Leadership Archive

A good leader energizes a group and keeps everything running smoothly. The articles below have tons of ideas to help you become a successful leader. When you're done reading, head over to the Message Boards to connect with other leaders just like you.

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• 17 Dos and Don'ts for Presidents - Get off to a fast start and keep the momentum going all year long with our list of essential dos and don'ts for leaders.
• Becoming a Great Leader - Even if you have no experience, you can be an effective leader. Just play to your strengths.
• Rate Your Leadership Skills -  Take the quiz to see what your strengths are as a leader and determine which skills could use some work.
• Energize Your Parent Group -  Tips to build interest and enthusiasm, then keep the momentum going all year long.
• Balancing PTO and Personal Life - It can be challenging to find balance. But a little strategy, a little organization, and a lot of support from friends and family go a long way.
• Negotiating With the Principal - Focusing on the benefits of working together can help smooth the rough spots in your relationship with the principal.
• When You Feel Overwhelmed - You don't have to choose between staying involved and staying sane; come back from the edge—and make burnout less likely to happen again.
• Visibility: A Leadership Challenge - You've done the work—do people know about it? Getting your group's name and message out to a wide audience, in the right way, is an essential part of success.
• From Controversy to Consensus - The way you handle the decisionmaking process can determine whether a difficult issue grows into an acrimonious fight.
• Care and Feeding of Key Volunteers - Your core members are so important to the success of your group. Make sure they're getting what they need out of their volunteer experience.
• Polish Your Delegation Skills - Doing it all yourself leads to burnout—and isn't good for your parent group, either.
• Create a Mission Statement - Talking clearly and intentionally about group goals can inspire your PTO and help make decisions to achieve them.
• Dealing With Disagreements - Find the right words so that difficult conversations don't derail the group's work.
• Make Planning a Priority - Think ahead for fall and get a jump-start on a productive year.
• Email Communication Tips - How to use email effectively while avoiding common pitfalls that lead to miscommunication and misunderstanding.
• Take an Involvement Inventory - Periodic evaluation of your group will reinforce successes and help deal with areas that need improvement.
• Leadership Is Learning From Others - Valuable lessons are all around if you know where to find them.
• Put On Your Sales Hat - These five basic principles of good salesmanship will help you build parent involvement.
• Reenergize Your Officers - Beat the post-vacation blues by taking time to reassess and recommit before jumping back into the fray.
• The Language of Leadership - To grow your group, have a focused message and then match actions to words.
• The Power of the "Big Idea" - A high-profile goal or signature event will rally your school community and build excitement.
• When Conflict Splits Your Group - Ways to prevent controversy from escalating, and how to bring the PTO back together if it already has.
• Build Support for New Ideas - When members resist change, reduce the chance of conflict with patience and understanding.
• Problems With the Principal - Use this approach to create a working relationship with the principal and find common ground on even the thorniest issues.
• Procedures Book: Your PTO's Instruction Manual -  Newly revised guidelines on how to create policies and procedures books for your leaders. This tool can make a big difference for your group.
• Good Committee Management - Give your committees a good name by making sure they have a clearly defined purpose, then empowering the members to achieve it.
• Are You Ready To Lead? - Being an effective parent group leader requires a commitment to the big picture and a willingness to let others help achieve those goals.
• The Secret to Successful Leadership - The most overlooked skill—delegation—might just be the best one you'll ever learn.
• The Leadership Skills That Matter - Making your parent group the best it can be takes an ability to listen, to gain others' trust, and to know which leadership approach is best for each situation.
• Meeting Minutes: Just the Facts - Keeping complete and accurate minutes is an important legal obligation. Here's why certain types of information should—or shouldn't—be included.
• Orienting New Members - Help newbies hit the ground running by creating a welcoming atmosphere and giving them the opportunity and information they need to be able to contribute right away.
• Cochair Survival Skills - Working in tandem doesn't have to be difficult. Following a few simple guidelines will help you reap the many benefits of having a partner.
• It Pays To Go Slow - Building support for your group takes time. Often a patient approach will get you to your goal faster that a sprint.
• Think Big, Get Big - Launching an ambitious project can rally support for your group and enhance your image.
• Quit Being So Nice! - Sometimes doing what’s best for your group and school means stepping on toes.
• Find Your Leadership Style - The best leaders recognize their natural tendencies and use that knowledge to respond appropriately in different situations.
• Robert's Rules: What You Should Know - Robert's Rules do help you run an effective meeting. And you don't have to know a whole book's worth of details—just a few key concepts.
• How To Deal With Difficult People - Whiners, Know-It-Alls, and Steamrollers: Strategies to cope with even the most hard-to-take personalities.
• Change Your Micromanaging Ways - Could you be a micromanager? If so, you're probably limiting involvement in your group. Here's how to lighten your grip without having everything fall apart.
• 9 Ways To Spot a Micromanager - Do you find yourself giving all the reports, working at every function, and fielding all the questions about your parent group? You just might be a micromanager.
• Celebrity Leadership Quiz - What’s your leadership style? Find a celebrity match for the way you lead your PTO.
• Build a Strong Executive Board - Working to form a cohesive executive board can pay off in long-term success for your parent group.
• Confront the Fear of Quitting - Concerns about how they'll be treated if they stop volunteering makes some parents avoid getting involved at all.
• To Build Support, Celebrate Success - Make publicizing your group's good works and thanking the people who contributed to your success a year-end priority.
• Public Speaking: Overcome the Jitters - Some advance preparation and a few best practices will help your next presentation go smoothly despite any butterflies.
• Customer Service Secrets You Can Use - The most successful businesses know how to create loyal customers. You can learn from their techniques to build strong parent involvement.
• Three Decisionmaking Methods - These processes for reaching a decision can help parent group leaders get past (or avoid) a stalemate.
• A Tale of Two Volunteers - Bridging the newbie-veteran gap.
• Managing Personality Conflicts - Minimize conflict with insight into how different personality styles work best.
• Are You a Leader or a Manager? - Good leadership and effective management call for different skills. Depending on the situation, you'll need to decide which of those skills to employ.
• Responding to Criticism - To deal with criticism effectively, leave your emotions out of the conversation.
• Stop the PTO Drama - Drama seems like a fact of PTO life—but it doesn’t have to be.
• Is It Time To Pass the Gavel? - Questions to ask yourself if you're thinking about retiring from your PTO leadership role.
• Sample PTO Strategic Plan - Use this shortened version of a strategic plan—based on one created and used by a real PTO—to help your group get started with its own long-term planning.
• Creating a Long-Term Plan - Strategic long-term planning can help your group reach its goals.
• Use PTO Experience To Get a Job - The skills you develop as a parent leader and school volunteer can give you an edge when going back to work.
• Get Out and Smell the Coffee - You can build a support system through a little bit of cafe life and a whole lot of networking.