Great Advice - Patton Wisdom

In honor of the Memorial Day Weekend, a quote from “Patton on Leadership,” by Alan Axlerod, that resonated with me early in my career as a principal.

The essence of the quote was, “Victory is achieved when you declare it.”

The school year is a marathon. If we don’t announce and celebrate our short-term victories, we will do one of two things. We will wear our staff (and/or students) down because they will see no progress, or we will demoralize them as they begin to believe that their effort does not matter.

Set meaningful short-term goals and make it a big deal when the campus (or your class) meets them. Patton used this leadership tool to beat the Nazi’s. We can use the same tool to improve graduation rates and state accountability tests results. And the tests are not trying to shoot us.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Recommended Book

I just finished reading, Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, by John Ferling.

It is an excellent, though somewhat dry accounting of the ramp up to the election of 1800. The election that truly proved that the American Political Experiment would be successful. Put this book on your summer reading list if you are a fan of American History.

The book definitely puts our jobs into perspective. Leading a school is not that difficult when you compare it to creating a new country, a new political system, and new infrastructure, all while more powerful countries are trying to either influence or destroy you. Couple that with the fact that the two smartest men in the country (Hamilton and Jefferson) were in opposite political camps, so no matter which side you were on, the other side could (and probably would) eviscerate you with scalpel-like precision.

Enjoy this holiday weekend and remember those that the day memorializes.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (...Not Getting The Job Done - Part 3)

In response to the post “Who Really is Not Getting the Job Done,” and subsequent posts, a reader writes:

“I am not sure Cain is right in all cases when he says teachers want great leadership. High school teachers especially have earned a reputation for seeking isolation. I have specialized in turning around highly dysfunctional high schools, and many of those teachers have not craved leadership. They wanted to be left alone and blamed the dysfunction on those kids. I am not talking about one or two teachers in a dysfunctional school with that attitude; I am talking about almost all of them. The teachers viewed themselves as experts in the field. In fact, they viewed themselves as such experts that they rejected the best practices of the field, even the works of Marzano and Bloom. Not much fun for the principal brought in to pull the school out of the ditch.

The first question you get is, “why not get ‘buy in?’”

“Buy in,” is great, especially if you are moving towards a new curriculum, or a new program. But getting “buy in” to have teachers adhere to best practices accepted by the field of education? This level of “buy in” expectation is over the line. It’s like getting a quote from a plumber, and he tells you, “By the way, I know we have codes and expected standards for good plumbing, but I don’t really go by those standards because I don’t agree with them. I have been doing it this other way for years and it has been working just fine for me so far.”

Would you hire this plumber? If you had hired him and then he told you this, would you stand for it?

Principals that work at all schools face this attitude to some extent. For principals working in highly dysfunctional high schools I think you will find this is a very common teacher philosophy. By the way, Cain is right about leadership. Dysfunctional high schools have this attitude running rampant and the high schools get dysfunctional because plenty of principals, superintendents, and school boards have allowed it to happen. Trying to straighten the mess out is the challenge of a lifetime.”

SC Response
All right Lead Your School Readers, this reader just raised the bar for comments. What are you going to do about it?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Using Rewards - Part 4)

In response to the post, “Using Rewards,” and the subsequent comments, a reader writes:

“Giving people a goal to work towards, such as a reward, is absolutely a great idea. Too bad the State of Texas virtually refuses to allow schools to reward students for excellent performance on TAKS. However, I will say this: rewards will not “save your bacon”. I have seen highly dysfunctional schools try to get better, by using rewards for students. It does not matter how motivated the student is, if the student doesn’t know anything. What I mean is don’t think you can come up with a program or reward system that will make up for a lack of quality instruction. Creating and maintaining a good school boils down to having high quality, student centered, rigorous, bell-to-bell instruction, everyday. If you don’t have that, forget the rewards as they will do nothing for you.”

SC Response
The reader is spot-on. The only thing I will add is this; as adults, not only do we have a responsibility to motivate our students, our students naturally do an excellent job of both mimicking our level of motivation and meeting our expectations. After years of experience and 1000’s of observations and site visits, I can assure you that when you hear adults say, “they just aren’t motivated to try on the test,” you have adults who are not motivated by student success and/or don’t believe their kids can pass.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (... Not Getting the Job Done - Part 2)

In response to the post, “Who Really is Not Getting the Job Done,” a reader writes:

“I liked this topic, and I cannot agree more. However, what about former leadership that has left a wake of weak, entrenched teachers flailing about, who are too numerous to fire in one years time? The reality of public education is that leadership changes regularly, and often times they do not handle difficult HR issues before they leave, out of fear! Ultimately, they leave the incoming leadership with a campus of low morale, sub-par teaching, and an "us against them" attitude that is very hard to overcome in a short period of time. As a new VP this year I have witnessed a little of this at my campus. I have done my best to raise morale and still enforce intense accountability, but there are some entrenched teachers who are politically connected that will never be fired. It is just frustrating that some teachers are "above the law." Please educate me on what you do about entrenched, politically protected, less than marginal teachers.”

SC Response
First, this situation is not uncommon. Generally speaking, the weaker the leader is, the weaker the staff. There are a number of reasons for this, but the primary one is as follows: If I am a teacher with skills, ambition and options, why would I work for somebody who has no capacity to make me better. To paraphrase Maxwell, if you look around and notice that all your staff is sorry, you need to step up your game. All of that to say, that with some skill and experience it is possible to turn around the described situation.

As a stated in a previous post, we all crave leadership. A lot of staff behavior is the result of no leadership. Give your people something worthwhile to work for; bring them the tools they need to be successful; give them support, feedback and a kick in the butt when they need it. You will find that most of the staff will start to respond positively. Then, watch those that don’t respond positively. Find the one that is actively working against you and make that person your special project. They will either improve (you win) or they will leave (you win). You don’t have to (and can’t) fire everyone. So act strategically. Co-opt or remove the opposition leadership and if your mission is compelling, the masses will quickly fall in line.

As for “above the law” teachers, you generally have three options. One, you can cater to them, like everyone else has. I wouldn’t do it, but I have been told that you can catch more bee’s with honey than with vinegar. Two, you can get in a war. Build your case, bury them in the objective proof that they are bad for kids and relentlessly push for their improvement or removal. With this strategy, do know that you can win the battle and loose the war (especially if you are in a small town and the Ag teacher is the problem). Finally, you can “nothing” them. To “nothing” someone is to act as if they do not exist. You are a driven, busy educator that is working everyday to make things better for your students. You have limited time and resources. Those that are working with you, receive that time and resource access. Those that are not working with you get, “nothing.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Using Rewards - Part 3)

In response to the post, “Using Rewards,” and the subsequent comment, a reader writes:

“I agree 100% with SC response!”

SC Response
And I agree with the reader. Thanks.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...