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Earlier this semester, I was training teachers on a campus, which quite frankly has been trending downwards for over three semesters. The training was going well up until the principal left the room to attend an ARD. Once it was obvious that the principal would not be returning anytime soon, one of the teachers that was among the least enthused raised his hand for what I thought was a question. When I recognized him, he said, “You may not know this, and the other teachers might be afraid to tell you, but we are under a lot of stress here. There have been too many changes and too much training thrown at us. If we were just left alone, we’ll do just fine. The pressure is burning people out and I won’t be surprised if a lot of teachers leave at the end of the year.”
I looked at the teacher and replied, “You are right. And I blame your principal.”
As the look of satisfaction and surprise spread across his face I continued, “This campus has been falling behind its peers for two years now. The state keeps raising standards and your central office expects results at least commensurate to the campuses that are similar to yours. Your principal has been called on the carpet on more than one occasion to explain why you as a staff are not producing at expected levels. Campuses like yours have been under increasing stress for at least four years now. If this is the first time that you have experienced it, your principal has been shielding you from the current realities of our profession. Obviously this has been to your detriment. Thank you for sharing your concern, because this will be a significant coaching conversation between me and your principal.”
For the remainder of the day, questions centered on the specifics of the training. The topic of stress was never brought up again.
If you are not feeling a little stress everyday, then either you are not pushing your students or you are not pushing yourself. Stress is simply resistance from the status quo. That resistance builds strength, character and capacity.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Reader Writes... (Instructional Discussions - Part 6)
In response to the posts addressing, “Instructional Discussions,” a reader writes:
“These have been good posts. As I recall, you told me to go into “bunker mode” once. It was great advice. As we know, I didn’t follow it (just like you wouldn’t), but it was still the right advice at the time. "
SC Response
What a lot of the newer readers miss is the fact that we recognize that leadership is both situational and contextual. There are times when doing the right thing leads through miles of misery and grief. That sometimes the prudent response is to just ride out the storm. I won’t second guess you when you do that. I respect the "chair" (having occupied it for most of my career). Sometimes, I will even recommend the option of not engaging. Not, that I have ever liked that option. And if you take the prudent route, I will support you even as I remind you that it is your students that are being sacrificed so you can live to fight another day. It’s not good or bad, it just is.
And as you well know, if you ignore the advice to be prudent, I’m with you every step of the way. After all, that’s when it gets fun.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
“These have been good posts. As I recall, you told me to go into “bunker mode” once. It was great advice. As we know, I didn’t follow it (just like you wouldn’t), but it was still the right advice at the time. "
SC Response
What a lot of the newer readers miss is the fact that we recognize that leadership is both situational and contextual. There are times when doing the right thing leads through miles of misery and grief. That sometimes the prudent response is to just ride out the storm. I won’t second guess you when you do that. I respect the "chair" (having occupied it for most of my career). Sometimes, I will even recommend the option of not engaging. Not, that I have ever liked that option. And if you take the prudent route, I will support you even as I remind you that it is your students that are being sacrificed so you can live to fight another day. It’s not good or bad, it just is.
And as you well know, if you ignore the advice to be prudent, I’m with you every step of the way. After all, that’s when it gets fun.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Early at the Airport
So I’m at the airport, stupid early, again. This time I’m heading to the National Association of Secondary School Principals Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. Of all the conferences, NASSP has always been my favorite. A friend of mine put me on the spot yesterday and asked why I think it is the best. It’s not that the other conventions and conferences aren’t good; it’s just that NASSP is better.
I believe this because just like the principal, the convention sits at the crossroads of our field. You get the best national speakers presenting on topics from instruction to operations to Board and community relations. All the other conferences either have a narrower focus (for example AASA or ASCD), a smaller scale (state conferences) or a specific host organization agenda (Dagget’s ICLE or Read 180). My advice for teachers, assistant principals, principals and assistant superintendents, is for professional development purposes if you can only attend one conference a year, make it NASSP. Then find a way to get to at least one other conference.
If you too are heading to Phoenix come visit us as at the LYS Booth and stick around for my presentation. It’s always nice to have some friendly faces in the audience and as usual I’m presenting on the successes of the LYS Nation.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
I believe this because just like the principal, the convention sits at the crossroads of our field. You get the best national speakers presenting on topics from instruction to operations to Board and community relations. All the other conferences either have a narrower focus (for example AASA or ASCD), a smaller scale (state conferences) or a specific host organization agenda (Dagget’s ICLE or Read 180). My advice for teachers, assistant principals, principals and assistant superintendents, is for professional development purposes if you can only attend one conference a year, make it NASSP. Then find a way to get to at least one other conference.
If you too are heading to Phoenix come visit us as at the LYS Booth and stick around for my presentation. It’s always nice to have some friendly faces in the audience and as usual I’m presenting on the successes of the LYS Nation.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Reader Writes... (Instructional Discussions - Part 5)
In response to the posts addressing, “Instructional Discussions,” a reader writes:
"I have yet to learn how to mandate excellence. Once you have a vision, like the LYS crew does, you have to find a way to achieve excellence. One way is to get buy-in. I have mixed feelings on buy-in. I am not against having it, but I am against spending too much time developing it. Why in education do we expect people to buy into the jobs they have been contracted and paid to do?
The other approach is to have measurable expectations and to hold people accountable. Identify the non-negotiable issues up front and do not falter. My advice is to use a combination. Get as much buy-in as you can as quickly as you can but don't fixate on it.
Warning: In terribly dysfunctional schools you are likely to get ZERO buy-in.
Once you have the buy-in you are going to get, set expectations and hold people accountable. How much time should you spend getting buy-in? Some say a year. I have never seen a high school where the students could spare a year. This is a balancing act that is part of the art of leadership, so there is no formula. Ideally I would work on buy-in and training over the summer and hit the ground running with expectations when school starts."
SC Response
Sounds like the voice of experience. You touch on two very important points. First, buy-in is over-rated and actually doesn’t mean anything. Tell me that I don’t have to come to work but you will still send me a paycheck and you have 100% of my buy-in. Everything beyond that point is simply a function of higher order economic metrics. Instead, I’m a believer in the “do / don’t do” proposition. “Do” and you live to fight another day, “don’t do” and rapidly become obsolete.
Second, as adults we have all the time in the world. Our students do not. And as the world get flatter and hungrier; every instructional second becomes even more precious.
Finally, define the success of your organization by the success of your most academically fragile students and you will not only quickly solve your “buy-in” issues, but you will also separate your campus and/or district from your demographic peers. You don't need to mandate excellence once you start out performing your neighbors.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
"I have yet to learn how to mandate excellence. Once you have a vision, like the LYS crew does, you have to find a way to achieve excellence. One way is to get buy-in. I have mixed feelings on buy-in. I am not against having it, but I am against spending too much time developing it. Why in education do we expect people to buy into the jobs they have been contracted and paid to do?
The other approach is to have measurable expectations and to hold people accountable. Identify the non-negotiable issues up front and do not falter. My advice is to use a combination. Get as much buy-in as you can as quickly as you can but don't fixate on it.
Warning: In terribly dysfunctional schools you are likely to get ZERO buy-in.
Once you have the buy-in you are going to get, set expectations and hold people accountable. How much time should you spend getting buy-in? Some say a year. I have never seen a high school where the students could spare a year. This is a balancing act that is part of the art of leadership, so there is no formula. Ideally I would work on buy-in and training over the summer and hit the ground running with expectations when school starts."
SC Response
Sounds like the voice of experience. You touch on two very important points. First, buy-in is over-rated and actually doesn’t mean anything. Tell me that I don’t have to come to work but you will still send me a paycheck and you have 100% of my buy-in. Everything beyond that point is simply a function of higher order economic metrics. Instead, I’m a believer in the “do / don’t do” proposition. “Do” and you live to fight another day, “don’t do” and rapidly become obsolete.
Second, as adults we have all the time in the world. Our students do not. And as the world get flatter and hungrier; every instructional second becomes even more precious.
Finally, define the success of your organization by the success of your most academically fragile students and you will not only quickly solve your “buy-in” issues, but you will also separate your campus and/or district from your demographic peers. You don't need to mandate excellence once you start out performing your neighbors.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Instructional Discussions - Part 4
The following is a continuation of yesterday’s post.
The writer of yesterday’s post had seven valid concerns relating to my campus improvement recipe. I will address each, in order.
1. Yes, the staffs at the absolute worst schools blame the kids and reject training. It’s an emotional defense mechanism. If it’s not the kids’ fault and there are things that I can do better, then that means I’m to blame. Try owning 40% to 80% failure rates. Makes it awful hard to get up in the morning to go to work. But as you well know when a whole school fails, that is not teacher failure. It is system failure. And system failure is leadership failure. The problem you have specifically faced as the internal “Fixer,” is that higher leadership hired you to fix their problem without accepting their responsibility for the problem. This has put you in a “you vs. the teacher” battle. You have to shift that to an “us vs. them” battle. And pick any convenient “them” that gets the staff moving. Once you start to build momentum, change the target. But remember this; it is still easier to move the staff that is doing nothing at a low SES school than it is to move a staff that is doing nothing at a high SES school.
2. Yes, the more conversations you have, the more you irritate people. But you of all people should know that one of the fundamental laws of physics is that movement requires friction. If you just have one conversation, you might as well have none. As leaders we have to articulate and repeat our expectations until they are met. Anything less is best described as management.
3. Short term objectives lead to directives and growth plans. Possibly, but not always. They should always lead to coaching and conversations. If the staff has been expected to do essentially nothing, then you have to lay out what you expect and help them get there. The more ingrained nothing is, the smaller the window for measurement and the more achievable the goal has to be. And as for directives and growth plans, I’m not a big fan. I believe in “notice and opportunity.” The concept is more in-depth than I have space in this post, but in short, growth plans take too long and camouflage the real issues of contention. Finally, if you are concerned about a staff reacting negatively to change, let me ease your concerns. 98% of staffs react negatively to change. The only staffs that do not react poorly have been trained to understand that the only constant is change. They still don’t like it, but they don’t gripe about it.
4. Your AP’s and central office will fold. That’s a given. You have to go in knowing that. Which means you have to manage up and manage down. You have to keep your AP’s close and your central office informed. In my first turn-around, I shared my office with the AP and police officer. We talked, and I coached constantly. They had no choice but to become conductors on the “Cain Train.” And make sure that you communicate with your central office uplinks on a regular basis. That means updates on initiatives and regular progress reports. But most importantly, you have to warn them of potential negatives. I always told my principals, “I can and will help you weather the storm if I’m not surprised. However, let me get caught unaware and you may be just as surprised by my solution to the problem that I now own.” Remember, the Principal has the luxury (responsibility) to be the pure advocate for students. Central Office has the responsibility to balance competing agendas in order to maintain viable district operations. Perhaps not as noble, but absolutely necessary.
5. Time is never on your side. Which is why framing the issue correctly is absolutely vital. It is not about adults. Everyday we wait to improve we sacrifice the opportunities of each and every one of our students. And until all of your struggling students graduate and all of your stronger students are accepted into the finest colleges in the country, you, your staff, your campus and your district are the primary limits to student success.
6. You create turmoil. Yes, when you shift the focus to student performance you change the rules of operations and employment. In the short run, this creates a lot of uncomfortable adults. Is that prudent? Define prudent. Brezina told me that it boils down to the following. As a Leader, it is up to you to make the tough decisions. Do that with morality and conviction and you can look yourself in the mirror every morning (and find the next job if necessary).
7. Moving is expensive. Yes, but what costs more, moving, or selling out your students?
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
The writer of yesterday’s post had seven valid concerns relating to my campus improvement recipe. I will address each, in order.
1. Yes, the staffs at the absolute worst schools blame the kids and reject training. It’s an emotional defense mechanism. If it’s not the kids’ fault and there are things that I can do better, then that means I’m to blame. Try owning 40% to 80% failure rates. Makes it awful hard to get up in the morning to go to work. But as you well know when a whole school fails, that is not teacher failure. It is system failure. And system failure is leadership failure. The problem you have specifically faced as the internal “Fixer,” is that higher leadership hired you to fix their problem without accepting their responsibility for the problem. This has put you in a “you vs. the teacher” battle. You have to shift that to an “us vs. them” battle. And pick any convenient “them” that gets the staff moving. Once you start to build momentum, change the target. But remember this; it is still easier to move the staff that is doing nothing at a low SES school than it is to move a staff that is doing nothing at a high SES school.
2. Yes, the more conversations you have, the more you irritate people. But you of all people should know that one of the fundamental laws of physics is that movement requires friction. If you just have one conversation, you might as well have none. As leaders we have to articulate and repeat our expectations until they are met. Anything less is best described as management.
3. Short term objectives lead to directives and growth plans. Possibly, but not always. They should always lead to coaching and conversations. If the staff has been expected to do essentially nothing, then you have to lay out what you expect and help them get there. The more ingrained nothing is, the smaller the window for measurement and the more achievable the goal has to be. And as for directives and growth plans, I’m not a big fan. I believe in “notice and opportunity.” The concept is more in-depth than I have space in this post, but in short, growth plans take too long and camouflage the real issues of contention. Finally, if you are concerned about a staff reacting negatively to change, let me ease your concerns. 98% of staffs react negatively to change. The only staffs that do not react poorly have been trained to understand that the only constant is change. They still don’t like it, but they don’t gripe about it.
4. Your AP’s and central office will fold. That’s a given. You have to go in knowing that. Which means you have to manage up and manage down. You have to keep your AP’s close and your central office informed. In my first turn-around, I shared my office with the AP and police officer. We talked, and I coached constantly. They had no choice but to become conductors on the “Cain Train.” And make sure that you communicate with your central office uplinks on a regular basis. That means updates on initiatives and regular progress reports. But most importantly, you have to warn them of potential negatives. I always told my principals, “I can and will help you weather the storm if I’m not surprised. However, let me get caught unaware and you may be just as surprised by my solution to the problem that I now own.” Remember, the Principal has the luxury (responsibility) to be the pure advocate for students. Central Office has the responsibility to balance competing agendas in order to maintain viable district operations. Perhaps not as noble, but absolutely necessary.
5. Time is never on your side. Which is why framing the issue correctly is absolutely vital. It is not about adults. Everyday we wait to improve we sacrifice the opportunities of each and every one of our students. And until all of your struggling students graduate and all of your stronger students are accepted into the finest colleges in the country, you, your staff, your campus and your district are the primary limits to student success.
6. You create turmoil. Yes, when you shift the focus to student performance you change the rules of operations and employment. In the short run, this creates a lot of uncomfortable adults. Is that prudent? Define prudent. Brezina told me that it boils down to the following. As a Leader, it is up to you to make the tough decisions. Do that with morality and conviction and you can look yourself in the mirror every morning (and find the next job if necessary).
7. Moving is expensive. Yes, but what costs more, moving, or selling out your students?
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Sunday, March 7, 2010
A Reader Writes... (Instructional Discussions - Part 3)
In response to the posts addressing, “Instructional Discussions,” a reader writes:
"SC, here are some problems with your improvement recipe:
1. The staff in the worst schools will reject meaningful training because after all, they are not the problem, the kids are.
2. The more conversations you have, the more irritated the faculty will become.
3. Short term measurable results will lead to growth plans and directives. The faculty will respond negatively to these.
4. You have the will, but your assistant principals and central office administrators fold at the first sign of trouble.
5. Time is not on your side because as the previous points keep unfolding the Board decides to pull the ripcord and jump.
6. You get the results; in fact the results exceed expectations. But due to the turmoil that you created, you have already gone to another district by the time the results are released.
7. You rack this up as "experience and a growth opportunity.” The move to another district costs you about $7000.
8. Repeat steps 1-7.
If this stuff scares you, you are smart, but are not a LYS leader."
SC Response
An interesting and ironic submission. You see, I met with a principal just last week and told him flat out, the prudent thing to do is to stick his head in the sand and keep doing what they have always done on his seemingly successful campus. That absolutely no one, not his staff, not his community, and not his central office have any interest in meaningful change on his campus. Potential gap be damned. But that is not going to happen. As you well know, the LYS'er is driven by two things, maximizing student opportunity and chasing down "Great."
The rest of my response is going to take a little more time than normal to write. So you are going to have to wait. But tomorrow, I’m going to address each of your points, one by one. Until then,
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
"SC, here are some problems with your improvement recipe:
1. The staff in the worst schools will reject meaningful training because after all, they are not the problem, the kids are.
2. The more conversations you have, the more irritated the faculty will become.
3. Short term measurable results will lead to growth plans and directives. The faculty will respond negatively to these.
4. You have the will, but your assistant principals and central office administrators fold at the first sign of trouble.
5. Time is not on your side because as the previous points keep unfolding the Board decides to pull the ripcord and jump.
6. You get the results; in fact the results exceed expectations. But due to the turmoil that you created, you have already gone to another district by the time the results are released.
7. You rack this up as "experience and a growth opportunity.” The move to another district costs you about $7000.
8. Repeat steps 1-7.
If this stuff scares you, you are smart, but are not a LYS leader."
SC Response
An interesting and ironic submission. You see, I met with a principal just last week and told him flat out, the prudent thing to do is to stick his head in the sand and keep doing what they have always done on his seemingly successful campus. That absolutely no one, not his staff, not his community, and not his central office have any interest in meaningful change on his campus. Potential gap be damned. But that is not going to happen. As you well know, the LYS'er is driven by two things, maximizing student opportunity and chasing down "Great."
The rest of my response is going to take a little more time than normal to write. So you are going to have to wait. But tomorrow, I’m going to address each of your points, one by one. Until then,
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
AARRGGHH! Quick Advice for AP's - Vol.1
The following is geared primarily for Assistant Principals, but the premise holds true for any school leader.
Quit being so quick to grab the pen. It’s not that I’m against written documentation, but do you really need to grab your biggest gun first?
You are most effective when you are coaching. Coaching requires frequent observation, reflection, modeling and talking. And telling someone just once is not coaching.
So here is a good rule of thumb for AP’s:
1. Unless someone is blatantly non-compliant or something is blatantly wrong, don’t talk until you have observed something enough to form a VALID opinion.
2. Unless someone is blatantly non-compliant or something is blatantly wrong, don’t write someone up until you have talked to them at least twice.
3. Most performance issues arise because either expectations are not clear, or the person isn’t aware of what they are doing or not doing. A purposeful conversation is the aspirin that solves 90% of this. Talk to your people first.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
Quit being so quick to grab the pen. It’s not that I’m against written documentation, but do you really need to grab your biggest gun first?
You are most effective when you are coaching. Coaching requires frequent observation, reflection, modeling and talking. And telling someone just once is not coaching.
So here is a good rule of thumb for AP’s:
1. Unless someone is blatantly non-compliant or something is blatantly wrong, don’t talk until you have observed something enough to form a VALID opinion.
2. Unless someone is blatantly non-compliant or something is blatantly wrong, don’t write someone up until you have talked to them at least twice.
3. Most performance issues arise because either expectations are not clear, or the person isn’t aware of what they are doing or not doing. A purposeful conversation is the aspirin that solves 90% of this. Talk to your people first.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
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