January 13, 2025 • 23 mins
Unlock the keys to transformative leadership in education and learn how leading by example can inspire change and growth within your school community. Imagine turning challenges into pivotal learning moments that strengthen resilience and innovation. In this episode of the Coach-Em-Up Leadership Series, we explore the power of authentic leadership, emphasizing the vital role of educators who embody the values they wish to instill, such as commitment, work ethic, and a growth mindset. We promise insights into building trust, fostering a positive atmosphere, and encouraging a culture where both staff and students relentlessly pursue excellence.
Through real-life experiences, including navigating a swatting incident at a high school, we discuss how to handle adversity with resilience and grace. By balancing empathy with decisive action, leaders can empower teachers to take innovative risks and embrace failure as a stepping stone to success. From implementing new policies that align with school goals to maintaining a positive energy that fuels continuous improvement, this episode is a treasure trove of strategies for educational leaders dedicated to making a significant and lasting impact. Join us for a journey filled with actionable insights and shared wisdom aimed at collective professional development.
Teach Better Mid Roll Network Ad
Connect with Principal JL Click Here:
Want to be a guest on Educational Leadership with Principal JL?
Send Principal JL a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1742787866678447e5bdb89c1
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Principal JL (00:10):
Welcome educational leaders.
We're back for another episodein the Coach-Em-Up Leadership
Series.
Today we're going to talk aboutleading by example.
Yes, us, we got to be able tolead by example as educational
leaders.
We can't just be sitting in ouroffice hoping that the
everything's just going to runsmooth, but we got to be able to
(00:30):
get out.
We ought to be able to showthat you know what we're willing
to learn and grow.
If we're asking our staff tolearn and grow, guess what?
We got to do the same thing,and so we're going to talk about
seven different takeaways inthis episode.
When it comes to leading byexample, we're really going to
dive in how educational leaderscan inspire their teams, their
(00:50):
actions and not just words.
Leadership isn't about titles,everybody.
Yes, you may be the principal,you may be the administrator in
your building, but you know whatyou are also the face of that
building, and your energy isvaluable.
And how you come to work andhow you express yourself, how
you interact with people,matters because you set the tone
(01:12):
of your building.
And that is true because theenergy you bring is the energy
that you put off and it's theenergy people receive.
And what kind of energy do youwant to bring, and so we want to
be able to lead by example.
We want to embody the valuesthat we talk about.
We want to show the work ethic,we want to show the commitment,
we want to encourage thatgrowth mindset and we also want
(01:34):
to build that trust and motivatepeople to do their very best,
because if we come to workprepared and ready to go every
day and I know it's toughsometimes're in.
I know it's tough sometimes,guys, I know it's tough to come
in, and there's going to bethose days that are not great.
There's going to be those daysthat that, just you know, beat
you up, but that's why you haveto learn how to take care of
(01:56):
yourself as well when you're notin a building, so you can come
back vigorated and renewed andready to go to tackle the day.
Yes, this job is hard.
I get that but at the same time, you get to choose your
attitude.
You're going to choose how youcome into the building every day
, and so one of these takeawayswe're going to talk about is
about being a role model.
(02:18):
We want staff to feel welcomedand ready to go.
We want our students to feelwelcome.
We have to provide that to them.
And we want to model empathy.
We want our students to feelwelcome.
We have to provide that to them.
And we want to model empathy.
We want to model commitment tolifelong learning.
We want to model those things.
We got to do those things.
We got to be going to workshopsand being able to learn from
each other as leaders so we canbecome the best leader we can.
(02:42):
And when we are modeling and weare showing people in our
building, you know theexpectation and not just saying
this is the expectation, butactually doing the expectation.
That's key.
And so there's times where youcome together as a staff and say
, hey, we're committed to thisgoal.
Well, you got to be able to bea part of that.
(03:03):
You got to be able to model andshow that.
You know what?
If my expectation is have everystudent and staff member in my
building to wear an ID, I betterbe wearing my ID and I better
be wearing it correctly.
Because I got to model that.
I got to show people that, yes,it's important.
Even Principal JL's got to dothis too.
(03:23):
And it's not just somethingthat we do because you know we
want to, it's because there's apurpose behind it, and so we
want to be able to model thethings that we say that we want.
With that, we got to build thattrust.
We got to model how we buildthat trust, how we talk to
people, how we connect withpeople.
We got to be visible.
(03:44):
We got to get in the classrooms.
We got to be at schoolactivities.
There's times where, you know,going to that school activity,
those students love it.
I mean, you know they get tosee you outside of the school
building and at their activityand you know it's also yes, as
leaders we are supervisingevents and doing things like
(04:04):
that.
But just, you know, beintentional about being visible
so they see you, not just you,but the community parents.
They love seeing you out andabout and being a part of, you
know, the activities that theschool has going on as well.
And you got to be authentic.
Like you can't sit there and,you know, be a fake person.
You got to be who you are.
You know, and that's going togo a long way.
(04:25):
And if you're authentic and youare who you are, people, some
people may like it, some peoplemay not like it, but you got to
be OK with that Because, as aleader, we're in a position to
where there's going to be thingsand decisions we're going to
make that no one's going to like, and that's fine, as long as we
keep in mind that this is thebest for our students, this is
the best for our teachers andour staff.
(04:46):
We want to make sure we takethe time to make those decisions
, because when that decision ismade, you want to make sure it's
the best possible decision atthat time.
And if you make a mistake, yougot to be able to admit that you
messed up.
All right, it's okay to makemistakes, but it's not okay to
say, you know, was it your fault?
(05:06):
Because if it was your fault,and to have some humility and to
say you know what I screwed up,that goes a long way, because
we're human, we're people, justlike them.
Our staff is going to screw up,our students are going to screw
up.
The whole accountability pieceis there.
You hold yourself accountable,like you hold the students and
your staff accountable as well.
(05:27):
So admitting mistakes is a partof that being a role model as
well.
Besides just being a role model,the second takeaway we're going
to talk about is demonstratingprofessionalism.
You want to approach challengeswith integrity, composure and
fairness, like there's going tobe situations but you got to be
(05:47):
professional about it.
You can't take thingspersonally, because when you
take things personally, a kid,may you know, cuss at you.
Don't take it personal, becausethey may be having a bad day,
teacher may be upset, need event.
Don't take that personal.
Let them vent, be that ear forthem.
They just need event.
They need to get that out butat the same time, help them find
(06:09):
that solution.
All right, that's part of thatteamwork.
That's that culture we want tobuild.
We talked about, you know, inour communication.
There's going to be timesyou're going to have people get
upset at you.
You're just going to have to belike, okay, let's talk about it
.
But yet there also is a a levelto where, if it goes too far,
you got to be able to say youknow what?
(06:29):
It's probably not time to talkabout this right now.
Um, let's go ahead and let'stake a break or figure out
another time, and when we're allnot emotional, we can sit down
and talk about that situation.
So there's going to be timesyou're going to have to do that
and I've done it to where you'regoing to have to understand yes
(06:51):
, we are here to help, we'rehere to listen, but yet there's
times where, if someone takes ittoo far, we've got to be able
to shut that down because we'vegot to maintain the educational
environment and the build and wecan't have too many disruptions
when those things happen.
Being able to be professional,having grace, being able to see
other people's perspectives andbeing able to understand them
(07:14):
and try to get a full picture isanother way to lead by example.
The third key we're going totalk about is commitment to
continuous learning.
We tell our staff to be growthmindset.
We tell our staff to always belearning, tell our staff and our
students to do all these things.
(07:34):
But you know what we need to doit too.
We need to be able to haveprofessional development
opportunities.
We got to be able to go connectwith other principals, like we
have regional meetings, and wegot to be able to go to those
regional meetings and connect.
We have state conferences.
(07:56):
As principals, we need to go tothose state conferences,
connect.
You know we need to be able togo to a national conference once
in a while.
Connect with people around thecountry.
Ok, find ways to learn and grow.
There's ways that you can dothat.
There are platforms and peopleout there that are sharing
content that help us becomebetter leaders, and we got to be
(08:20):
able to find those things andgrow with it.
You got to set goals foryourself what kind of leader you
want to be.
Hey, this workshop looks likeit's something that would fit
really well within my leadershipstyle.
Maybe go explore that, see whatthat's like.
One thing I'm looking at istrying to figure out some
programming.
So there's some workshops thattalk about a specific program
(08:43):
that we may look to adopt.
We're not sure if we'll do that, but heck, we might go to that
conference and as a team and go.
You know what?
Is this something that helps us?
And if it is, why not use it?
That's kind of how our schoolimprovement team works.
Is where we find things fromthese different workshops, or
exploring or asking questions ortalking to people about such
(09:06):
situations.
We find answers by doing that.
If you're just sitting in yourschool and hoping things are
just going to work out or justmagically get better, they're
not.
You got to be able to find waysto find solutions to that.
And by able to have they're not.
You got to be able to find waysto find solutions to that and
by able to have a growth mindsetyourself.
You got to reach out.
You got to go out and havethose learning opportunities as
(09:27):
well and be transparent, liketell people you know what I'm
always learning as well.
I'm looking to be better.
I'm not just sitting herethinking I have all the answers,
because if you have all theanswers, man, I'd love to talk
to you, because I'm pretty sureno one has all the answers when
it comes to leading a schoolbuilding.
(09:48):
The fourth thing we want to talkabout is cultivating resilience
, just being resilient.
Okay, we got to be able tothrive in adversity and we got
to be able to adapt tochallenging situations.
One of the things that helps meas a building leader is my
military training.
When adverse situations happen,I go into a certain mode.
(10:13):
Oh, like that, like I can justclick and turn it on and I just
know what I'm doing because I'vetrained for it.
I understand this is asituation I have to um, you know
handle, and we have systems inplace to trigger the different
things we have to do.
So my first year at the currenthigh school that I am the
(10:34):
building principal at, we gotswattedatted.
Okay, if you don't rememberthat, it was about three years
ago we got swatted.
There was those phone callsgoing to saying hey, there's a
shooter in the building you knowof this school and this part
and it.
Thank goodness it was.
It was not real.
But when you have six policecars roll up to your building
(10:57):
and come in and say we'relocking you down, that's
adversity, that is scary andit's something that you're not
expecting.
But how you handle that andbeing able to handle that
adversity and get to what yougot to do and hit your systems
and making sure everybody's safeand making sure all the things
(11:19):
are happening.
Now, thank goodness it was afake phone call, it wasn't real.
So but just the the aftermathof that situation, there was a
lot of adversity, there was alot of scared people and that
was something that you know youhave to be able to handle and
(11:40):
fortunately for me, with some ofmy background before I became
an educator, I was able tohandle those things, able to get
the people where they need togo.
We also grew and learned fromit, because did we handle it
perfectly?
No, but we also were able totighten up some procedures
because of that and so beingable to be resilient yourself
(12:07):
when those things happen willhelp model resiliency to
everybody else, because thenthey can see when your principal
is under pressure.
This is how they handle it, andthat's a lot of times can
inspire them to handle thosethings as well, and so being
able to show your resiliency isimportant as well.
The fourth thing we want to talkabout is balance and empathy
(12:27):
with action.
Ok, now we want to be able tosupport our teachers.
All right, we want to beempathetic for them, but we
don't want to hold their handall the time.
We don't want to tell them whatto do all the time.
We've got to be able to help,support them and help them
arrive to the solution.
A lot of times, they alreadyknow the solution.
(12:48):
They just need to talk itthrough.
They just need you to listen tothem and help them understand.
This is where thatcommunication piece comes in,
but you also want to empowerthem to take ownership of that
situation as well.
There's times where they justhave like, have the situation, I
don't know what to do.
Can you help me?
Yes, let's talk about it, let'sfind solutions, but let's also
(13:11):
help them be a part of thatconversation when you find a
solution to that situation, theycan go out and be successful at
that situation.
Another thing to talk about iswithin balance and empathy.
And action is and this issomething that I struggle with,
because I want to be able tobuild the morale of my teachers,
(13:31):
but yet I don't want to do itso much it's not meaningful, if
that makes sense.
So where I want to do things toshow my staff that I appreciate
them, that hey, I appreciatethe job you're doing, I
appreciate these things and Iwant to celebrate those things
with them, and so I have to beable to balance.
(13:53):
When it's too much, when it'syou know, we're right in the
year, and so I kind of schedulethings out to be like at this
time, these are things I want todo to show my staff that I
appreciate them.
We want to celebrate not justthe big things but also the
small things, the day-to-daythings, the things that go
unnoticed once in a while, andbe able to tell your staff and
(14:16):
be able to model, like you knowwhat you're valuable.
I appreciate you and I'll behonest, the staff will do that
back to you when you model that,and it's really interesting to
see because when you show themyour appreciation, they show you
their appreciation too, andthat was something that takes me
(14:36):
back.
When that happens because Igenerally do care about my staff
, I generally do appreciate mystaff, and when they say it back
to me, it makes me go.
You know what?
We're on the right track, we'rewhere we need to be, and that
makes it worth it.
The next thing we want to talkabout, the sixth thing, is
basically fostering innovationand risk-taking.
I tell my staff don't be afraidto take risks, learn from
(15:02):
failure, be growth mindset butus as leaders have to be able to
do that too.
Your big growth mindset, but usas leaders have to be able to
do that too.
I'm going to tell you, when weimplemented the attendance
policy this year, I was scared.
I was nervous because I didn'tknow how it was going to go.
But this is what I did know.
I know the school improvementteam worked their rear ends off
(15:25):
to create that policy.
They put the steps in place toprovide the intervention that
kids need so we can cultivate aschool where attendance is
important and kids know that wewant them there.
And if we're not there, how canwe support them so they can be
there.
I was scared.
I was like you know what I hadto say to myself screw it, we're
(15:49):
going to do it and we may failat it, but that's okay, because
what we're doing is we're tryingsomething new, we're trying
something different, and whenyou, as a leader, can do that,
you're going to model to yourstaff.
It's okay to sometimes throwcaution to it and try something
different, because if it works,it's something that will
(16:13):
transform your school.
If it doesn't work, at leastyou're learning and growing from
that experience.
The final thing we want to talkabout when leading by example is
about leading by example withyour purpose and vision, is
about leading by example withyour purpose and vision.
Your actions have to align withwhat you guys are trying to do
(16:38):
within your building.
I talked about the ID thing.
My action of wearing thestudent ID is showing you know
what I'm aligned with the visionthat we have.
We want all students and staffto wear their student IDs.
There's reasons behind it.
A lot of it's safety, butthere's a lot of reasons behind
it that I won't go into.
But there is an expectation.
Some other things that I need toalign myself with every day is
(17:00):
the expectation of our personaldevices.
Our policy is basically youdon't have your device out
during instruction time.
Can you have it in transition?
Yes, can you have it at lunch?
Yes.
Can you have it before andafter school?
Yes, you can have it thosetimes.
As a building principal, we'llbe out in the hallways checking
(17:21):
on kids walking around.
If a kid has the cell phone outwhen they're not supposed to,
I'll take it because I'maligning myself to the vision
and the expectation we're havingwith the school and what we
decided to be tied on.
And if I'm not modeling that,basically I'm telling my staff
that I don't care about that, ok, and I'm telling my staff that
(17:44):
it's not important.
So I have to be able to modelthe expectations.
And the best thing about thatis we're all working this
together and it's frustrating attimes because we're not always
all together on it, but for themost part we are very consistent
with that Because when youmodel those things, you're
bringing that unity within thewhole building.
To say you know what this iswhat's important to us, what
(18:06):
we're tied on and what we needto do.
To say you know what this iswhat's important to us, what
we're tied on and what we needto do because we want to provide
a safe learning environment forour students.
But we want to provide anenvironment where students can
learn and grow and for ourteachers to learn and grow, and
then, as leaders, we got to bewilling to learn and grow.
Well, there you guys have it.
Those are the seven takeawaysthat you can use to lead by
(18:27):
example.
We all lead differently, andthat's okay.
We all have different strengths, and that's okay.
But, at the same time, findsomething that you can do, that
you can model, that say you knowwhat?
I support you.
I am going to do the thingsthat we say we're going to do
because it helps me grow as aleader.
And if I'm growing as a leader,our teachers are growing and
(18:50):
our students are growing and ourstaff are growing.
Everybody's growing togetherand that's really the important
thing.
It's not about just leading andtelling people what to do and
sitting around and lettingthings just happen.
It's about actually showingpeople that you're in it to win.
It is what I like to say we'rein it to win it.
We're here to help you andinspire you and help you become
(19:13):
successful because, like I saidbefore, you get to choose, as a
leader, what kind of energyyou're going to bring to your
building and if you're going tobring a positive energy to where
you're helping people learn andgrow.
Yes, we understand that the jobis hard and there's going to be
times that, oh man, this isreally going to be rough because
(19:34):
of X, y, z.
But you know what?
We find solutions and we findsystematic ways to solve those
issues so they're not asnegative as you want to be.
Could you take those negativeevents and turn them into a
positive?
To where did you learn from it?
Did you grow from it?
And that's really important tokeep in mind because, as a
leader, when we lead by example,we're learning and growing.
(19:58):
We can motivate our staff to dothe same.
There you guys have it.
I hope you guys enjoy thisepisode.
If you did, please like andshare it with your friends and
other educational leaders andget the word out for some free
PD for everybody.
Like I always say, look toevery day to always be 1% better
(20:23):
.
Welcome educational leaders.
We're back for another episodein the Coach-Em-Up Leadership
Series.
Today we're going to talk aboutleading by example.
Yes, us, we got to be able tolead by example as educational
leaders.
We can't just be sitting in ouroffice hoping that the
everything's just going to runsmooth, but we got to be able to
(00:30):
get out.
We ought to be able to showthat you know what we're willing
to learn and grow.
If we're asking our staff tolearn and grow, guess what?
We got to do the same thing,and so we're going to talk about
seven different takeaways inthis episode.
When it comes to leading byexample, we're really going to
dive in how educational leaderscan inspire their teams, their
(00:50):
actions and not just words.
Leadership isn't about titles,everybody.
Yes, you may be the principal,you may be the administrator in
your building, but you know whatyou are also the face of that
building, and your energy isvaluable.
And how you come to work andhow you express yourself, how
you interact with people,matters because you set the tone
(01:12):
of your building.
And that is true because theenergy you bring is the energy
that you put off and it's theenergy people receive.
And what kind of energy do youwant to bring, and so we want to
be able to lead by example.
We want to embody the valuesthat we talk about.
We want to show the work ethic,we want to show the commitment,
we want to encourage thatgrowth mindset and we also want
(01:34):
to build that trust and motivatepeople to do their very best,
because if we come to workprepared and ready to go every
day and I know it's toughsometimes're in.
I know it's tough sometimes,guys, I know it's tough to come
in, and there's going to bethose days that are not great.
There's going to be those daysthat that, just you know, beat
you up, but that's why you haveto learn how to take care of
(01:56):
yourself as well when you're notin a building, so you can come
back vigorated and renewed andready to go to tackle the day.
Yes, this job is hard.
I get that but at the same time, you get to choose your
attitude.
You're going to choose how youcome into the building every day
, and so one of these takeawayswe're going to talk about is
about being a role model.
(02:18):
We want staff to feel welcomedand ready to go.
We want our students to feelwelcome.
We have to provide that to them.
And we want to model empathy.
We want our students to feelwelcome.
We have to provide that to them.
And we want to model empathy.
We want to model commitment tolifelong learning.
We want to model those things.
We got to do those things.
We got to be going to workshopsand being able to learn from
each other as leaders so we canbecome the best leader we can.
(02:42):
And when we are modeling and weare showing people in our
building, you know theexpectation and not just saying
this is the expectation, butactually doing the expectation.
That's key.
And so there's times where youcome together as a staff and say
, hey, we're committed to thisgoal.
Well, you got to be able to bea part of that.
(03:03):
You got to be able to model andshow that.
You know what?
If my expectation is have everystudent and staff member in my
building to wear an ID, I betterbe wearing my ID and I better
be wearing it correctly.
Because I got to model that.
I got to show people that, yes,it's important.
Even Principal JL's got to dothis too.
(03:23):
And it's not just somethingthat we do because you know we
want to, it's because there's apurpose behind it, and so we
want to be able to model thethings that we say that we want.
With that, we got to build thattrust.
We got to model how we buildthat trust, how we talk to
people, how we connect withpeople.
We got to be visible.
(03:44):
We got to get in the classrooms.
We got to be at schoolactivities.
There's times where, you know,going to that school activity,
those students love it.
I mean, you know they get tosee you outside of the school
building and at their activityand you know it's also yes, as
leaders we are supervisingevents and doing things like
(04:04):
that.
But just, you know, beintentional about being visible
so they see you, not just you,but the community parents.
They love seeing you out andabout and being a part of, you
know, the activities that theschool has going on as well.
And you got to be authentic.
Like you can't sit there and,you know, be a fake person.
You got to be who you are.
You know, and that's going togo a long way.
(04:25):
And if you're authentic and youare who you are, people, some
people may like it, some peoplemay not like it, but you got to
be OK with that Because, as aleader, we're in a position to
where there's going to be thingsand decisions we're going to
make that no one's going to like, and that's fine, as long as we
keep in mind that this is thebest for our students, this is
the best for our teachers andour staff.
(04:46):
We want to make sure we takethe time to make those decisions
, because when that decision ismade, you want to make sure it's
the best possible decision atthat time.
And if you make a mistake, yougot to be able to admit that you
messed up.
All right, it's okay to makemistakes, but it's not okay to
say, you know, was it your fault?
(05:06):
Because if it was your fault,and to have some humility and to
say you know what I screwed up,that goes a long way, because
we're human, we're people, justlike them.
Our staff is going to screw up,our students are going to screw
up.
The whole accountability pieceis there.
You hold yourself accountable,like you hold the students and
your staff accountable as well.
(05:27):
So admitting mistakes is a partof that being a role model as
well.
Besides just being a role model,the second takeaway we're going
to talk about is demonstratingprofessionalism.
You want to approach challengeswith integrity, composure and
fairness, like there's going tobe situations but you got to be
(05:47):
professional about it.
You can't take thingspersonally, because when you
take things personally, a kid,may you know, cuss at you.
Don't take it personal, becausethey may be having a bad day,
teacher may be upset, need event.
Don't take that personal.
Let them vent, be that ear forthem.
They just need event.
They need to get that out butat the same time, help them find
(06:09):
that solution.
All right, that's part of thatteamwork.
That's that culture we want tobuild.
We talked about, you know, inour communication.
There's going to be timesyou're going to have people get
upset at you.
You're just going to have to belike, okay, let's talk about it
.
But yet there also is a a levelto where, if it goes too far,
you got to be able to say youknow what?
(06:29):
It's probably not time to talkabout this right now.
Um, let's go ahead and let'stake a break or figure out
another time, and when we're allnot emotional, we can sit down
and talk about that situation.
So there's going to be timesyou're going to have to do that
and I've done it to where you'regoing to have to understand yes
(06:51):
, we are here to help, we'rehere to listen, but yet there's
times where, if someone takes ittoo far, we've got to be able
to shut that down because we'vegot to maintain the educational
environment and the build and wecan't have too many disruptions
when those things happen.
Being able to be professional,having grace, being able to see
other people's perspectives andbeing able to understand them
(07:14):
and try to get a full picture isanother way to lead by example.
The third key we're going totalk about is commitment to
continuous learning.
We tell our staff to be growthmindset.
We tell our staff to always belearning, tell our staff and our
students to do all these things.
(07:34):
But you know what we need to doit too.
We need to be able to haveprofessional development
opportunities.
We got to be able to go connectwith other principals, like we
have regional meetings, and wegot to be able to go to those
regional meetings and connect.
We have state conferences.
(07:56):
As principals, we need to go tothose state conferences,
connect.
You know we need to be able togo to a national conference once
in a while.
Connect with people around thecountry.
Ok, find ways to learn and grow.
There's ways that you can dothat.
There are platforms and peopleout there that are sharing
content that help us becomebetter leaders, and we got to be
(08:20):
able to find those things andgrow with it.
You got to set goals foryourself what kind of leader you
want to be.
Hey, this workshop looks likeit's something that would fit
really well within my leadershipstyle.
Maybe go explore that, see whatthat's like.
One thing I'm looking at istrying to figure out some
programming.
So there's some workshops thattalk about a specific program
(08:43):
that we may look to adopt.
We're not sure if we'll do that, but heck, we might go to that
conference and as a team and go.
You know what?
Is this something that helps us?
And if it is, why not use it?
That's kind of how our schoolimprovement team works.
Is where we find things fromthese different workshops, or
exploring or asking questions ortalking to people about such
(09:06):
situations.
We find answers by doing that.
If you're just sitting in yourschool and hoping things are
just going to work out or justmagically get better, they're
not.
You got to be able to find waysto find solutions to that.
And by able to have they're not.
You got to be able to find waysto find solutions to that and
by able to have a growth mindsetyourself.
You got to reach out.
You got to go out and havethose learning opportunities as
(09:27):
well and be transparent, liketell people you know what I'm
always learning as well.
I'm looking to be better.
I'm not just sitting herethinking I have all the answers,
because if you have all theanswers, man, I'd love to talk
to you, because I'm pretty sureno one has all the answers when
it comes to leading a schoolbuilding.
(09:48):
The fourth thing we want to talkabout is cultivating resilience
, just being resilient.
Okay, we got to be able tothrive in adversity and we got
to be able to adapt tochallenging situations.
One of the things that helps meas a building leader is my
military training.
When adverse situations happen,I go into a certain mode.
(10:13):
Oh, like that, like I can justclick and turn it on and I just
know what I'm doing because I'vetrained for it.
I understand this is asituation I have to um, you know
handle, and we have systems inplace to trigger the different
things we have to do.
So my first year at the currenthigh school that I am the
(10:34):
building principal at, we gotswattedatted.
Okay, if you don't rememberthat, it was about three years
ago we got swatted.
There was those phone callsgoing to saying hey, there's a
shooter in the building you knowof this school and this part
and it.
Thank goodness it was.
It was not real.
But when you have six policecars roll up to your building
(10:57):
and come in and say we'relocking you down, that's
adversity, that is scary andit's something that you're not
expecting.
But how you handle that andbeing able to handle that
adversity and get to what yougot to do and hit your systems
and making sure everybody's safeand making sure all the things
(11:19):
are happening.
Now, thank goodness it was afake phone call, it wasn't real.
So but just the the aftermathof that situation, there was a
lot of adversity, there was alot of scared people and that
was something that you know youhave to be able to handle and
(11:40):
fortunately for me, with some ofmy background before I became
an educator, I was able tohandle those things, able to get
the people where they need togo.
We also grew and learned fromit, because did we handle it
perfectly?
No, but we also were able totighten up some procedures
because of that and so beingable to be resilient yourself
(12:07):
when those things happen willhelp model resiliency to
everybody else, because thenthey can see when your principal
is under pressure.
This is how they handle it, andthat's a lot of times can
inspire them to handle thosethings as well, and so being
able to show your resiliency isimportant as well.
The fourth thing we want to talkabout is balance and empathy
(12:27):
with action.
Ok, now we want to be able tosupport our teachers.
All right, we want to beempathetic for them, but we
don't want to hold their handall the time.
We don't want to tell them whatto do all the time.
We've got to be able to help,support them and help them
arrive to the solution.
A lot of times, they alreadyknow the solution.
(12:48):
They just need to talk itthrough.
They just need you to listen tothem and help them understand.
This is where thatcommunication piece comes in,
but you also want to empowerthem to take ownership of that
situation as well.
There's times where they justhave like, have the situation, I
don't know what to do.
Can you help me?
Yes, let's talk about it, let'sfind solutions, but let's also
(13:11):
help them be a part of thatconversation when you find a
solution to that situation, theycan go out and be successful at
that situation.
Another thing to talk about iswithin balance and empathy.
And action is and this issomething that I struggle with,
because I want to be able tobuild the morale of my teachers,
(13:31):
but yet I don't want to do itso much it's not meaningful, if
that makes sense.
So where I want to do things toshow my staff that I appreciate
them, that hey, I appreciatethe job you're doing, I
appreciate these things and Iwant to celebrate those things
with them, and so I have to beable to balance.
(13:53):
When it's too much, when it'syou know, we're right in the
year, and so I kind of schedulethings out to be like at this
time, these are things I want todo to show my staff that I
appreciate them.
We want to celebrate not justthe big things but also the
small things, the day-to-daythings, the things that go
unnoticed once in a while, andbe able to tell your staff and
(14:16):
be able to model, like you knowwhat you're valuable.
I appreciate you and I'll behonest, the staff will do that
back to you when you model that,and it's really interesting to
see because when you show themyour appreciation, they show you
their appreciation too, andthat was something that takes me
(14:36):
back.
When that happens because Igenerally do care about my staff
, I generally do appreciate mystaff, and when they say it back
to me, it makes me go.
You know what?
We're on the right track, we'rewhere we need to be, and that
makes it worth it.
The next thing we want to talkabout, the sixth thing, is
basically fostering innovationand risk-taking.
I tell my staff don't be afraidto take risks, learn from
(15:02):
failure, be growth mindset butus as leaders have to be able to
do that too.
Your big growth mindset, but usas leaders have to be able to
do that too.
I'm going to tell you, when weimplemented the attendance
policy this year, I was scared.
I was nervous because I didn'tknow how it was going to go.
But this is what I did know.
I know the school improvementteam worked their rear ends off
(15:25):
to create that policy.
They put the steps in place toprovide the intervention that
kids need so we can cultivate aschool where attendance is
important and kids know that wewant them there.
And if we're not there, how canwe support them so they can be
there.
I was scared.
I was like you know what I hadto say to myself screw it, we're
(15:49):
going to do it and we may failat it, but that's okay, because
what we're doing is we're tryingsomething new, we're trying
something different, and whenyou, as a leader, can do that,
you're going to model to yourstaff.
It's okay to sometimes throwcaution to it and try something
different, because if it works,it's something that will
(16:13):
transform your school.
If it doesn't work, at leastyou're learning and growing from
that experience.
The final thing we want to talkabout when leading by example is
about leading by example withyour purpose and vision, is
about leading by example withyour purpose and vision.
Your actions have to align withwhat you guys are trying to do
(16:38):
within your building.
I talked about the ID thing.
My action of wearing thestudent ID is showing you know
what I'm aligned with the visionthat we have.
We want all students and staffto wear their student IDs.
There's reasons behind it.
A lot of it's safety, butthere's a lot of reasons behind
it that I won't go into.
But there is an expectation.
Some other things that I need toalign myself with every day is
(17:00):
the expectation of our personaldevices.
Our policy is basically youdon't have your device out
during instruction time.
Can you have it in transition?
Yes, can you have it at lunch?
Yes.
Can you have it before andafter school?
Yes, you can have it thosetimes.
As a building principal, we'llbe out in the hallways checking
(17:21):
on kids walking around.
If a kid has the cell phone outwhen they're not supposed to,
I'll take it because I'maligning myself to the vision
and the expectation we're havingwith the school and what we
decided to be tied on.
And if I'm not modeling that,basically I'm telling my staff
that I don't care about that, ok, and I'm telling my staff that
(17:44):
it's not important.
So I have to be able to modelthe expectations.
And the best thing about thatis we're all working this
together and it's frustrating attimes because we're not always
all together on it, but for themost part we are very consistent
with that Because when youmodel those things, you're
bringing that unity within thewhole building.
To say you know what this iswhat's important to us, what
(18:06):
we're tied on and what we needto do.
To say you know what this iswhat's important to us, what
we're tied on and what we needto do because we want to provide
a safe learning environment forour students.
But we want to provide anenvironment where students can
learn and grow and for ourteachers to learn and grow, and
then, as leaders, we got to bewilling to learn and grow.
Well, there you guys have it.
Those are the seven takeawaysthat you can use to lead by
(18:27):
example.
We all lead differently, andthat's okay.
We all have different strengths, and that's okay.
But, at the same time, findsomething that you can do, that
you can model, that say you knowwhat?
I support you.
I am going to do the thingsthat we say we're going to do
because it helps me grow as aleader.
And if I'm growing as a leader,our teachers are growing and
(18:50):
our students are growing and ourstaff are growing.
Everybody's growing togetherand that's really the important
thing.
It's not about just leading andtelling people what to do and
sitting around and lettingthings just happen.
It's about actually showingpeople that you're in it to win.
It is what I like to say we'rein it to win it.
We're here to help you andinspire you and help you become
(19:13):
successful because, like I saidbefore, you get to choose, as a
leader, what kind of energyyou're going to bring to your
building and if you're going tobring a positive energy to where
you're helping people learn andgrow.
Yes, we understand that the jobis hard and there's going to be
times that, oh man, this isreally going to be rough because
(19:34):
of X, y, z.
But you know what?
We find solutions and we findsystematic ways to solve those
issues so they're not asnegative as you want to be.
Could you take those negativeevents and turn them into a
positive?
To where did you learn from it?
Did you grow from it?
And that's really important tokeep in mind because, as a
leader, when we lead by example,we're learning and growing.
(19:58):
We can motivate our staff to dothe same.
There you guys have it.
I hope you guys enjoy thisepisode.
If you did, please like andshare it with your friends and
other educational leaders andget the word out for some free
PD for everybody.
Like I always say, look toevery day to always be 1% better
(20:23):
.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.