It Goes Without Saying

By Travis Drake, former principal and current Director of Instructional Leadership at Battleground Public Schools.

There are far too many clichés when it comes to being an effective building administrator. Does a principal need to hear that relationships matter? If they don't already know that, will someone telling them be the difference in their ability to impact their building? Should we really need to explain to an assistant principal that it is all about kids?

Again, if they didn't get into a leadership position with an understanding that the kids are a priority, would listening to a podcast on the importance of putting kids at the forefront of their decisions really be the difference in their leadership? Now that I have crossed over from building administrator to district level administrator, it is important that I make a few key assumptions.

First, any person in a leadership position understands that relationships are important. Second, all building-level leaders recognize that it is about the students. The question is why doesn't our behaviors match up to our beliefs? When building administrators spend too much of their time in reactive mode, they forget about the humans they serve (students and adult). Leaders are most impactful when they limit their stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. The best way of doing that is to 'live' in the proactive world as much as possible.

The question then is how we can intentionally avoid the reactive world. At times, of course, you can't. A fight, disgruntled parent, or any other of the multitude of scenarios will require us to react. This isn't avoidable. There are, however, tangible things that can be done.

1. Never answer emails from your office.

This means you are in the hallways, in classrooms, and at lunches in order to connect with the kids. The ironic thing is many people avoid doing this because they are too busy working on other things, but by working on other things they miss out on a chance to hear about conflict before it comes physical or hear about a concern before it gets to their office.

A principal will either need to set aside time to answer emails from classrooms or plan on working from home after their own kids go to bed.

2. Use your calendar as a proactive teammate.

The best example I can think of is this. Parent calls to let you know their child is being bullied. You address the concern, talk to the kids involved, and resolve the issue. Now what? Most building principals call it good and move forward. If something happens again, you are now the principal who didn't care, didn't do anything to stop it, and you are a person who isn't taking the safety of the kids serious. Sound familiar? What if instead you put on your calendar to check back in with the kid and parent one week from the time the issue was resolved?

At the same time you put on your calendar for 3 weeks out (2 weeks from your initial check-in) that you will call the parent and ask if they have heard anything. Finally, you put on your calendar for 5 weeks out that you are going to send an email to the family to check in again. This entire communication will take less than 5 minutes, but without fail if something does happen again, you will still be responsible to resolve it, but you won't be accused of not trying.

3. Finally, proactively check in with families.

Not just say you do, but actually put on your calendar to check in with kids and parents each week (20 per week). Collaborate with your secretary to ensure these check-ins happen. Again, the time you spend on the front end will reduce time on the back end.

Building administrators know that kids and relationships are important. The actual problem is they are so worn down that when they get to survival mode, they aren't able to ensure their actions match their beliefs. We need to support principals with structures so they can lead to the best of their ability.