The Listening Piece

• Modern leadership literature has placed an increased focus on the power of active listening during face to face conversations. When it comes to social media, you need a plan of what you will be listening too (actually reading) each day or week. As you are more likely to encounter criticism, you will need to develop a thicker skin. You need to learn where your community goes online, identify influential voices and sites, and analyze your reputation and that of your school or district. You may want to use your social media team if you don’t have full-time PR people. When controversy is brewing, you need to listen and respond more frequently.
• You should set up a newsreader to automatically collect material. Kitty and Meg give you a number of examples. On a regular basis, search for the names of your district, each school, and the names of the superintendent and principals. You should also let your staff and community members know that you expect them to alert you to any information they think you need to know. After some trial and error, you should be able to monitor your listening post during a small time of daily reading.

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