Identify leadership approaches that would help mitigate stress in the workplace. Transfer this to the library context to identify strategies that the teacher librarian could implement that would be supportive and educationally relevant to classroom teachers.

On first inspection of the readings in Module 2, Servant Leadership stands out as the most obvious approach to help mitigate stress in the workplace. Servant leaders listen, show empathy and attempt to heal (Agile at Barclaycard, 2016). When staff members are stressed, a leader who listens to their problems, tries to understand the problem and offers solutions to fix the problem, will go a long way in reducing the stress of that staff member.

Last year, after a particularly stressful day, I can remember calling my line manager to let her know how I was feeling. She came into my classroom, listened to me, showed empathy, and worked out how to make things easier for the next day of school. It was a perfect example of being a servant leader and I won’t forget how she helped me that day.

There are other approaches to leadership that will have a positive influence on stress in the workplace. Both Inspirational and Transformational leaders show respect and care towards their staff (Smith, 2016, p. 67) and make staff well-being a priority (p. 69).

So, what strategies could the TL implement to support classroom teachers?

• Check in on the classroom teacher to see how they are on a regular basis.
• Talk together about stress (The Guardian, 2013).
• Identify stressors and come up with solutions to reduce stress (The Guardian, 2013).
• Where or if possible, share the workload.
• Plan together. Teach together.

References

Agile at Barclaycard. (2016, October 14). What is servant leadership? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKk0AaaFqtU

The Guardian. (2013, November 6). 10 ideas to help teachers beat stress. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/nov/06/teachers-beat-stress-10-ideas

Smith, B.S. (2016). The role of leadership style in creating a great school. SELU Research Review Journal, 1(1), 65-78. Retrieved from https://selu.usask.ca/documents/research-and-publications/srrj/SRRJ-1-1-Smith.pdf