Democratic Leadership of the Principal in Optimizing Educator Performance at Junior High School (SMP) Ma'arif 2 Alian

A leader must have good leadership. A leader who does not have a leadership spirit will not be able to move his members. One of the leadership styles that is idolized and liked by many members is a democratic leadership style. This leadership style is embracing and everything related to policies and programs will involve and think about everyone who is a member. The purpose of this study is to determine the important role of a principal who has a democratic leadership style in improving better performance. The improvement is carried out by all members at SMP Ma'arif 2 Alian. Efforts made in maximizing data collection, this study uses more qualitative research methods. Through qualitative research methods, it is hoped that a deep understanding can be found about the important role of democratic leadership in improving the performance of its members. Data collection is carried out by means of interviews, observations and documentation. The results of this study are several efforts made by the principal such as mentoring and instructing other teachers to learn from each other, sending teachers to various events that support increased competence (training, workshops), building good communication in order to grow a sense of belonging to the institution