How to Get Ahead of the Torrent of Demands and Get Results as a School System Leader

Around this time of year, school systems are feeling the strain.

The first set of back-to-school colds have circulated, the adrenalin of the start of school has faded and the real demands of the work are starting to feel quite heavy. Positions might be unfilled or staff might be in positions they are not fully prepared for with little additional support to direct their way. It's a tiring time. 

And it's a time that's essential for school leaders to use to rethink systems, people and the collective focus to stem the growing waves of resentment that can come without the clear intention and focus of a shared plan and processes. 

What do I mean?

Well, your team can go one of two ways. It can come together, collaboratively assess what is needed for the full school's health (and, yes, primarily the students) and then be an involved and connected group making decisions and dividing the work up as a team. You know how the work does indeed  feel lighter when tackled together? That's this approach. 

The other approach is to only involve a few people, if any, and dig down harder into the plans laid out in August without wise attention given to how to clarify, align or better support. Over time, this is where fragmentation increases. People start complaining, or increase complaining and form pockets of dissent. Instead of leveraging one another's talents to make the work more effective and easier, people start picking and choosing what they can do in their classroom, with the communications to family and for the good of the school. It's a recipe for an unhealthy, negative culture and burnout.

And the work FEELS MORE BURDENSOME because there isn't a connection to the "we" of the school, just the burdens endured by the "me" of the school. 

Here's what you can do as a principal to get your team engaged, together and coherent. 

1. Take Time to Clearly Define THE Work (ALL of the work).

Digital tools are great for housing the answers, but hands on butcher paper, white board and colored paper and post its to move and manipulate the content is more valuable. When you identify the essential focuses and map them out along all the things that are on the school “to-do” list, you can look for the synergies.

2. Design Wise-Workflows.

There is history across most school systems. There’s “they way we’ve always done it,” “the way they told us to do it,” and the “I wasn’t sure, so I did it this way” approach to systems design. As a leader for impact who is looking to develop and sustain people, you will need to reassess and create wise workflows. How?

a. Create a process map (learn more here - blog post or video here). It is tempting to rush through this part, but taking the time to actually map out the steps and to pause and consider each step will allow you to wisely cut out unnecessary parts of the process as well as refine handoffs and decisions. After doing this, one leader I worked with realized that there was a clerk in the office feeling increasingly burdened with the influx of papers historically sent to her that were now redundant. Mapping the process allowed them to remove that step, alleviate the stress on this clerk and she was able to effectively perform a different necessary step in their main office operations.

3. Involve key people in the above conversations.

Design thinking and systems design both rely upon thinking about the “user experience”. That’s to say, what does the person interacting with this system experience (ease, confusion, support, clarity, resolution)? If those people can be involved in this process, you will gain ideas and perspectives that will make an overall better system. And when you learn of their pain points and can’t change it (mandatory process by law, etc.) then you can clearly communicate that and offset the frustration.

4. Let Some Things Go.

There are only 24 hours in the day and not all of them are directed at work. Things like sleep, family, friends, exercise and personal interests are essential to your students and to you and your fellow educators. When letting things go, the key is to be strategic and to do it from an informed place, not because you missed it and are hoping it won’t cause a catastrophe.

Prioritizing the work and leveraging the synergies (step 1) will help you to see what is just extra for this year and needs to be put on pause and it will help you clearly state the case for the priorities.

One highly effective leader I worked with had a team that was doing exceptional work in the area of schoolwide social emotional learning and supports. They’d brought focus to the work for a few years and were now enjoying the result of a positive, effective foundation for their students. The leader had to consider what pushing forward versus pausing and deepening meant for their school. Ultimately, it was a year of pause to continue the momentum of the great work in place and shift their attention to shared instructional focuses. They had to let some things go but they didn’t let their existing program suffer for the choice. 

This work takes time and a semi-clear mind. Block the time on your calendar to plan for the time with your staff and then buffer the time for them. 

If you are looking for a strategic coaching sprint, I offer that virtually for leaders and you can learn more here. 

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