If you have ever been to different Language Teaching Organizations (LTOs) as a teacher, staff, executive or student, you might have realized that there are different types of language schools. I have identified 3 from an employment point of view. One is the organization with only native speakers, the other one is the school with only local teachers and the last one is where you can find an intercultural group of language instructors. Being a manager, coordinator or head of department in any of these types of organizations brings different challenges but the skills to face them are common to everyone. Following a simple scheme of input, intake and output, I have come up with 3 main qualities of a virtuous manager.
First, managers of LTOs must primarily be good listeners. They have to collect data from the inside and the outside of the company constantly. Keeping a good conversation with the staff and instructors can give the managers the insights to improve the services, better the work atmosphere and increase employees’ engagement whereas listening to the outsiders can provide them with the information to develop new projects, increase customer satisfaction and open new business opportunities.
The techniques to be a good listener are numerous. For LTOs, regular meetings have traditionally work but managers have to differentiate between monodirectional and multidirectional communications. They have to encourage their team, partners and customers to speak up their concerns when the purpose of the meeting is to gather information. Also, they have to reduce their talking time and transmit sympathy, reliability and confidence during the meetings. Other alternatives that work well are the focus group and surveys as long as they are well conducted.
Second, managers of LTOs have to be truly knowledgeable about language teaching and business administration. Regardless the management style or the company culture, managers have to be aware of the ocean where they are sailing and they must hold the map and compass to navigate it. Knowledge will be the biggest asset for them to be reliable and become leaders. Some experience and formal instruction in the field will be useful to find the appropriate set of tools to address and assist everyone involved in the business and conduct efficient communications, projects and relations.
Here are some of the topics that a virtuous manager should acknowledge:
There is not shortcut to build up all this knowledge, but an efficient way to do it is by undertaking a formal training in both fields. For teachers who become managers, a good option is the International Diploma in Language Teaching Management (IDLTM) or a Master in Educational Management. These postgraduate programs train teachers who want to pursue a management career or that are already working in a leadership position to become specialists in language teaching business administration. Also, they have to study the regulations and policies of the government body that regulates the education industry in the country where they work.
For managers without experience in the language teaching industry, a way to go is to undertake one of the teaching-a-foreign-language qualifications available. For instance, in the case of English, it could be the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages(TESOL, TEFL or CELTA); in the case of Spanish it could be the certificado de Español como Lengua Extranjera (ELE); in the case of German, it could be the Deutsch Lehren Lernen (DLL), and so on. All these courses will prepare managers to understand how the language teaching-learning process works and experience the challenges of a regular teacher in a classroom.
The synergy between these two fields will be consolidated by the experience and constant learning. Constantly, managers will have to process all the input during their management career and produce new ways to approach the business more efficiently. In other words, learning never ends.
Finally, the last quality of a virtuous manager that I will consider here is to be notably diligent. All the data that they collect and the knowledge that they get from formal trainings would be nothing if they don’t design, develop and implement strategies to improve the business.
Managers are diligent by:
· Coordinating learning and development programs
· Bringing improvements to the supply chain management
· Creating and enforcing policies
· Capturing and retaining more customers
· Improving the service
· Attracting the best human resource
· Motivating the team
· Keeping the business running on a daily basis
· Guarding the financial assets of the company
Every management action has to be measurable, time-oriented and controlled. The changes have to be noticeable and trending to the positive, otherwise, the strategies will have to be revised. In a few words, the success of the manager will be translated in more profit, more employee retention and more customer satisfaction.
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