What You See is What You Get: 5 Tips for Becoming a More Purposeful, Illustrative Leader

For many educators across the state of North Carolina (myself included!), the school year has already begun. For others, the first day of school is right around the corner. It is an exciting time for students, parents, and educators! The start of the school year also means that our NC Ed Leaders Blog Series will soon come to a close for the summer, but we are not finished quite yet!

Today's post comes from Jamie Frye (@mrjamesfrye), principal of Claremont Elementary School in Claremont, North Carolina, which is a part of the Catawba County Schools system. Mr. Frye has previous experience as a teacher, district administrator, and assistant principal. He is a North Carolina Teaching Fellow who is currently working on his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy with The University of Kentucky. Jamie completed his undergraduate degree in English Education at Lenoir-Rhyne University and holds graduate degrees from Michigan State University and UNC-Greensboro.

Jamie has been affiliated with and held leadership positions in several professional organizations and conferences, including the North Carolina Technology in Education Society, The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's Digital Teaching and Learning Division, and the North Carolina Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. He was also named to ASCD's Emerging Leader class of 2015. Mr. Frye's post below describes the importance of "Illustrative Leadership" and provides great tips of how school and district leaders can transform the culture of their organization.

Great educational leaders are hard to find.

Literally -- not only are elite leaders rare, vibrant, and passionate, they’re hard to find because they don’t frequently darken the doors of their office during school hours.

Though it may seem contrary, exemplary leaders who affect growth and systemic change in learning do not always prioritize the “shallow work” (of e-mails, phone calls, or many meetings) over, as Cal Newport describes it, “deep work.” Good leaders know that the depth of that creative-intensive work is what, as an end result, enacts positive change for students (note: that isn’t to say that checking emails or having meetings are bad -- just that they should take less of your time than actively implementing your creative work).

The best leaders don’t endorse “best” practices, but rather encourage limitless attempts to grow “better” practices instead. Articulating a vision of growth is a skill that is not simply taught, but more effectively modeled -- and modeling takes time. Sometimes, people grow more by observing others’ actions than they do when a plan is explained to them.

How better to lead human beings, who were once also students in the schools we are working to grow, than by modeling your example and expectations experientially? This is something I call Illustrative Leadership. 

The mission of a leader to ensure a sound, basic education -- and to facilitate continuous school and district growth -- is more important now than it ever has been. All of the most important visions, initiatives, and incentives, from personalized learning to STEM education, flourish with time; however, to ensure all teachers, custodians, and support staff can promote the success of our visions of equity in classrooms and beyond, we as leaders must be careful to model our leadership with purpose.

Of course, these truly illustrative leaders are exceedingly few and far between, and the passing of the torch from experienced to lesser-experienced leaders doesn’t always involve discussions of the importance of emotional connections with constituents, nor of how to model “better” (not best) practices. In times when leaders are overtly consumed with ensuring the basic survival of their schools and districts due to budget crises, it’s become simple to lose sight of the importance of modeling/illustrating the pinnacle of purposeful, intentional leadership; that kind of leadership, in the words of Kouzes & Posner, “is an affair of the heart.”

With this in mind, let’s talk five tips for transforming culture and learning by putting Illustrative Leadership into action:

1. Articulate Your Vision

“The capacity to imagine and articulate exciting future possibilities is the defining competence of leaders...keep in mind that your constituents...want to share in that glimpse of the future” (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).

As leaders, our vision is our foundation. Aristotle wrote in Politics that “the law is reason free from passion.” Sometimes, we become so lost in enforcement of law and procedure that we forget that it is our primary job to be proactive evangelists of learning.

By combining reason in decision-making, passion in action, and modeling in servitude, we create a culture of open-door Illustrative Leadership. It is one thing to speak of passion for our work, but to be passionate, articulated with vibrant visibility, is unique. Passion without vibrance is dead -- vibrant visionaries are illustrative leaders who can get others on board, guide a shared mission, and produce large-scale results.

2. Share Your Creative Process
“[M]odeling requires and therefore teaches many imaginative skills” (Root-Bernstein, 1999).

Perhaps one of the most crucial components of modeling through Illustrative Leadership is sharing your creativity and thought process. Sometimes spoken as one of the more difficult to implement of P21’s 4Cs, great leaders employ creativity as they shape learning and culture daily. By sharing our creative process and steps we take to reach an idea -- and how we connect those ideas into long-range plans -- we model for our teachers how to reimagine their own visions for learning. This is yet another piece that distinguishes continuously improving leaders.

To learn more about creative ways to illustrate your creative-intensive deep work, I highly encourage you to visit the Sparks of Creativity wiki, collaboratively constructed by Michigan State University instructors and students.

3. Become Your Vision
“[Leaders] need to be curious and search for a deeper meaning and understanding of what’s going on around [them]” (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).

One of the most incredible principals I’ve ever had the opportunity to see in action transformed the dynamic of an elementary school through her implementation of the Leader in Me program. This visionary woman created a culture that continued well after her departure by modeling her expectations. Mrs. Julia Styers spent three days modeling and coaching teachers in the classrooms each week, in addition to greeting every student as they walked in, helping with routine duties, and ensuring that all students were truly learning. Her two remaining days were dedicated to shallow work, such as e-mails, phone calls, and meetings -- a clear illustration of her prioritizing her vision for facilitating an innovative learning environment. By her example, this “lead learner” created a persistent culture of love and learning that empowered teachers and students alike to become servant leaders and learners. By being a leader who made time and not excuses, she modeled what dedication to Whole Child success looks like -- and her staff and students followed suit.

4. Teach with Your Actions
“...when working at their personal best, leaders transform their followers into leaders” (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).

A great way to strike your vision to the ground as a leader is not to practice what you preach. If your school is focused on the transition to digital learning then your professional development for staff should begin utilizing those tools and mindsets to demonstrate their ideal potential. If I ask a group of teachers to redefine Formative Assessment in their classroom, I’ll lead a meeting with a Kahoot! to assess prior knowledge, thereby illustrating my expectations for those teachers.

Another method of teaching with your actions involves letting others see you at your weaker points. Allowing your co-workers and constituents to see you in times of stress or uncertainty (to an extent) -- and letting them see how you positively react to and handle it -- strengthens your constituency and builds their own problem-solving skill set. These actions don’t always come easily; don’t be afraid to take the unpopular action, even if some political flack comes with it.

5. Embrace Problems and Solve Together
“Love creates the desire to serve others and to see them grow and become their best…[p]eople do their best when there is an opportunity to change how things currently stand...[Good leaders] motivate others to exceed their limits and look for innovative ways to improve the organization.” (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).

The answers to some of your greatest problems can be unveiled in conversations with people who don’t normally have a seat at “the table.” As an illustrative leader, by having collective and inclusive conversations about your vision with everyone who has a stake, your actions can show that you value competency over credential -- and you’ll learn quickly that the stories your custodians and cafeteria workers can share may provide valuable insight into your decision-making process. As one of my greatest mentors, David Stegall, taught me, "everyone deserves a seat at the table."

And, according to Daniel Willingham in Why Don’t Students Like School?, problem-solving is rejuvenating for your staff, too: “[w]hen you solve a problem, your brain may reward itself with a small dose of dopamine” (Willingham, 2009). Problem solving is dope!

You don’t have to tattoo the name of your newest initiative on your forehead, but impactful leaders should walk in a way that puts their beliefs into practice. Picasso said that “[t]o model an object is to possess it.” Combine this with the notion that our perception becomes our reality, and it becomes obvious that Illustrative Leaders who share their vision, model expectations and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty really can accomplish anything they set their minds to.

How are you working to practice Illustrative Leadership?

Jamie Frye is the principal of Claremont Elementary School in the Catawba County Schools system. You can find him on Twitter @mrjamesfrye.

References:

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2010). The truth about leadership: The no-fads, heart-of-the-matter facts you need to know. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mishra, Punya et al. (2014). Sparks of Creativity. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Newport, C. (2012). Knowledge Workers are Bad at Working (and Here's What to Do About It...). Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-bad-at-working-and-heres-what-to-do-about-it/

Root-Bernstein, R., & Root-Bernstein, M. (1999). Sparks of genius: The thirteen thinking tools of the world's most creative people. Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin.

UC-Davis. (n.d.). Why EL? Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://www.experientiallearning.ucdavis.edu/why-el.shtml

Willert, T. (2016, January 7). Midyear budget cuts could force some Oklahoma school districts to close. The Oklahoman.

Navigating Conflict and Managing Relationships in the Workplace

The summer is quickly coming to a close, but we have a few more blog posts in the NC Ed Leaders Summer Blog Series before the school year begins. Today's post comes from Phil Echols, Senior Administrator of Professional Learning in the Wake County Public School System. Mr. Echols works with educators across Wake County, coaching and supporting Professional Learning Teams. He is passionate about collaborative relationship building and teaming, and his post below offers specific advice for teams of educators looking to better manage conflict, have courageous conversations, and build deeper, authentic relationships. Phil was a recipient of the Cary Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurial Award in Education and is also a member of the ASCD 2018 Emerging Leader cohort. Check out Phil's post below and be sure to follow him on Twitter @PhilEchols.

Since the age of five, I've spent every August in a school building as either a student, teacher, counselor, or professional learning specialist. I used to think that was a bad thing, but I've grown to appreciate it as a part of who I am. Education, relationships, and leadership have been my life's work as well as a part of my identity. My father, a Baptist minister, and my mother, a first-grade teacher, instilled in me the importance of a good education and being a contributing member of society. My deceased mother was a retired elementary educator with 36 years of service. To avoid conflicts in the workplace, I attended every elementary school on the western side of Henry County, Virginia to avoid her school. She wanted it that way. Maybe, I wasn't the most pleasant child to work with. Nonetheless, exposed to a variety of school cultures and populations, I adapted to many different school environments.

As a heterosexual, middle class, African American male, my experiences varied from racism and discrimination to favoritism and admiration. In most cases, I found myself adapting for survival. It wasn't until early adulthood that I fully understood how difficult school survival was and just how critical interpersonal skills and relationship management are. I recognized not only were these things at play for students, but also for adults. Somehow, I thought it would be easier as an adult. But I found the skills needed as students to navigate the "playground" are the same skills needed for teachers to maneuver the workplace.

I often dreamt of writing a book entitled "We Work In a Middle School, We're Not In Middle School." For now, I'll settle with this blog post. The same behaviors we as adults detest in classrooms are the same behaviors we engage in and model in the hallways and staff meetings. Catfighting, backbiting, cliques, and exclusion are alive and well in our adult interactions.

My current role as a Professional Learning Specialist has allowed me to grow in areas I support such as effective learning communities, effective communication, and courageous conversations around race and equity. We must be an example for others and our students. This blog entry is not a "holier than thou" sermon, and I'm not where I ultimately want to be professionally, but thank goodness I'm not where I used to be. Here are a few takeaways from my growth in the areas of navigating conflict, courageous conversations, and keeping the lines of communication open.

Navigating Conflict

Conflict isn't a bad word, and it's necessary for community. Conflict can improve team effectiveness. Imagine a world where we all thought the same thing and had the same preferences. Not only is it boring, but there's no growth in tossing around the same ideas. Conflict is an opportunity for something better to be produced.

In the work of Adaptive Schools by Thinking Collaborative, Cognitive Conflict focuses on substantive, issue-related differences of opinion. Cognitive Conflict can produce increased understanding, better decisions, and an increased level of commitment. Affective Conflict focuses on individuals and is personalized, ultimately resulting in decreased commitment and poorer decisions. The goal is for Conflict to be cognitive.

One way of engaging in Cognitive Conflict, as outlined by the Adaptive Schools Foundations Seminar (2014), is through the use of stems of connection. These stems connect and build on ideas already placed on the table and further engage others to continue participating in the conversation.

Stems of connections:

"Here's a related thought…"

"I hold it another way…"

"Hmmm, from another perspective…"

"An additional idea might be…"

"Taking that one step further…"

Courageous Conversations

In matters of race and equity, the Courageous Conversations Beyond Diversity work developed by Glenn Singleton and the Pacific Educational Group, Inc, outlines the Courageous Conversation Compass with the four quadrants: Thinking, Acting, Feeling, and Believing. When engaging in conversations around race and equity, we must stay centered on the compass. The most productive discussions will come from us, remaining centered. If you know you're in the "Feeling" quadrant, take a break and come back once you've gathered yourself. Most organizations operate on the right side of the compass (Thinking and Acting). If you keep functioning on the right, there's going to be problems. Be mindful of how you're showing up in conversations around race and your location on the Courageous Conversations Compass at any given moment. An excellent resource for more is "Courageous Conversations About Race" by Glenn Singleton.

Pinging (Check-ins)

The only conversations we're having with people SHOULD NOT be to offer criticism or ask for help. In the book Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi talks about the power of "pinging" or checking in with others to keep the relationship fresh and the lines of communication open. When people see you coming around the corner or view a message from you, the last thing you want them to think is, "What do they want NOW!?"

Here are a few ideas of ways you might "ping" your colleagues:

Text or call to say hello without asking for a favor

Don't text or call the day before just to set them up for a favor the next day

Stop keeping score on how many they owe you or vice versa.

No matter how busy you are, always greet the person before getting down to business.

In summary, Relationship Skills are identified by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as the ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. Clear communication, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed are all examples of relationship skills. All of these are also closely related to Emotional Intelligence. We can't control others, and as my father often says, "We can barely control ourselves." Ultimately, we influence others by practicing what we preach and through our lives being the example. Given your commitment to improve our world for our students, how might you enhance your relationships moving forward?

Phil Echols is Senior Administrator of Professional Learning in the Wake County Public School System. You can find him on Twitter @PhilEchols.

I'm Sorry

The latest edition of the NC Ed Leaders Summer Blog Series features a post from Donald Wyatt, principal of Sedge Garden Elementary School in Kernersville, North Carolina. Donald began his educational career as a 4th and 5th grade teacher in Craven County, North Carolina, before moving to Forsyth County in 2010. He was an assistant principal in the Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Schools system until 2016 when he was named principal at Sedge Garden. I have known Donald for a few years and I have to say he is just an all-around good guy. He is highly-respected by his teachers, he loves and cares for the kids at SGES, and he is a very hard worker. His post below talks about admitting mistakes and building a culture of mutual trust and respect in your school. Admitting when you are wrong is a hard thing for any human to do, let alone someone in a "leadership" position. Donald's thoughts are humble and genuine, and they really struck a chord with me. I hope you enjoy Donald's post and be sure to follow him on Twitter @donaldgwyatt.

I have been an administrator for 6 years now. As Assistant Principal and as Principal I have made countless decisions that have had positive impacts on students, staff members, community leaders, and parents. I have also made countless decisions that have led to high student growth, high student engagement, and high teacher moral. This post is not about any of those decisions.

I once made a teacher move her entire classroom to the room next door. I made the decision for cohesiveness; I believed the team needed to be beside each other in adjoining rooms. I remember, vividly, watching her and her husband move furniture from one room to the other. I remember, vividly, thinking “This is the right thing to do.”

A couple of weeks later that teacher stood at my door. I said, “I’m really sorry, this is my fault, I will rectify this as quickly as possible.” The look on my colleague’s face has prompted this post.

Leaders make decisions all day, every day. Some are thought out, analyzed, and evidence based. Others are gut-driven while some happen so fast we don’t have time to process every detail. None of these things are bad; we all know a decision can be over-analyzed and that data doesn’t always reflect the social and emotional goal. We also know that even the best leaders make the wrong decision.

So, what happens when leaders are wrong...

We begin with FINGER POINTING: we say, "the teacher didn’t complain or give me additional information."

Then we say “it’s not my fault” ... wrong again.

We try to MAKE IT A SYSTEM ISSUE: we say, "the kids, the administration, the state." Nope, nice try!

Or we blame our lack of a CRYSTAL BALL: “I could never have known that." Well, maybe, or maybe not.

Why do people have such a difficult time apologizing and truly accepting responsibility for bad decisions? I don’t have the answer to this question. I’m sure there are some psychologists out there who could go on for days. I can tell you, for me as a leader, learning to say "I’m sorry" was one of the most empowering moments of my career. It allowed me to be vulnerable to the people I am leading. It allowed them to see that I understand I don’t always get it right. It allowed them to see that I am constantly reflecting on the decisions that I make. It allowed them to see me as a person, not just a position. Being a leader means making mistakes, and owning mistakes builds respect, trust, and collaboration.

It wasn’t easy for me to admit I was wrong to the people I am supposed to be leading. I was scared to death that admitting I got it wrong would open a floodgate of people questioning my every decision. I was scared it would give the teachers ammo to question me, relentlessly, when I made a decision that was not popular.

I am here to tell you that none of that happen. In fact, it was the opposite. It opened a floodgate of conversation, collaboration, trust, and respect. It brought the entire staff together. It starts with modeling. Every person in that building saw that it was okay to be wrong, and furthermore, to openly admit it. They say that a bad decision leads to reflection and reflection leads to growth.

Learning to apologize for poor decisions was one of the biggest turning points in my leadership career. It was more about realizing that leaders, no matter how good the intentions, don’t always get it right. It was also about really becoming a family with the ones you lead. It is okay to get it wrong, and once they see that, they feel that same way. I have watched teachers build much deeper relationships with children, parents, and other staff members because they are able to own their mistakes.

If you are a leader in any capacity, you will make mistakes. I challenge you to use the power of owning those mistakes to build a culture rooted in honesty, respect, and trust!

Donald Wyatt is the principal of Sedge Garden Elementary School in Kernersville, North Carolina. You can find him on Twitter @donaldgwyatt.