Effective Principals 2020 | Ms. Charu Wahi, Principal of Nirmal Bhartia School
Motivating students to be future leaders and not mere followers
Schools are entrusted with the responsibility of preparing our young for the future.
The question is, are we preparing our students to be mere followers or leaders of tomorrow? If everyone becomes leaders then who will follow them? Can there even be a leader without followers? The world as we know it is changing faster than we can even imagine.
Today the world has moved beyond the top-down approach to leadership and an increasing number of organizations are adopting a more collaborative approach. In fact, collaboration is one of the 4 Cs of 21st century skills.
Thus, the collaborative approach renders the concept of people being either leaders or followers redundant. Unlike a traditional top-down structure, where information is often hoarded among the upper echelons of the team, collaborative leadership encourages a more open culture.
Each team member understands the significance of not just his/her role but that of every team member, recognizes the shared purpose of the team, and sees how their role fits into that overarching purpose.
At NiBS, the values of ownership, integrity, excellence and collaboration lie at the core of the institution’s philosophy. One doesn’t have to look too far to seek inspiration when it comes to the power of collaboration which is evident in our story of the migratory geese who fly south every winter.
The NiBS motto, ‘Together we can’ comes alive in our logo – a graphic representation of a flight of geese on a long journey made possible only by collaboration.
Both science and legend tell us that every year flocks of wild geese fly nearly 3000 miles to escape frigid winters. The only way they succeed in reaching their destination is by flying together.
As each bird flaps its wings, it gives a thrust to the others in the flock, and by flying together in a V formation, the flock adds 70% greater flying range than if each bird flew by itself.
If any bird wounds itself and drops out of the flock, it is never left alone. Other geese fly out with it lending it help and protection till it recovers and is ready to fly again.
As the leader of the flock gets tired, he rotates back and another bird takes his place as leader. Thus, with mutual support they all arrive safely at their destination – an otherwise impossible feat! People who share a common direction and work together are able to achieve goals greater and higher than if they had worked alone.
This approach stresses the power of community. In fact, it is firmly believed that together “when we work in unity, we get the power of community”. Our logo showing the flight of geese portrays this immense power of community which infuses our working at NiBS: here every one of us takes ownership and thus is a leader.
Ms. Charu Wahi
Principal
Sector-14, Dwarka
New Delhi- 110 075
Effective Principals 2020 | Ms. Charu Wahi, Principal of Nirmal Bhartia School
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