The Power of Decentralizing Your School Leadership

Who says that the key to successful school leadership lies solely in the hands of the principal? This episode is about to challenge that notion. We're turning the spotlight on the power of decentralizing leadership in schools and the remarkable difference it can make. Over-centralization can lead to slow decision-making processes, burnout, and exhaustion. We dare to imagine a different, more balanced approach to leadership, one that empowers assistant principals to take charge and contribute to the success of their schools. 

This episode is a must for those who believe in shared responsibilities and the potential of every team member to lead. By empowering assistant principals and distributing responsibilities, we create room for deeper conversations and strategic thinking. We discuss how investing time in developing these leaders can create a more responsive, dynamic, and inclusive leadership structure. Our journey explores the ongoing process of decentralizing leadership and the rewards that come with it.

But we don't stop there. We underline the significance of continuous learning and growth, using personal experiences to illustrate the point. The power of learning from others and how it can be used to grow and become better leaders is a key takeaway from this conversation. We believe in reaching out and asking for help, and we encourage all educators to do the same. From empowering assistant principals to fostering a culture of continuous learning, this conversation is set to redefine what effective leadership in schools looks like. Tune in, and let's reimagine leadership together.

Chapters

• 0:05 Decentralizing Leadership in Schools
• 8:50 Empowering Assistant Principals and Distributing Responsibilities
• 24:25 More Responsive Leadership Structure
• 29:13 Embracing Continuous Learning and Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

The other day I sat in my office and I was exhausted. I was asking myself why does this feel different? My body hurt, my mind hurt. I was running on E and the soft voice whispered to me and said because you're doing everything, because you're doing everything In this episode of the Sneak Principle Podcast, we're going to talk about decentralizing leadership in your school. Let's go ahead and start.

Speaker 2: 0:45

When they see me, they know that every day, when I'm breathing, it's for us to go farther. Every time I speak, I want the truth to come out. Every time I speak, I want to shiver. I don't want them to be like. They know what I'm going to say, because it's polite. They know what I'm going to say and even if I get in trouble, you know what I'm saying. Ain't that what we're supposed to do? I'm not saying I'm going to rule the world or I'm going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world, and that's our job. It's to spark somebody else watching us. We might not be the ones, but let's not be selfish. And because we're not going to change the world, let's not talk about how we should change it. I don't know how to change it, but I know. If I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody going to clean it up. And now he's been promoted. His job is principle.

Speaker 1: 1:40

What's going on everyone. This is chain Joku snicker principle, and in this episode we're going to talk about something that is essential and I'll be honest with you, it's something that a lot of school leaders struggle with, even the great ones. But, however, those who are extremely successful have mastered this and I've made a part of their philosophy in leadership, and this is nothing new, this is nothing that's revolutionary, but, however, it's something that's essential and I'm doing my best, moving forward, to utilize my notes so I'm not just running off the top of my head and repeating myself. So these centralize in school leadership, and what I mean by this is you have a school, you have the principle, and a typical structure of that leadership hierarchy is you have the principle that one person and they kind of oversee everything, and maybe you might have an assistant principle or a few of them and they now assist you in overseeing everything. And the problem with that is, if you are a new leader or you're a leader who is a little OCD, excuse me, or a lot OCD, you have to know everything that's happening. And by you knowing everything that's happening which you should know, everything that's happening I'm not saying that you should be ignorant about what's happening in school or in any capacity. But if it is your voice that's consistently in all these spaces the guidance counselors, special education, parental outreach, what's happening in the cafeteria, as far as the meals for the week or the day, all these different places, the custodial staff what happens is all those people now rely on you to be the voice that they will listen to.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Some of you might disagree with this. This is just right with me on this. Maybe it's just my experience, but if you're a school leader, have you ever had this kind of day? You're driving to work, you're going through all the things you need to do that day. If you are those of you who are better than that and spend the night before, you take your notes and you do your to-do list, you have those things and you're like OK, these are the things that have to be done. So you plan it out. You walk into the building and you say, ok, I'm going to walk in, I'm going to do morning arrivals, then from there, I'm going to grab my notebook, I'm going to go to my first observation. After my first observation, I'm going to do two or three more observations. Then from there, I'm going to take a district call I'm going to do this and that and everything is scheduled.

Speaker 2: 4:51

However, that's not what happens.

Speaker 1: 4:54

You walk in and you have a parent who's waiting to see you. And now that situation could be a big thing or a small thing, but no matter what, it knocks you off your schedule, but you must handle that. Then, after that, you have somebody from the city guidance team that says hey, we got this call from ACS. Blah, blah, blah. What do you want us to do? And for those of you who don't know what ACS is, is our version of Child Protective Services. And you're like OK, this is an important matter, so let me jump in support with that. Then you have a teacher who's now upset because X, y, z happened and you need to address this because it's probably a step around. So you're doing that. Before you know it, it's 2 o'clock and you're sitting there like what just happened. My whole entire day went by me. And it's even worse when a lot of these things are being brought to you by your leadership team. So your teacher leaders, your assistant principals, they're bringing all these things to you and no one is taking the initiative to make a decision. They will not move until you say, until you, the individuals say this is what should be done. But when you look back, you're like wait a minute. They know what should be done. We've been working together for years. They're experts at what they do. But, however, because leadership is centralized, with you being the tip of the sword, no one moves until unless you move, which now happens to create a situation where nothing really moves, or, if things are moving, they're moving really, really slowly, because it's an extra step before decisions are made, and that extra step is you. And again, yes, there are certain things that you have to make that decision hence down, without a doubt. But, however, let's say, for example, you walk in and that parent who shows up, maybe your school could have had a structure that, when they come in, depending on what the issue is, if there's something to do with the sentence and the instruction, maybe your system principle of instruction is the one who's meeting with them to deal with that situation. If there's something to do with, maybe, a guidance issue, maybe that child's guidance helps the person who's meeting with that parent Rather than the parent coming to you then you're now saying, okay, I heard you, let me bring someone so into support you in this, but this is the person who's handling that. You know what I'm saying. So you have the extra step, because now this is explained to you. You gotta go find another person and it's explained to them that you do a handoff and you know you've lost 20, 30, 45 minutes, and it just happens all throughout the day.

Speaker 1: 7:38

And I know there's this belief that leadership is ever being ever present in every situation, but it's not effective leadership. You know, there's this thing called distributive leadership, and that's what I'm saying, when everything is centralized rather than being decentralized, meaning that there's other people in it that you've been empowered to, have been trained and then know what to do, and they also know when the matter is of such urgency or of such importance that you have to be involved. And that's something that can be established relatively easily, like, hey, if it's this issues, call me into those meetings, or if it's something where you're stuck on. And this is the principle whoever cannot support you, they bring me in, but I'm powering people to do their jobs, and this is what I'm talking about here. So I just laid the groundwork for this conversation or this podcast episode, excuse me.

Speaker 1: 8:42

So now let's talk about the power of empowered assistant principles. So assistant principles play a crucial role in the school success. There's no doubt about that, however often I was the assistant principal and I can attest to this they find themselves stuck in disciplinary roles, handling operational tasks with very little room for strategic input. They are literally the school's butler, the school's, the principal's goon. They don't move unless the principal says move, and I feel like that is such a waste of talent and capacity. There's a reason the role is called assistant principal, because the training the principal went through to become a principal is the exact same training that an assistant principal goes through to become an assistant principal. So, with that being said, why not create a situation where, as a principal, you're empowering your APs to be part of you?

Speaker 1: 10:02

So I've told my principal and, I'm sorry, my assistant principal, that we are a two-headed, four-armed, four-legged principal. He has the authority to act on my behalf on pretty much everything, and we're able to do that because he and I are in constant dialogue. If it's me driving and something about to my head to give him a call, hey, I was thinking about this. What do you think about this? I make very few decisions without him being part of the conversation and him having input in that decision-making process. And yes, there's certain things where there's no question I have to make a decision, I have to make that executive decision. But even when I make those executive decisions, I try my best to loop him in before I push the button and say the decision has been made. Or if it was a situation where I had no choice to make that decision immediately, then he's copying those emails. I have a conversation, hey, just let you know. This is what happened and this is what happened. And I just want you to make sure you're in the loop, because if I'm not here, you know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 11:12

And again, that's how you empower principals. I'm sorry, that's how you empower and assist the principals and by doing that, the pressure is off your back by tons. Because now listen, if you're trying to carry the whole world by yourself, that's a lot, but if you got two of you sharing that load, it becomes much easier. Your capacity for thinking and doing those other things becomes so much easier. Those of you who know me personally and I say this all the time I was fortunate enough early in my career to have principals, actually two principals back to back, who empowered me when I first became a dean Scott, who was my first principal. He was like as long as no surprises. You know, rock on as long as you're following the chancellor's regulations and the rules and everything else, rock on. If you're stuck in something that you're not clear about, you know, let me know. If you're making a mistake, it's okay, because it's better to fix a mistake than to make no movement. And then we have a disaster.

Speaker 1: 12:33

And I was like, okay, and because I was given that leeway, you know I didn't just go out and beast, I was very thoughtful while I was doing because I knew I was representing my principal. I knew that whatever I said, whatever I did, had a direct connection to the function of the school under his leadership. I was his mouthpiece. I was moving within the same steps of vision of the mission and vision of the school according to my principal and the only. By doing what I did, I took off a huge load office plate. You know I was. I was handling school culture, the discipline, supporting teachers with classroom management so he can do the stuff he needs to do around instruction. You know, before I got there he was doing everything himself. You know he empowered me to be, you know, his right-hand man in that space.

Speaker 1: 13:26

Then my second principal who took this and took this and took what Scott did and put on steroids. John said listen, you're going to come and be my dean. A year later he was like I think you have the makings of a school leader, so I'm going to open the vaults and you're going to be part of my leadership, like, truly my leadership, so you're going to run. It's funny because at the time I thought, man, this is a lot, but he gave me the ability to be who I am today. I was, I was the dean, eventually became assistant principal, I was running the math department, I was special education coordinator, I ran the science department and I was doing all these different things. But then eventually I was supporting the parent coordinator in her work, you know, and it was like he was like here are the things I'm training you how to do, you know again. But it was funny. He had the same expectation that Scott did no surprises, we're talking, we're engaging, we're having conversations, and and so he was always aware of that. But, however, I cleared a huge portion of the load for him so he can do the school building things, the community outreach to bring the resources in. You know and it was funny because you know, joking back then a lot of parents thought I was the principal, you know and it's funny because some people, some people will hear that but, like you know, he wasn't doing it. No, he was doing a lot and, however, he empowered me to be able to support him in his, in his work, and that was my training ground towards becoming a principal.

Speaker 1: 15:08

When I became a principal, there was literally very, very little that rattled me because I was like, I've already been in that space. I've been part of this deeper conversations, I've been part of those, those decisions making processes that move the school forward. Because, you know, I was allowed to be part of a two-headed or, in that particular case with John, a three-headed, six-armed, six-legged principle. It was myself and another great school leader, max. So we were the three of us together and, again, my principles were my principle. That didn't change. He was the head, but we were extensions of him. So think about that. It's very important.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Some of you might say, well, my system was young or they're weak or all excuses, but the thing is this people don't move until they're moved. You have to redistribute responsibilities, empower your APs or your vice principles and also exercise discretion. Maybe there's certain things that you know without a doubt. If this is messed up, this is truly on me. I have to be the one. But what about all the other things that literally come on now? Does the cafeteria lady or a man have to come to you with everything? Can that be sent to your system principle? Who can now make decisions or come to you at a little point so you can get through your day? Are there certain things that can be handled by certain people who already have expertise in those areas, so that all they have to do is inform you of what's happening and what they're doing and you can give them feedback and let them keep moving, so you have the space and time to do that?

Speaker 1: 17:06

I mean, these are the things that a lot of us school leaders are dropping the ball on. They're overwhelmed, they were burnt out and it's because we're doing everything. And I think a lot of it has to do with my last episode, when I talked about fear. We're afraid of letting go. We're afraid that if things get messed up, I'd rather have it. I'd rather would if it hadn't been my fault than somebody messin' it up. But if you're breaking down and things are still getting messed up because you're overwhelmed, then what's the point? And now the next tier of distributive leadership, as far as who you can distribute to are your teacher leaders.

Speaker 1: 17:50

Again, my foray into leadership started with me as a teacher. I was a teacher and Scott said, hey, you're gonna be my dean. And a dean is a pedagogical role. It's not an administrative role. It's just quasi-administrative because, yes, the work and the paperwork and everything has to be done. It's very administrative but, however, the dean is really a teacher and it's really a teacher leader. So when you have teacher leaders and they're not just deans you have teacher leaders who might be team leads or instructional coaches or whatever the case may be, seeing what their expertise I, for example, being a specializing coordinator parents would come in with questions about special education or whatever the case may be, and I would step into that role.

Speaker 1: 18:39

I was an expert, so I would step into that role and support the parent. If it was a question for the school psychologists, I would facilitate that meeting. If it was something I've been doing in the classroom with a particular teacher, I'll help, support and facilitate that meeting. Now, if it was something that was above my pay grade, something that was so much more serious, then I would bring the principal in. Or if there's a situation where the parent refuse, allow me to support them with whatever the issue was, then that's different. Okay, yes, I have to bring the principal in into this, but that was rare. That was rare. They just wanted most people just want a response to their questions in a timely manner and they don't want to feel that they're being ran around.

Speaker 1: 19:25

And I'll tell you this sometimes, as a principal, we make this decision because we want to hear what's going on and we want to be part of it. Then what ends up happening is by telling the parent or whoever talks to us, then we bring the other person in who's the expert and then have everything re-explained again. That is not efficient, that is annoying. It's annoying to the parent, it's annoying to me, as I'm sitting there thinking like damn, I probably should have bought this person into this conversation much earlier, so things would be more efficient. So teacher needs are very important and again, when you look at your team, you ask yourself I mean, you ask yourself as well who are the teachers who have the capacity and they want to do more, they want to be part of the movement of the school. Then you recruit them, you bring them in and you give them those smaller tasks that you don't really have to be the one to do.

Speaker 1: 20:21

Like a great example, I'm a principal who spent their whole entire time planning field trips and doing that and doing this. And I'm like, but why? Because all you have to do is approve it. I mean that all the work has been done. So you just assign yourself saying, okay, everything's been done, this trip is good to go. Why are you the one doing all that? And again, I know for a fact people who are that OCD. They have to be the ones throughout the whole entire thing because I don't want to get messed up. No, that's why you review the work that's been done. If there's an issue, say, hey, fix this, get this information and you get it done.

Speaker 1: 20:58

And a teacher leader can do that. You could have a coordinator for student activities who's a teacher that you might pay them. In New York we call it a procession, or maybe, wherever you are, it might be voluntary, I don't know, maybe something, probably a schedule during the day, who can do that? So that's something. And then, as they do more and more of it, they become an expert. And guess what? That's something that you don't ever have to worry about because you know who is taking care of it. Got that? No? So, again, these are things that can be done to decentralized leadership, to engage in distributive leadership. You know, empowering your system principles, empowering your teachers. You know and Again I'm gonna reiterate about, about teacher leaders.

Speaker 1: 21:43

They, they are literally hidden genes, gems in our schools. You know they're the ones in the trenches, you know they're deeply connected to with the students and they have invaluable insight and but often we just like did their teachers. So they're not administrators, but If you tap into them, you find solutions to a lot of things. That makes your life so much easier if you just Allow for more people to be part of the decision-making process. Of course, we're understanding that the final call is yours, but again, you don't do all by yourself.

Speaker 1: 22:20

So what are the challenges? There are challenges in doing this Changes. It isn't easy. If you, if you, if you, if you're a leader who's all about centralizing your, your, your power, your authority Is is not easy, moving towards a decentralized model and Love. A lot of the issues in doing so Comes from you you trusting first of all, you overcoming your fears of what can go wrong, you Trusting or building the trust in your team, because when you do this, you have to actually create a team, and this, this team has to understand that you trust them, that you're willing to invest in them, and and you also appreciate what they're doing, you know, in support of the school, of the school, so, um, so that's, that's the one, that's something to to make sure you're aware of in making this transition to, towards being, to, towards Decentralizing your leadership and engaging in this true distributive leadership. You know now, and give you a strategy, once I have all my teams, like, I have certain people who are running certain things, one of the things that I do is this I Meet with them, I mean with them consistently.

Speaker 1: 23:44

My sister principal I meet with almost every day, and that we're talking about 15-minute meeting, you know, in the morning. It might be not to depend on that day or what's on the schedule, but we will meet. Or you might be to be me in the car driving In a conversation hey, what's going on for today? What are the things we have to talk about? Okay, but then I also meet with all my other team members. My special coordinator I'm meeting with you my co-sum much, my coordinate of student activities. We meet. We meet once a week. If there's some the multiple things happening that we might meet twice a week, but we're talking about 15, 10, 15 minute meetings. I just updates what's going on. We're not talking about long pro, pro, track, pro track data meetings, no, no, we're just talking about those touch touch points.

Speaker 1: 24:25

But what this allows me to do is those things that have taken me hours and hours to accomplish. No, they're not 10, 15 minutes, five, sometimes five, five, 10, 15 minute touch points throughout the day a week. That allows me so much more time to engage in my primary responsibility, being those classroom supporting teachers. You know, making sure that I'm able to engage without all our partners and get the resources to do the school all the Things that I needed to make sure that we are winning as a school community, you know. So I mean, just remember this.

Speaker 1: 25:01

The goal is to create a More responsive, dynamic and inclusive leadership structure. You know, you again, a more responsive and dynamic and inclusive Leadership structure, because one of the outcomes of this you know, believe it or not, when you engage in something like this, you're literally building leaders, the future leaders. If Scott hadn't done what he had done and said you got to be my dean. I'm going to give you the support and training to be as of what you do so that you can make those decisions, and if John hadn't done something for me, I would not be where I'm at right now A three-time principal, three different schools. You know and love what I do and also supporting other leaders as well and also building out the leaders at my school as well. I'm not saying right now.

Speaker 1: 25:57

The first thing that I did when I got to MS224 is identify who are the leaders here, who are the ones who have the potential to, when they do what I do, okay, even if that's not what they want to do. I got to look for that because leaders have certain qualities about them that mirror that. I believe if you're a good leader, they mirror what you believe leadership is. So for me, at least, what I believe leadership is so for me. Going to my school, I'm looking for people who are just like me, who want to do more, who had something to say, who believe in the school community and were like I want to be part of, you know, moving the school forward, and I elevated them. I said listen, you can support me with this, you can support me with that, you can support me with this, and it's been a good thing.

Speaker 1: 26:49

But also, the challenge is with that is you got to develop them. It's not a hey, you're doing this, now you walk away and everything's going to be perfect. No, it also requires now that you're investing time meaning with them, you're supporting them, you're growing them, you're giving them insights, you're showing them how to do certain things, you're being patient when they mess up and you're being honest with them and say, hey, this is going to be handled differently. And when balls are dropped, you're willing to have those difficult conversations, because these are all the things that hopefully, as a leader, you've gone through yourself. You got to get that to them and hopefully, down the road, they become the dynamically used themselves and you now have a space, as the years go by, where you have this flow happening through your school and that's the goal to have that flow. Yeah, so today we've covered a lot, but this is the beginning.

Speaker 1: 27:43

The journey towards decentralizing your leadership is ongoing. It's like something that you got to keep practicing, you got to keep revisiting, but, however, in the long run, the rewards are all worth it. I'm telling you, and I'll tell you right now where I'm at about to be six months in my school, the school that I have right now, I'm going through going pains, everybody's learning, everybody is learning how to do the work, how to do the work as part of a team, and but again, I believe that the end result, a year from now, two years from now, is going to be a dynamic space where everybody just knows okay, this is what this is the part I'm playing, this wanting to do, and that's how I fit into the greater vision, and not only that, there's how I'm supporting the growth of an incredible school. Yeah, that's it for today, so don't forget to subscribe, share this content, listen, ask your questions, let me know what you think and also give me feedback. Maybe what I'm saying is competing nonsense or maybe I missed something, but this space is really about creating an opportunity for me to share my personal insights as a school leader, but also, hopefully, learn from you as well, because I don't have all the answers by any means. I'll tell you right now.

Speaker 1: 29:13

I tell people all the time I'm the dumbest person in the room, and I have to be Because of the dumbest person in the room, and I recognize it, I'm self aware about it. That's what I'm doing always. I'm learning, I'm getting better, I'm getting better and better and better. I have no illusions that I'll ever reach the point of being perfect. That's why I stay being the dumbest person in the room, learning, yeah. So again, thank you.

Speaker 1: 29:41

If you're ever interested in talking to me about whatever you might be going through, feel free to send me a message or direct message me or leave a comment. Whatever the case is, I'm always here to support. I've been fortunate enough. Now I can say I have school leaders around the country who reach out to me and say hey, what do you think about this, what do you think about that? And in doing that, I'm always learning myself like, ooh, that was a good one, you know, and I'm learning and I'm growing myself as well. So, yeah, let me stop talking. Have an amazing rest of your day, and I hope this was, you know, beneficial to someone. Would that be? Instead, have I already said it have an amazing rest of your day, be well, thank you.