School Leadership Reimagined

• We spend all our time trying to get teachers to implement our solutions “with fidelity.”
• Everyone comes to us to solve their problems and no one is taking ownership.
• We feel pressure to always have the answers.
• The work seems never-ending.

We hear a lot about how principals should take time for self care, but in this week’s episode, we explore what true self care looks like. While spa appointments, massages, and lattes are great, they don’t solve the issues of an overcrowded schedule, intense pressure, and demands on your time -- they merely medicate them. So, on today’s episode, we’re breaking down 2 secrets Builders use to ensure that no matter how packed their schedules are, they don’t end the day depleted. In fact, if you do these 2 things, you can ensure that you end every day feeling accomplished. Then, when you go to the spa or engage in some other form of self care, you can truly enjoy your experience because you aren’t stressed all the way out. So, if you feel like you need a little self care, today’s episode will show you how to truly care for yourself and protect your energy #LikeABuilder.

The school year has just begun and already, principals are worried about staff morale. Sure, everyone was excited by the first days of school hype, but now that things have died down a little, the complaints are already starting. On today’s podcast, we’ll look at why every year it seems people are getting more and more burned out, and more importantly, the ONE thing you can do that can turn things around immediately.Instead of going through the same cycle of excitement, reality setting in, complaints, burn out again this year, this episode will show you how you can sustain momentum and generate lasting excitement about the work #LikeABuilder.

Now that most of us are back in school, we're all pretty busy with all the tasks that inevitably demand our attention at the beginning of the year. And while those tasks are often important, there are 4 things you may not realize you should be doing in the next month in order to create momentum for the year.  In this episode, we'll dive into what those 4 things are, why they're important, and the specific impact they will have on your effectiveness throughout the year. Do these 4 things now to set yourself up for an amazing school year #LikeABuilder. 

We’ve all heard the advice that we need to “inspect what we expect.” But, the way that our training has weaponized this advice in schools is pretty awful. We see the word “inspect” and are told it means that if we want good instruction to happen in our schools, we need to show up with a clipboard and a walkthrough instrument in at least 3 classrooms per day or our entire instructional program will collapse. Builders do walkthrough feedback differently. Discover how to give walkthrough feedback that teachers will welcome and implement #LikeABuilder.

In this final episode of the Summer Success Secrets Series you’ll discover the difference between the duties of administration and the work of true Buildership. You see, we were told that the duties of administration were all that we needed to be good principals. But while the duties are necessary to maintain our schools, they aren’t enough to make lasting change. So in this episode I delineate the difference between the chores of our jobs and the true work. This one concept, if you understood it, would make the difference between feeling frustrated, burned out, and tired by October and feeling energized, focused, and successful by June. It all comes down to whether you spend your time doing the chores of administration like a leader or doing the work of administration #LikeABuilder.#LikeABuilder.

In this penultimate episode of the Summer Success Secrets Series we’re going to take a deep dive into the Theory of Diffusion of Innovation to discover a secret Builders know about how to get their entire staff to embrace their vision. We’ll leverage what science tells us about how people deal with change to meet people where they are and help each one of them to not only take ownership of our vision, but to build their capacity to successfully achieve our vision #LikeABuilder.

What would you do if you had an extra half day per week to work on the things you never get to work on during the school year? I’m not talking about emptying your email inbox, returning calls, or catching up on all those post-observation write ups. I’m talking about 4 hours per week to think, plan, strategize, reflect, and do the deep work of being a principal. If that seems too good to be true, then you’ll want to listen to today’s episode where I’m going to break down exactly how you can get a half day per week to work ON your school.  This is not about time management tricks, hacks, or magical schedules. In fact, you’ll probably be shocked by just how simple it is to find 4 hours per week to work ON your school not just in your school #LikeABuilder.