The Principal's Handbook

Creating Leadership Routines That Stick All Year Long
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In today's episode, I wanna talk about creating leadership routines that stick. Stay tuned.
Speaker: 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. 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. I.
Welcome back to the podcast. Today we're going to be talking about leadership routines that stick and you can use all year long. , let me ask you, have you ever felt like you wish you were more proactive and less reactive as a principal?
I think we've all felt that way, right? Where we wanna lead [00:01:00] with more intention and not just fighting fires constantly. And I feel like in my experience, the best way that I've been able to do this is by having leadership routines that stick, that really does transform your year.
It reduces overwhelm and it just makes things happen routinely. I think about my principal I had when I was a teacher, and he was such a great leader, and I think about what made him such a good leader when I took over my own building and it really was.
His consistency and the routines that he had. He was so visible, but he was able to do it because it was so routine. He was in classrooms all the time. He was out at recess, he was in the cafeteria, he was around the building all the time, and he was a very routine person. ,
I think that was so important even for me as a teacher, because I just knew exactly , what he was going to be doing during the day, what to expect. , there was not this uncertainty that sometimes we have if people aren't consistent. And [00:02:00] so just having as much certainty as possible and having those leadership routines in your building, it really can help you, but it can help teachers as well.
So that's just something to consider as we talk about that in this. In this episode, but really routines create structure for you. They create predictability in a chaotic job, and like I said, they do that for teachers and students as well. My students actually looked for him to come each day. If he didn't come in the classroom, they were like, where is he?
Where's the principal? Which I just always thought was so amazing that little kids recognize if he was there or not. So having those leadership routines, it can also help you. , support your goals and your own wellbeing. I talk about this a lot. I have systems for my eight to four principle blueprint.
That is my way of leaving every day at four o'clock. It's how I coach principals on being able to leave at four. And really, it all comes down to leadership routines and systems in place. So just a quick reminder. Habits are routines that have been made automatic through [00:03:00] consistency.
I bring that up because I actually have a podcast episode. It's episode 82. Customized Leadership Habits for Principles. That would be a great one for you to go back and listen to. , if you haven't listened to that one already.
Because I talk a lot about creating routines through habits, the different ways to create habits, and we'll be refreshing on some of that as well in this episode. But I just wanted to bring that up that if you wanted to go back and listen to that one as well, that's a great episode. So why leadership routines matter?
, like I said, everybody benefits from that predictability, having those strong leadership habits and routines, it's also an area in leadership that you can anticipate and plan instead of reacting as a new leader. One of the things that stressed me out so much is I didn't know what was going to happen each day.
In the classroom, you don't know what's going to happen because students are still students and they can choose to do, whatever behaviors they wanna do. But at the end of the day, you had your structure [00:04:00] and routine of what your classroom looked like. You knew what subjects you were teaching when you knew.
You know your schedule, you had your outline of when you were having lunch, your planning time, all of that stuff. , then you become a principal and all of that goes out the door. There's no structure, and so for you, you really need to build that structure. If you want any type of stability and just consistency in your routine where you come into work and know what to expect.
And so for me, that made a huge difference when I created a clear routine of this is what my day, and this is what my structure as a principal looks like. And it helped me also have a clear focus on what matters each day. And for me, a huge piece of it obviously was instructional leadership, but that had to do with visibility because that visibility.
Helped with so many components of leadership. It helped with instructional leadership, it helped manage behaviors in the building. It helped build relationships with teachers. And so having that clear focus of being visible each day [00:05:00] is what I grounded my routines in. And we're going to talk about that in a little bit, but that is something to think about is what is your clear focus of what matters to you each day?
And then also having leadership routines helps with. Decision fatigue, right? When we have this open slate of time, you're constantly thinking about what you need to be doing. If you have just a clear schedule and routine of this is what I do at these times, then it really does reduce the decision fatigue, which we know as administrators is really helpful because you're making decisions constantly.
Also, having those leadership routines, it builds trust and credibility with teachers. Like I said, they see that consistent leadership, they see you doing . The same things. They see that routine. It brings consistency to the building and credibility with your team. It also protects your own energy and avoids burnout because you are giving yourself intentional pacing.
Okay, I'm a person who I'm like, go, go, go. And so for [00:06:00] me to have a routine where it paces me of what my day should look like, that helps a lot. Because I am a person who can easily burn myself out if I let myself do everything all at once. So that's just why leadership routines matter. , a lot of times in talking to principals, what I see with why they struggle with this, with having consistent habits are, busy schedules.
Being a principal is a busy job, and so people are constantly needing you. There can be a lot of interruptions. There's urgent things. And so it can totally take over your schedule if you let it. , also you get pressure from so many people to respond to emails, calls, and crisis immediately like they need you right now.
Like I always think of the parent who called and told my secretary, if she doesn't call me back in five minutes, I'm calling the state. And I was like, okay, have 'em call the state, right? Because. , you can't respond and be on everybody else's timeline. I mean, don't get me wrong, a parent's mad. Of course you wanna call them back in a reasonable amount of time, but if you're [00:07:00] dealing with a different situation or.
I would be in an IEP meeting and something like that might come up. No, I'm handling the IEP meeting right now. I can't call that parent back this second. I will call them back as soon as my meeting's over. , that's a struggle for principals, that constant pressure to respond to all the crisis happening.
, also an another thing that I see that principals struggle , with consistent habits is they multitask. And that really makes it hard to pay attention to things that breaks your routines up. So multitasking can, , make it hard to have consistent habits. Also, having unrealistic expectations.
I am so guilty of this, but wanting to do everything perfectly from day one or like me wanting to do too many things. This is where I get caught in a trap. So I think I can do everything in one day. And then lack of accountability or systems to help maintain those routines. So if you really wanna stick with a routine, you want to have some sort of accountability.
Or system that allows for [00:08:00] that. And then . Not aligning routines to personal rhythms and how that looks. And then priorities for the building and what actually matters to you. So these are all struggles that I see principals deal with. So I wanna talk about, , if we have these struggles, what can you do to actually make a routine stick?
So first you have to have clear priorities. . But I really want you to think about, okay, what are your building goals? How exactly do you want to achieve that? What are your priorities with those goals? And then another layer to that is what routines can help you achieve those goals.
And not 10 routines, but like one to two routines. That can help you achieve the goal. So for example, if your goal. Is, let's say it's to have more fidelity with the reading program. Maybe a routine is for you to get into classrooms daily during the reading blocks. Or maybe if your building's huge.
This all is relative to the size of your school. I always tell principals, if you're in a smaller school, this can happen more. If you're in a school that's a thousand students, it's [00:09:00] probably not going to happen. So what you could do is you could break it down by grade level, whatever that is for you.
But if your goal is to. , help with the integrity of the reading program. Then you wanna get in classrooms every day, depending on how you break that up for your building. Okay. Depending on how you break that up for your building. Another thing about routines to make them stick is they have to be simple.
They have to be clear, easy to follow, and manageable. So all of my routines that I had were super simple. For example, getting out to car duty and seeing kids every morning, standing in the hall, greeting kids, getting into classrooms every single day, like it, it didn't have to be this huge thing I had to do.
It was just getting around the building, seeing people, having conversations, making sure I'm outta my office. At lunchtime, it was just simple. Whether I was in the cafeteria, I'd go to recess, I'd be talking to teachers, but that was the time to build relationships, talk to students, and help prevent behaviors by just being visible.
[00:10:00] Okay. Also, thinking about specific timing, when are you going to do these routines? If you don't plan to do the routines at a good time for you, they're never going to stick. So for me, classroom walkthroughs I knew always had to happen in the morning. The ones that happened in the afternoon, I considered bonus walkthroughs for the most part because in the afternoon usually we had more meetings.
I had kids coming into the office. Where mornings were pretty quiet, so I would try to get into classrooms during the morning blocks, before lunch, recess. All of that started and because I knew if I waited to do that, more than likely it wasn't going to happen. So knowing the specific times that work for routines too is really important.
Also, having environmental cues like. Finishing a meeting, you go do something. , one for me was I would finish the morning announcements. It was a queue. I would go sit in my office, check my email, have my coffee, start my day. Then after I did all that about nine [00:11:00] 30, then started my next routine, which was getting out in classrooms.
Okay. Unless I had something like an evaluation at that time or an IEP meeting, but that was a trigger, I did announcements that triggered me to go have my coffee and check my email. Having my coffee and checking my email triggered me to then go out in the building into walkthroughs. Okay, so those were all triggers.
They were things I stacked. . You wanna develop routines over time. You don't want to say, okay, I'm going to start this routine of.
Doing, , car duty morning announcements, having my coffee going, all the things I'm saying. You don't wanna just start that. It has to start from wherever you're at, add one little routine to something you're already doing. Then once that becomes a routine, then you add another thing. Okay? So you don't try everything at once.
You just wanna try one thing at one time to make it stick. And then another piece that's so important is the mindset piece. You have to believe. That the routine you put in place is [00:12:00] important and worth doing daily. I will tell you, there were times I did not wanna get out and be walking into classrooms.
It's not like every day I am like, oh yeah, that's what I wanna be doing right now. It's just, I knew the power of me doing it, and I knew that I wanted to be a principal that did it every day, and , so , that's what got me out to do it. It was the mindset, it was knowing that routine was so important because it's much easier to not go do it.
But I knew it was so important. I knew it was worth doing daily. I knew it was worth pushing myself to do. Okay. And so that is why I continue to do that daily. So those are some tips to make routines stick. , again, I just wanna give you a couple different examples of some effective leadership routines.
So if we're thinking about morning routines, it could be walking halls for visibility, informal check-ins. I know there's principals who walk the building every morning before students are there. Just to say good morning to staff. That's what my principal did. , it could be walking the halls for visibility, informal check-ins with staff, with students.
It [00:13:00] doesn't even have to be going in the classrooms in the morning. Could be just reviewing your calendar when you get to work. And having your top three priorities for the day. That could be a routine. It could be that you're gonna check your email at a certain time in the morning. That's a routine.
Maybe it's even, after announcements, I send a daily email to celebrate staff for something that happened in the building, or communicate a key update, whatever you want it to be for you. Some midday routines, could be just reflecting on the day, adjusting your calendar if needed, connecting with. I always like to connect with people midday, like connecting with teachers and I mean connecting with them outside of with kids.
So our staff lounge was by my office. I would walk through there just to connect. There was a time of day where a lot of teachers had lunch. together, they would sit in there and talk. And so I would try to connect with them then because it was just good to build those relationships. Great to catch up with them.
And then I would go see kids, connect with kids, out at recess or in the [00:14:00] lunchroom. That was just a midday routine. It wasn't set in stone that I had to be somewhere at a certain time, but I just knew I had the routine. I wanted to connect with people during that time of day. And then there's your end of day routines.
So for me, I was in charge of bus duty, I always wanted to be out at bus duty. I wanted to know what was happening at bus duty, saying goodbye to kids. I liked ending the day that way. , being in the hallway actually before they were dismissed, so I could also say goodbye and watch our car riders leave as well.
So it was my way to see everybody leave for the end of the day also, I had boundaries for after bus dismissal where I went to my office. Checked my email for the last time, shut down all work devices and set my boundary for the evening that I was done with school. So whatever that routine looks like for you, you could also create weekly routines.
I had weekly routines for communication, for parents, for staff, whatever you want that to look like. So you choose those routines. You choose when those routines happen, but choose them based on your priorities [00:15:00] and what you wanna achieve. .
So again, I just wanna give you a couple of tips for starting your leadership routines. Start with just one or two key routines that align with your priorities. So just pick those things that are really important. Think of one or two routines. Keep them simple to start. Use your natural energy cycles.
This is another one. Think about when you have the most energy to schedule demanding task. For me, I'm a morning person. I have the most energy to do that. So I have to get out and about and do the most demanding things in the morning. And at the beginning of the week, I have the most energy. So I think about that too.
When I'm doing observation writeups or I have a lot to do, I try to save Fridays for catching up because it's my, day with the lowest energy just because I'm usually tired from the entire week. And so I know that and I try to plan for that on my calendar. Again, anchor, your new routines and your existing habits.
Adjust routines based on what works for your building context. Because every building's different. It [00:16:00] definitely matters what, , arrival dismissal looks like. How many staff you have in your building, how many students. So all of this will look very different for every building. And just know you have to be flexible, you have to be kind to yourself.
And routines change over time. I had a couple solid years in my building before I had really solid routines. And so I want you to think about that as a leader as well, so that if you're taking over a new building, it's not just going to happen overnight. And if you want more support with this, , I have a whole product
that helps you think about the routines you wanna create to actually make them habits it's called Leadership by design, the custom habit system for principles. And so that's going to actually help you. Create routines that become habits that stick. So I'll link that in the show notes. But I hope that you found this helpful. I hope you find those routines, just one to two simple routines that really align with your priorities that are going to allow you to feel productive throughout the day.
But do it with [00:17:00] ease by just having a routine where it happens automatic. 'cause. Remember, your leadership habits shape your school culture. It shapes your wellbeing. And routines are the foundation for intentional proactive leadership. So I just want you to think about that as we end the show.
Routines are the foundation for intentional, proactive leadership and you have the power to create a leadership routine that supports you, your wellbeing. Your goals and your school all year long. If you love this show, if you're listing on Apple, scroll down in your app and leave a of you.
I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you back here next time.