The Principal's Handbook

Episode # 52: 3 Mistakes Principals Make in the Back-to-School Season
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I want to talk about three mistakes that principals make in the back to school season. That's all coming up next right here on The Principals Handbook. Stay tuned.
Welcome to the Principal's Handbook, your go to resource for principals looking to revamp their leadership approach and prioritize self care. I'm Barb Flowers, a certified life coach with eight years of experience as an elementary principal. Tune in each week as we delve into strategies for boosting mental resilience, managing time effectively, and nurturing overall wellness.
From tackling daily challenges to maintaining a healthy work life balance, I'm Barb Flowers. We'll navigate the complexities of school leadership together. Join me in fostering your sense of purpose as a principal and reigniting your passion for the job. Welcome to a podcast where your wellbeing is the top priority.
Welcome back to the podcast today. We're going to be talking about three mistakes that principals make in the back to school season.
And I think that this is a great topic to talk about, [00:01:00] whether you're already in school or you are getting ready to go back to school, this is just the season where it can be a really stressful time for principals, principals are trying to get everything ready and have a student. Smooth start to the year for teachers and students and parents.
And there's a lot of moving parts that go into that and a lot of pressure to make sure that you're communicating everything that you need to communicate and you're getting everything done that you need to get done. And there's just a lot going on. So today I want to talk about those mistakes that principals can make in the back to school season and try to help you not make those mistakes.
So we're going to just jump right in with mistake number one. So the first mistake is that you are excited to make change. So you have so many things that you want to change all at once. And this could be because you were the principal in previous years. And so you have ideas of how you want it to change.
It could be that maybe you're in a new role and so you're excited to, , implement your ideas. And so you have so many things that when you look at the building, you feel like need changed. And But the problem [00:02:00] is if you have so many initiatives and ideas of what the building needs, you will get overwhelmed quickly.
The staff will get overwhelmed quickly. So you have to make sure that you don't have too many initiatives. If you have too many initiatives, you have no initiatives that you're focusing on because you are focusing on everything. You need to have clear priorities about what's going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.
And so I think a perfect example of this is initiative like PBIS, right? That seems like just one initiative that you do for behavior, but it can really raise student achievement if you have behavior problems in your building because students are then going to be in, environments where they're able to learn better, where they're able to think.
So having PBIS. Is one initiative, but it can have a huge impact on the building. You also need to make sure that you're giving initiatives time again, whether you've put the initiative in place or the previous principal put it in place, you need to respect what those initiatives are [00:03:00] and make sure you're doing everything you can to keep them moving forward.
Sometimes, and I'm going to use PBIS again, as an example, we put it in place. We're doing well with it. , at the school I was at, we always did the tiered fidelity inventory and checked it every year, but you always have to have systems in place with whatever initiatives and make sure that you're constantly evaluating them, tweaking them, making them better.
So even though the building has done PBIS for eight years, there are things that can continue to get better. , now there's been 3 principles implementing PBIS in that building, and instead of the next principle coming in and saying, we're no longer doing that, or it's already going well, we're not going to focus on that.
That's how something like PBIS can really die because it's not being taken care of. It's not continuing to grow and bring new ideas to the school. So just make sure whatever initiatives you currently have that you're continuing to nurture those and make sure.
That you're, , having them grow or at least stay the same and not [00:04:00] going down when I was a new principal, I thought it was really important to honor whatever initiatives had happened in the past with other principals because it was really frustrating for teachers that they had implemented initiatives with other people and then a new principal would come in and just have A totally different agenda.
So you always want to honor what's already been done and really think about how can you tweak those and keep those initiatives moving forward. The other thing you need to think about is
teachers need lots of professional development hours before they really get a topic. So you can't give them two hours of PD on an initiative and think that they got it. Right? They need lots and lots of professional development. To truly implement something in a meaningful way. And so if you're moving from initiative to initiative, teachers don't get that time to really learn something.
And even you as the principal, you don't get that time. You can't be an expert or really learn about that topic if you're moving from one thing to the next. So you want to really make sure that you prioritize the [00:05:00] things that you want to get done for your building. What is really a need. And what can make the most impact in your building for your students.
And if you haven't listened to episode 39 of the podcast, go back and listen to that. It was such a great episode , , with Janice Pizzuto and Steven Carney. They talk about implement your school initiatives with impact. They wrote a book about it. It was amazing, such a good episode.
So go back and listen to that if you haven't, because a lot of times we just implement too many initiatives. The second mistake I see that principals make is you want to do everything yourself. And this was me in the beginning. And when I was an assistant,
the principal I worked with always talked to me about this. This was always her feedback for me because I wanted to do everything myself because I am an action taker. If somebody has an idea and wants to do it, I don't want to be part of You know, we never implement something. So if somebody had an idea and it was a good idea, I think, yeah, let's do this.
And I'm going to take the lead and make sure it gets done because I'm not going to be part of a group of [00:06:00] people who just talk and don't take action. But the problem with that is I was doing so much myself. I was putting so many things on my plate. And so it was causing me a lot of stress. And I learned that over time, I could not continue doing that.
So we need to make sure that. You are delegating and empowering others to take the lead. So now if a teacher has that idea, then it's up to them to take the lead on that. But the other thing I want to say about that is you want to make sure that the ideas that people have are actually sustainable for the building.
A lot of times teachers, other staff members would have great ideas, but they were so elaborate that they were. Initiatives that weren't going to last, right? Like if I were to leave, they wouldn't last. If that teacher left, they wouldn't last. ,
and, , it wasn't even sustainable to get started in the school because it would burn people out too quick. And so I, as the principal, I just really had to be aware of that and had to be the person who pointed that out to the, person who brought the idea to the group because you [00:07:00] don't want people to have these ideas.
We get excited and then burn themselves out if it's not sustainable. You want every idea that comes in and is implemented in the school to be something that really is sustainable so that it can continue to last in the school and it's not like a one time thing that you do or you get started and then you're done.
People just can't continue doing it. So that's something else to think about and also make sure that you're not undermining staff sense of ownership and involvement. So, like I said, I like to take on so many things. And I think part of this, when I was a new principal, I remembered being a teacher and I was a teacher leader, and I did so many things that I would take on for the principal, but then I was so stressed too, because I was trying to teach my own class and then I was doing all these leadership roles and it was a really stressful time.
And so as an assistant principal, I thought, okay, I'm going to help teachers with this because they already have a lot on their plates and I want to help them take something off their plate. But the problem with that was I offended [00:08:00] teachers because they thought that I didn't think they had the capacity to do these things.
So, for example, I had a teacher who was our department chair. She's an amazing teacher. She had done department chair for a long time and she was a veteran teacher. And I started planning the department meeting. And she just came to me and was like, that is my job. Why are you planning the department meeting?
And I'm like, Oh, I'm just trying to help you. And it really, her having that conversation with me. Because she said, I feel like you don't think I can do it if you're doing it for me. And it really helped me see that as much as I thought I was trying to help, she felt like, I didn't think she was capable of doing it.
So really being careful about overstepping and taking on too much of what, what teachers can do, what is actually their role that they're getting paid to do. , you think you're helping, but you're really overstepping. So be careful with that. , you want to make sure that you're delegating use people that can help, whether it's your secretaries, whether it's teachers who are, , [00:09:00] really knowledgeable or have leadership skills in an area.
Delegate others, empower them and help build up other people's leadership skills in the building. It'll not only help empower them and make them feel good, but it'll help you as well to reduce stress and cut down the risk of burnout. And then the last mistake that I see principals make is they forget to take care of themselves.
If you're so focused on the building, you're so focused on everybody else. And you neglect to take care of your own wellbeing, you are going to burn out. And I always go back to my example. I experienced burnout and I always say you're fine until you're not right. Like you take on all these responsibilities and you're like, I'm fine.
I'm fine. I'm not feeling burnout. And then one day it will just hit you. And I tell people this all the time, because this is what happened to me is I was just going and going and going. And then one day I just had a panic attack. And that's kind of when the burnout hit me and it was really hard to come back from that.
And so I always [00:10:00] want to just give you a word of caution that if you're not taking care of yourself and you feel like you're handling everything and you're managing everything and you're still sustaining everything, it will hit you when you're not expecting it. And it is hard to come back from burnout.
So you always just want to check in with yourself and make sure that you're not doing too much so that you don't get to that point of burnout. Because like I said, , it's hard to come back from, make sure that you're prioritizing your own health, you're exercising, you're eating healthy, it's easy as a principal to go out and grab fast food all the time, but just make sure that you really are taking care of yourself.
You are the leader of that building. People need you. The healthier you are, you know, it's going to help you not get sick. It's going to help you be at work, be present. And so you want to make sure that you are taking care of your health and you are taking care of yourself so that you're there for not only your staff, but your family at home as well.
And some episodes I want you to listen to if you haven't yet for this, I have episode 44. Talks about unlocking the power [00:11:00] of sleep for optimal leadership sleep is so important. There's so much research out there that we need sleep for rest and recovery. And especially with a stressful job, like being a principal, you need to be getting enough sleep.
Sleep each night, seven to nine hours. So listen to that episode. If you haven't also in episode 45, I talk about the power of movement for principles. We have to be moving our bodies through exercise, through walking, through just being active throughout the day. So listen to those episodes. Those are some that I talk about, your health and prioritizing that.
So just to recap everything mistake, number one, you're excited to make change. You have too many things you want to change at once. That's a common mistake. Mistake number two, you want to do everything yourself. And mistake number three, you forget to take care of yourself. So don't make those mistakes in this back to school season, whether you've started school or not,
you want to make sure that you're not making these mistakes as you start the school year. And if you are looking to enhance your leadership skills, find balance in your role as a principal, I'm here to [00:12:00] support you on your journey.
I will help you be a more effective leader. I am so passionate about focusing on your personal development to build your professional development. I think so often we focus on only developing professionally and we don't develop personally with our mindset and how we handle situations and
we really need both as leaders. You need personal and professional development. So for personal development, . So I offer one on one coaching sessions. That are tailored to your specific needs. And because I was a principal, I can help with both personal and professional development. So some things I help clients with time management strategies, prioritizing self care, achieving work life balance, accountability for developing your skill as a principal.
If there's things that you want to do, or maybe there's things you want to do in your personal life. That's what a coach does. They help you create these goals and hold you accountable to it. If you're ready to take your leadership to the next level, I'd love the opportunity to work with you. You can click the link in my show notes and it allows [00:13:00] you to schedule a consultation where we can just discuss what's going on with you, how I could help you and see if we're a good fit.
It's a free consultation. So let's work together to unlock your full potential and let's create positive change for you and your school community. And if you love the show, if you're listening on Apple, scroll down in your app and leave a review, keep in mind, you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose.
I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time.
Mhm. Mhm.