A teacher’s promotion to leadership doesn’t work out

Q: As principal, I try to promote staff when they have done a good job and show potential. I recently hired one of my teachers, Kelly, to be a department chair. It was well-deserved. She’s an enthusiastic and hard-working teacher, the kind of person who gets the best work out of her students and consistently earns her colleagues’ respect. Kelly was eager for a new challenge and had a strong interview. No one second-guessed my decision, but here’s the crazy thing — she is terrible in her new role, and she knows it. I think she is as overwhelmed as I am concerned. The teachers she now supervises are frustrated and want me to intervene. It would be easiest to just reassign Kelly back to her old job, but I don’t want her to end up demoralized and leaving the school. I also need to factor in the morale of the teachers in her department. Is there a way to make all parties happy here, or should I just accept that the hiring was a mistake and deal with the fallout?

A: Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict which exemplary individual contributors will be effective managers, and easy to forget that leadership skills need to be taught. It’s a common problem across industries — the most qualified person gets promoted but lacks team player or supervisory skills. If Kelly ends up feeling like a failure, she may not be successful in her current or her former position. You also don’t want to be too hasty or reactive. So what now?

Start by having an authentic, nonconfrontational conversation with Kelly. She may welcome the opportunity to share her concerns. There is still a chance you can turn this around, especially if you let Kelly lead the discussion. In what ways would she like you to support her? Can you suggest specific books or offer mentoring, possibly by another highly regarded department chair? Perhaps you can provide funding for online training or a seminar.