Talented, Energized, Engaged Educators Change the World!

Last week in our professional development workshop at the SAIS Summer Institute for School Division Heads, we explored the difference between a healthy school culture that builds engagement and an unhealthy environment that limits growth.

This is a very valuable conversation for your school leadership team to work on together.

Last week on a flight I sat next to a gentleman who is the head/principal of a high school in Ohio. On the middle seat between us (which thankfully was empty) he placed Carol Dweck's book, Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. 

As an avid reader myself, right away I realized he is likely either an educator or taking a very interesting class.

C.D. is the head of a large organization that includes a school, a church, and other community service groups. He has experienced some difficult transitions over the last few years but he's actually grown through these challenges to become a stronger leader.

On a call last week C.D. shared, "What you've taught us about talent and culture has transformed our entire organization--not just the school. Actually, this has changed my life!"

Enrollment leadership and management provides the primary source of revenue for most schools, and yet it's too often the most misunderstood role.

Admissions is influenced by a multitude of key factors, yet so often board members and administrators oversimplify the issues when facing enrollment challenges. Blaming the enrollment office seldom produces real gains because most of the contributing causes can be found elsewhere in the school.

PK-12 Schools are the most complex organizations in the U.S. economy.

Board members, administrators, parents, and policy makers must understand that the models of leadership and management that may be effective in other businesses and organizations have to be adapted to the extraordinary realities of educational institutions.

Schools are different!

Certain decisions made during the summer can destroy a school's culture and potential for growth. Of course they are made with the best of intentions, but the damage can last for years.

How can you protect yourself from these disastrous risks? Let's explore a few of these decisions and some steps you can take to wisely grow over the summer.

Have you spent any time with a school administrator? It's a stressful pace, especially in April and May!

Too often he or she hurries from place to place, talking to lots of people but deeply connecting with few. Living in a constant state of overload and chaos, the goal is more survival than strategic growth and relationship building.

The relationship between educators and business leaders will grow even stronger when there is mutual respect for the expertise that each brings to the table.

Advice from business executives to school leaders is pervasive, driven by the assumption that schools wouldn't be so "abysmal" if only administrators would learn to apply the habits and techniques that are so common in the "real world."

The comments from board members, parents, or others usually sound like this :

• "Get back to the basics!"
• "Innovate more effectively!"
• "Hire better!"
• "Make decisions faster!"
• "Don't take so many days off!"  (see Ashton Kutcher at ASCD Empower19)

This isn't a one way street, however! What can business leaders learn from school leaders? Quite a bit, actually!

Using the School Growth system for growing schools, Daniel Breen has successfully led Sacred Heart Cathedral School (Knoxville, TN) through a season of transformation. Under his guidance they achieved 94% re-enrollment, exceeded their new enrollment goal with a waiting pool, surpassed their fundraising targets, and student academic results were the highest in years.

Is Your School Effective at Teaching AND Learning?

A teaching organization and a learning organization are quite distinct. When the leadership of a school advances as a learning organization, they achieve a sustainable competitive advantage to grow.