lead others. And I will never forget that. 

None of these examples are true leadership positions, just ways that you can take what is in your brain and lend a helping hand to others. 

Observe Others

Being a leader means being at the top right? 

Welllllll, I would like to say I don’t think so. There have been MANY times I have been in leadership positions and learned more from those I was leading and vice versa. 

Being a leader means that you are willing to continue to learn so you can serve better. And one of the best ways is to observe others.

And I am not going to say the typical “be in a room with 5 people better than you.” While I think it is important to learn from those ahead of you, I think it is just as important to learn from those a few years behind you. 

I can't even tell you how much I learned from the multiple student teachers I’ve had in my classroom or even interns we have had on the G&G team. While these 19-22 year olds might not know EvERyThiNg a veteran teacher knows they sure as heck have a different perspective and pulse on basically every situation you will be in. And learning what they see can open your eyes to new possibilities. 

It is your responsibility, even if you aren’t in a leadership position, to learn from others. And that can be by attending conferences like NAAE or Germinate, auditing another teacher's class, doing some higher level courses/PD, attending tours/trips, meeting with community members etc.

Also, pro tip: learn from people OUTSIDE of your profession. While diving into content specific learning is valuable, sometimes you need to step outside of your day-to-day to see new realms of possibilities. 

Keep connected and observe others with those who inspire you regardless of their age, title, experience, or position. You never know what you can learn from someone who doesn’t see the world exactly like you. 

Unite Regularly

2020-2022 kinda screwed this up for us. Those years were trying and anyone who says the impacts are gone obviously aren’t spending 5 days a week in a classroom. 

We know that things twisted and changed in the pandemic and now post pandemic world that is still trying to mend itself back together. 

The biggest takeaway I’ve gotten from those two years is how vitally important uniting regularly with your people is. 

And I am not just saying your ag teacher friends. I mean your family, your friends you have become family, your social groups, your book club buddies, your church small group, your workout besties, whoever. Being together doing things you love is crucial. 

For you to be a leader you need to pour into yourself and part of that is uniting with people who light you up, encourage you and frankly can make you belly laugh. 

If you haven’t found that group yet because of a wide variety of reasons let me direct you to this blog post about finding community in education and cultivating your own community (for entrepreneurs). 

Train Daily 

This morning I finished Run 2 of Week 11 in my “back to running” program. I decided back in the early summer that I wanted to be a runner again. I mean I was an athlete from a young age through college and continued to work on my fitness as an obsessed Pure Barre Junkie for years. 

How hard could it be?

Freaking hard I’ll tell you. Mid (pushing late) 30’s me is not the same as 22 year old college lacrosse player me . 

But, what I have learned is it just takes time to get comfortable again into the daily routine of running. Am I sore, tired, out of breath, red face rivaling that of a person with MAJOR road rage? Yes. Do I feel empowered, inspired and energized afterword? You bet. 

The same thing goes for leadership. You gotta train daily. And just like working out, your training regimen will look different from others. 

There might be a time when you spend a lot of time reading about leadership and learning about ways you can improve your craft. 

There might be times where you are wholly invested in showing up in spaces that inspire you like a community leadership group. 

There may be times where you go hard on a specific leadership skill like improving your speaking abilities with toastmasters or committing to writing everyday on your LinkedIn page. 

There may be times when you are committed to self reflection and keep up with journaling and meditation. 

YOU get to make the training regimen that works for YOU in this time of YOUR life and what YOUR goals are. 

What I know about you just from the fact that you made it this far into a blog about growing your leadership skills is that you care deeply about supporting others and that makes you qualified to lead. It might not be in an official position today but that doesn't mean it can’t be tomorrow.