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The “three Rs” of school leadership

A quick check of effectiveness for school administrators.

By Chris Hitch

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Your influence as a school leader is more critical today than ever before. Regardless of whether you are dealing with people internal or external to your district, earning their trust is crucial to moving your agenda forward. Although at times you may succeed by issuing edicts or commands, in school situations, leaders generally must rely on their powers of persuasion.

The three “Rs” of school leadership today are as follows:

Are we putting the right people in the right places?

Where are your people deployed? Are they in places where they can be successful? Many school executives resist asking this important leadership question. You or one of your predecessors at some time in the past believed the talents of Teacher X and Staff Member Y matched the positions they now occupy. Times, however, change; talents evolve in various ways. The prudent school leader periodically reviews his or her team’s “lineup” to determine if everybody on the team is “playing” the right position. Education seems to be one of the few professions (OK, education is the only profession I know of) in which the more experienced and valuable a professional becomes, the easier his or her assignments become. The wise school executive asks the question, “Are my strongest players in positions where they can do the greatest good for the school?”

At the same time, the wise school executive must be aware of two corollary issues: overloading people with distasteful tasks because they are good at those tasks, or allowing people to do only what they want to do. The strong school leader strikes a balance between ensuring that everybody on the payroll is in a position where they can make the strongest contribution to your goals. Place your teachers where they can give you and your students the biggest bang for your educational buck.

Are we using the right metrics?

We’ve all heard, “What gets measured, gets done.” Mr. Murphy (of Murphy’s Law fame), would add, “Make sure you measure the right things.” Make sure that the measurement criteria you use are applicable and produce as few unintended consequences as possible. Some areas that school principals are measuring now include the subgroup analysis of NCLB, the usage of professional development funds, and the time and money that is being spent on technology. Whatever areas you measure, make sure that your metrics are giving you the results and reporting that you need.

Are we making a difference?

Dudley Flood talks about making sure you have a periodic “checkup from the neck up.” He asks, “Upon whom do you rely for your happiness and success?” and then answers his own question: “It should be nobody but yourself.” What do you want to accomplish? What one, two, or three major initiatives do you want to accomplish within the next twelve months? Determining what you want to accomplish, setting your plan, implementing that plan, and seeing the results can give you a tremendous sense of professional pride. To successfully implement your initiatives, you must engage others. To fully engage followers, you must build trust.

David Maister, in his book The Trusted Advisor, notes that trust can be reduced to an arithmetic equation:

Trust=(Credibility+Reliability+Empathy)/Self Centeredness.

Credibility focuses on the words (“I can trust what she says about…”). Reliability focuses on actions (“I can trust her to do…”). Empathy focuses upon emotions (“I feel comfortable discussing this with her”). Finally, self-centeredness focuses on motives (“I can trust that she cares about this for me, not herself…”). High values in credibility, reliability, and empathy, coupled with low values in self-centeredness creates a high degree of trust. One of the best ways to build trust is to spend time with your clients face to face.

These three “Rs” are important tools to accelerate your leadership agenda. They are essential to amplify the critical priorities in your school and district today.