During my first year as an administrator as a High School Dean of Students, I was lost about what it meant to be a great leader. I mean, I knew I had certain responsibilities I had to complete and that I needed to be ready to help people out, but I had no clue on how to proceed. Did it mean I needed to have all the answers, or that I needed to address every issue that came my way? It wasn’t until I was walking around the school with my then School Director, Cliff Claflin, one day that it finally clicked. I saw what leading by example really meant.
Cliff had just become the School Director of our school midway through my first year as a High School Dean of Students. Our administrative team was still trying to size him up and figure out what type of guy he really was. He did a ton to build trust in meetings, both as a whole team and individually, but I don’t think he realized that some of his greatest gains may have come from something that only took a few minutes to complete. One day, as we walked up a flight of stairs together, I saw Cliff pick up candy wrappers, paper, and a few random pencils that were scattered throughout the stairwell. At one point, I saw a bunch of dirty, rotten orange peels on the 4th floor landing. I thought to myself, “He’s made his point. That’s pretty disgusting to clean up with his bare hands. He’s not going to do it.” Lo and behold, Cliff didn’t miss a beat and picked them up. Over the next few weeks and months, all would soon realize that this was who Cliff was. Regardless of what was in his hands, he would pick up trash everywhere he went. I would soon develop this habit, as would many other staff and students. With one simple act, he was able to enact change on a grand scale within our campus while building trust with everybody around him.
Leading By Example, In Practice
By picking up those orange peels and everything else that he came across, Cliff exemplified three key aspects of what it means to be a great leader.
- Cliff was authentic in his leadership and did things because he thought they were right, not because they needed to be done. He was transparent about his values and lived them through his actions. Picking up trash wasn’t just about cleaning the school, but about making sure he was taking care of his second home.
- Cliff led by example, not when he was in the spotlight, but when he was in the shadows of our stairwells. It didn’t matter to him whether anybody was watching, he consistently behaved in the manner that he thought was right. It would have been one thing for Cliff to send out an email or give a speech about picking up trash. It’s another thing to see him do it.
- Cliff never expected others to do things he wouldn’t do. He would get down in the trenches and do all the work he saw needed to get done. There was never something he requested of others that he wouldn’t do himself or hadn’t already done himself.
Through simple actions he took as he walked the halls of our campus, Cliff built trust with those around him and laid a solid foundation for his approach to leadership. Neither staff nor students had to guess what he stood for, as he put it on display every time he picked up an orange peel.
