This past month I facilitated groups who were getting ready for the school year, getting ready to go off to their first staff meetings, department meetings, district meetings. They were excited and readying themselves for the ‘beginning of school.’ They were also ‘steeling themselves’ for
Complex times call for clear solutions—If initiative overload and fragmentation are keeping your best plans from becoming reality, it’s time to start leading differently. The key to bringing about the kind of successful and sustainable change you need is the Coherence Framework, a dynamic, customizable
Every education leader wants to implement reforms that improve student outcomes. And all of us, as professionals, understand that we need to have conversations about performance with other professionals in order to do this successfully. It seems almost too obvious to state! So why is it
Having worked as a publisher in educational leadership for over 20 years, I am frequently in awe at the difficulty and scope of a school leader’s work. Policies from the federal and state levels push down from the top while pressures from parents, teachers, and students
This post was originally published on Finding Common Ground. Stanford professor Carol Dweck's work is being used all over the world. When we look at what school should epitomize
This is the first of regular monthly posts on mindfulness and school leadership. School Leaders’ Dilemma If you haven’t been in the media limelight or in the barrel, then you haven’t been a high school principal long enough.” Richard H. Booth, spent 17 years as a high
New superintendents quickly learn the overwhelming importance of mastering a wide range of internal and external communication strategies. In this world of instant and even pervasive communications, learning how to use the district’s internal systems as well as social media is essential for superintendent success
In the fifteen years since I’ve been a professional coach, I am delighted to observe that quality coaching is alive and well in schools. It is beginning to expand outside the initial concept of coach as instructional coach, to administrators and teachers learning to use
All superintendents must learn to work effectively with their district’s employees. Of particular importance is mastering the art of “negotiations,” or collective bargaining as it is more formally known. In almost every state, public school employees have the right to bargain wages, benefits, and working
Every superintendent faces the challenge of how to work effectively with a school board and individual school board members. To meet this challenge you must develop and strengthen a wide array of important and often complex skills. Begin by becoming familiar with the state laws