Leader Strategies In Creating Productive Performance School Conditions

LEADER STRATEGIES IN CREATING PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE SCHOOL CONDITIONS A. Background Based on the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 2018 Concerning the Assignment of Teachers as Principals, Article 1 paragraph 1 states that the Principal is a teacher who is given the task of leading and managing educational units including kindergartens (TK), special kindergartens (TKLB), elementary schools (SD), special elementary schools (SDLB), junior high schools (SMP), special junior high schools (SMPLB), senior high schools (SMA), vocational schools (SMK), special senior high schools (SMALB), or Indonesian Schools Abroad. From this, it can be seen that the principal holds control over the running of education in schools, where the success and failure of education in a school are influenced by various factors. One of the factors is the productivity of teacher performance in carrying out their duties at school. Where in this case the continuity between teacher productivity and educational success will be explained. And how the techniques and strategies that can be built and developed by the principal to guide, direct, and optimize teacher performance. B. Concept of Leader A leader has a very important role in determining the progress of an organization to achieve success or failure, because in essence this leader can influence the behavior of others in the organization by using his power, where this power can be in the form of directing, ordering, or influencing his subordinates in their performance productivity. Kartono (2005:38) argues that a leader is a person who has skills and advantages, especially superior skills in one area so that he is able to influence others to work together to carry out certain activities, in order to achieve one or more goals. In addition, Suradinata (1997:11) argues that a leader is a person who leads a group of two or more people, either an organization or a family. While leadership is the ability of a leader to control, lead, influence the thoughts, feelings or behavior of others to achieve predetermined goals. So it can be concluded that a leader is someone who has the ability to direct others in an effort to achieve common goals. In terms of education, the leader in a school is the principal who has the workload to develop the school and improve the quality of the school based on 8 (eight) national education standards. If there is a shortage of teachers in an educational unit, the Principal can assign tasks or guide the learning process so that it can continue to run well in the educational unit concerned. Therefore, the leader needed today is a leader who can collaborate and synergize with educators and education personnel in order to carry out effective performance productivity. C. Leadership Techniques According to Karjadi (1998:64), there are several leadership techniques in implementing leadership, a leader must strive to improve the skills, abilities and knowledge of employees, so that in the end optimal work performance will be achieved. To achieve these leadership goals, a leader must pay attention to leadership techniques in implementing his leadership. As with the leadership traits that have been described, the leadership techniques are divided into: 1) Basic leadership techniques, namely leadership techniques that can be used as the basis for all types of leadership, such as: • Techniques for preparing people to become followers • Techniques for treating people as humans, not as tools, and • Techniques for being a role model for followers. 2) Special leadership techniques, namely other leadership techniques to add leadership techniques in certain special fields can be carried out with good results, such as in special fields: industrial companies, agricultural companies, sports, military, police, and so on. D. Concept of Leader Strategy The word strategy comes from the Greek word, strategos which can be translated as military commander in the era of Athenian democracy. Strategy is a way to achieve longterm goals. Strategy is a unified, broad and integrated plan that links the strategic advantages of the organization with environmental challenges, designed to ensure that the main objectives can be achieved through proper implementation by the organization. Gluek and Jauch (in Megawangi, 2011). Strategy as a technique and tactic can be interpreted as the process of preparing future steps intended to build the vision, mission of the organization, set strategic goals and design strategies to achieve goals. Itami 1987 (in Kuncoro 2006:2) defines strategy as determining the framework for organizational/company activities and providing guidelines for coordinating activities, so that the organization/company can adapt to and influence the ever-changing environment. Strategy clearly states the desired environment and what kind of people are to be achieved, Skinner (in Akdon 2009:4) states that strategy is a philosophy related to the tools to achieve goals. Strategy is an overall approach related to the implementation of ideas, planning, and an activity within a certain period of time. In a good strategy there is coordination of the work team, has a theme, identifies supporting factors that are in accordance with the principles of implementing ideas rationally, is efficient in funding, and has tactics to achieve goals. Strategy is very important to determine the success of an organization by using strategic management, managers at all levels of a company/organization can interact in preparing strategic planning and implementing strategies. Based on the above opinion, it can be concluded that leaders must be able to make decisions in various situations by choosing one of the best alternatives from a number of alternative decisions they face, where the ability to carry out the decision-making function as a leadership strategy to make the organization effective, in this case the decision-making function as the implementation of the leadership strategy, to be more accurate in leadership to make the organization effective and can involve by providing opportunities, as well as input in the form of creativity, initiative, suggestions and opinions and feedback inside and outside in making a decision. E. Principal Strategy and Teacher Performance The principal as a leader must have a strong personality, understand the conditions of teachers and other education personnel, have short-term and long-term programs and have a vision, be able to make the right and wise decisions and be able to communicate with all school residents well. The principal is essentially a teacher who is given additional tasks to lead the implementation of the school organization. Therefore, the duties of the principal are not only to organize and carry out the teaching and learning process, but also to be able to analyze various problems, be able to provide considerations, be able to lead and act in organizations, be able to communicate both verbally and in writing, be participatory and be able to solve problems well. A professional principal in the new paradigm of educational management must provide a positive impact and fundamental changes in the renewal of the education system in schools, these impacts include the effectiveness of education, strong school leadership, effective management of educational resources oriented towards improving quality, compact, intelligent and dynamic teamwork, independence, participation with school residents and the community, openness, managerial, innovative, evaluation and continuous improvement, responsive, and anticipation of needs and accountability. An educational institution to achieve the targets that have been set, the principal must have a strategy to run the organization in achieving its goals. Akdon (2007: 13) states that the strategy of an organization is a conceptualization that is stated or implemented by the leader of the organization concerned in the form of: 1. Long-term goals or objectives of the organization 2. Broad constraints and policies that are or are set by the leader himself or received from his superiors, which limit the scope of the activities of the organization concerned. 3. Group of short-term plans and goals that have been implemented with the expectation that they will contribute to achieving the goals of the organization. Based on the opinion above, as a leader in an organization, the principal must set short-term and long-term goals and objectives for the school, then inventory the obstacles faced and the policies that must be implemented to achieve educational goals, in this case Akdon (2007) further said the implications and existence of the strategy, then the strategy can be stated as a means to achieve the final goal (target), but the strategy itself is not just a plan, but the strategy must be comprehensive and integrated. A good principal is a quality principal. The quality in question is a principal who is able to bring and utilize all existing potential for the progress of the school, as well as a principal who really has a sufficient educational background and experience and can solve problems faced in the school well. A principal who can manage the educational resources in the educational institution really functions well in order to improve the quality of education. Good and effective principal leadership must meet several characteristics. In this case, Danim (2006: 65) explains the qualities that a school principal should fulfill, including: 1) Subordinates want the principal to have clear and consistent goals, with the hope that they will not be easily carried away by the wind, but rather carry out tasks according to government expectations and school needs, both in terms of developing quality and quantity. 2) Subordinates want the principal to make good plans that can be reached by teachers and students. 3) Subordinates want the principal to continuously inform all school residents about the progress of the school. 4) Subordinates want the principal to treat them as educators and not robots who order them around at will. 5) Subordinates hope that the principal can bring school progress in a better direction. The success or failure of a principal is not only determined by himself, but also by the accumulation of all subsystems involved, namely the principal with his set of competencies, the characteristics of subordinates, the situation and conditions of the school organization, the cooperation of all school residents and the conditions of its environment. The success of the school means that the implementation of the school organization can run well as expected. To support the principal's ability in addition to the principal's academic ability, non-academic abilities are also needed, such as training, workshops, seminars and other scientific activities. The main purpose of education and training for principals is to obtain special skills needed by the principal as an educational leader in order to carry out leadership tasks in schools. In addition, the principal as a manager, leader and educator requires special skills that must be possessed by someone who holds the position of principal. The requirements as mentioned above include: academic expertise or ability, leadership nature and character, various other abilities are also needed such as: ability to carry out tasks, professional skills, training and experience, administrative skills and ability in supervision. F. Principal Competence in Improving Teacher Performance In the perspective of national education policy, Regulation of the Minister of National Education Number 13 of 2007 contains seven main roles of the principal, namely: administrator, provider, leader, creator of work climate and entrepreneur. Below will be briefly described the relationship between the role of the principal and improving teacher performance. 1. Principal as an educator A principal who shows high commitment and focus on curriculum development and teaching and learning activities in his school, of course, pays attention to the level of competence of his teachers, while also always trying to facilitate and encourage teachers to continuously improve their competence, so that teaching and learning activities can run effectively and efficiently. 2. Principal as a manager In this case, the principal should be able to facilitate and provide ample opportunities for teachers to be able to carry out professional development activities through various educational and training activities, both those carried out in schools such as the Subject Teacher Deliberation (MGMP) at the school level, professional discussions and so on or through educational and training activities outside of school, such as the opportunity to continue education or participate in various activities organized by other parties 3. Principal as administrator Especially regarding financial management, that to achieve increased teacher competence cannot be separated from the cost factor. How much the school can allocate the budget, the increase in competence will certainly affect the level of teacher competence. Therefore, the principal can always allocate an adequate budget for efforts to improve teacher competence. 4. Principal as provider To find out the extent to which teachers are able to carry out learning, the principal periodically needs to carry out supervision activities, which can be done through class visits to observe the learning process directly, especially in the selection and use of appropriate teaching methods, learning media used and student order in the learning process. 5. Principal as leader The leadership of the principal can foster creativity and can also encourage increased teacher competence. In leadership theory, we know at least two leadership styles, namely task-oriented leadership and human-oriented leadership. In order to improve teacher competence, a principal can apply both leadership styles appropriately and flexibly, adjusted to existing conditions and needs. The leadership of a principal is closely related to personality, and the personality of the principal as a leader will be reflected in his/her characteristics, namely being authoritative, honest, confident, responsible, communicative, and brave in taking risks and decisions, being magnanimous, having stable emotions and being exemplary. 6. The principal as the creator of the work climate A conducive work culture and climate will enable each teacher to be more motivated to show superior performance, accompanied by efforts to demonstrate their competence. 7. The principal as an entrepreneur In applying the principles of entrepreneurship related to improving teacher competence, the principal can always create innovation, comparative advantages, and utilize resources and challenges as opportunities. A principal with a strong entrepreneurial attitude will dare to make innovative changes in the institution he/she leads, including changes in matters related to the student learning process and the competence of his/her teachers. Educational leadership related to the problem of the principal in improving teacher performance greatly determines the success and productivity of work. The leadership behavior of the principal must be able to encourage the performance of teachers by showing a sense of friendship, being close to the school community and being considerate of both individuals and groups. The behavior of the principal is directly oriented in the role and duties of the teacher. Positive behavior of the principal can encourage, direct and motivate all school members to work together well in realizing the vision, mission and goals of the school. Mulyasa (2012: 18), states that effective principal leadership can be analyzed based on the following criteria: • Able to empower educators and education personnel and all other school residents to realize a quality, smooth and productive learning process • Able to complete tasks on time and on target • Able to establish harmonious relationships with the community so that they can actively involve them in realizing the school's vision and mission and educational goals. • Able to apply leadership principles that are in accordance with the level of maturity of educators and other education personnel at the school • Able to work collaboratively with the school management team. • Able to realize school goals effectively, efficiently, productively and accountably in accordance with the provisions that have been set. Based on the opinion above, effective principal leadership is able to motivate all school residents to carry out their duties and functions properly. Motivating people through rewards in the form of compensation can encourage others to improve their performance. The success of education in schools is largely determined by the role of the principal in managing and empowering all school residents including teachers and other education personnel. The strategies implemented by the principal can improve the performance of school residents in carrying out their respective duties and functions in accordance with the workload that has been set. In this case, increasing productivity and achievement can be done by improving the behavior of school residents through the application of personnel management concepts and techniques. Mulyasa (2012: 64) stated that teacher and staff development includes (1) planning, (2) procurement, (3) coaching and development, (4) promotion and transfer, (5) dismissal, (6) compensation, (7) assessment. All of the above must be done properly and correctly so that the goals and targets to be achieved can be carried out properly. The success of the principal's leadership in empowering all school potentials to improve its performance is very dependent on the principal's concern in managing and running the school organization. The principal's ability to utilize all existing potentials greatly helps the principal to achieve the targets that have been set. This is in accordance with the opinion of Wahjosumidjo (2007: 49) who stated that the success of leadership is essentially related to the level of concern of a leader involved in two orientations, namely what the organization does (organizational achievement) and coaching the organization (organizational maintenance). Based on this opinion, the concern of a leader greatly influences the organization he leads and drives the organization. The principal is required to be able to lead as well as organize and manage the implementation of teaching and learning programs held in the school he leads. The principal must be able to be a motivator in realizing an effective and efficient teaching and learning process so that learning productivity is achieved which can ultimately improve the quality of education. The ability to lead and run a good organization greatly influences the performance of school residents, especially the performance of teachers and other education personnel. In this regard, performance can simply be interpreted as work performance as a result of a process. This work performance is based on the description and specification of a job that is the task and responsibility. So, performance is a synergistic manifestation of ability and motivation in work. Thus, a person's performance will be seen from their productivity in carrying out their work. This is in accordance with the opinion of Usman (2012: 63) who defines that performance is a person's work performance in carrying out the tasks that have been entrusted to him according to his function and position. Based on the definition above, it can be interpreted that performance is a work achievement achieved by a person and the results meet the quality requirements, both quantity and accuracy, according to the previously determined plan. To carry out a job, clear performance standards need to be set. This performance standard is a description and specification of the position/job as the minimum competency that must be met by an employee in carrying out his work. Based on these performance standards, performance criteria can be formulated that must be met by a person who holds a position/job in carrying out his work. This performance standard is needed to assess quality based on established performance criteria. In improving the ability of a teacher, it is necessary to plan the method and process of teaching and learning, various teaching methods, and the use of supporting teaching materials and learning resources. The role of a wise principal is to know what is expected by the educational staff he leads. As a leader in a school, the principal must be aware that the success of leadership is very dependent on and influenced by others, including all school residents. Therefore, the principal plays an important role and is part of success or failure. The principal must be able to understand and face various problems that arise and be able to handle them quickly and appropriately and must be open to receiving suggestions, criticisms, and accepting constructive ideas for renewal. A good principal is constructive to the current situation. The ability to listen to others and respect the opinions of others and give trust to all school residents will have a positive impact on the development of the school institution he leads while providing opportunities for all parties to solve the problems faced. CLOSING A. Conclusion Based on the discussion that has been done, the following common thread can be drawn: 1. The principal's strategy in improving teacher skills is: through coaching for teachers in the form of coaching to improve skills, meaning that to carry out educational activities effectively and efficiently, teachers must have adequate skills in the learning process. Some strategies implemented by the principal in improving teacher skills are by coaching teachers in learning process activities, guiding in preparing learning devices, carrying out coaching in the learning process as planned. 2. The principal's strategy in improving teacher discipline is by: a). Implementing discipline according to the rules b). Assisting teachers in improving behavioral standards, c). Implementing all rules that have been agreed upon together. 3. The principal's strategy in improving teacher motivation is: motivating teachers by creating a harmonious situation and working together with fellow teachers, trying to fulfill the equipment needed by teachers in carrying out their duties, giving rewards and punishments. 4. The principal's strategy in increasing teacher commitment is: sending teachers to attend seminars and training, bringing tutors to schools, giving teachers the opportunity to continue their education, placing teachers in proportions that are appropriate to their fields, and holding teacher meetings every semester to evaluate teacher performance while providing directions for facilities that have not been achieved. B. Suggestions After learning about what techniques and strategies can be done by the principal as a leader, the author suggests that these leaders can apply and develop them in each of their organizations so that performance productivity increases and the achievement of educational goals can be achieved effectively and efficiently. And study it in its entirety in order to develop techniques and strategies that must be carried out in order to develop new innovations that adapt to the situation, conditions, and needs in each school.