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

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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

6:00am

MONDAYTUESDAYWEDNESDAY THURSDAYFRIDAY

questionsontheoperation oftheboilerandheatingsystemstothechiefcustodian.Ontheirown,

6:30

7:00

Greeting

breakfast

Greeting

breakfast

Greeting

breakfast

Greeting

breakfast

eachoftheseblockssavessometime,yetasasystemtheycanen-

7:30

AssemblyAssembly

surethatwhenroutine questionscomeup,theprincipalisn’tthe

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

10:00

10:30

11:00

11:30

12:00pm

Lunch

MeetWilson

MeetVargas

MeetJenkins

Lunch

MeetBradley

MeetFlint

Lunch

Lunch

MeetBradley

onewhoneedstoanswerthem.Ultimately, aschool’sabilityto

projectasenseofaccessibilitytoallstakeholdersisvital.Bycreat-ingascreendoorratherthananopendoor,Sandersdramaticallyreducedthesmallsporadictasks

hefaced,leavinghimmorecapac-itytoaddresswhatmattered most.

Puttingitalltogether

ThetoolsthatSandersemployed

12:30

MeetWorrellLeadership

MeetPalma

werepowerfulenoughtoenable

1:00

1:30

MeetChristian

MeetingwithMeetBernalesMeetBoykinprincipal

teammtg.

MeetSettles

MeetHoyt

himtoobserveeveryteacherinthe

buildingonceaweekandtocoachteacherswithfeedbackafterthe

2:00

2:30

3:00

3:30

4:00

4:30

supervisor

Dismissal

Dismissal

MeetDevin

MeetMitza

Professionaldevelopmentsession

Dismissal

Dismissal

observations.Moreimportantly,

hisschoolmadeadramaticdiffer-enceinstudents’lives:Withinthreeyears,studenttestscoresatSand-ers’schoolfaroutstrippedthoseofpeerschools.Sanders’studentshadbecomesomeofthecity’sbestpre-pared. K