The Principal's Handbook

Delegation for Sustainable Leadership
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I wanna talk about how you can delegate better as a principal. That's all coming up next, right here on the Principal's 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. 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 how to delegate better as a principal, and I love talking about [00:01:00] delegation. I was really surprised when I went back and looked at my podcast episodes that I don't have one yet on delegation.
I think this is such an important topic, and I talk about this a lot. This is a big part of my eight to four principle blueprint and really here, uh, delegation, if I think about it, is probably the biggest key to my time management and being so successful with being able to work eight to four as a principal.
And so this is gonna be a great conversation today. We are going to talk about the benefits of delegation, common mistakes that I see principals making, and then, um, also some ways that I delegated in my own building, and then a takeaway for you to try now. So. That is what we are going to be talking about today.
So we're just going to dive right in talking about the benefits of delegation, and the first one is it really increases your productivity. I was super productive because I delegated. , I had an assistant principal. I know not everybody does, but I was able to delegate to my assistant. I delegated to [00:02:00] secretaries, I delegated to my counselor.
I delegated. We had playground monitors that sometimes had extra time to help in the office. I delegated to teachers, really anybody I could delegate to. So I did that in a building where I had two secretaries. I had an assistant and I had a counselor. However, I will say I didn't have an assistant every day of the week.
I didn't have a full-time counselor. , My first year we shared her. Between two buildings and I was in a school, , when I taught where , it was super small and it was just my principal and there was a secretary and that was it. And he delegated a ton to the teachers. So I learned a lot from him being a teacher that he delegated to.
But then also I. When I was an assistant principal, my principal was great at delegating. That's how she was able to get so much done. So if you focus on delegating, you really can focus on high priority leadership responsibilities because the more you give away those administrative task or things that somebody else could [00:03:00] do.
The more you can focus on the bigger picture and it really just takes away a lot of stress and things in the back of your mind that you're thinking about to be more strategic in your actions for thinking big picture. And the principal I worked with, that was what she always said is like, my job as the principal is to think big picture, right?
And if we're focused on all the little detail things all the time. It's really hard to think like that. So by delegating those things, you're able to increase your productivity and really focus on high priority leadership. Delegation is also great for leadership development. Like I said, when I was a teacher, my principal delegated to me a lot, and this is how I developed as a leader.
This was how I did my internship as a principal. He utilized teachers and delegated to them, and it really empowered me and realized my leadership potential for one. But I knew that he trusted what I did. And he helped me learn so much. And so when I was a principal, I did this a lot [00:04:00] for people. I had some teachers who were going to school to be a principal themselves, or you know, just built leadership in them as a teacher leader, even if they didn't wanna be a principal in the future.
I. I tried to help teachers realize their leadership potential and become teacher leaders, that they could influence other teachers in a good way, maybe become a department head. So there's so many different ways that you can develop teachers as leaders, and they really, really appreciate that when you do that.
And sometimes it's even content area leaders. I had a math teacher I'm thinking about. He was so passionate about teaching math, so it was really important to me that he understood that I was developing his leadership. In the capacity, like if he were to be a math coach or be an instructional leader in math because it was something he was so good at and so passionate in.
So just thinking about what people's strengths are and ways that you can develop them as a leader, , to really empower them and think about their own growth. When we have goals and are excited about our [00:05:00] own growth, it also keeps us engaged in learning and engaged in our job. Once we stop growing and stop learning that really, it makes it hard to stay engaged in our work and enjoy what we're doing.
And so by growing your, , teachers as leaders can be really helpful in engaging them in the work as a teacher. . Another benefit of delegation is building trust and collaboration. Again, it builds this environment of trust that you trust teachers and other people to do work within the school.
It doesn't have to be you doing the work. It's not you micromanaging the work, right? Like you trust in their abilities. So that's one thing, and it creates collaboration. I'm a huge collaboration person. I always try to foster collaboration between my teachers. I loved collaborating with other principals.
I have just seen firsthand with my own teaching how much better of a teacher I was when I collaborated. And I took that with me into leadership role, to one model that for my teachers, that collaboration is going to make us all better. But I [00:06:00] really, , valued collaborating with my colleagues. So it's really important that you're modeling that and you build this environment of trust and collaboration.
Because it, it strengthens the overall school culture, , and also team dynamics within that. And so you're gonna have teams that can do things and you can delegate to those teams and not have to do, , every little task for each grade level or each department because they have that collaborative structure and you trust them to do things on their own.
, And then delegation also benefits you by having sustainable leadership. So the more you delegate, you can actually prevent yourself from getting burnout. Because if you're trying to do everything, eventually you're going to get tired. You're going to get burnout, you're not going to be able to keep it all going.
And so by sharing the workload, you can actually sustain your energy and your leadership effectiveness over time. So it really is this healthier work life balance. And I talk a lot about this idea of the eight to four principle of [00:07:00] being able to leave work at your contracted time. Because over time, if you're working all the time, you cannot sustain that if you're staying after every day because you're not finishing your work during the school day.
, It's going to affect relationships, your family, it's going to affect your own wellbeing and health, and it really does make the job of a principal not sustainable. So it's important that you delegate so that you're able to prevent your own burnout and you're able to lead in an effective and sustainable way.
Now I wanna talk about common mistakes principals make with delegating. The first mistake I see is micromanaging. It's so common when you delegate to micromanage, right? When you delegate, you have to show the person you're delegating to, that you trust them. , You want to give them guidance, but you don't want to micromanage them too much.
Because you might as well do the task yourself. And I know principals who think that way, right? They're like, I might as well do the task myself because I'm gonna micromanage them anyways, [00:08:00] and I would really encourage you not to think that way. Instead, think about how can I trust this person? How can I give them guidance so that they're able to do it?
And you have to give them enough guidance. This was a big thing when I was a new assistant principal. I didn't realize how much I didn't know until I got the job, right? I knew about leadership. I. Had done all my coursework, but you really don't have the experience. And one thing my principal did for me that I really appreciated was she did a lot of modeling.
And so because she modeled how to have conversations with parents, how to discipline in a way, um, that was effective, conversations with students, conversations with teachers. After she modeled that for me within the first probably month, then I was, she was able to just delegate it and know that I was gonna do it in a way that she.
Approved of and liked and felt like we were on the same page. And so I think it's the same with delegating, right? You can model for people the things that you want them to do. You can give them an idea, [00:09:00] give them guidance, but you don't wanna micromanage them. You don't want them to not feel like they have any control of the situation or what they're doing.
, Another common mistake that people make with delegating is choosing the wrong people. So delegation. It works best when you choose the right people for the job. So you wanna delegate tasks to people who it aligns with their strengths. So I always give the example, one of my secretaries, like loved taking pictures.
She loved designing things. She was very crafty and so. It worked out well that I gave her a lot of tasks that she could really shine in those areas. She even led our spirit committee for the building because that was something she was really good at. My other secretary, the principal secretary, she was so good at being on top of everything.
Just, we have this event coming up we need to get ready for, and we have this next event, and so I just let her. Get everything ready. I let her stay on top of things, right? I wasn't micromanaging asking her. She was on top of it and giving her that [00:10:00] leadership. , Authority over these were the things that were coming up next and she knew she needed to get ready for them.
So just giving her that space and that freedom to do it. Also, you know, when you're thinking about delegating to teachers, there are teachers that like certain subject areas, there are teachers that like certain things that you can delegate. I had a teacher who loved PBIS, so he became our PBIS chair and helped me run the PBIS meetings, right?
So you just have to find the right people. . That the delegation task really aligns with things they're passionate about and things they're good at, their strengths. Another misconception I see is not utilizing secretaries enough, and I've talked to some principals that I mentor about this because they're telling me tasks that they're doing in their office that are taking up a lot of time, but they're really administrative task.
So, um, you know, working with the picture companies or. Figuring out picture cost, just little things that it doesn't have to necessarily be the [00:11:00] principal doing it, you know? Um, for example, in an elementary, and I didn't know this until I became a principal, we did our yearbooks. So the, , photo company would give us the pictures, but we had to create the yearbooks.
That was something our recess monitors did, right? I'm not gonna work on the yearbook because it's something that they can do. It's an administrative task. I did not need to be doing that as the leader of the building. So you have to utilize secretaries or utilize other people for those administrative tasks.
Anything you can do to free up leadership for big picture thinking so that you have time to do that. It's really important that you do. And then , another common mistake principals make is they don't wanna burden others. They think, I'm going to do this because I don't wanna burden others.
And I did this as a new principal and I can say that. People really did not like it. They felt like I was not empowering them. So for example, with my one secretary, she, you know, had worked with multiple [00:12:00] principals and so when I took over, I was really good at. Google and doing a lot of things, and I felt like I could do certain things myself because it was just quicker for me to do it than ask for help.
And we had some conversations and then eventually I realized, you know, I was taking on too many things that she used to help with that would be beneficial for her to keep helping with. So that was one example. Another example is I was, , trying to help department heads teachers who were department heads.
I was doing half of their job for them because I didn't want them. To have the burden of extra work because I knew they were teaching. I was only a couple years out of the classroom. I remember how much work teaching was and I didn't wanna burden them. And then one of the department heads said to me, I chose to be a department head.
I get paid for this. I want to lead. You're taking my job away from me. And it was so helpful for her to tell me that because I realize I really am, I'm trying not to burden her. I think I'm helping. But really I'm making her feel like I don't trust her to do the [00:13:00] job. So it was a really good conversation.
But I think it's a common mistake that a lot of principals make is that they don't wanna burden others. And so instead they take everything on themselves. And another problem with that is really then you're working all the time trying to get, administrative tasks done as well as big leadership tasks.
So just something to think about of what are you taking on that maybe you could give to other people. . Some examples that I wanted to share of delegation I did in my building was , I had team members who would step up in the building if I was gone. I had an assistant principal, but he wasn't there every day.
And so if he wasn't there and I wasn't there, I had a teacher who would step up and they would be the teacher leader for that day. Sometimes it was somebody who had their admin license. Sometimes it was somebody who was getting their admin license. Or just a teacher leader. And basically if there was a behavior that came to the office, it went to them.
They just documented what happened. If it was something that they felt they could just have a conversation with the student and move on, they would do that. If it was something [00:14:00] they felt like they needed to call the other principal or the superintendent, they would do that. And if it was something that they could just write down and I'd handle the next day, they would do that.
So it was really helpful to have that, and I would come back with my list of conversations I needed to have. , Also I had teachers who led professional development sessions, so I had teachers who were really passionate about math and literacy and PBIS and just different areas, and so they would lead professional development and that was really helpful because not only did it help benefit the staff, and it helped me with having things to share with staff, but it also helped empower them and made them feel like an expert in that area and it helped build their leadership capacity.
, Another thing that I really empowered my teachers to do is to support new teachers. Of course, I would support new teachers as well, but it was really important being on their team of the new teachers, that they were supporting them, that they helped new staff feel welcomed and that they helped develop their teaching [00:15:00] skills.
We all took ownership of that. , Also, you know, I had a building leadership team, so I delegated a lot through that. , Building leadership team, we had department heads. I shared instructional leadership with coaches, which sometimes was hard for me because I love instructional leadership. That's a strength of mine.
But then we got a reading coach and I realized. Utilizing her to help me analyze data and just have conversations with her about my instructional leadership and what I was doing to support teachers was so beneficial, and it was really helping me be a better instructional leader. So even though that was a strength of mine, again, , that collaborative piece and utilizing her, helped make me an even better instructional leader.
So those were just. Some ways that I use delegation. Another simple one I'm thinking of that I think is important was . I would always have one or two teachers who made the duty schedule of before and after school duties, and they would always make it very equal, but it was just something they took on for me that I didn't have to do.
That was another thing I really appreciated. The [00:16:00] teachers did. So now I just want you to try a couple things from this episode. So even if it's summer. And you don't have any teachers in the building, I want you to start identifying one administrative task that you've been handling on your
own
that you feel like you could delegate to your secretary or office staff. So think about has it been organizing schedules? Has it been some sort of communication? Another example of delegation is I did a some more communication newsletter. My one secretary who loved taking pictures, would take pictures, she'd create the newsletter, and then I would just go through, add my little section to it, and edit it and send it off to parrot.
So she really was in charge of that newsletter too. , So that's another example. So what is one administrative task that you've been handling that you can really think about, how you can delegate it? That will save you a bunch of time. Sit down with the secretaries, outline the task, and then provide any resources or instruction that they need to be able to do it.
Set clear expectations of how you want it to [00:17:00] be completed and then start the simple step of delegating. So taking this one micro step is going to help you delegate, because I'm telling you, if you're not delegating a lot now and then you just take this one little micro step and you see how it can help you, you're gonna notice that, okay, this isn't that bad.
I can go find other things to delegate. So even during the quieter months when you're working, I really encourage you to think about things you can delegate. It's a great time to. Train your office staff. Train your secretaries to be able to do things that could take some work off your plate.
And if you wanna know more about how you can delegate, again, this is part of the eight to four principles blueprint where I really dive in and teach you how to delegate in a way that's going to help you work from eight to four, be more efficient during the day.
More effective, but have more time outside of school. And if you love this 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 [00:18:00] I'll see you back here next time.