Pandemic? That definitely puts a wrench into our plans as leaders to have the best year yet! Or does it? Do we have to make this really hard thing even harder by wallowing or staying in the endless abyss of unknowns? Or can we start to climb? What if we start to take one step at a time, one thing at a time? Can we start to notice the immense learning, decisions, and problem solving skills that we have already developed by trying to figure this all out? Let’s talk about all the things we have encountered while trying to survive leading through a pandemic.
I am in a lot of facebook groups and I love them. They provide me support, leadership, mentorship, good wishes, inspiration, and also some really great things to think about. I posted a question a little while ago that asked my mentors if they could wave a magic wand and have one problem solved, what would it be? It was almost unanimous…COVID. Well…that is very broad but definitely very real. So how do we solve COVID?
The answer? We don’t solve it. We can’t solve it. But we can learn and notice the hope that surfaces. It will make us better leaders. It will be hard for all of us. We take one step at a time. We fail. We use each other for support. We have hope that the season will pass. We step back and take breathers. We breathe and cry and then get back up again. We find strength in each other. That is what we do as leaders. So we will keep pivoting.
Now let’s get more streamlined so I can provide more clarity to this COVID problem. Our world is working on a vaccine, so that is good. Although with that, comes ,more questions. But I know the health professionals are working on that end of the problem. We aren’t experts there but we are experts in leadership, so let’s try to make traction in that area. How do we lead through Co-vid?
We learn. We prioritize our problems or obstacles and then we focus on one thing at a time. As the saying goes, if we focus on everything we focus on nothing. For the problem that we prioritized the highest, we brainstorm solutions. Just list them all. I always encourage my staff to put one idea per sticky note and have a post it party. Next, prioritize which three actions will get us from point a to point b the quickest. We now have a problem with three actions to solve it. Next, we create a framework with deadlines and ways to know if our actions are working. For example, if it is logistical problems like sanitizing, we set up a framework that teachers can follow step by step to help provide clarity as to how they will sanitize each of their students and when. We can determine best ways to save time in this framework. Another example might be to give them a framework to follow for social distancing, stagger recesses, and strategies to cohort the students. We will reflect consistently on how it is all going and we will pivot when things don’t work.
A curricular example might be that the staff prioritized homework packages as a problem during Co-vid. Is it safe to hand them a package or better to do it all online? They brainstormed all of the solutions on sticky notes and chose three actions that would get them from point a to point b the quickest. The three actions were to create homework packages only if necessary, post all assignments on google classroom, and live streaming. Next, as leaders we take those actions and create a framework to help guide them. The framework might look like scenarios and then give them a framework of the best way to solve this scenario using one of these actions or a combination of them. The framework also might include the guidelines of expectations that the leaders expect from their community on what the homework entails to ensure that the quality of work they are receiving at home is still moving the learning forward and not busy work. These are all just examples of how frameworks can help to lead through a pandemic and provide clarity.
If we are presented with virtual learning, we again provide a framework of expectations that we have as a community about how we want our virtual learning to look like and the results that we want to get. We put connection first. Put a learning workshop framework in place for your teachers that they can mold to make their own but still gives them a roadmap of the expectations you as a leader expect from them even if they are virtual. You are providing support through the framework, modelling the framework with your own staff, and setting up a valuable learning environment regardless of whether or not it is virtual or face to face. Download my FREE Guide for Leaders To Support Teachers Through a Pandemic. It gives you specific strategies to model for them the quality of teaching, learning, and connection that you expect from your community.
Reflect and celebrate how far you have come as a community and how you have managed it all so far. Notice how much you have all learned through virtual learning by figuring out the amazing technology that is out there that you could use in your face to face classroom too. Notice the connection you have made with your parents as they become teachers for their kids as well. Notice how your teams have all supported each other and pivoted to solve problems. Notice it all and notice it often. Celebrate it and have fun.
Put wellness as a focus for everything that you do. Suggest books for your community to read, set up a morning routine facebook group, incorporate wellness challenges, break bread with them, model it, make space for it in your meetings. Connection needs to happen and it all starts with being intentional and making space for that connection to happen. Download my freebie on reframing how you show up.
Being a visible leader is also another place where connection will flourish. Get into the classrooms and team teach with your teachers. Spend time with the students. Empower your community. Download my FREE guide on how to engage your tribe. If you are virtual, jump in on zoom classes, send out messages to kids, parents, teachers, support staff, etc. Schedule it in your calendar and make it happen as much as you possibly can.
Step back and spend time with your family. Leave your work at the office. Take some time just for you and do whatever you want. Let go of the mom or dad guilt, the work guilt, and the stories that climb and fester in your mind. No one is actually saying or thinking what you think they are. Trust me…I am the queen of stories in my head! No one thinks about me as much as I think they do!
These tips will not solve Co-vid but they will help you lead through it with grace, stamina, and some breathing room. You might be thinking: “these are all great but it will never solve it.” or “I don’t have time to implement all of these things.” But I know you as a leader would never give up. You are in it for the long haul. You are legit, here to stay, and dedicated to creating more ease for your community, your family, and yourself as you navigate through this pandemic. I know that you know to pick one thing at a time and then stack as you go. All you can do is try the best that you can. That is what these suggestions are. They are tries that require action in order to get traction. These actions will not solve Co-vid but they will get you out of neutral to finally start taking one step at a time. And some day…we will all refer to 2020 as an adjective, “Well, at least it wasn’t 2020 bad!”
Want more? Check out my website at www.jacealyn.com.
We also have a student leadership podcast that I do with my students called Even If You Miss. It is a wellness podcast for kids by kids. We use it all the time in our classrooms or with our own kids while driving in the car. Subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Even If You Miss..... 