Launching into Success on Your New Campus

As aspiring campus and current campus administrators know well, some of us too well, preparing and securing an administrative position is an arduous task. For those fortunate enough to gain employment in campus administration, congratulations.  Now it’s time to get to work.  Getting the position is nothing compared to the enjoyable and interesting times ahead of you.

When a new president is elected in this country there are the inevitable comparisons of each president’s first 90 days in office. Over the decades, some have thrived early on and created a future defined from this time.  Some have not thrived early in their tenure and have found the work following it to be more difficult than they would have liked it to be for them. Although a president’s work ends up in our history books and thus gets more visibility. This type of scenario plays out in campuses throughout our country each year. The work they do on a campus is no less important, if not more, to those who inhabit their building on a daily basis.

The first days, weeks, and months you are on a campus will define your work going forward. The goodwill and trust one can develop during this initial time will allow you to accomplish meaningful work for your campus in future years. This initial meaningful work can look different depending on the campus environment you inherit upon arrival.  There are some tried, and trusted methods which can steer you in the proper direction for success on your new campus.

1. First, foremost, smile. Carry yourself with the same emotion you had when you were offered this position. People gravitate to positive people and repel the negative ones.
2. Provide effort to your position. Eventually, you will be judged on your production and results, but during this grace period people want to see how hard you are willing to work. For example, deliver textbooks to classrooms for teachers, mop the floors, and do it all with a smile on your face.
3. Beware of those who befriend you with exuberance. This is not unique to campuses. There are those who hope to curry favor and look to improve their position on campus by kissing your backside. Nearly all of the others in the building know who these people are and are awaiting to see how your reaction is to their overtures.
4. Repeat after me. Never tell your new campus “this is how we did it on my previous campus.” Unless you came from a gold star campus who met all of your states distinctions just keep silent on your past experiences.  Show them your experiences by producing results. Too often administrators like to embellish their past to give them more confidence at the new one.  In today’s digital age, it’s a bad idea. Your past will follow you to your new gig.  Own up to it.
5. Don’t legislate via email. This approach makes you look weak and fearful. When you do have to email information it should be to spread good news or follow-up from something you presented face to face with them.  Also, in those emails, avoid “I” and focus on “we”.
6. Be passionate in all endeavors. Your every move is being watched. If you clean up spilled milk with the same passion as you do when leading instruction you will be welcomed into the conversation.
7. Your title does not make you a leader. Your employment title does not make you a leader. Your position does not make you a leader. I could go on and on here, but it is clear. People will listen to you initially because of the title you were employed for in the district. They will follow you afterward if they believe you are a leader who wants to empower them in their position.
8. Don’t be a travel agent. Don’t ask your faculty and staff to go where you are not willing to go yourself.
9. Be about them and not about yourself. Safe and protected employees create the trust and goodwill needed for meaningful success in the future. View the video below to see more on this topic.

Getting hired and being given the keys to the campus is an awesome responsibility. Embrace the challenges ahead and pursue success with energy.

What do you think is important for a new administrator to possess or perform when arriving at a new campus?   Feedback is always welcome in this arena.

A Leaders Most Important Tool? Their Story.

Can meaningful leadership exist without quality communication? Do great communicators always provide great leadership? What comprises a great communicator to you and your campus? Should communication be a priority for campus leaders? Why all the questions about communication?

The above is meant to illustrate the nebulous nature of what constitutes great communication on a campus.  There is no one correct answer for a leader. If you polled your colleagues you would find responses all over the map. For example, take our current president and some will say he is a compelling communicator while others will view him as the antichrist. Politics aside, this point illustrates the importance of the message behind the communicator as well as where you are as a follower to accept their message.

Leadership and the work you do on a campus is worthwhile when you are focused on student learning. Where campus leaders fall into troubles is when they don’t tell their story. I was blessed to begin my career with a campus principal who is a compelling communicator and preached the importance of telling your story.  Quite simply, if you don’t tell your story to your faculty, staff, and community someone else will tell it for you.

I work each day to intentionally communicate where we are now as a campus, where we need to go, and how we need to get there. I am by no means polished in my communication style but I work each day to get to this point. I have learned more from my own failings, as well as other failings, on the importance of meaningful communication. Thus far in my career I have learned two important lessons about telling your leadership story.

Lesson #1: Failure to tell your story means someone else will tell it for you.  Don’t be naïve about this because I will give you a 100% guarantee someone else is telling a version of your story right now on your campus.  The life lesson where this became crystallized for me was when I ran for a public office in my community. I did not do enough to tell my story while my opponent went door to door to spread a message which conflicted with my values, beliefs, and my story.  The failure to tell my story adequately altered the professional lives of many people.  Expending your time and resources to tell your story will never steer you wrong. My failure here was to believe I had done enough to tell my story. I needed to provide more effort in this instance.  A leaders efforts to tell your story is ongoing and endless. Others are just waiting for you to tire so they can alter your story. Lesson learned.

Lesson #2: Tell your story directly to those who least want to hear it.  Only telling your story to people who want something from you means you will find compliance and little meaningful growth.  A campus leader must reach out to those who disagree with them and find common ground for which to work on. A leader who only seeks the support of those who agree with them turns a campus or a district into a compliance factory where growth is stifled. When you reach out to those who disagree in a positive fashion you will find meaningful campus growth. This existence of this type of campus environment means the story you tell becomes more nuanced over time and adapts to an environment where student learning is paramount and compliance to leadership simply because they hold a position does not exist.

Your leadership does not exist in a vacuum on your campus. Whether it is a discussion over procedures or the introduction of a new program on your campus get out in front of the message and tell your story.  This can often mean you are placed into uncomfortable positions. I say, lean into the uncomfortable.  Your staff will respect you and work with you in the long run because of it. Decrees from the mountain top are not an effective long-term communication tool.

Feedback, comments, positive or negative are always welcomed on this blog.