Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Principal JL is an educational leader who explores various topics facing educational leaders today! The Mission of this podcast is to inform and inspire other Educational Leaders on how to be their best for their Schools by honing their skills and talents so they may impact their teachers, staff members, students, parents/guardians, and community members positively for their School District! Come with a Growth Mindset as we journey through Educational Leadership!
Educational Leadership with Principal JL
Episode 13: Coach'EM Up Leadership Series: Leading by Example!
Unlock the keys to transformative leadership in education and learn how leading by example can inspire change and growth within your school community. Imagine turning challenges into pivotal learning moments that strengthen resilience and innovation. In this episode of the Coach-Em-Up Leadership Series, we explore the power of authentic leadership, emphasizing the vital role of educators who embody the values they wish to instill, such as commitment, work ethic, and a growth mindset. We promise insights into building trust, fostering a positive atmosphere, and encouraging a culture where both staff and students relentlessly pursue excellence.
Through real-life experiences, including navigating a swatting incident at a high school, we discuss how to handle adversity with resilience and grace. By balancing empathy with decisive action, leaders can empower teachers to take innovative risks and embrace failure as a stepping stone to success. From implementing new policies that align with school goals to maintaining a positive energy that fuels continuous improvement, this episode is a treasure trove of strategies for educational leaders dedicated to making a significant and lasting impact. Join us for a journey filled with actionable insights and shared wisdom aimed at collective professional development.
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Email: the.principal.jl@gmail.com
Welcome educational leaders. We're back for another episode in the Coach-Em-Up Leadership Series. Today we're going to talk about leading by example. Yes, us, we got to be able to lead by example as educational leaders. We can't just be sitting in our office hoping that the everything's just going to run smooth, but we got to be able to get out. We ought to be able to show that you know what we're willing to learn and grow. If we're asking our staff to learn and grow, guess what? We got to do the same thing, and so we're going to talk about seven different takeaways in this episode. When it comes to leading by example, we're really going to dive in how educational leaders can inspire their teams, their actions and not just words.
Principal JL:Leadership isn't about titles, everybody. Yes, you may be the principal, you may be the administrator in your building, but you know what you are also the face of that building, and your energy is valuable. And how you come to work and how you express yourself, how you interact with people, matters because you set the tone of your building. And that is true because the energy you bring is the energy that you put off and it's the energy people receive. And what kind of energy do you want to bring, and so we want to be able to lead by example. We want to embody the values that we talk about. We want to show the work ethic, we want to show the commitment, we want to encourage that growth mindset and we also want to build that trust and motivate people to do their very best, because if we come to work prepared and ready to go every day and I know it's tough sometimes're in. I know it's tough sometimes, guys, I know it's tough to come in, and there's going to be those days that are not great. There's going to be those days that that, just you know, beat you up, but that's why you have to learn how to take care of yourself as well when you're not in a building, so you can come back vigorated and renewed and ready to go to tackle the day. Yes, this job is hard. I get that but at the same time, you get to choose your attitude. You're going to choose how you come into the building every day, and so one of these takeaways we're going to talk about is about being a role model.
Principal JL:We want staff to feel welcomed and ready to go. We want our students to feel welcome. We have to provide that to them. And we want to model empathy. We want our students to feel welcome. We have to provide that to them. And we want to model empathy. We want to model commitment to lifelong learning. We want to model those things. We got to do those things. We got to be going to workshops and being able to learn from each other as leaders so we can become the best leader we can.
Principal JL:And when we are modeling and we are showing people in our building, you know the expectation and not just saying this is the expectation, but actually doing the expectation. That's key. And so there's times where you come together as a staff and say, hey, we're committed to this goal. Well, you got to be able to be a part of that. You got to be able to model and show that. You know what? If my expectation is have every student and staff member in my building to wear an ID, I better be wearing my ID and I better be wearing it correctly. Because I got to model that. I got to show people that, yes, it's important. Even Principal JL's got to do this too. And it's not just something that we do because you know we want to, it's because there's a purpose behind it, and so we want to be able to model the things that we say that we want.
Principal JL:With that, we got to build that trust. We got to model how we build that trust, how we talk to people, how we connect with people. We got to be visible. We got to get in the classrooms. We got to be at school activities. There's times where, you know, going to that school activity, those students love it. I mean, you know they get to see you outside of the school building and at their activity and you know it's also yes, as leaders we are supervising events and doing things like that. But just, you know, be intentional about being visible so they see you, not just you, but the community parents. They love seeing you out and about and being a part of, you know, the activities that the school has going on as well.
Principal JL:And you got to be authentic. Like you can't sit there and, you know, be a fake person. You got to be who you are. You know, and that's going to go a long way. And if you're authentic and you are who you are, people, some people may like it, some people may not like it, but you got to be OK with that Because, as a leader, we're in a position to where there's going to be things and decisions we're going to make that no one's going to like, and that's fine, as long as we keep in mind that this is the best for our students, this is the best for our teachers and our staff. We want to make sure we take the time to make those decisions, because when that decision is made, you want to make sure it's the best possible decision at that time.
Principal JL:And if you make a mistake, you got to be able to admit that you messed up. All right, it's okay to make mistakes, but it's not okay to say, you know, was it your fault? Because if it was your fault, and to have some humility and to say you know what I screwed up, that goes a long way, because we're human, we're people, just like them. Our staff is going to screw up, our students are going to screw up. The whole accountability piece is there. You hold yourself accountable, like you hold the students and your staff accountable as well. So admitting mistakes is a part of that being a role model as well.
Principal JL:Besides just being a role model, the second takeaway we're going to talk about is demonstrating professionalism. You want to approach challenges with integrity, composure and fairness, like there's going to be situations but you got to be professional about it. You can't take things personally, because when you take things personally, a kid, may you know, cuss at you. Don't take it personal, because they may be having a bad day, teacher may be upset, need event. Don't take that personal. Let them vent, be that ear for them. They just need event. They need to get that out but at the same time, help them find that solution. All right, that's part of that teamwork. That's that culture we want to build.
Principal JL:We talked about, you know, in our communication. There's going to be times you're going to have people get upset at you. You're just going to have to be like, okay, let's talk about it. But yet there also is a a level to where, if it goes too far, you got to be able to say you know what? It's probably not time to talk about this right now. Um, let's go ahead and let's take a break or figure out another time, and when we're all not emotional, we can sit down and talk about that situation. So there's going to be times you're going to have to do that and I've done it to where you're going to have to understand yes, we are here to help, we're here to listen, but yet there's times where, if someone takes it too far, we've got to be able to shut that down because we've got to maintain the educational environment and the build and we can't have too many disruptions when those things happen. Being able to be professional, having grace, being able to see other people's perspectives and being able to understand them and try to get a full picture is another way to lead by example.
Principal JL:The third key we're going to talk about is commitment to continuous learning. We tell our staff to be growth mindset. We tell our staff to always be learning, tell our staff and our students to do all these things. But you know what we need to do it too. We need to be able to have professional development opportunities. We got to be able to go connect with other principals, like we have regional meetings, and we got to be able to go to those regional meetings and connect. We have state conferences. As principals, we need to go to those state conferences, connect. You know we need to be able to go to a national conference once in a while. Connect with people around the country.
Principal JL:Ok, find ways to learn and grow. There's ways that you can do that. There are platforms and people out there that are sharing content that help us become better leaders, and we got to be able to find those things and grow with it. You got to set goals for yourself what kind of leader you want to be. Hey, this workshop looks like it's something that would fit really well within my leadership style. Maybe go explore that, see what that's like.
Principal JL:One thing I'm looking at is trying to figure out some programming. So there's some workshops that talk about a specific program that we may look to adopt. We're not sure if we'll do that, but heck, we might go to that conference and as a team and go. You know what? Is this something that helps us? And if it is, why not use it? That's kind of how our school improvement team works. Is where we find things from these different workshops, or exploring or asking questions or talking to people about such situations. We find answers by doing that.
Principal JL:If you're just sitting in your school and hoping things are just going to work out or just magically get better, they're not. You got to be able to find ways to find solutions to that. And by able to have they're not. You got to be able to find ways to find solutions to that and by able to have a growth mindset yourself. You got to reach out. You got to go out and have those learning opportunities as well and be transparent, like tell people you know what I'm always learning as well. I'm looking to be better. I'm not just sitting here thinking I have all the answers, because if you have all the answers, man, I'd love to talk to you, because I'm pretty sure no one has all the answers when it comes to leading a school building.
Principal JL:The fourth thing we want to talk about is cultivating resilience, just being resilient. Okay, we got to be able to thrive in adversity and we got to be able to adapt to challenging situations. One of the things that helps me as a building leader is my military training. When adverse situations happen, I go into a certain mode. Oh, like that, like I can just click and turn it on and I just know what I'm doing because I've trained for it. I understand this is a situation I have to um, you know handle, and we have systems in place to trigger the different things we have to do.
Principal JL:So my first year at the current high school that I am the building principal at, we got swattedatted. Okay, if you don't remember that, it was about three years ago we got swatted. There was those phone calls going to saying hey, there's a shooter in the building you know of this school and this part and it. Thank goodness it was. It was not real. But when you have six police cars roll up to your building and come in and say we're locking you down, that's adversity, that is scary and it's something that you're not expecting. But how you handle that and being able to handle that adversity and get to what you got to do and hit your systems and making sure everybody's safe and making sure all the things are happening. Now, thank goodness it was a fake phone call, it wasn't real. So but just the the aftermath of that situation, there was a lot of adversity, there was a lot of scared people and that was something that you know you have to be able to handle and fortunately for me, with some of my background before I became an educator, I was able to handle those things, able to get the people where they need to go. We also grew and learned from it, because did we handle it perfectly? No, but we also were able to tighten up some procedures because of that and so being able to be resilient yourself when those things happen will help model resiliency to everybody else, because then they can see when your principal is under pressure. This is how they handle it, and that's a lot of times can inspire them to handle those things as well, and so being able to show your resiliency is important as well.
Principal JL:The fourth thing we want to talk about is balance and empathy with action. Ok, now we want to be able to support our teachers. All right, we want to be empathetic for them, but we don't want to hold their hand all the time. We don't want to tell them what to do all the time. We've got to be able to help, support them and help them arrive to the solution. A lot of times, they already know the solution. They just need to talk it through. They just need you to listen to them and help them understand. This is where that communication piece comes in, but you also want to empower them to take ownership of that situation as well. There's times where they just have like, have the situation, I don't know what to do. Can you help me? Yes, let's talk about it, let's find solutions, but let's also help them be a part of that conversation when you find a solution to that situation, they can go out and be successful at that situation. Another thing to talk about is within balance and empathy.
Principal JL:And action is and this is something that I struggle with, because I want to be able to build the morale of my teachers, but yet I don't want to do it so much it's not meaningful, if that makes sense. So where I want to do things to show my staff that I appreciate them, that hey, I appreciate the job you're doing, I appreciate these things and I want to celebrate those things with them, and so I have to be able to balance. When it's too much, when it's you know, we're right in the year, and so I kind of schedule things out to be like at this time, these are things I want to do to show my staff that I appreciate them. We want to celebrate not just the big things but also the small things, the day-to-day things, the things that go unnoticed once in a while, and be able to tell your staff and be able to model, like you know what you're valuable. I appreciate you and I'll be honest, the staff will do that back to you when you model that, and it's really interesting to see because when you show them your appreciation, they show you their appreciation too, and that was something that takes me back. When that happens because I generally do care about my staff, I generally do appreciate my staff, and when they say it back to me, it makes me go. You know what? We're on the right track, we're where we need to be, and that makes it worth it.
Principal JL:The next thing we want to talk about, the sixth thing, is basically fostering innovation and risk-taking. I tell my staff don't be afraid to take risks, learn from failure, be growth mindset but us as leaders have to be able to do that too. Your big growth mindset, but us as leaders have to be able to do that too. I'm going to tell you, when we implemented the attendance policy this year, I was scared. I was nervous because I didn't know how it was going to go. But this is what I did know. I know the school improvement team worked their rear ends off to create that policy. They put the steps in place to provide the intervention that kids need so we can cultivate a school where attendance is important and kids know that we want them there. And if we're not there, how can we support them so they can be there. I was scared. I was like you know what I had to say to myself screw it, we're going to do it and we may fail at it, but that's okay, because what we're doing is we're trying something new, we're trying something different, and when you, as a leader, can do that, you're going to model to your staff. It's okay to sometimes throw caution to it and try something different, because if it works, it's something that will transform your school. If it doesn't work, at least you're learning and growing from that experience.
Principal JL:The final thing we want to talk about when leading by example is about leading by example with your purpose and vision, is about leading by example with your purpose and vision. Your actions have to align with what you guys are trying to do within your building. I talked about the ID thing. My action of wearing the student ID is showing you know what I'm aligned with the vision that we have. We want all students and staff to wear their student IDs. There's reasons behind it. A lot of it's safety, but there's a lot of reasons behind it that I won't go into. But there is an expectation.
Principal JL:Some other things that I need to align myself with every day is the expectation of our personal devices. Our policy is basically you don't have your device out during instruction time. Can you have it in transition? Yes, can you have it at lunch? Yes. Can you have it before and after school? Yes, you can have it those times. As a building principal, we'll be out in the hallways checking on kids walking around. If a kid has the cell phone out when they're not supposed to, I'll take it because I'm aligning myself to the vision and the expectation we're having with the school and what we decided to be tied on. And if I'm not modeling that, basically I'm telling my staff that I don't care about that, ok, and I'm telling my staff that it's not important. So I have to be able to model the expectations. And the best thing about that is we're all working this together and it's frustrating at times because we're not always all together on it, but for the most part we are very consistent with that Because when you model those things, you're bringing that unity within the whole building.
Principal JL:To say you know what this is what's important to us, what we're tied on and what we need to do. To say you know what this is what's important to us, what we're tied on and what we need to do because we want to provide a safe learning environment for our students. But we want to provide an environment where students can learn and grow and for our teachers to learn and grow, and then, as leaders, we got to be willing to learn and grow. Well, there you guys have it. Those are the seven takeaways that you can use to lead by example. We all lead differently, and that's okay. We all have different strengths, and that's okay.
Principal JL:But, at the same time, find something that you can do, that you can model, that say you know what? I support you. I am going to do the things that we say we're going to do because it helps me grow as a leader. And if I'm growing as a leader, our teachers are growing and our students are growing and our staff are growing. Everybody's growing together and that's really the important thing.
Principal JL:It's not about just leading and telling people what to do and sitting around and letting things just happen. It's about actually showing people that you're in it to win. It is what I like to say we're in it to win it. We're here to help you and inspire you and help you become successful because, like I said before, you get to choose, as a leader, what kind of energy you're going to bring to your building and if you're going to bring a positive energy to where you're helping people learn and grow.
Principal JL:Yes, we understand that the job is hard and there's going to be times that, oh man, this is really going to be rough because of X, y, z. But you know what? We find solutions and we find systematic ways to solve those issues so they're not as negative as you want to be. Could you take those negative events and turn them into a positive? To where did you learn from it? Did you grow from it? And that's really important to keep in mind because, as a leader, when we lead by example, we're learning and growing. We can motivate our staff to do the same. There you guys have it. I hope you guys enjoy this episode. If you did, please like and share it with your friends and other educational leaders and get the word out for some free PD for everybody. Like I always say, look to every day to always be 1% better.
