By Dr. Joel Hazard

This past summer, I arranged for my middle school son, Elijah, to serve as an assistant camp counselor at one of my school’s most popular day camps for elementary school children. This camp is highly coveted by high schoolers and even former students who return home for the summer. The hours are reasonable, the compensation is fair, and the responsibilities are straightforward.

While most people took the camp job because it’s an easy summer gig that pays well, my son worked there for free, focusing on gaining leadership experience. Now, before you think, ‘How noble of him,’ or ‘Joel, you’re doing a fantastic job raising your son,’ let me stop you right there. I arranged this opportunity because I need my son to step up and lead. Out of my four children, Elijah is the one who really makes my wife and me earn our parenting badge every day. He’s your typical middle schooler—always ready to argue every point, neglecting chores, leaving his bed unmade, clothes unfolded, and often being the last one to get in the car in the morning. Being grounded or losing his electronics doesn’t seem to faze him much.

At school, Elijah is the kind of student who stands out—super athletic, social, and able to shift the dynamics (good or bad) of a classroom in seconds. During every parent-teacher conference, his teachers consistently highlight his natural leadership abilities among his peers. With this in mind, my wife and I decided to try a different approach. Instead of our usual tactics of raising our voices, grounding him, or taking away privileges in hopes that he would ‘get it,’ we created an opportunity for him to lead. We wanted him to see how he could use his gifts to guide others effectively, to rise to the challenge of being responsible for others, and to make thoughtful decisions with others in mind.

By God’s grace, the conversations we had on the way home from camp about his experiences revealed that he was starting to ‘get it.’ He became more reflective and responsible in his actions at home. My wife and I were able to use his leadership experiences at camp to better guide and direct his behavior at home. We’re still a work in progress—he’s still a middle schooler who likes to buck the system—but Elijah’s leadership experience has opened the door for him to seriously consider other ways he can lead and influence others.

This experience with my son has led me to deeply reflect not just on how I lead, but more importantly, on how I create opportunities for others to lead. It’s easy to rely on department chairs, coaches, or those teachers who always say ‘yes’ when asked to take on extra responsibilities. But what about the quiet teachers who fly under the radar and may want to be more involved but don’t know where they can plug in? What can we as leaders do to intentionally create these opportunities?  In my reflection, I considered these different avenues we can create for others to lead;

• Be part of helping to lead professional development workshops for faculty and staff members;
• Become a class sponsor;
• Lead a service club;
• Become a mentor for new faculty or staff members;
• Help lead a mission/service trip;
• Be a speaker at chapel;
• Be part of new student orientation;
• Take a lead role in school retreats;
• Be part of homecoming/prom planning committee; or
• Help lead fieldtrips

The list of leadership strategies can be extensive, but ultimately, it serves as a reminder that our role as leaders is not to take charge of every initiative ourselves. Instead, we should focus on recognizing and nurturing the leadership qualities in others, offering them support, and creating opportunities for them to lead. By embedding this approach into the organization’s culture, we ensure that leadership becomes an integral part of our school’s identity.

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Joel Hazard is in his eighteenth year as a Christian school educator. He currently serves as the Head of Academic Collaboration and Culture at Fellowship Christian School in Roswell, GA. Joel has a master’s degree in educational leadership, as well as a specialist degree in educational leadership for learning from Kennesaw State University. Joel has a passion for school leadership, curriculum development, and is a champion of diversity within the Christian school sector. Joel serves as one of the BCSL’s fellows. His efforts focus on professional development, curricular enhancements, and the creation of a learning environment that is biblically inclusive, and culturally proficient in preparing students to thrive in a globally connected world.