Before we get started, I have two quick announcements

1.     I’ve been hearing a strong interest in how to support beginning teachers. I went into some key practices last year in episodes 214 and 215, so if you are in the mode to think about how to support your BTs (and ECTs), give a listen to episodes 214 and 215

2.     The July 22 episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast we feature a panel discussion with myself and five assistant principals. Some are national/state AP of the Year awardees and others are just wrapping up their first year as assist principals. The focus of our discussion is being a first year AP! We would love to hear from you. If you have questions, topics, advice, or stories, please consider sharing. Please email them to me at [email protected]. I would love to be able to name contributors but will only do so if you explicitly give permission for us to include your name and affiliation. We are recording on July 15, so don’t wait.

Okay, now onto the episode…

Five for Friday Show Notes

Teaser: 

This week’s big idea: We are here to support people, and the first step in supporting is listening.

Hello colleagues and welcome to The Assistant Principal Podcast, I’m your host Dr. Frederick Buskey.

 I’ve been growing leaders and future leaders for over 30 years. Through my own experiences, and through working with hundreds of other leaders, I’ve learned that school leadership is a journey that occurs in three phases:

Urgent leaders spend their time completing tasks, but…

Intentional leaders invest their time building systems. However…

Strategic leaders create time by growing people.

In 2018 I founded Strategic Leadership Consulting to help make this journey more enjoyable for leaders like you. Through my daily email, monthly micro-journal, online community, my upcoming book, and, of course, this podcast, I keep you company on this journey and provide you with actionable ideas and tools to live and lead better today and tomorrow.

Today’s episode of Five for Friday recaps the strategic leadership emails for the week of January 9-13, 2023. 

Monday: It’s not about your vision, it is about the collective vision of the people who do the work.

Tuesday Leaders listen, and new leaders begin by listening.

“The first thing I did was listen… until you sit with an individual and ask them important questions and to say what is on their minds, you will never get to the meat of what’s going on.”

-Dr. Sam Sircey

Wednesday Put people first

Thursday If we care and trust, we let people take the lead in their own growth.

In his incredible 1971 treatise, On Caring, Milton Mayeroff said that if we really care about someone, we help them grow in the ways in which they determine. We take their lead in the process, in contrast to us trying to remake them in our image or turn them into what we want them to be.

Friday We can use a single word to help us maintain focus on our growth.

Takeaway

1. We are here to support people, and the first step in supporting is listening.
2. One word can be more powerful than many words. My word is coherence, what’s yours?

Question of the week:

That is this week’s Five for Friday rendition of The Assistant Principal Podcast. Before we go, I encourage you to make an intentional choice to take something you’ve heard today and to reflect more deeply or to act on it. 

If you already have a clear idea of what to do, that’s wonderful. If not, let me offer three possibilities:

1. Figure out your one word!
2. Forward the show link to a colleague and say “you have got to listen to this, I want us to talk about it”
3. Identify the one big takeaway or question from this episode and share it with me. You can share a written, audio, or video message with me by emailing me at [email protected]

Thank you for including me on your leadership journey. Remember that you can walk more with me by subscribing to my daily leadership email and Quadrant2, my monthly micro-journal. And if that isn’t enough, we can walk further together in APEx, my virtual paid community for assistant principals. APEx helps you network with other APs and participate group coaching with me! You can learn more about APEx and my other offerings at my website, frederickbuskey.com.

I look forward to seeing you again next Tuesday when we continue with part 2 of our interview with Dr. Sam Sircey.

I’m Frederick Buskey and thank you again for joining me on this episode of the Assistant Principal Podcast. Remember to subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode. Cheers!