The Paperwork Game

Do you listen to leadership videos? How about leadership books? Do you read them?

I do. What made me choose to read leadership books and listen to leadership videos?

To become a better leader. To study leadership, of course.

Here is what I learned.

The videos and the talks are good at generating emotions. As for learning about how to be a better leader?

Hmmm. It is a mixed bag for me at the present moment.

Here is what I have noticed. If you are a leader, you need to get good paperwork.

That’s right. Your paperwork game better is strong.

How do you grow as a leader?

Sit in a room alone, and read long policy briefs and manuals. That is how you up your game.

It isn’t as glamorous as going to cocktails in a fancy hotel room with an overdressed and underpaid assistant who claims to have access to a decision-maker.

Skip the drinks, and bypass the assistant.

Do the paperwork.

Paperwork gets stuff done.

Don’t believe me?

Ok, walk into a car dealership, go in bold, confident, and have your best-negotiating face on.

Once you pick a car and haggle for a price, what do they give you?

That’s right. Paperwork.

Open a new business- What are you given? Paperwork.

The inspectors.

The accountants.

The auditors.

They may be amused by your personality and perhaps even captivated by your brash, bold proclamations, but in the end.

Paperwork. Paperwork moves the world.

If you are not doing it. Someone else is.

For every bold decision that needs to be made. There is someone at a computer screen filling out the forms and the paperwork.

I have an uneasy relationship with paperwork. I despise forms.

I am not sure why. Do I feel hustled? No one told me in college to get used to doing paperwork. As an educator and a school leader, you know what makes me dread coming to work?

The paperwork.

When I express my displeasure about paperwork. The dreaded answers come. Here they are- It is important. If we don’t do it, we don’t get paid.

There it is. Paperwork exists as a gatekeeper for money. Money is either the Kracken that consumes and kills all, or it is a conquering hero that has arrived to save the day.

I guess you can read the books and listen to the videos. Emotional energy is important. This is my advice. When you are good with people, and you see leadership as a service to others, when you are not afraid to have difficult conversations or make bold decisions, then this is what you will need to learn. If you want to be a leader, get your paperwork game in order.