How to be an Effective PTA/Parent Leader

The first step in being an effective leader is understanding that PTA is a team. As a president or parent leader, you need to build a team out of your officers and chairpersons. (Officers and chairpersons may also need to build teams out of the committees that work under them.) Having a team atmosphere encourages productivity, keeps the workload more balanced, and leads to happier volunteers.

Just like in sports, a team does not mean that everyone is involved in everything. If the pitcher on a baseball team tried to play pitcher and catcher because he didn’t like how the catcher threw the ball back to him, or if the quarterback on a football team tried to play quarterback and wide receiver because he felt the receiver dropped too many balls, or worse yet, if the coach decided to replace a player and get in the game and play himself ... it wouldn’t be much of a game and the other players would wonder why they were even there in the first place!

Similarly, your PTA should be set up so that your officers and chair people have responsibility for certain things. When delegating responsibility, make sure each team member understands what their roles and responsibilities are. Show them where to find the information they need to perform their duties and provide any deadline or budget considerations they need to know.

If necessary, offer your experiences to help guide them and answer any questions they might have, but don’t make decisions or do the work for them! You have given them a job to do, so let them do it – even if that means it is not done exactly like you would do it yourself! Don’t micro-manage them. Allow them to make self discovery and empower them to take action. This builds your leaders of tomorrow and ensures the long-term success of your PTA!

• Understand there will be glitches along the way. Be supportive and be there to offer encouragement or advice, but don’t take over for them! Allow your team members to work through any difficulties in their own way. Just like we tell our children, people often learn more from their mistakes than they do from their successes.
• Keep the team informed. Each team member has an obligation to keep the team as a whole informed of the actions they have undertaken. This does not mean reporting in every time you do something; however, officers and chairpersons should be prepared to report on the status of the things they are responsible for at each board meeting. Reports may be submitted in writing in the event someone is unable to attend a particular meeting.
• Lastly, model appropriate behavior for your team – patience, respectfulness, reliability. Don’t gossip or project negativity as that will rub off on everyone. Always point out the strengths of the team and the individuals who are a part of it. Provide lots of praise and recognition. A “Thank you. You did a great job,” goes a long way. When team members are given the flexibility to fulfill their respective roles in their own, individual ways, the benefits are tremendous, not only for the PTA as a unit, but for the school and all of the students as well.