Communication is so key to running a tight ship and providing clarity. In fact, I am obsessed with clarity. Clarity for myself to help me know where I am going or need to do next to take the right step, and clarity so that my team knows where they are going or perhaps to help them decide where they need to go next. Either way, clarity needs effective and efficient communication. If you are long winded…..well….no one has time for that…..including you. Sorry, not sorry. I found this out the hard way so I want to save you the trouble. In this week’s blog post, I want to talk about some ways to be more effective communicators. Speaking of striving to be less long winded….let’s get to it!
One of the ways to communicate more effectively is to keep your mini lessons within your professional development no more than 10-15 minutes. Just like kids, we tend to lose our focus after that duration of time so be sure to set up all of your slide decks or mini lessons to be as interactive as possible and no more than 15 minutes. If you have an hour time frame to work with teachers, find ways to get them doing more of the thinking and learning. Set up more of a catch and release approach where you model your expectations for 15 minutes and then immerse them into the learning, research, conversation etc while you walk around and process observe or conference. Then after about 30 minutes, gather them back together to provide closure or teach them another 15 minute section of your mini lesson.
Another great way to be an effective and efficient communicator is to record short videos of inspiration to your staff. These videos are about five minutes long (think insta stories!) and can be anything to celebrating wins, setting up a point of direction for their grade team meetings, providing a question to ponder, etc. The sky is the limit for these videos but they can be very effective for keeping in contact with them and providing direction without always having to meet face to face. There are many ways to send these short videos. They can be sent through email, google drive, or my favorite app called Slack. I love this app because it cuts down on your email inbox and eliminates missing important messages. I recommend using Slack for any communication to do with your admin team, teacher teams, or staff. You can create different channels for each group or topic and it will notify the recipients every time they get a message. It is similar to text messaging but is all organized through one app. Teacher teams can also use it to pose questions they may have or ideas they want to present. You may want to have a channel just for memes, fun topics, or social events to build relationships too. I would recommend having a channel for your personal stuff, admin team, teacher team, and then the rest of the teachers. It may take some time for your community to get used to but it eliminates all of the emails and missed emails and makes communicating digitally so much more efficient.
Let’s talk about communicating with parents now. We all know that the email inbox can be overflowing with massive amounts of emails from parents with questions or issues. Start noticing what questions or issues they have and begin building a commonly asked Q and A google doc. By doing this, you can bank their questions and your answers and keep it all in one place. If that question or issue arises, you simply go into this document and copy and paste it to your email so that you never have to start from scratch answering the same questions over and over again ever again! You can also get back to them more efficiently because it is all answered for them.
Now that we have been through a pandemic, we are experts in Zoom. Set up a hot seat session once every week or so where you open up your Zoom room for an hour and teacher can jump in and ask questions or check in just to say hi. It takes away the pile of fires that pop up daily because teachers know there are hot seat session where you and other teachers will be available to help them solve problems. I would also suggest getting some teachers to be experts within these sessions so that it develops their leadership and it isn’t always you solving the problems. The best part of all is that you can have the room open and still get work done if no one decides to show up.
I know that leaders always say I have an open door policy but sometimes that can really take over your day if you aren’t careful. Therefore I believe it is essential to set up an open door policy with boundaries. You also need time in your day. I think it is also necessary to set up some expectations and a problem solving framework that shows teachers how to set up a roadmap for them to conquer their top priority without always having to come to you. This way you are still supporting them through teaching them a problem solving system, however, you are setting them up to come to you with ‘solution’ mindset rather than a ‘fix it for me’ mindset. This my friends, is a huge game changer in communicating and supporting your community. I have an exact system to show you how to set up a problem solving system so that teachers have more clarity, more independence, and can solve more problems without you having to be there all of the time. If you are interested in learning exactly how to implement this problem solving system, the doors to School Administrator’s Academy opens August 17, 2021! Also, stay tuned for my free masterclass coming up on August 17th where I give you 3 secrets to engage, motivate, and inspire the teachers in your community.
So there you have it, a few of my top systems to decrease overwhelm and work less. I know I went through these systems quickly but I have some amazing news! I can show you exactly how to do all of this. Like I stated earlier, I have put together a digital course that teaches you exactly how to implement these systems step by step with me coaching you every step of the way. This course is called School Administrator’s Academy and it teaches school administrators a problem solving system that engages, motivates, and inspires teachers to solve problems and set up automated systems so that you can have your life back.
In this course, you will go from scrambling to try to do it all and never knowing how to get ahead, to solving one problem at a time using the leadership edit system and getting your teachers to solve problems as well. In other words, it is a system that automates and systematizes problem solving, classroom observations, teachers coaching teachers, ways to gather evidence of problem solving, and boosts productivity and efficiency. If you are interested in enrolling, the doors open August 17th! You can also sign up for my free masterclass where I will dive deeper into the 3 Secrets to Inspiring and Motivating your Teachers and talk more about the course. In this masterclass, you will go from feeling like you have tried everything to motivate and inspire your teachers to knowing three things that you can do right away to motivate, engage, and inspire them to take action and get results.
In this latest blog post, I have left you with some ways to communicate more clearly and efficiently so that you can create more time in your day and still build relationships. I also have a free guide to help you set up a system for shutting down your year if you would like a template to curate and make your own. You can download it here! Happy systematizing!!!
Be sure to share ideas of your own shut down system in our private facebook group called Principals and Leadership!
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Even If You Miss..... 