Category: Uncategorized

The pandemic is creating what some have referred to as a “new normal” for school districts. Teachers have been forced to seamlessly integrate technology into their instructional practices, interaction with parents has been enhanced, and competition for students has increased due to the introduction of micro schools and other forms of flexible learning models. Although most believe school districts will bounce back to a more “traditional” educational format post-pandemic, it will never be the same as it was before. The reality is superintendents and other school leaders need carve out time to conceptualize (collaboratively) how a post-pandemic school system might …

I have been reflecting lately on superintendents and other leaders across our nation who are beset by the challenges of addressing COVID, while simultaneously needing to focus on what comes next. It is this paradox of leading the organization in the current, while saving enough mental and emotional bandwidth to consider what will be required a year from now that is of concern. In today’s post I would like to briefly discuss the paradox of leading from a “current and next” perspective, how our inherent mental and emotional wiring impacts our thinking, and finally what leaders can do to manage …

I have been reflecting on what we can learn from our country’s recent political environment, and how we can apply these lessons to our leadership. My intent is not to make a political statement, but rather to step back and look broadly at leadership actions, assessing what works and what does not. In the following paragraphs I have identified three lessons we can apply, all of which directly impact how we function as leaders. Each lesson is borne out of what we have recently experienced, and I believe can impact us greatly if followed on a daily basis. It’s Typically …

It seems to me that one of three scenarios play out in leaders’ lives when faced with challenges: 1) They abdicate their leadership role leaving actions to be guided by others, or 2) They find ways to persevere and survive the situation as best they can, or 3) They learn to thrive, regardless of the scenario which comes before them in their lives. The question is how do leaders achieve the third scenario, especially now when faced with the greatest challenges of their professional career? The answer, I believe, comes down to focusing on a simple yet difficult to follow …

As a superintendent I was often called upon to address questions about a current event or decision in the district which was the product of rumor, mistruth or hearsay. It was frustrating, but at least I was asked! Too often these tales are kept underground and take on a life of their own. Superintendents are then compelled to spend days, if not weeks, working to correct the record. To combat these issues we must first understand the process by which they travel, but then consider how we can move to “correct the record”. We must design a system, that is …

Superintendent success, as we all know, is the result of mastering multiple competencies. Many of these competencies seem logical for an educational leader, but others are paradoxical. Although certain of these competencies can hold the power to control our destiny, we often don’t think about them from this perspective. In a paper titled Exemplary Superintendents’ Experience with Trust, written by two professors from Northern Arizona University (Drs. Frank Davidson and Thomas Hughes), they outline a few of these skills which I believe we can learn from as we seek to better understand superintendent competence. The skills can be seen as …

Q. How do you guide board members when they are faced with complex, controversial decisions? A. Regardless of whether we are in a period of crisis we need to help our boards operate from a pre-determined foundation; a set of core values. In the absence of established core values any idea becomes acceptable, which is almost always problematic. Superintendents should be working with their boards to establish these core values, if not already in place. Additionally, tenured superintendents likely use individual, ongoing conversations with board members as a method to “care and feed” them in their role. We need to …

It takes a lot of resilience to be in leadership right now. A primary reason is that superintendents and their teams are working in the gray; there are no clear answers and with every decision at least one group of constituents is unhappy. Working in this environment can be exhausting, especially when one does not know how long this will last nor how severe it will become. Questions present in superintendents minds today include what if a student or staff member in my district contracts the virus, or worse yet passes away? How will I handle such tragedies? Unfortunately, some …

This past week I reviewed the VUCA leadership concept to determine whether it could serve as a potential framework for helping superintendents and their teams as they plan to reopen schools sometime this year.  I found the concept useful as it was designed to address crisis conditions and to assist leaders in breaking down the volume of information confronted when dealing with challenges like COVID-19.  In today’s post, I want to unpack the concept a bit and outline how it might be valuable.  If you have never heard of VUCA keep reading as it might be of interest to you …

Superintendents and their teams are faced with making many of tough decisions right now regarding the upcoming school year.  The challenge with these decisions is that we are in uncertain times, guidance from the state and federal levels shifts frequently, and our stakeholders are not on the same page in terms of their desires. School districts are conducting surveys and gathering as much information as possible to ensure the decisions they make best serve the needs of their students, staff and community.  The problem is that we can’t always conduct a survey on every issue we encounter, but we can …