206 - Start the change; Be the change!

Wrapping up our mini-series on the Admin/Coach relationship, we’ll be talking today with Michael Roush & Lisa Kuhn about how the admin & coach can work together to create a culture that supports the transformation we want to see in our districts. As we’ve discussed in the previous episodes, establishing a healthy partnership is key to unlocking the success of a coaching program. This episode explores how you can capitalize on that partnership to create a culture of growth and systemic change.

Links mentioned in the show:

Forward Edge Coaches Camp Registration - RRPODCAST for $50 off.

Follow Michael on Twitter

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Dr. Joe Clark's If the Dance Floor is Empty, Change the Song

Podcast Team

Hosts- Katie  Ritter & Justin Thomas

Editing Team- Megan Whitacre, Michael Roush, Mark Gumm,

Social Media/ Promo Team- Annamarie Rinehart, Lisa Kuhn, Maggie Harris

Creative/Content Team- Brooke Conklin, Emily Cowan, Tracee Keough

Producers- Tyler Erwin & Katie Ritter

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Transcript

Justin Thomas: 0:00

Calling all technology coaches join for an edge this summer for a two day coaches camp packed with high quality professional development exclusively for you. Attendees will work with like minded coaches on creating strategies for teacher relationships, executing coaching cycles and building a culture of coaching and tech integration within their school district. There are two opportunities to attend coaches camp this summer. Join us either June 25, and 26th in New Orleans prior to iste 2022 or in Cincinnati on July 28, and 29 please visit foreign hyphen edge dotnet slash coach camp to reserve your spot today.

Katie Ritter: 0:37

Aloha I'm Katie Ritter.

Justin Thomas: 0:39

And I'm Justin Thomas. And this is the restart recharge podcast a podcast by coaches for coaches. We bring you the tips and tricks to help you and your everyday work as instructional technology coach for whatever they call you in your school district.

Katie Ritter: 0:51

So hopefully you're gonna leave this episode with us today feeling just a little bit less on your own coaching Island.

Justin Thomas: 0:57

And you heard that coaches promo to start off this podcast episode a reminder that because you are a dedicated listener, you can use a promo code that is our our podcast in all caps to get $50 off your registration for coaches camp. So once again, that's our our podcast in all caps. So make sure you go over there and reserve your spot today for coaches camp. And moving into our final part here for our three part series on the admin and coach relationship. We'll be talking today with Michael Roush and Lisa Kuhn about how you can have the admin and coach work together and create a culture that supports the transformation we want to see in our districts. As we've discussed in previous episodes, establishing a healthy partnership is key to unlocking the success of a coaching program. This episode is going to explore how you can capitalize on that partnership to create growth. It's called Start the change and be the change. I'll go and introduce Michael Roush. Here Michael is in his sixth year as an Educational Technology and Instructional Design coach, he believes all students can learn and can learn to define and achieve what the highest level of success means for them. His favorite days are those that result in teachers and students trying something they never thought was possible. Here in 2022. He has presented at both the FE TC which is future of Educational Technology Conference and the O etc, which is the Ohio Educational Technology Conference. So welcome in Michael Roush.

Michael Roush: 2:22

Hey, good to be with you again, guys.

Katie Ritter: 2:24

Glad to have you back. Michael and I have the pleasure of introducing Lisa Kuhn. She is back and boy she is on fire since we last chatted with her in season one, episode 12, which was PD that sticks. It was a wonderful episode, if you haven't listened, go back and listen to it after this one. But she has expanded her reach by leading PD sessions in various local area schools as well as by presenting and participating in regional and national conferences. All this while continuing to grow the culture at her home school district of about 5000 students grades pre K through 12. Over 300 educators and five school campuses. She's a busy woman folks can't wait to hear about the growth that is happening because of in particular her admin coach relationships that she has built and made a lot of leaps and bounds with with that systemic change that we're going to be talking about a little bit today. So welcome, Lisa, we are super glad to have you back to wrap up our three part mini series here.

Lisa Kuhn: 3:21

Thank you so much. It's good to be back. Can't wait to get started. Here

Katie Ritter: 3:26

we go. So okay, guys. So um, you know, we've been talking in the past two episodes about just kind of first and foremost, what what does that relationship with an admin look like? Why is it important to how can we get it on the right track? If it's off? Then we spoke with a coach admin pair from Monroe, local schools, Andrea and Logan. And they gave us tons of wonderful examples of what their phenomenal working partnership looks like. And so today, we're wrapping it up with you guys to really talk, you know, like Justin said at the beginning, how are you working with those admin to promote and change a building culture and promote a culture of growth and really focus on that systemic change? So how does your relationship with the admin at the district level those building principals, we know they are critical to our success? How does that relationship impact your building's culture or does it?

Lisa Kuhn: 4:26

So yes, I think that the admin coach relationship can impact a building, but it's not going to happen overnight or when you first walk in the door. I know that having a coach who supports the culture and is an advocate for growing this, you know, change culture, systemic growth, etc. is very, very valuable. And I think the coach can when they first start in, definitely support whatever is already in place. For example, I did a Google One training last summer, in a school that I never set foot in before. But the culture there was so positive, so supportive and so collaborative, I just ended up being one more piece of that. Versus when you walk into a school that maybe doesn't have quite that strong of a relationship built amongst staff with the support system, it becomes more of a process of growth and role modeling it and using all your efforts to make sure that you're performing in that kind of growth mindset. And then people will come on board over time. I know it's very difficult. Sometimes if you're in a disjointed area where maybe the departments, the grade levels, the buildings are in their own silos. And it's a matter of getting everyone on board to be part of one big silo instead of everything individually, but it can definitely be done.

Katie Ritter: 6:01

Yeah, well, least I think you bring up a good point of, well, first of all, that's not going to happen overnight. It's gonna take work, but like when you said that what you know, when you walk in, and that culture of growth, and like acceptance and collaboration, isn't there, I just, I was personally having flashbacks, because I think we've all kind of been in that situation where, you know, maybe the like, maybe the coach and the admin aren't necessarily working in the same direction, and you get teachers who just kind of like, roll their eyes. And here's one more initiative, and this will be over next year. So why am I going to do it now? Right, so Exactly, yeah. So I think that's why it's super important. Where the coach can, you know, help support what that admin wants, so that we're all working toward that same thing to support the teachers, Michael, go ahead.

Lisa Kuhn: 6:51

Absolutely.

Michael Roush: 6:52

Yeah, we're, I'm in I'm in the same same lane on that, on that highway on this one yet. Because really, every every relationship impacts a building's culture, whether it's for better or for worse, in its own, you know, small or large way. And for some people, they hear that and they think, oh, man, that's fantastic. And some people hear that, and that really scares them. Because of that, but it's, it really is a fantastic opportunity. Even Even a small building is really a big complex organization. Just like you can't change the culture overnight, the culture that's there hasn't developed overnight. And it's, it's not the result of some list of core values that's posted in the teachers lounge or on the school website. It's, it's not the you know, it, I see that culture as the overall tone of the interactions. And that's between the adults, between students, between adults and students. And you know, all of that really goes into that if if that tone is generally positive, supportive with the idea that, hey, we're partners in this work, then there's probably a lot of great things happening there. If that tone is generally negative, or adversarial, or even combative, then that sets up a situation where the only way someone can see themselves succeeding is at someone else's expense. And when that's the case, that school that organization is just, they're not going to move forward. When when you're seeing yourself internally, as, as, you know, working against each other.

Katie Ritter: 8:29

Yeah, I love that, Michael, and as you were talking for those for those loyal listeners, you know, Michael might be our most quotable quote, are our most quotable coach. So Michael, I'm going to share a quote with you that I love and everything you were saying just made me remember this, but an old colleague of mine, her name is Debbie Houser, and she is currently the assistant superintendent at Middletown city schools in Ohio, I have so much respect for this woman. She's phenomenal. But she always says and lives by culture is every interaction with every person every day. And Michael, so much of what you just said, it just reminded me of that, and just how important that is because it really is about you know, like you said, it's not about the values hanging in the wall in the staff room, right. It's about how we're how we're living those values and how we're treating other people even when we're stressed or even when we just had a bad moment or you know, taking time for people to really make them feel seen and valued. So I just I love what what you said and it reminded me of one of my favorite quotes around culture in schools,

Lisa Kuhn: 9:37

and I may be jumping the gun a little bit, but I know we have an upcoming episode that touches on that very topic of making people feel good those 30 seconds of interactions and how they can really make a difference. We really do need to be intentional and and build people up and that intention. It's just it makes a huge difference in everybody's day and year and how things turn out for sure.

Justin Thomas: 10:04

Definitely me that positive motivation, kind of just building everyone up. Like you said, no one wants Debbie Downer. So to have everyone kind of move in the same direction and absolutely correct with, you know, you're building that culture and it wants to be a culture of positivity. So it's very important to do that. Do you have any examples on supporting a culture of growth that been led by admin coach relationships, and you'd like books studies or peer PDS, anything like that, that you've come across or used?

Michael Roush: 10:31

I think my favorite example of this is, was a district wide book study, based on Georgia courses, the innovators mindset. Yeah, it was, it was a bold choice for the district. But it was an intentional one, this district was really launching into some deep water, they were going one to one with Chromebooks at most grade levels. They were investing in an enterprise level learning management system doing a lot of network infrastructure upgrades to try to support this, there's a lot going on a lot of new things. And it would have been very easy for them to try to do all that just by edict alone, and just throw it out there and say, Hey, okay, here it is, here's what's happening. But we knew that there would have to be a lot of how to work that went along with that, and that it would take some staff members longer to get comfortable with those changes than others. You know, what? Those aren't deal breakers. That's honestly I that's not even barriers, okay? That's just life. That's the way organizations are. That's the way people that's the way people are. That's the way people work. So they chose the innovators mindset, specifically, because it wasn't about how to use a Chromebook, how to look at digital curriculum resources, how to turn on captions, and YouTube. I mean, it wasn't about any of that stuff. It was about why why do we why are we going to innovate? Why should we try something different. And there really was a tremendous amount of buy in from teachers overall, even if they didn't perceive themselves as experts in the technology. The district did two big things to go along with that one of them. We've talked about a little bit on on previous episodes, and previous things to do with this, there was a K 12 Makerspace that they launched, to kind of help support some teachers who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have students do some new things. But the second one that they did was they launched a set of internal innovation grants for teachers, when a teacher had an idea. And they thought, hey, this would be a great idea for the district because of some great academic benefit. But the one thing standing in the way was, you know, I don't have the money to do it. The district said, Great, write up your idea. Tell us about it. If we like the idea, we'll make sure you've got the resources to do it. And that was huge. telling teachers, you know, what, if the one thing that's stopping you from doing some of this stuff is that you don't have the money to do it. Tell us your idea. Tell us tell us what it's going to do tell us that it's replicable. And we'll make sure it happens. And that has really shaped my work with that district, because I'm not coming in with my favorite resource or my favorite program and trying to get other people to love it like I do. I'm coming in to support their ideas and the things that they're dreaming of putting into place. That's awesome.

Justin Thomas: 13:17

I wish more districts would do that. I mean, there's so many barriers on on just what teachers have in their minds on why I can't do it. And sometimes it is just having a conversation with the admin, and perhaps they'll be willing to, you know, help you move forward with it.

Lisa Kuhn: 13:31

Right. And so often, too, as you mentioned, Michael, we focus on the tool, or a feature within a tool. And we really have to move beyond that to get this growth to really get its find its legs and get moving. I know that in my position. My biggest successes with that coach admin relationship has been with collaborations and hasn't been on a PD on a specific type of tool. You know, I've done little like March Madness. There are too many bathrooms in my district to do PD on the potty, but I know people who are in single buildings and works really well. So I've really latched on to growing those relationships so we can collaborate. And it's not just the building admin, it's not just the district admin to whom I report, but I've got collaborations going with our tech department, I've got collaborations going with our EMA secretaries in the buildings. Anyone who has a hand in what education is going to look like for the students, if they're needed for whatever project I'm working on, or whatever goal I'm trying to reach. I have not hesitated to knock on their door and pull them in to go on the ride with me and it has worked out wonderfully. It's really given everyone a chance to see what my role is here. And how using me can really impact what they are trying to accomplish. They don't have to do it by themselves. You're like

Katie Ritter: 14:59

the ultimate connector in the district. And I'm glad that you, you know, because I wanted to, I was hoping to get you to talk about specifically. And you're kind of like segwaying right into it at a perfect opportunity here. So thanks for teeing me up. Like how important you know, to promote this culture like Michael, you talked about, like laying the groundwork, right, like inspiring people connecting with them in their why. And what they find important is all is all very important, right pieces. But then there's also this whole system of schedules and times of day, and how many classes we have to get our kids to, and who's responsible for what and protocols and in all these, these very large systems that sometimes we ignore, when we are trying to create change? And, and, you know, like, a lot of times, it's like, hey, we want you to collaborate, but they don't create space in the schedule for that collaboration to happen, right, so. So like, what this domino effect of all these systems that interact, and Lisa, you just touched on it. So can you share a story of like, of an example of when you had to knock on someone's door that may be or get someone to pull other people in that maybe aren't traditionally who like the coach would be working with, but they were required to come to the table and everyone be a part of this conversation to change a larger system at play to ultimately impact the instruction that's happening?

Lisa Kuhn: 16:33

Yeah. So the big initiative that I was originally put into the district for was Schoology, they had rolled it out to the whole district. It was a little slow catching wind at the beginning. And so that was my big push, and even three years in, we're still working on Schoology. So it's not like an initiative starts and ends. It's a constantly evolving

Katie Ritter: 16:58

piece of work, like, not overnight, right?

Lisa Kuhn: 17:01

It's definitely not overnight. And we were in a unique situation this year, where we did a district wide building shuffle, where we renamed buildings, we moved teachers and students to different buildings. And there was this nice little renaming that occurred on the back end, that affected how Schoology was able to integrate all the information that needed. And so I ended up needing to first look at what the teachers had. And then oh, wait a minute, something's not looking quite right. Grade stopped syncing. It was just a crazy, you know, conundrum. And so it ended up that I was working with our tech department, our building admin and our EMA secretaries, at both the building and district level to try to figure out what happened. And where that disconnect was, because it was really affecting how teachers could or could not implement their LMS. I mean, a huge thing that we like, is saving time. And I'm a big proponent for that. So if my teachers are getting time added to their plates, I'm diving right in. And then this was a dive in moment. So we got it all figured out. Another example is right now we're working on creating a long term sub process, where we're going to have checklists and forms that the outgoing teacher can fill out so that the incoming sub knows exactly what they need. And that's something where I'm pulling everyone from the entire district. We've got obviously our assistant curriculum director, edtech principals, we're also having HR come into that conversation, because they're part of that long term sub process as well. So those are just a couple of big ones that have hit along the way.

Katie Ritter: 18:50

Yeah. So I think like, takeaways for our coaches and listeners, I think to get like from from those stories you shared is like, think about everyone who touches a process. So like your LMS example, right? Like, I know, part of that was, you know, making sure that courses were created in time for teachers to have access over the summer. So they could actually work to build the type of instruction and resource and axes that they wanted teachers to have in the classroom when school started. But schedules weren't complete in time. Right. So you, I mean, you were pulling in building secretaries and people who were responsible for raw, you know, the like registration and getting courses imported and backing that process up to earlier in the year so that that would be finalized earlier in the year to have courses create, right? So I mean, there was so much and so many people at play. So I think first when you're like looking to change, I just think it's important, like what are all of the connectors and like who from the systems and processes and stages of these things and who touches each one of those processes, right? So you can bring them all together and you've done a really phenomenal job in supporting a number of things from that perspective. So kudos to you, it really takes that to actually make the changes happen.

Lisa Kuhn: 20:06

It does. And I am going to throw this little piece of advice out as much as we want to go in as a coach and you know, blow the doors open and hit the ground running, Justin might remember this reference of the bull in the china shop, we really need to figure out where they are first, before we dive in, and try to push these changes that we know are going to make a difference. But we need to find out where they are. And put all those pieces together and get everyone on board because it really is a team effort. And unless the coach, if you don't, as a coach, if you don't know and understand the pieces, you're not going to be as effective as once you do know all the pieces and how they work together.

Katie Ritter: 20:49

Yeah, awesome. Michael, did you have anything that you want to add? Because I know you've done your fair share of supporting change at a systemic level as well.

Michael Roush: 20:58

Yeah, it's, I'm really kind of reminded of a friend of mine, a friend of ours, several of us on the team. Up in nordonia, Joe Clark, the superintendent there, he's got a book and I wanted to make sure that I got the name of the book exactly right. If the dance floor is empty, changed the song. You love that? Oh, it's it's one of my it's one of my absolute favorite books, when when you started talking about about organizational culture, educational, organizational culture. I mean, it really comes out of a lot of his personal experience, you know, early in education working as a DJ, if, if nobody's dead, it might be your favorite song. But if nobody's dancing, you got to change the song. And so it really is an organization, okay, and organization has a life, it has an ethos, it has all this of its own. And just like I'm not the same every day, it's hard to believe, but I don't, I don't walk into the building with a huge smile on my face whistling every day. I just don't feel it some days. And work organization is like that, to an organization goes through some highs and lows, it goes through some struggles, it goes through some of those kinds of times, nobody is saying you have to pretend everything's fantastic all the time. But you have to be honest, you have to be genuine. And you have to look for those ways to turn things to turn things toward the positive. With, again, with and it's with every little interaction that goes on, and identifying those pieces that just like, oh, you know, what, I didn't know what I didn't realize that I how much some of these people had to do with some of these things that go on some of these things. But now that we do now that we know that bring those people in, bring those people together, make sure people understand how important it is that this person is involved in this part of the process. And that that's one of those things that goes a long way towards creating those little daily interactions, that moves things toward the positive.

Katie Ritter: 22:59

Absolutely. And I know that for all of our coaches, it's not it's not always as easy as like, Hey, you're involved come to the table. Sometimes people don't want those people at the table. And sometimes those people themselves don't want to be at the table. Right? So it's we're not trying to paint a picture that once you identify, they won't come necessarily but you know, so it can definitely take some work. I know you guys have you know, in different ways had to put in a lot of work of advocating for someone to be at the table or convincing someone to come to the table. So that is not to you know, set B said flippantly but there there's definitely some work to be put in but I think the takeaway is that it's worth the work would you agree

Lisa Kuhn: 23:46

definitely it's worth the work that yeah, that the when you come out the other side it's just absolutely fantastic.

Katie Ritter: 23:54

Awesome. Well guys, this is excellent. We are going to take a quick break for our sponsors and then we will be right back

Justin Thomas: 24:02

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Katie Ritter: 25:05

All right, welcome back listeners, we are here with Michael Roush and Lisa Kuhn. And we're wrapping up our third and final episode of our admin coach relationship mini series here, we're talking with these guys about working with admin and other stakeholders is we've kind of gotten into about how to promote a culture of growth within the buildings, and how to tackle the systemic changes that need to take place in order for that culture of growth to thrive. So now, you guys have given so many great tips and a lot of things that, you know, I think coaches will want to strive for in their own districts. But the fact of the matter is, and we kind of were just touching on it before the break is that sometimes these people won't come to the table. And sometimes those very people that refuse to come to the table or invite us to the table are the admin themselves, in particular, those building admin. And we know that when building admin kind of don't acknowledge us don't lean on the coach to do the work that we just don't see the same level of changes as our buildings where principals are really supportive of that work. So for that loan coach that might be struggling with some of these things. What are some suggestions that you might have for a coach to kind of tackle this if they're kind of charging solo and just can't find that support?

Lisa Kuhn: 26:28

So I've got three that I thought sounded really good. I've been fortunate in that my admin had been very supportive of what I do. It is hard to get meetings sometimes because life is life, right. And that's just the way it goes. But they've always been supportive. I would recommend however, starting on the front lines, if you've got an admin that are really tough to work with, or I think Tyler had mentioned in his episode about, you know, you're the one always texting and emailing, but you're getting no response, start working on the front lines

Katie Ritter: 27:00

in a relationship or will be tagged explicit again,

Lisa Kuhn: 27:03

yes, exactly. Sorry, to throw you off. No, you didn't at all, start on the front lines, and find the teachers who are ready to create those relationships with you to work with you. Because, you know, if you do something successful with them, they'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on. And again, it will take time, it's not going to be overnight. But that's one way to start spreading that growth culture, even if the admin is not totally on board. Another one that I thought of was shout outs. And this can come in various ways. I know everyone on our team knows that I am by far not the queen of social media shout outs. But there are other ways that you can shout people out, you can print a badger certificate or something they did, you can put them in the monthly newsletter that you send out to the whole district. I'm even working on something where I'm hoping that we can get some teachers to present at a board meeting, because our board members don't get to see a lot of what's going on in the classrooms. And this is one way to get let them see what the teachers are doing. And then the third is communication. And it's not third, because it's the least important. It's third, because it's the saving the best for last as long as you communicate, communicate, communicate, eventually, someone's going to hear you. And it'll turn that table and it'll open that door. And it might be you know, for one little teeny tiny thing at a time, but eventually it will grow. And that kind of goes that growth kind of happens because as you're communicating as you're working with these teachers, as you're shouting them out, you're becoming dependable, and you're consistent and all these things that have been talked about in the previous two episodes. Those are your foundation points that are really going to help build those relationships and hopefully open the door with those admin who are struggling a little bit with your role.

Katie Ritter: 29:04

Awesome. Michael, what would you say for that? That lone charger?

Michael Roush: 29:09

Yeah, I've I've definitely, especially early on kind of found myself in in situations where I was, you know, felt like I was bouncing around a little bit not really not really sure where, where things were going to land. I think for the coach in that situation, you you have to find a reason to believe that tomorrow can be a little better. It won't be perfect tomorrow, but you have to know that what the you have to know what the building at least says they want to accomplish. And you have to know what you want to accomplish. And somewhere in there. You can find some overlap. And so that's your focus. That's your that's your sweet spot for that situation. Now I'm, I'm terrible at sales and marketing and all that stuff. But there's a little a truism that I learned from my friend Dr. Ron Rogers told me once we were talking about some other instructional things, he had read that when people buy a drill, they don't really want a drill, what they want is to put a hole in something. And there are still a lot of building and district admins out there who have a coach who maybe didn't want a coach, or weren't really sure what that what that meant and instructional coach or it hurts, but it's true. It really is it. The the, the truth is, they don't want to drill. But they do want teachers who are more adept at reaching students in 2022, the way they can best be reached. They do want students who enjoy coming to school because they have appropriately challenging work to do, and feel like they have the resources and support they need to be successful. And so that's what your tech coach or your instructional coach will do when you're using them the right way. So I think my advice to the coach who feels like they're, they're planting seeds in a parking lot is find that sweet spot, find that laser focus on that little part, however small, it may feel like we're you and the building, you're saluting the same flag. And every day, every, every day that you have a chance to make some positive impact on that. And you note it, document it, celebrate it, whatever you got to do to make sure that that that that shows up, because that's where that's where change is going to happen. And that's where somebody is going to really realize, oh, you know what, this, this really is pointed the same direction that I wanted us to be pointed even if I didn't realize it at the beginning,

Justin Thomas: 31:55

that was really good for both of you there. As you very well know. And if you are a avid listener of the restart recharge podcast, you know that we always finish with our top three tips. So now let's turn it over to both of you. What are your top three tips for turning your admin and coach relationship into a powerful partnership to create that systemic change and promote a culture of growth?

Michael Roush: 32:20

Okay, number one for me and I struggled a little bit trying to put this one together. So this this may sound a little odd. So that's maybe that's why I made it my first one. Don't walk in the door with all the answers, even if you have them. Have a very wise friend of mine often says the system is perfectly designed to give us the results we're getting. So if you want different results, the system is going to have to change. And system change can be can be kind of slow at times. But that's going to lead me to my second one and it's going to it's going to kind of build on something Lisa mentioned earlier. Find what Ian Jukes called the committed sardines. And Jukes had an analogy for his his blog that it takes as much as five minutes for a blue whale to turn 180 degrees. It's just a long, slow, laborious process. But you take the same volume of a school of sardines and they change direction relatively quickly. Very quickly, they're swim in one direction and suddenly there are darted off in swimming another direction. And it happens when a critical mass of them start swimming in a new direction. And biologists have figured out that that percentage is somewhere in that 15 to 20% range. It's not a majority, it's not all of them. And that's really right on that bell curve for where the innovators and early adopters are about 16% of the of the system. So you don't have to get everyone to love you. Okay, you don't have to get everyone to pull the, you know, to pull the car at the same direction you're pulling it, you just have to get that critical mass to start swimming in the new direction. So find those people to start the work with. My third one is don't get stuck in admiring the problems. There may be a lot of them and the administration may have to deal with them a lot every day. And now I'm going to I'm going to give a shout out to another one of our colleagues on this one mark Gump as the tech coach as the instructional design coach, whatever it is, you know, again that they that they call you, the afternoon bus pickup is not your problem. Okay? But when the afternoon bus pickup is the problem for your building admin, then guess what the afternoon bus pickup just became your problem? Because that's what the building admin is worried about. Every time you tried to talk to him. He ended up presenting an idea a little technology infused idea that was building admin. They loved it. They started using it and it really opened up a huge door for him to do more Things that would more directly benefit student achievement that he wanted to be there doing in the first place. So you can't get lost in admiring the problem. You can when you can implement or propose a solution, do it if not work around it. But don't paralyze yourself with a problem that you either won't solve or won't work around. Oh, how do I stop that?

Katie Ritter: 35:27

Justin never allowed to not be here to help me operate. I was trying to unmute not, but you know what? It deserved some music sorry for that. But Michael, that was bringing a mic drop of some three tips, you're blowing my mind over here, at least.

Lisa Kuhn: 35:47

This is gonna blow Michaels mind, but our number one is very much the same, just worded slightly differently. Um, I said meet them where they are, you know, you got to start with where they are in it. You don't know till you walk in the door. And that means that Yeah, even if you do have all those answers, it's probably not the time to give up. So meet them where they are to start, and then be dependable. So whether it is that you're, you know, doing something on a regular basis, or you are jumping in like in Michaels example of Mark, you know, here's this problem, oh, you know, the coach is going to help save us that grows, your representing reputation, and it grows that relationship between you and the admin. I know a lot of us who have been coaches for a couple of years, really fell into a nice little treasure chest when COVID hit. We were picking up the pieces and slinging options left and right and solutions. And so that helped a lot of us get on board. Many of you who are starting as coaches now may not have that luxury. And I know it's kind of weird to say that remote learning was a luxury.

Katie Ritter: 36:59

First time I've heard of that. Referred to as a luxury, but I'm following you, I get where you're going.

Lisa Kuhn: 37:06

Yeah, right. If you just you keep plodding along at long and you do your thing and you do it well, and become dependable. And then once you are invited to the table, make sure you come with options. And this may be a difficult one for some of you who may be the only coach in your school, the only coach in your district. This is where you want to reach out and connect with those PL lens or maybe you have friends who are coaches. Spread, spread that that net of knowledge and gather that knowledge from others. You don't have to do this alone. You're not the only one who's experienced anything that you're experiencing. There are others of us out there doing exactly the same thing. So definitely reach out and get that support for you too.

Katie Ritter: 37:54

Yeah, Lisa, we haven't mentioned it on the podcast. But that just made me realize that we probably should Justin we we are actually is kind of another branch of the podcast here, we are actually starting a PLN for coaches. So if you want to start to get connected there, you can follow us at edu coach network. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and tick tock coming soon, believe it or not, I have no idea what that means. But we'll be there so you can follow us there too soon. And then we also have a newsletter that we put out every two weeks with lots of resources for coaches. So Lisa, thanks for kind of segwaying that because you are right, it is so important for coaches to be connected with a PLN of other coaches.

Lisa Kuhn: 38:41

It is and I think we're lucky in our position in that we work with a team of coaches, and not everybody has that. So definitely reach out

Justin Thomas: 38:50

during that PLN. And, you know, maybe we'll see if we're gonna have any sponsorship from National Geographic now after after Michael start being quote, we'll see we'll see. But once again, thank you to both Michael and Lisa, for joining us in here to finish up this three part mini series on the admin and coach relationship because it really is a vital, important part for your success as a coach to get the admin on board and creating that really good relationship to impact the district. So thank you to both of you for joining in here today. Our next episode is going to be coming out on April 12. And it's going to be a good one because we're gonna have a special guest as we're going to be talking about coaching through the generations, and it is going to be Ben sonder Roth is going to be on and he's gonna be talking about kind of a presentation he did FTTC on coaching across generation, so make sure you tune in for that one. It's going to be an exciting one here on the restart recharge podcast.

Katie Ritter: 39:55

And be sure to subscribe to restart recharge wherever you listen to podcast. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at our our coach cast.

Justin Thomas: 40:06

Don't forget coaches camp is coming up on the horizon two opportunities. So make sure you use that promo code or our podcast in all caps for $50 off on that. And then also to make sure you're you know, creating a PLN right the lease is said and you're connecting with us if there's any topics you want us to discuss here on the Restore recharge podcast, make sure you reach out and talk to us on social media.

Katie Ritter: 40:27

So press the restart button.

Justin Thomas: 40:29

Recharge and coaching batteries can leave feeling a bit uninspired to coach fearlessly with the restart recharge podcast,

Katie Ritter: 40:36

and tech coach collective.

Lisa Kuhn: 40:42

Okay, I'll go first.

Justin Thomas: 40:47

There's your blue bar right there

Katie Ritter: 40:56

quick check, does everyone know their name, what year it is and where they're at. This moment, read my next question.