Hiring and Retention of a Great Principal

April 19, 2023, 5:08 p.m.

A good school needs a great principal to back it up. Hence it is very important to hire and retain a great principal for a school to emerge and exist. What makes School Principals great or efficient? How can we rate a school principal as great? What is the benchmark?

Let us now discuss some important points that can define a great principal:

Intrepidity - This is an essential quality a school principal must possess. Boldness in taking the right decisions at the right time helps those who work around them do things efficiently.
Inspiration - A school principal should be a good motivator. His or her actions have to inspire others and bring out the best results in administration affairs.
Leadership - A school principal must be a leader in every sense. He or she must be able to correctly guide the subordinates and should show both strictness and sentence based on the situations.
Influence - A school principal should be an example to follow and he or she should have the right influence on the fellow beings.
Management - A school principal has to well manage time, staff and students and of course the overall administration of the institution.

The hiring process

The procedure of hiring the right talent for the administrative role is an extensive one. Filling an administrative position in an organisation involves scrutinising the curriculum vitae and certificates followed by interviews, panel discussions, and debriefing sessions. This hiring procedure is highly time-consuming and implicates a lot of effort of a host number of people. Different recruitment strategies are usually tried for selection of the most qualified persons as school principals. This pertains to either promoting the Vice Principal, other faculty members or staff as Principals.

Another alternative is to consult colleagues from other schools to find potential principal candidates. Hiring posts on social media is also a very good option.

Tips for retaining the Principal

Any organisation could strive in the long run if geared up by employees who clearly understand organisational goals and work towards achieving it by coordinating with everyone and everything at the organisation. For schools, principals are the pillars who coordinate all other elements and so let's check out some tips for their long term retention:

Acknowledging the leadership and guidance of the school principal by management and staff
Encouraging and implementing innovations put forward by the principal.
Greetings and appreciation by students and staff on special occasions.
Planning and organising programmes to raise the morale of the person who assumes the role of principal.
Stability in principalship is a significant aspect, especially for schools that are in the developing stage.

School principals hold responsibilities and pressure in administering day to day school affairs. To do that job successfully and seamlessly the principal of a school should be hired carefully and retained tactfully.