Inpractice|leadership
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo
Takebackyourtime
BythetimeIstartedcoachingprincipalMarkSanders,hehadbecomeamasterofcrisismanage-ment.
Eachday,Sandersconstantlycrisscrossedthebuilding,shuttingdownanychallengetheschool
daycouldthrowathim:graffitiintheboys’bathroom,studentaltercations, irateparents.
hrough hisskillandinsightinsuchfirefightingmoments,Sanders(nothisrealname)createdastudentculturethatwasorderly,disciplined,andjoyful—nomeanfeat.
Yet,whenSandersandI
beganworkingtogether,we
thatfeelincrediblyurgent. Yet,byprioritizingwhat’surgent, lead-
erslosesightofwhat’simportant:actionsthatallowleaderstofocusonimprovingstudentlearning.Goodintentionsandloftyrheto-riccan’tresolvethischallenge.Togainthespacetodrivewhatmat-tersmost,leadersneedconcretetoolstotakebacktheirtime.Herearetwoimportantguideposts:
#1.Holdyourselfaccountableandlockinyourcheck-ins.
When leadersconsiderhowtheycanmakethemostoftheirtime,theyusuallycreateacal-endarfortheweek,blockingout
orothersataconsistenttimeeveryoneortwoweekstodiscussprog-ressonagivenproject,aleadercreatesapowerfulinducementtofocusoncorepriorities.ForSand-ers,theeffectofschedulingpost-observationcheck-inswitheachteacherwasenormous.“While
Ihadbeenwillingtopostponeinstructional observationsindefi-nitely,theknowledgethatIwouldneedtocheckinwitheachteacheratleastonceaweekgavemeakeyincentivetogettheseobservationsdone.”Indeed,withintheyear,Sanderswasobservingover14teacherseveryweek,atremendousincreasefrombefore.
cam
toasoberingconclusion:
timeforeachkeyactivitythey
DespitethestrongcultureSand-ershadbuilt,instruction wasnotimproving.Teacherswereenter-ingtheirthird,fourth,orfifthyearlargelyunimproved fromthe
startoftheircareers,andstatetestscoreswerestagnant.
Initially,theanswerseemedsimple:Sandersneededtospendmoretimeonactionsthatdirectlydroveinstruction —observingclassrooms,analyzingassess-ments,andplanningcurricula.Sanderssaidhe’dneverbeenabletocommittosuchactionsconsis-tently.Those day-to-dayfiresofstudentculturealwaysintruded
ontimehe’dsetasideforweeklyobservationsorteacher-principaldebriefs.Sandersknewwhatheneededtodo;hejustneverfelthehadtimetodoit.
Aprincipal’sjobisdesignedfordistraction. Everydaybringsun-predictable crisesandsituations
PAULBAMBRICK-SANTOYOisman-agingdirectorofUncommonSchools,Newark,N.J.,andauthorofLeverageLeadership:APracticalGuidetoBuild-ingExceptionalSchools(Jossey-Bass,
2012).
wanttopursue.Forsomeleaders,thissolutionisenough.But,formostofus,merelycreatingacal-endarwon’tbeenoughtochangeourbehavior.Indeed,asSandersplainlyacknowledged,“WhileIstartedeachsemesterwithacal-endarcommitmenttoobserveseventeachersaweek,itstillwasneverhappening.”
So,whatpullsdedicatedleaderslikeSandersofftrack?Theansweristhathumansareprofoundlyso-cialcreatures.Standingupsome-oneorignoringaliverequestismuchharderthanprocrastinatingonself-imposeddeadlines.Giventheconstantandverypersonalinterruptionsateveryturninaschool,thatimportantbutregu-larlyscheduledprogrammingthatdoesallthethingsthatimproveeducationwillbeunderstarkpressure—andwillfrequentlybedisplaced.Despiteourbesteffortsatcalendaring, theworkwemustdowon’tgetdone.
Fortunately,leaderscanreversethispattern andmakesuchtasksmorecompellingbyaddingper-sonalcheck-ins.Bycommittingtomeetwithteachers,administrators,
Aprincipal’s jobisdesignedfordistraction.
Buildingastandingcheck-inalsomadetheschool’sinterimas-sessmentsmorepowerful,sincetheycreatedanaturalspaceandtimeforleaderstodiscussthedatawithteachers.Asaresult,therewasnoneedforaspecial“assess-mentweek”schedule,greatlyre-ducingthedisruption andgivingSandersandhisteachersamuchmoreproductiveopportunitytolearnwhatthedatarevealedandhowtheymightrespondtoit.
Bycreatingaschedulewithpersonalaccountability,Sand-erschosetheimportantovertheurgentandcarvedoutspaceforwhatreallymattered.
#2.Buildascreendoor.
Sanderswantedanopen-doorpolicyinwhichparents,students,andteachersfeltfreetoapproachhimwithquestionsorconcerns.Ontheirown,eachquerywasin-nocuous,threeminuteshere,twominutesthere.Yet,asweworkedtofindmoretimeforSandersto
Comments?
LikePDKat
leadinstruction,thetimeaddedupastoundingly quickly.
Imagineifeachday,eachper-soninaschool’sstaffof30hasonequestionfortheprincipal.Ifeachquestiontooktwominutestoan-swer,that’sanhouraday.Or,con-sideredanother way,that’sthreeobservationsortwodataconfer-
Bycreatingaschedulewithpersonalaccountability,Sanderschosetheimportantovertheurgent.
encesoralunchandamorningassemblyspentsupervising.Throwin300students,600parentsandguardians,supportstaff,andvisitors,andleaderswillsoonbejumpingfromonequestiontothenextandnevermovingforward.
Isthesolutiontoclosethedoorandignoretheseconcerns?Absolutelynot.Principalsmust
Schedulingforcheck-ins
beaccessibletothestaffandthecommunity. Theymustknowwhatchallengestheyface.Yetit
ispossibletoputsystemsinplacetoensurethatonlytrulyneces-saryquestionsarebrought totheprincipalsotheleader’stimeisprotected forkeypriorities.Whatarethesesteps?
#2a.Savenonemergencyrequestsforyourregularcheck-in.
Bylockinginteachercheck-ins,theyhaveregularcontactwithyou. Setasideafewminutesofeachofthosecheck-insforsuchnonemergencyrequestssothatteachersdon’tbringthoseupbe-forethecheck-in.Doingthiswillensurethatblocksoftimearen’trandomlyinterrupted.Besidesstreamlining interruptions,manyoftheconcernsthatseemedcom-pellingwillresolvethemselveswithoutyourneedingtoact,sav-ingconsiderabletime.
#2b.Trainstafftoblockandtackle.
Almostanyonewhofacesachallenge,suchasaparentorven-dor,willwanttospeakdirectlywiththeprincipal.Butaschoolleadercancreatesystemsthaten-surethatnotalloftheserequestsneedtheprincipal’soffice.InSanders’case,onesolutionwastoreferquestionsonschoollunchestoanadministrative assistantand
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questionsontheoperation oftheboilerandheatingsystemstothechiefcustodian.Ontheirown,
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eachoftheseblockssavessometime,yetasasystemtheycanen-
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surethatwhenroutine questionscomeup,theprincipalisn’tthe
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onewhoneedstoanswerthem.Ultimately, aschool’sabilityto
projectasenseofaccessibilitytoallstakeholdersisvital.Bycreat-ingascreendoorratherthananopendoor,Sandersdramaticallyreducedthesmallsporadictasks
hefaced,leavinghimmorecapac-itytoaddresswhatmattered most.
Puttingitalltogether
ThetoolsthatSandersemployed
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observations.Moreimportantly,
hisschoolmadeadramaticdiffer-enceinstudents’lives:Withinthreeyears,studenttestscoresatSand-ers’schoolfaroutstrippedthoseofpeerschools.Sanders’studentshadbecomesomeofthecity’sbestpre-pared. K