I didn’t always believe in systems. I used to wing it. Day after day, I clung to just getting by and working long hours with no real plan or system in place. It never worked. It only piled up and I became more tired and overwhelmed. The thing is… nothing ever really got accomplished. I was on an endless hamster wheel going nowhere fast. Something had to give. I decided rather than trying to do it my way, I would dig in and learn a new way. That was when I really started to learn from productivity and system experts like Michael Hyatt, Brendan Burchard, and Amy Porterfield. Now, I live and die by systems – in my professional and personal life. In fact, without systems, I could not have a full time leadership position at a school, teach grade 4 ELA, own my own digital course business, write a weekly blog, coach my kid’s hockey teams and still have a life. I simply could not do it all and still have time if I didn’t have systems in place for eeeeeeverything that I could think of.
Forbes recently stated that when you create systems in your business, you can save up to two work hours per day. That’s 240 hours a year. Can you just imagine if you worked two hours less a day right now? Just picture that. What would that look like in terms of your wealth and health and your mindset? It’s a game changer. That’s why this blog post is so important. Imagine what it would feel like to no longer be chasing a never–ending to–do list, and instead, feel focused and confident as you create the life you have always wanted. Imagine releasing that overwhelm and gaining energy instead of draining it by running around trying to do it all.
Look at what fills your time the most each day. Then dial into that and develop a system that can help to automate it. Once I really looked at what was causing me so much overwhelm and stress, I realized it was having things all over the place and never knowing where anything was, paper work piling up preventing me from getting into classrooms, and it was the fires that popped up all over the place that required me to help solve the problem. So I developed systems for it all and yes, it took a lot of work, at first, but once I decided this was important enough, things started to get easier and I started to get my life back.
I can imagine this all sounds great to you but you may be thinking, “Sure Jacealyn. This all sounds too good to be true.” You want your work days to feel like a well-oiled machine but it is nowhere near that right now. Maybe you are working more than you have ever worked before and still getting nowhere so how could you possibly get out of this rut when you already work so hard. Or maybe you are so frustrated because you don’t even know where to begin in order to move your leadership or school forward. No matter why you are here reading this blog, I am here to help you figure it out and find some solutions to what you are struggling with. But it is going to take some serious work and commitment, my friend.
I didn’t just want to start to set up systems for myself but for my team, teachers, and family as well. I wanted us all to work smarter, not harder. I wanted to escape the hustle mentality, and I knew that it was going to take a lot of figuring out and that it wasn’t going to happen overnight. But the only way it would happen was to get started and not look back. I was not going to start and give up anymore. I wanted us all to be more productive, efficient, and creative, all while having more room to breathe and relax. I also wanted to be an example of what is possible because I wanted others to be able to do this as well. The systems we’re going to go over today are going to set you up to be more efficient – more efficient and productive than you’ve ever been, actually. Once these systems are in place, you will actually start to work less.
Like I said earlier, I have a system for everything. For me this looks like:
-a virtual filing system
-a project management system
-a team teaching system
-a professional development system
-a problem solving system
-a calendar system
I’ll start by walking you through my virtual filing system, which literally saves me so much time. Once I took a look at how I spent my time, I realized it was often looking for documents or files and it was sinking me. That was where I started when I first dug into developing my own systems. Now, we use Google Drive as much as we can. You can also use Drop box with certain teams where you all have the same log in and password so that everything is in one place. I recommend using drop box for videos, slide decks, audio files, pictures, etc and google drives for all files. We never use Microsoft word anymore because we can’t all work on it together or share it. We use google docs for everything so that it is accessible at all times. Within Google Drive, I use one big folder, a sub folder after that, and then sub sub folders. For example, I will have professional development as my main folder. If you click on it, you will see all of the professional development that I have done listed in topics. These are called my sub folders. You would click on the pd topic that you are looking for, such as Assessment for Learning. From there, the sub sub folders would contain more specific assessment for learning trainings and the years. These might look like co-constructing criteria, goal setting, including students in gathering evidence of learning, etc. You see how quick that is to find something? Think of it like a funnel that syphons down to exactly what you are looking for in a step by step system. Setting up a system for your digital files quickly helps you find what you are looking for and eliminates tons of time and frustration. It is one thing to have a google drive or drop box file but it another thing to really know how to use them through developing systems. That is where everything changes! One more thing…your desktop should be as clutter free as possible. Try to have a dashboard with links for everything all on google drive.
Here are a few tips that I want to share with you when it comes to organizing all of your digital files through Google drive or Drop Box. Number one, use one main folder for your entire team. If you have different teams such as admin team, teacher leaders, and teachers then use one main file for each of these teams. Number two: it’s essential to create a set of guidelines for yourself and for your team to get the most efficiency. When you’re setting these guidelines, think of how you want people to label the folders. Is there a naming convention for the files? How do you want the folders and sub folders to look in your main file? Are there rules around deleting files? Things like that.
Now that you have your digital files organized and in one place, it is time to start thinking about ways to automate tasks that repeat themselves over and over again. Be really intentional with making some standard operating procedure templates that show each task and step by step how to complete it. If you start to create these how to templates they are there so you never have to start from scratch again and so you can start to delegate with support so that it is not always you having to do everything or explain everything. Ok truth bomb here. It is a lot of work the first time you do it. Think of each task like a project plan and put it together step by step into a google doc. But once you have that template, you can repeat the project. It’s like a copy and paste. Can you imagine how much time that will save you and how much more you can delegate? Some examples of standard operation procedures and templates that I have, are how to do staffing and teaching schedules, team teaching guidelines and templates, meeting agendas for myself and for teacher leaders, slide deck templates, frequently asked Q and A documents for teachers and parents so that I can cut and paste for emails, newsletter outlines, report card comment templates, and so much more. So imagine on your second time coming across these tasks, how much easier this is because you already have a template that now you can just repeat and tweak, of course, to make it more appropriate for the second time, things you want to do differently. That’s the kind of stuff that will grow and scale your productivity and efficiency to decrease overwhelm and work less, be willing to do the work up front so that the second time around it’s way more efficient. You got to put the work in up front to get to that place.
Now that you have standard operating procedures, how to templates to delegate, and an organized digital filing system, you can now get those things done quicker and can delegate more effectively. This leaves you more space to get in where it really matters, inside the classrooms. I developed a system here too! It is a four phase visibility system that eases the administrator into classrooms through four different levels of team teaching. The first phase is where the administrator actively observes and gets involved in the lesson as they observe the teacher. The second phase occurs when the administrator covers for the teacher so they can team teach and learn with another teacher. The third phase is where the administrator schedules in one team teaching class with the teacher to tackle a priority that the teacher chooses. The fourth phase is a week long team teaching phase that includes the administrator coming in for a week for one hour a day to team teach with the teacher. Now, I know what you are thinking, where do you find the time for that? Well, I make it a top priority and schedule it in. I also have a framework for each phase so teachers know what to expect and how to prepare. If it is in the calendar it happens. It also helps that I have systematized my paper work and admin tasks as well so that I have more time to spend where it really matters, with the teachers and students. The four phase system is built so that it can be curated to the comfort level of teachers and so that you can build into more team teaching together. I have also developed guiding questions and objectives with specific units of study for the week long team teaching in phase 4 that teachers can choose from or they can come up with their own area of focus. It is all systematized so that the expectations are very clear, the focus has some touch points, and the scheduling for it to actually happen is in the calendar.
The last area that I noticed I was spending all of my time in, was putting out fires. In other words, I was trying to solve every problem that came up and I was making it my own. This was definitely a burn out area for me that I had to make a change in. I decided to develop a system and framework that showed teachers how to solve problems. Within this system, I taught teacher how to decide on their top priority and three actions they would take to conquer it. I also taught them how to gather evidence by setting up baseline evidence and milemarkers along the way to help them notice and measure the progress they were making. Lastly, I taught them how to track it, analyze data, and present it to their colleagues in order to help others to solve this same problem. Each teacher team had a different priority that they decided was a top priority, they chose the actions and they had ownership to solve it and coach it to others. Admin is there every step of the way supporting through multiple facets – through modelling and teaching them how to solve problems. through solving a top schoolwide priority, through teaching them how to measure and analyze evidence, through teaching them how to coach each other, through meeting with teacher teams periodically to help them streamline and simplify, and through team teaching with them focusing on helping the teachers to solve their top priority. This was the best system yet! Not only were teachers engaging more in professional development, but they were all in because they got to choose their top priority and admin just provided the framework to help them develop a roadmap. Now the teachers knew what was in it for them so it mattered to them. Waaaaay less fires to to put out and more connections through support and growth minded thinking.
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 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. Click here to enrol in this free live masterclass!
Now it is time for action….brainstorm one priority in your leadership life that takes up the most time and start to develop a template that explains step by step how you accomplish this task. Once you are completed, move onto your next priority and start to systematize that as well.
Alright so there you have it! I have left you with three ways to systematize your digital files, visibility in classrooms, and solve problems so that you never have to start from scratch again, it gets things done, allows space to reflect on progress, and sets you up for the next year! Remember, the first time you set up any system will take some hard work and time but it will last for years to come so just think how good you are going to feel next year when all you have to do is fill in the blanks. I also have a free guide that systematizes how you run your meetings in order to inspire and motivate teachers. Happy systematizing!!!
Be sure to share ideas of your own systems in our private facebook group called Principals and Leadership!
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Check out my website for more info. We even have a podcast that is wellness podcast for kids by kids called Even If You Miss. Subscribe at Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Lastly, don’t forget to sign up for my free live masterclass where I will give you 3 secrets to motivate and inspire teachers and how to put these systems into place so you never have to start from scratch again. Oh….and remember August 17th, the doors open to enroll for School Administrator’s Academy!
Amy, P. (2021). Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast [Online Podcast].
Even If You Miss..... 