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Building Rapport with Principals and Admin.

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Building Rapport with Principals and Admin.

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This article focuses on how principals and administrators can motivate their staff and maintain a positive relationship to help foster teacher leadership. Many teachers may not be open to the idea of taking on a leadership role due to the lack of rapport and communication with their principal and administrator. I chose this article because I do believe that these tips can help to set up a solid foundation for promoting leadership roles among teachers. While this article is geared towards an audience consisting of principals and administrators, we have seen how their role plays a crucial role in teacher leadership. Some helpful tips include praising of teachers, being available, giving teachers a voice and empowering teachers to see their own strengths.

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Access videos, whitepapers, eBooks, webinars, blogs, infographics, case studies, demos and more in our resource hub to support your success.

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This article provides insight into empowering our classroom teachers and helping them to realize their potential as a teacher leader. White (2016) stated, "Teachers who are empowered to lead are more likely to commit long term and positively influence others within their schools". Colleagues that currently hold a leadership role have the platform to empower those they work with. So often we hear about the negatives that come along with a leadership role or how our new teachers don't have the experience to lead. In the article, current teacher leaders can learn to nurture an authentic workplace, encourage diversity and delegate to build new teacher leaders. I chose this article because while administrators do play a key role in motivating teacher leaders, current teacher leaders can also help to mentor and model those looking to hold a position.

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If you've been hearing a lot about teacher leadership lately, consider yourself privy to a very relevant educational topic. All the buzz right now is focused on well-deserving teachers who are leading the way in their schools. Now more than ever, we are seeing a trend of teachers moving into leadership roles, such as coaching other teachers and participating in planning committees. Because these shifting roles and responsibilities were previously correlated with administrators, longstanding staff, or even tenured faculty, they may cause indeterminate or converging relational/organizational patterns. As a result, educators need innovative approaches to facilitating their new leadership systems and models in education.

Teachers who are empowered to lead are more likely to commit long term and positively influence others within their schools. While evidence pointing to the benefits of teacher leadership is prevalent, information regarding the implementation of teacher leadership and how it can be sustained is more challenging to find.

So, I've compiled a list of some ways we can empower teachers to lead as a contribution to the ongoing topic of teacher leadership. I gathered the thoughts of several rather candid discussions with teachers in leadership positions and also a very green Golden Apple Scholarship recipient, who is certain to be a trailblazer in education. Here's what I learned:

1. Nurture an authentic workplace.

Ensure that equity and diversity are at the forefront of leadership opportunities in order to establish an environment of trust and fairness. Leadership is packaged in different gender, colors, shapes, sizes, ages, personality types, religious conviction, and incumbency. Building trust via transparent leadership prerequisites and selection processes is key for staff to know that objective practices dictate leadership placement.

2. Mix it up.

Variety is truly the spice of life. Avoid group-think mentality, a mindset that takes over when lack of diversity and uncritical like-mindedness prohibits a group from accurately assessing problems and considering a full range of decision options (Paula Jorde Bloom, Circle of Influence: Implementing Shared Decision Making and Participative Management). Add in healthy doses of experience, expertise, skills, and open mindedness. These positive attributes will keep fresh ideas circulating.

3. Create opportunities with clear expectations.

Creating ample leadership opportunities that vary in levels of commitment and ability encourages teachers to contribute in measures that are comfortable to them. With an abundance of chances to participate, teachers will look for a lead project or position that suits them. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) and negative competitive tendencies that damage morale prevent teachers from volunteering and scaffolding their leadership commitments and experiences.

4. Always be on the lookout for leaders and become a matchmaker.

The hunt never ends because there's always room for more leaders. Discover teachers' passions and hobbies; it's a great place to start. Assess strengths, opportunities, instructional practices, and daily routines in order to encourage passionate teachers to take on projects that fit their expertise, talents, leadership skills, and influence.

5. Share the load and avoid burn out.

Face it: being a leader takes a great amount of time and energy. A recurring theme I heard while listening to teachers' perspectives on leadership was their struggle to balance additional responsibilities with an already full load. It's important to understand that teacher leaders are hungry to learn, but they have tendencies to overload and be stressed. Keep their delicate balancing act in mind. Teacher leaders value planning time and do not want to lead at the cost of diminishing instructional quality. Look back to #3 and #4. Creating ample and varied leadership opportunities, appropriately matching leaders to tasks, and sharing the load distributes responsibilities in manageable, collaborative doses.

Petroleum pumps need to be refueled after filling cars with gas, just like teacher leaders need refueling after invigorating our students and colleagues. Supporting charismatic environments where leaders are both energized and inspired to share what works and what doesn't, will not only reinforce a culture of collaboration but will also expand your leader's impact. Plus, it allows for opportunities to reflect and plan, and therefore improve effectiveness that ultimately results in increased student learning.

What are your thoughts? In what other ways can we empower teachers to lead?

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Six Ways You Can Empower Teachers to Lead

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If you've been hearing a lot about teacher leadership lately, consider yourself privy to a very relevant educational topic. All the buzz right now is focused on well-deserving teachers who are leading the way in their schools. Now more than ever, we are seeing a trend of teachers moving into leadership roles, such as coaching other teachers and participating in planning committees.

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In this chapter, Gabriel and Farmer discuss the role of an effective leader and how to use those qualities to hone your own leadership. Gabriel and Farmer (2009) wrote, "Effective leadership is the key to improving academic achievement and attaining lasting change". While leadership roles may seem overwhelming or daunting for some teachers, they are necessary in helping to enhance our schools. In the chapter, we learn that effective leaders do a lot for the good of others. They inspire, develop relationships, celebrate others' accomplishments and nurture others. I chose this article because it is a good reminder of the positive impact that teacher leaders can have on their school community and other teachers. If teachers begin to see the positive impact that mentors have had on them, it will hopefully motivate them to take on a leadership role in the future.

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by John G. Gabriel and Paul C. Farmer

What Is an Effective Leader?

Imagine that it is a balmy April afternoon, and a long-awaited leadership position has just opened up in your district. In your current school-level leadership position, you have had a positive effect on students and staff. This new position, however, could mark the beginning of the next stage of your career and increase your sphere of influence in improving academic achievement. You weigh the decision of applying for the opening with your mentor, your supervisor, your family, and your friends, all of whom are encouraging. So you draft a cover letter, hone your résumé to highlight your key accomplishments, and practice answering potential interview questions with trusted colleagues.

When the morning of the interview arrives, you put on your most professional attire and take a look in the mirror. There is no doubt that you are the leader they are looking for. You arrive early and, while waiting to be called in to the interview room, examine the district literature on display and mentally rehearse your talking points and questions for the panel. When you are brought in, you radiate warmth and confidence as you shake hands and make eye contact with the panel members. You knowledgeably and convincingly discuss the district's vision, pertinent data, and your educational philosophy. But then the panel asks a question for which you are not quite prepared: "How do you get the most out of your leadership?"

Essentially, what the panel is asking is, What does an effective leader do? This is an important question. Any leader with some level of preparation can parrot buzzwords, share his or her credentials and work history, and describe how he or she efficiently coordinates department or building operations. A leader is expected to do all these things. But an effective leader does more.

Effective leadership is the key to improving academic achievement and attaining lasting change. If you want to help your school thrive, it is a given that what you need to do will hinge on your leadership as well as on those around you. For our purposes, we define leadership as a "process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers" (Gardner, 1990, p. 1). To reach these objectives, leaders also need to be good managers. Conversely, not all managers are good leaders.

These two roles have one crucial difference: leaders deal in change, whereas managers deal in stability. Because the current U.S. education climate is focused on accountability, growth, and improvement, effective leadership is particularly important right now. As educational researcher and consultant Robert Marzano (2003) observes, "Leadership could be considered the single most important aspect of effective school reform" (p. 172). As such, leadership continues to be widely discussed and dissected in educational literature and public forums. Therefore, to hone your own leadership and to grow new leaders, you must first examine what effective leaders do.

Effective Leaders ...

... Inspire. Effective leaders inspire those around them. They accomplish this through the vision they set forth, the picture of the future toward which everyone strives. Their passion is contagious, and their energy is evident in everything they approach. Their dedication, commitment, and ability motivate others not just to do as their leaders do but also to believe that what they work toward is within their reach. Effective leaders use themes, mottoes, and symbols to inspire staff members and to maintain their focus on shared objectives.

... Develop Relationships. Thomas Hoerr (2005) notes that "leadership is about relationships" (p. 7). As much as effective leaders focus on improving instruction, they also invest time in cultivating personal connections. Good leaders listen to staff members and recognize important issues in their lives; they talk with them not just as colleagues but also as people. As a bonus, building these connections uncovers teachers' individual talents and strengths and helps leaders get the most out of their staff.

... Monitor School Climate. Simply put, effective leaders know what is happening in the building. They are aware of the web of relationships connecting students, staff members, teams, and departments. They stay on top of concerns and complaints connected to school operations. They are conscious of hidden problems, emerging problems, and public problems. Their proactive approach may be as simple as anticipating supply needs and room arrangements or as serious as observing and addressing instructional and personnel issues. Although they must prioritize, they do not minimize any issues' importance to staff members.

... Nurture. So much of what effective leaders do is nurture others. Wise leaders cultivate their staff members' leadership skills, both to ensure support in carrying out and sustaining change and to establish a network of rising leaders to fill future positions. Effective leaders make sure that no teacher is left behind: they pick up those who have fallen, lend an ear or a shoulder to those who need support, and generally help to recharge staff members and prepare them for another day. Good leaders may not like all of their staff members, but they are sure to demonstrate care and concern for each and every single one of them through their words and actions.

... Set Culture. Not all leaders have the opportunity to create a culture from scratch; most inherit it from previous leaders. Whether setting a new culture or shifting or enhancing the existing one, however, effective leaders put in place norms and practices-including their choices and methods in hiring, promoting, or not renewing faculty-that ensure productive collaboration, data analysis, staff development, and professional dialogues.

... Maintain Visibility. When one administrator we know solicited feedback from staff members, the most common observation he heard was that he was not visible enough. He seemed to be around only when things were either really good or really bad. Effective leaders are visible on a regular basis; they are the face of the team, the department, or the school. They are in the halls not only during class changes but also during class, and they find time to talk to teachers and students during lunch and before and after school. Such visibility helps leaders stay in touch with people's needs, wants, and concerns and demonstrates that they are shoulder-to-shoulder alongside their staff in the field.

... Diagnose. Effective leaders have a keen ability to sense what (or who) isn't working and are able to analyze data to determine what needs to be fixed to improve academic achievement. They understand the nature of problems as well as their far-reaching effects. They pinpoint problems through effective questioning, and they coordinate plans of action with staff members when appropriate. After diagnosing a problem, effective leaders also discover ways to minimize, sidestep, or eliminate it.

... Celebrate. Without celebrations, work feels too much like work, and things that once felt fun can become onerous. Therefore, effective leaders find reasons to celebrate. They keep morale up by ensuring that victories and gains-no matter how small-are recognized in some form. Verbal or written, personal or public, these celebrations reinforce expectations and help propel staff forward. Effective leaders are creative with how they recognize people, especially if there is no financial support for it. They might provide a special parking space, create a monthly award, or cover a class, but they also know that sometimes the simplest recognition-just thanking someone-can be the best recognition.

... Communicate. Communication is the foundation of effective leadership. One of the most common staff complaints we hear is that leaders do not communicate in an effective manner. This may mean that they do not communicate expectations clearly or that they disseminate the information too late, causing people to react to it instead of plan for it. Effective leaders eliminate confusion by ensuring in a timely manner and through a variety of methods (such as e-mail, memos, and displays) that staff members are on the same page. These leaders also recognize that communication cuts more than one way: it involves encouraging and listening to feedback from staff.

... Work with Others. Effective leaders tend to make us feel as though we are working with them, not for them. They distribute leadership, collaborate with staff, and treat everyone fairly and respectfully. These leaders have a better chance of both accomplishing change and creating a stable environment. Authority is present, but the relationship between staff and leader is collegial, not despotic.

... Acknowledge Mistakes. People want to work with someone who is human and fallible-and who does not cover up mistakes or pass the buck. Effective leaders are willing to own up to their mistakes. Doing so does not damage their credibility but actually builds it. Leaders who acknowledge errors demonstrate humility and the fact that they are able and willing to grow and learn from their mistakes. When bottlenecks surface, leaders might be tempted to point the finger at others, but good leaders will first "stop and examine a bottle. Notice where the neck is. It is not at the bottom" (Kline, n.d.). Of course, they must also demonstrate that they will take action to prevent such mistakes from recurring.

... Model. When leaders "model the way" (Kouzes & Posner, 2002, p. 14), they lend credibility to their leadership. Effective leaders "take every opportunity to show others by their own example that they're deeply committed to the values and aspirations they espouse. Leading by example is how leaders make visions and values tangible. It's how they provide the evidence that they're personally committed" (Kouzes & Posner, 2002, p. 77). Effective leaders demonstrate their willingness to benefit the learning community in any way they can, and they never ask staff members to do something they wouldn't do themselves.

... Commit. Effective leaders do what they say they will do, whether they have pledged to a large-scale project or made a minor commitment. This builds credibility and trust among staff members, who realize that their leaders' promises are not empty words. These leaders take on additional responsibilities when necessary, realizing that they may need to sacrifice their own personal desires and work twice as hard as everyone else to fulfill the vision. They demonstrate patience and fully commit to initiatives, not abandoning them midstream if there aren't immediate results.

... Adjust. We've known leaders who, when faced with adversity or an unexpected obstacle, are unable to continue with a plan of action. Effective leaders are able to regroup and determine a new course. They understand that needs and goals change over time and are able to adapt to meet them, and they know that sometimes they need to adjust their leadership style to complete a specific task or to work with a particular staff member.

... Lead. Although this area seems obvious, it deserves a brief mention nonetheless. Effective leaders initiate and innovate. They have the courage to make decisions, and their actions lead people toward the pursued objective. As former first lady Rosalynn Carter once said, "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."

Evaluate and Improve Your Leadership

A question we often ask leaders is, How do you know whether you are effective? Evaluating your own leadership style, and its attendant strengths and weaknesses, is crucial to getting the most out of your leadership. The sections that follow will get you started on the process.

Self-Evaluate

Evaluative instruments such as Myers-Briggs can be useful tools in determining leadership efficacy. They can help us understand our work and leadership styles and often offer tangible results that enable us to work toward self-improvement. However helpful they are, though, these instruments are costly resources that not every school or leader can afford.

An alternative and inexpensive means of self-evaluation is to keep a journal. Simply recording daily interactions and the events leading up to your decisions-and then revisiting them a little later-can provide remarkable objectivity and clarity with regard to your leadership.

The purpose of journaling is to reflect on what you have done to better understand what you should do in the future. If you are unable to find the time to journal, then set aside some time each day to answer the following questions:

Did you identify the desired outcome before taking action?

Was the actual outcome the best possible solution?

How effective was the method you used in reaching the outcome?

If it was not effective, what could you have done differently that would have helped you reach a better outcome?

Are you able to repeat your effective behaviors to get similar future outcomes?

What are you willing to do differently in the future? What must you do differently in the future?

Who were the others involved, and what were their positions, interests, and stakes?

What really happened, or what was the subtext of the situation or conversation?

While we are in the moment, we are often unaware of how we are thinking, talking, acting, and leading. In our experience, effective leaders find the time to look back on the day's events while simultaneously looking ahead to what they will do in the future. Reflective practitioners "analyze the uniqueness of a problem confronting them, frame the problem in ways that structure its intelligibility, think about the results of their actions, and puzzle out why things worked." These steps help them "build up a reservoir of insights and intuitions that they can call upon as they go about their work" (Starratt, 1995, p. 66).

Survey Staff

A no-cost leadership evaluation approach is to talk to those whom your decisions directly affect. If you feel secure enough to put yourself in this vulnerable position, then surveying your staff is one of the best ways to get meaningful feedback. Just be ready to discuss and respond to their comments. If you don't want to seriously consider the feedback, then don't bother asking for it in the first place.

If you implement a department- or schoolwide survey, make sure that participants are able to respond anonymously (see Resource 2). Although we would all like to know who thinks what, respondents are less likely to be honest if they have to put their names on the survey. We recommend distributing one survey to each staff member's mailbox. Each respondent then returns his or her survey to an "objective observer," such as a secretary, who crosses off the staff member's name on the roster to ensure that people participate only once. This objective observer would then be responsible for pulling all the responses together for your review.

As helpful as surveys can be, some find them a little stifling; teachers are only able to share what they are asked to share. So sometimes a more open-ended approach can be helpful. At your next department or faculty meeting, designate an objective observer to pass out sticky notes. Once you have left the room, the objective observer can say to the assembled staff members, "Use the sticky note in front of you to record what you would like to tell our supervisor." This anonymous process encourages staff members to share what is important to them-often things that might not have appeared on a survey. Consider some of the responses we have collected on school visits:

"I wish you weren't always so rude in the morning."

"I love how you always seem to know when to ask how I'm doing."

"How come it seems like you never say 'hi' to me when we pass each other in the hall?"

Identify a Game Plan

Seeking and receiving feedback is one thing; acting on it is something else altogether. Once you receive this information, you will probably feel overwhelmed. You might have already guessed at some areas that need improvement, but there will likely be areas that catch you off guard. You should pay special attention to these; if other people are seeing behaviors or actions of which you are unaware, you might want to engage in some careful, honest introspection and consider addressing these areas first.

Categorize Your Improvement

Sometimes it seems like the best way to accomplish anything in life is simply to make a list. And that is exactly what we recommend in this case. Choose three goals for improvement over the course of a year-one categorized as easy, one short-term, and one long-term.

The easy goal should be something that is a quick win, reached relatively easily and visibly. This kind of goal is important because it is a gesture to staff that you are serious in your improvement efforts. For example, administrators at Falls Church High School in Virginia responded to students' concern that they did not have sufficient input by selecting an unused locker away from the main office, painting it red, and encouraging students to submit their thoughts on slips of paper through the vents.

A short-term goal is one that you would work on over the course of a marking period (nine weeks) or so and that requires more contemplation and planning. For example, one administrator we know received complaints from teachers that he was not visible enough in the school. He began scheduling time into his calendar to be visible during class changes in different parts of the building as well as during instructional periods.

The long-term goal involves more work and bigger changes, but its payoff will benefit all. For example, a colleague of ours sets a goal called "Flip Five." His goal is to identify five teachers with leadership potential and, over the course of a year or two, mentor them and set them on the path of a leadership career as teacher leaders or administrators.

Share Your Plan

Verbalizing your intentions to others not only provides you with support from colleagues but also keeps you accountable and demonstrates an open and sincere desire to improve. If you fail to do what you say you will, you run the risk of being seen as insincere.

Keep It Fresh and Alive

Once you have identified your goals and plan of action, you should keep them at the forefront of your mind. Continually check your actions against your game plan to see if they fit. If so, pat yourself on the back; if not, make adjustments either to your game plan or to your actions.

It is also helpful to post goals where you will see them daily-at home, in your car, or in your office, for example-just as you might with personal goals. You could even write your goals as pop-up messages that greet you when you turn on your computer.

Finally, just as you do for your staff members, keep up your morale and motivation by celebrating your victories and milestones.

Share the Responsibility of Leadership

As a school leader, you will only be as strong and effective as those who surround and support you. Too many leaders succumb to the lure of being a lone visionary or hero.

Some adopt this leadership style because it is how they were trained or "how things have always been done." Many subscribe to an antiquated notion that they must be the sole source of decision making and change in the building.

Unfortunately, maintaining a power monopoly of top-down leadership will not lead to much improvement because, quite simply, people don't like being told what to do. Most teachers want to share in the responsibility of decision making. When you welcome this kind of participation, you confirm that you value your teachers and their contributions.

Leaders who try to effect change single-handedly are often accused of being autocratic or dictatorial, or of being out of touch with the faculty and its needs and challenges. And in these schools, the leadership positions that do exist are usually filled with managers who merely perform the daily operations needed to maintain a team, grade level, or department. Their skills and potential remain largely untapped.

Distribution of leadership is crucial. Leaders cannot be everything to everybody all the time. When they attempt to, they only overwhelm themselves and others. Teachers "cannot expect much from a leader mired in chores that should have been left to well-chosen teammates" (Gardner, 1990, p. 150), and when these responsibilities are not distributed, the leader's efficacy is severely diminished.

As Gardner (1990) notes, "No leader has all the skills-and certainly not the time-to carry out all the complex tasks of contemporary leadership" (p. 10). The various demands and stresses of leadership can fatigue even the most effective leaders at times. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) further point out that "leading a school requires a complex array of skills. ... It would be rare, indeed, to find a single individual who has the capacity or will to master such a complex array of skills. How does one reconcile the fact that effective school leadership requires 21 responsibilities but that the mastery of all 21 is beyond the capacity of most people?" (p. 99).

Education leaders can increase their efficacy by creating shared leadership teams that make strategic use of staff members' special skills. Marzano (2003) defines a shared leadership team as "the principal and other administrators operating as key players working with a dedicated group of classroom teachers" (p. 175). Such teams build a strong support system that moves the school forward more easily than a single leader can. The following sections will help you get started.

Create a Shared Leadership Team

Creating a shared leadership team is an important first step toward neutralizing the problems of a vertical leadership structure. The team is composed of "people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and common approach for which they hold themselves accountable" (Katzenbach & Smith, 1993, p. 111). As active learners, the members of the team are "highly committed to the general well-being of the school. Members share a 'culture of commitment' regarding the school" (Marzano et al., 2005, p. 104).

Ideally, this collection of administrators and teacher leaders meets at least once a month to identify academic areas in need of improvement and to initiate and implement strategies to improve student achievement. The leadership team is not a vehicle for the micromanagement of the school; rather, it is the driving force behind change and a necessary component in ensuring the school's success. In most cases, the team's discussions and activities should be replicated in the members' grade-level, team, or department meetings, an example of turnaround training.

You can choose any name that fits your team's stated purpose-for example, the Instructional Council, the School Leadership Team, or the Instructional Leadership Team. If you plan to change the team's responsibilities from previous years or are otherwise planning to give the team a fresh start, you may want to change the current name. It can be interesting to hear how staff members who are not team members think of these teams. Staff members who can't see a clearly defined purpose or measurable results will probably view the leadership team as a club of the privileged few who have little impact on their daily professional lives. Thus, an effective team earns staff respect by clearly articulating its vision and purpose throughout the school.

Leadership team meetings should focus on instruction, assessment, and other areas related to academic achievement. Anything else is extraneous. To ensure that the team's practices and processes are transparent, a participant should record minutes of the meeting. After team members have reviewed and accepted the minutes, they can share the notes with the rest of the school (with the exception of more private or sensitive information) by putting them on a network directory or in a public folder. If this technology is not available in your building, print and distribute the notes to the staff or have them housed in a convenient, central location, such as where teacher mailboxes are kept. You will find that sharing minutes will build respect and trust for the leadership team and its purpose.

Engage and Involve the Right People

Jim Collins (2001) has informed us that "the old adage 'people are our greatest asset' turns out to be wrong. People are not your greatest asset. The right people are" (p. 13). He urges leaders to make sure that the right people are "on the bus" (p. 41). To achieve sustainable success, you must have the right people in the right leadership positions. Not every leader can build a team from scratch, however. If you are working with a preexisting leadership team, you might have inherited some passengers, to continue Collins's metaphor. You then need to determine who is on the bus, who should be on the bus, and how to get others to disembark at the next stop if need be.

If your school already has a shared leadership team, take a careful inventory of the membership. You need to identify key players, supporters, and detractors. Begin by asking yourself the following questions:

Who are the team members?

Why are they considered leaders?

Are they considered leaders just because of their positions or titles?

How were they originally given leadership positions? Based on what criteria?

Do they really lead and have followers, or do they just belong to a team and possess a leadership title? If they don't have followers, how can they lead?

Have they reached their leadership capacity? If so, is that a detriment to the team?

The "powerhouse" of the leadership team can be found in two tiers. Tier one includes

The principal.

The assistant principal(s).

The athletic director.

The staff development coordinator.

The guidance director/lead counselor.

The dean of students.

The administrative intern.

The school resource officer.

Tier two includes

Department chairs.

Team leaders.

Lead teachers.

The instructional coach.

The technology specialist.

A guidance counselor.

The activities coordinator.

Aspiring teacher leaders.

Although your leadership team does not need to mirror this template exactly, these people form the base of the decision makers in your school, with the exception of the school resource officer (SRO). SROs are local law enforcement agents who serve as liaisons between schools and the police. They establish a presence in schools to deter infractions and criminal behavior, forge relationships with students and staff, and actively work with school leaders to ensure a safe learning environment for students and staff. Because SROs can have a direct influence on the quality of instruction, we recommend that they participate in meetings, although they are not voting members of the leadership team and should not be expected to remain for the meetings' entire duration. If your school has a safety specialist, then it would also be wise to extend to him or her the responsibility of attendance.

We break the leadership team into two tiers because there will be times when it is necessary or desirable to assemble only the first tier. Overall, however, the two tiers should work in conjunction. The members of this team act as leaders of the leader: they will help you monitor the pulse of your school's culture, strengthen your leadership through ownership, and advise on and implement change.

Surround Yourself with Those Who Are Better Than You

Teachers sometimes feel threatened by their neighboring classroom teachers, especially when those neighbors excel. This feeling of threat is one of the principal causes of teacher isolation. Often, the situation is no different for leaders.

We have been in too many schools that have a good principal but mediocre supporting leadership. This deficit could be due to a lack of training and coaching, but many principals actually prefer this situation because it safely preserves their ego and pride. If the principal is strong, this situation may not have a particularly negative effect on the team's or the school's overall efficacy. But what if the school has a mediocre principal? Consider how difficult it will be just to maintain school affairs, much less provide strong leadership. As John Gardner (1990) notes, leaders should choose high-caliber colleagues, but "all too often they recruit individuals who have as their prime qualities an unswerving loyalty to the boss" (p. 150). Gardner further explains that "what might have been a leadership team becomes, all too often, a rule clique or circle of sycophants" (p. 150). Although loyalty is admirable, it should hardly be the top consideration in making hiring decisions.

When we discuss leaders surrounding themselves with equally strong (or stronger) leaders, we can't help but think of Joe Torre, the highly successful former manager of the New York Yankees, who captured a World Series title in his first year at their helm. During the 2006 baseball season in particular, he found himself working with one of the most talented coaching staffs ever assembled.

Each of the coaches-from the bench coach to the pitching coach-could easily have been the manager for another professional team. Instead, they chose to work with Torre. In return, Torre, never threatened by the immense talent that surrounded him, shared his leadership with his coaching staff. Relying on the coaches' input and instincts, Torre guided the team to success during an injury-plagued season. His distribution of leadership and professionalism over the years helped him bring out the best in his coaches and in his team. An insightful, decisive leader who demonstrated an uncanny knack for making the right decisions, he will be remembered as one of the most successful managers in baseball history. Principals also have the potential to be remembered as effective leaders if they display the same courage and build a cadre of strong leaders to work with.

Consider Having Leaders Reapply for Their Positions

This is a strategy that should be used only in extreme cases. Although an ill school culture or ineffective leaders may make it necessary for you to consider this option, you should keep in mind that it could have a detrimental effect on morale and climate. We know one principal who saw the need to eliminate complacency in his large suburban school, so he removed all teachers from their leadership positions and asked them to reapply. Although he was correct in assessing that something needed to change, this drastic move caused already-low staff morale to plummet even further.

That said, you should not necessarily steer away from this option. You are doing this for other teachers, not for yourself, so some staff members might even appreciate such action. Starting from scratch might be necessary; you just need to find a way to sell it to the rest of the staff. You might consider addressing your intentions at a faculty meeting as a means of fostering leadership growth, especially if you have leaders who have held their positions for a number of years. You might explain that people who sit in leadership positions for too long may be unwittingly inhibiting others' professional growth. Finally, if you do have just one or two leaders whom you would like to replace, this process helps you avoid accusations of bias.

Identify Expectations for Your Leaders

Your school's shared leadership team plays a pivotal role in effecting powerful, sustainable change. You should have high expectations of your leaders. The members of the leadership team are responsible for monitoring and adjusting their departments' or teams' instructional programs; for articulating these instructional programs to students and parents; for assisting in the selection of teachers and team members; for coaching teachers; for serving as liaisons between their teachers and the subject coordinators and administrators; and for managing allocated resources.

We have drawn on our extensive experiences in numerous schools to define and describe five main leadership areas for teacher leaders. The following sections will clarify expectations for anyone in a leadership role, including you to some extent. Because teacher leaders and leadership team members are sometimes unsure of what their positions entail, each section contains a bulleted list of expectations that can serve as a guide and an evaluative tool. Of course, you should discuss these items with your team members before adopting them as leadership standards for your school. You will notice that there is some overlap among the items in the different sections because seldom do leadership duties fit into tidy little boxes.

Instructional Leadership

One of the main responsibilities of team members, instructional leadership is key in improving academic achievement. Although this role does have some managerial aspects, knowledge of instructional strategies, current research, and literature as well as the ability to apply data are imperative. Leadership team members

Serve on the shared leadership team.

Assume a main role in the development of their respective subject areas' school improvement plan.

Meet periodically with the principal and the area supervisor of instruction to discuss program and instructional matters.

Establish vision and direction for their respective departments.

Coordinate school-level diagnostic pre-tests and post-tests.

Mine and use assessment data to develop goals and action plans for their departments.

Hold departmental meetings to discuss instructional concerns of their departments and the school.

Initiate and/or guide curriculum mapping.

Seek ways to involve students meaningfully in their education program.

Adapt the county program to the needs of the local school community.

Help plan the best program for each instructional group by adapting the curriculum to the needs of the individuals.

Review department members' midterm and final examinations for consistency and rigor and provide constructive feedback.

Work with the department, the administration, the guidance department, and other academic and support departments in developing the schedule and placing students in appropriate classes.

Assist classroom teachers in classroom organization and management; in locating, selecting, and securing instructional materials; and in interpreting test results to assess each student's abilities and performance.

Conduct self-evaluation, self-improvement, and evaluation of programs.

Develop plans for daily work as well as long-range planning.

Plan for the most productive use of paraprofessionals, aides, and volunteers.

You should meet regularly with your instructional leaders to

Help them identify powerful instructional strategies and effective elements of lesson plans.

Share what you look for when you conduct classroom observations.

Discuss how assessments should look, how often teachers should be assessing students, and how assessments should be weighted.

Discuss how they can support novice teachers by observing them, having them observe other teachers, demonstrating instructional strategies for them, and providing opportunities for them to practice these techniques.

Professional Development

Just as you help your teacher leaders grow, they in turn must help their teachers grow. Establishing goals and long-range plans and promoting professional development are essential responsibilities of any leader. Leadership team members

Help plan staff development activities.

Develop departmental goals that are consistent with school, school system, and county goals.

Adjust programs as necessary to meet changing demands.

Assist teachers in developing long-range plans.

Develop a professional library or set of resources for their respective departments.

Help interview and select prospective teachers for their departments.

Stimulate an awareness of research and curriculum development in their subject areas.

Help teachers identify the most effective ways of using courses of study and instructional materials.

Play a key role in matching new teachers to mentors.

Keep informed of new trends and programs in their fields of responsibility.

Participate in inservice activities related to their duties.

Act as members of relevant review and evaluation committees.

Assist in writing curriculum materials.

Confer frequently with members of their departments on an informal basis.

To help your leaders develop their programs and promote teachers' professional growth, you should

Look at standardized test data with your leaders to see where their teams or departments are excelling and where they are falling short with certain objectives or strands.

Help them brainstorm staff development sessions for their departments that would address problem areas.

Assist in designing "getting to know you" activities for mentors and their mentees as well as mini-workshops for the novice teachers that address classroom management, building responsibilities, and lesson plans.

Departmental Administration

This area is more managerial in nature than the other areas, but effectively carrying out administrative and clerical functions is an important part of leadership. Organizational skills and the ability to complete tasks and meet deadlines in a timely fashion are crucial. Leadership team members

Assist the principal in providing overall leadership and management of the school's instructional program.

Provide the school's leadership with meeting agendas and minutes.

Monitor and make use of data pertinent to student achievement.

Coordinate departmental housekeeping and clerical duties.

Align the culture of their respective departments with the school culture set by the principal.

Lead departmental team-building activities.

Foster cooperative interpersonal relationships within the department.

Keep classroom teachers informed on local school matters.

Coordinate the use and maintain the care of equipment and materials.

Supervise the use of the clerical and instructional aides assigned to the department.

Greet, orient, and monitor substitute teachers, providing support as needed.

Arrange emergency class coverage when necessary.

Pre-approve all departmental transactions (e.g., purchase orders, teacher leave, guest speakers, field trips, and requests for auditorium use).

To support your leaders in this area, you should

Discuss with your leaders what makes meetings effective or ineffective and talk about how to facilitate a meeting; most teacher leaders have never received training or guidance in this area.

Share practices that will help them increase their departments' productivity, such as creating an agenda, taking minutes, and identifying leadership roles present in their departmental meetings.

Introduce them to team-building activities to use throughout the year to develop trust and improve climate.

Show them the school's master calendar and explain how their departments' instructional programs fit in with the overall operations of the school.

Liaison Function

Communicating concerns and expectations and relaying information to pertinent and vested parties are a crucial part of leadership. As a liaison, leadership team members

Meet with the principal and the director of instruction to share and discuss concerns related to their instructional programs.

Keep the school administration and the relevant area and county supervisors informed on departmental matters of curriculum and instruction.

Join team and department members in parent conferences when appropriate.

Meet regularly with subject supervisors.

Your responsibilities to your liaisons are to

Coach your leaders on how to mediate and interact in a parent conference, especially if it involves a complaint about one of their teachers.

Stress to them the importance of timely communication.

Share examples of memos for communication and documentation purposes.

Advise them on the most effective ways to communicate information to department members while not overloading them.

Professionalism

Leadership team members must lead by example. Their scope of professionalism is not limited to what happens in front of the chalkboard; the way they conduct themselves in carrying out their duties and in interacting with colleagues is also important. Leadership team members

Model expectations and appropriate behavior for department members.

Arrive punctually to work and meetings.

Display a professional appearance.

Communicate in a professional manner.

Forge and maintain collegial relationships across the school.

Fulfill obligations and responsibilities in an effective and expeditious manner.

To help your leaders grow professionally, you should

Share time management tips and explain ways you prioritize and juggle tasks.

Attend meetings led by your leaders and meet with them afterward to discuss their verbal and nonverbal interactions and communication with their staff.

Invite them to accompany you to functions where you demonstrate how you connect and interact with different people in different positions.

Help Your Leaders Meet Expectations

The descriptions of these five leadership areas will help your teacher leaders understand what you expect of them. In addition, they provide you with rich material to help your teacher leaders excel. Consider using regular leadership team meetings as job-embedded professional development opportunities. If you set aside time at each meeting to focus on certain areas, you will nurture leadership while modeling expectations for what should happen in department and team meetings.

For these sessions, consider pulling articles related to some of the expectations for the team to review and discuss. You might model some of the expectations and provide examples or conduct activities pertaining to them. You could also enlist the help of your leaders in providing training. For example, for the instructional leadership expectation of "mining and using assessment data to develop goals and action plans for the department," a knowledgeable team member could teach the rest of the team how to "slice" and apply data in this way. These members would then be able to train the staff in their departments and grade-level teams on how to use data, set goals, and create plans based on those goals.

Make Good Use of Your Leaders

As we mentioned earlier, leaders cannot be everything to everyone all the time. You should rely on your teacher leaders to help you whenever possible. In the following three sections, we describe ways your teacher leaders can take ownership of supporting your school's mission and fostering academic achievement.

Conducting Curriculum Reviews

Good leaders don't just influence people; they monitor them as well. Mike Schmoker (2006) recommends that "principals and teacher leaders meet with teacher teams by month or quarter to review and discuss evidence of what is actually being taught" (p. 130).

Simply mapping out curriculum is not enough. Even with maps or sequence guides provided by district-level offices and textbook companies, there is still a good chance that teams and departments display a bit of what Kim Marshall calls "curriculum anarchy" (2003). As much as we encourage teachers to collaborate with one another, the bottom line is that once the bell rings, they are alone in their classrooms and able to teach whatever they like. Other than a couple of classroom visits each year, administrators don't have a full picture of what is actually going on. This "'don't ask, don't tell' culture" (2006, p. 130), as Schmoker calls it, is common in most schools, departments, and teams.

The notion of monitoring instruction and curriculum coverage may greatly disturb some teachers; they will exclaim, "We're professionals, so we should be trusted to do our jobs right!" And they are correct. However, the stark reality is that today's stakes are high. Conducting curriculum reviews is an important way to "ensure that standards are actually taught" (Schmoker, 2006, p. 131). As Schmoker argues, "In many schools, such reviews would have more impact than all the initiatives we have ever launched, combined. ... Until such reviews (or some tough-minded equivalent) become as common as school desks, there is no sense in expecting serious improvements in teaching and learning" (p. 130). Leadership team members should conduct these reviews quarterly, meeting with their respective teams and departments to review evidence that teachers are delivering the approved curriculum. Whereas most leaders focus on data (results), curriculum reviews force them to examine delivery and content (process). Your leadership team members are your content experts, so they are the natural ones to conduct these reviews.

Therefore, during the curriculum reviews, team or department members should bring not just test results and other data but also lesson plans, projects, and assessments. The teacher leaders should ask such questions as, "How did your students fare on this assignment, and why do you think that is?" and "How do you think this lesson or unit went?" (See Resource 3.) Leadership team members should review grade books and lesson plans, but they also need to reassure teachers that these reviews are neither punitive nor evaluative in nature (although they could be used as evidence to support an unsatisfactory evaluation of a consistently underperforming teacher). Although the obvious purpose of these reviews is to monitor what is occurring in teachers' classrooms, the reviews also provide struggling teachers with opportunities for collaboration and support.

Then, at leadership team meetings, teacher leaders can discuss issues from the curriculum reviews, assess their teams' progress, brainstorm ways to refine the curriculum review process, and keep the administration updated on what is occurring throughout the building. Some might view this as micromanagement, but it is not. The leadership team and the administration are not telling teachers what to do; the curriculum guides determine that. Rather, they are simply ensuring that the right things are being done.

Performing Classroom Observations

Again, because your leadership team members are your instruction and content experts, you should tap into their knowledge base by having them perform classroom observations. In some schools, teachers are not used to being observed by teacher leaders, so they might demonstrate some initial resistance to this idea. However, if you and your teacher leaders clearly explain that these observations are not in lieu of the formal observations that make up their evaluations, you should be able to allay their concerns.

These observations indeed won't formally be factored into evaluations, but they will be another source of information for you. They offer a cost-effective way of having another set of eyes and ears observing what is occurring in your school's classrooms, and they provide another resource for teachers who might need assistance.

Bringing Solutions

If a single leader cannot perform all the complex tasks necessary to lead a school, then he or she certainly won't be able to solve the plethora of problems that inevitably rise up alone. Instead, you should encourage and even require your leaders to actively engage in problem solving. Leaders should expect team members to bring not just their problems to the table but also their solutions, even if they aren't always viable.

You can also demonstrate your faith and trust in your leaders by bringing your own problems to the team. Together, the team members bring a variety of leadership styles and strengths to the table, making the collaborative problem-solving process that much more effective.

Your Responsibilities to Your Leaders

As a leader, you have responsibilities to students and staff to maintain the health of the school and its culture. But you also have responsibilities to your leaders-your current ones as well as your future ones. Specifically, you need to ensure that building leaders are adhering to expectations and make sure that you have a pool of future leaders to draw from.

Enforce Expectations

As we mentioned before, you can use the five leadership areas we described to make your expectations and values clear. If one of your leadership team members is not fully meeting expectations, you need to have a professional conversation with that leader. For example, say one of your teacher leaders demonstrates a lack of professionalism by routinely arriving late for work and meetings. This leader is conveying the message that her time is more important than the team's time and that she is not accountable to expectations.

We have seen how this kind of behavior, left unaddressed, can erode respect for teacher leadership and, by extension, the school's leadership. Therefore, we recommend opening a dialogue with something along these lines: "Natalie, I notice you have not been arriving to school on time. You know that is not consistent with being a leader in this building, and you know you are expected to be a role model for the others. I feel confident that you can fix this. Would you agree?"

How can she respond? If she says "yes" and is able to rectify the behavior, then the team benefits. If she says "no," then she is admitting not the failures but her inability to rectify them, which implies that she needs help in doing so. In fact, it almost sounds as though she is asking you to place her on a work plan for improvement if the behavior continues. (See Resource 4.) If the behavior continues, we recommend formal documentation that includes your efforts to support her and to clarify behavior and performance expectations. If she is unable or unwilling to change her behavior, then you have already initiated a dialogue on why she should not return in a leadership capacity.

The above approach works because you are ultimately affirming your leader's ability to rectify a problem. However, sometimes a conversation is not enough. If your leader does not consistently meet expectations, you need to explicitly state the disconnect between the expectations and the behavior and then outline a more formal plan. Offer some support, such as having him or her observe more effective leaders. Confer with your leader regularly about his or her progress (or lack thereof), and be sure to document your efforts to help. You should also document ways in which your leader continues to fall short to prepare for the worst-case scenario of removing him or her from the leadership position.

Develop Leadership Capacity

As a school leader, one of your main responsibilities is developing the leadership capacity of others. In On Leadership, Gardner (1990) relates a conversation he had with the chair of a well-known corporation. This executive bemoaned the fact that the industry's culture rewarded people for "keeping their noses to the grindstones, doing their narrow jobs unquestioningly. Then when a top post opens up, we look around in frustration and say, 'Where are the statesmen?' No one consciously intended to eliminate statesmen; but the organizational culture produced that result" (p. 173). Schools are no different.

Schools often fail to produce "statesmen" because administrators tend to focus energy and resources on enhancing teachers' instructional practices rather than their leadership abilities. Admirable and necessary as it is to improve what occurs inside classrooms, however, school leaders need to pay equal attention to what teachers can be doing outside them. Too often, schools have no plan for filling future leadership vacancies other than pulling up the applicant database. This lack of a plan might not be purposeful; rather, leaders are just happy to have good teachers in their classrooms so they can focus their energy and attention elsewhere. But the better your leaders and teachers, the greater the chance that they will eventually move up in the leadership hierarchy and/or leave the school.

Mentor a Potential Leader

We hope that you are able to identify a person who was instrumental in your career, someone who encouraged you on your path toward leadership. This person might have spotted something in you that no one else had seen before and taken an active role in your development. Maybe he or she provided guidance and support to you along the way, listening to you and building you up when you needed it most. Unfortunately, mentoring potential leaders is not a norm in most schools. Yet mentoring a staff member who has leadership aspirations-what we call "growing a leader"-is an effective way to get the most out of your (future) leaders.

Mentoring a potential leader is a time commitment on the part of both mentor and mentee, so you should be sure to identify someone who is interested in developing this kind of relationship. You should meet regularly with your mentee. Ideally, you should dedicate 30 minutes a week. We know that might be a considerable time commitment, but as the relationship progresses, the mentee will invariably encounter situations that he or she will want to discuss as soon as possible. If you delay the conference by a week or two, you run the risk of losing a "teachable moment" and the mentee's excitement.

One of the best strategies you have at your disposal is simply sharing stories. Yours are a valuable source of information, so we encourage you to relate leadership anecdotes. Once you have built up a level of trust, you can share with your mentee how you have addressed situations with difficult parents, difficult students, and even difficult teachers, and your decision-making process along the way. As your relationship progresses, encourage your mentee to share his or her own stories about handling difficult situations. Coach your mentee by asking probing, open-ended questions about how else he or she might handle scenarios while enlarging his or her view of the school and how its different areas are interconnected.

When you meet with your mentee, you are not necessarily there to evaluate or judge; you are there to build up his or her skills and confidence. On occasions when you must be critical, try to make sure that your mentee leaves the meeting feeling good about his or her potential and excited about pursuing the leadership path. You should also encourage your mentee to take on new challenges and get outside his or her comfort zone. Finally, help him or her build networks with other potential leaders as well as official leaders inside the building, in other schools, and at the central office.

Groom a Backup

Potential leaders learn by doing. It's a good idea for administrators to groom their teacher leaders to serve in their absence and for teacher leaders to coach their teachers to lead in their absence. In this way, the principal, assistant principals, department chairs, and team leaders all have backups to act on their behalf. According to Gardner (1990), this practice activates "widening circles of supplementary leadership. Such an extended network reaching out from the leadership center carries messages both ways. It can be equally effective in letting the intentions of leadership be known or in tapping a broad range of advice and advocacy" (p. 151). In addition, providing teachers with new challenges helps stem job stagnation and turnover.

We recommend that you set up some learning opportunities for your teacher leaders during their planning periods. They could observe you handling discipline issues or meeting with a parent, for example. Follow up these observations with a discussion on choices you made, words you used, and nonverbal behavior you employed. Once you believe your backup has soaked up enough information, assign him or her some minor responsibilities and follow up with further discussion and reflection.

When you're comfortable with having your backup act independently, have him or her fill in on your behalf the next time you are absent. Leave a "lesson plan," just as a classroom teacher would for a substitute teacher. If you are an assistant principal, for example, leave a list of referrals to address student discipline issues. You could also request that your backup conduct a teacher observation (which of course wouldn't go in the teacher's file) or "5 × 5's"-five five-minute drop-in visits to classes outside his or her department. This will broaden the substitute's knowledge of how the different areas of the school function. You could have your backup draft a memo to the staff, develop an agenda for or facilitate a leadership team meeting, or organize an event to further build his or her skills. Department chairs and team leaders should have similar expectations for teachers they are coaching if they will be out. Be sure to have a post-conference with your backup soon after you return to discuss his or her experiences and provide constructive feedback and guidance.

Above all else, you must put your backups to work; the last thing you want to communicate is that you don't have much to do. If they are aspiring to a higher step on the leadership ladder, then it is your responsibility to provide realistic experiences for your substitutes. At the same time, you don't want them to think that your job is impossible to manage, which could dampen their aspirations.

Transform Informal Leaders into "Official" Leaders

Another way to cultivate leadership and foster staff ownership and buy-in is to tap the potential of the "informal leaders" in the school. These aren't the department chairs or the team leaders, yet people still look to them for leadership and trust their judgment. You could have them sit on the kind of leadership team often referred to as a Faculty Advisory Committee, a Faculty Team, or a School Issues Team. Their duties, among others, might involve collecting staff concerns related to operational, facility, safety, and building matters and bringing them to the principal for discussion and resolution.

If you want to avoid the perception that you are handpicking certain staff members to lead the school, then you might want to consider implementing an anonymous voting process, which would most likely still elect the informal leaders you are targeting while conveying trust and demonstrating that leadership, while not always democratic, can be participative. You can replicate the process to fill other leadership positions, such as the chair of the School Climate Team and so on.

Making a Difference

To get the most out of your leadership, you need to muster all the courage you can in the face of today's accountability pressures. It takes courage to decide to make a difference, to put yourself on the line and give harder and more than others. Let the courage of your convictions inspire and motivate others, and then fulfill your leadership responsibility by growing new leaders. There are no excuses for not doing so. Nothing that we have advocated here has a financial impact, and investing the time to develop others should be a categorical imperative for leaders. Leadership can no longer be the responsibility of the few. Once your leaders are in place and seasoned, you are well on your way toward helping your school thrive. And with the leadership network you build, the goal of establishing your learning community's vision and mission, as we discuss in the following chapter, becomes that much easier.

Getting Started

Identify areas of your leadership that need improvement, and create a plan to achieve your goals.

Assemble a shared leadership team. If one already exists, refine its purpose and expectations.

Develop the leadership potential of staff members, and provide job-embedded staff development to help them grow.

Expand the responsibilities and authority of leaders in the school.

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Honing Your Leadership and Growing New Leaders

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by John G. Gabriel and Paul C. Farmer Imagine that it is a balmy April afternoon, and a long-awaited leadership position has just opened up in your district. In your current school-level leadership position, you have had a positive effect on students and staff.