EPISODE #324

Hey builders, before we begin today's episode, I want to remind you that the doors to Buildership University close Monday, August 11th, 2025. We usually only do 2 intakes a year. This is the second one for the year. So if you've been looking for your chance to get inside a Buildership University, you need to go to buildershipuniversity.com. That's Buildership university.com. Now on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 3, 24. How do builders like us make a dramatic difference in the lives of our students in spite of all the obstacles we face?

How do you keep your vision for your school from being held hostage by resistant teachers, uncooperative parents, ridiculous district policies, or lack of time, money, or resources? If you're facing those challenges right now, here is where you'll find the answers, strategies, and actionable tips you need to overcome any obstacle you face. You don't have to wait to make a difference in the lives of the people you serve. You can turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Let's get started.

Hey builders, welcome to another episode of the School Leadership Reimagined podcast. 

I'm your host, Robyn Jackson, and today I'm coming to you from inside of Buildership University. We just wrapped up an incredible 6 day summer boot camp.

And if you missed the boot camp, you really missed one of the best boot camps we've ever had. It was incredible. I want to thank everybody who was there at the boot camp, who showed up every day, especially my rider dies. You all know who you are who are either there every day live or caught the replay. Those of you who've been in the Facebook group engaging and that sort of thing. I want to thank you. It was and you made an incredible experience. I have to be honest with you, I was really tired this year.

I was wondering if we should do it or not. But when we saw the the over 1000 people signed up for the boot camp and show up every day and be a part of that boot camp. It made me realize that this work is still worth it and it gave me energy. So I want to thank you for being a part of the boot camp. Now, one of the things that came up a lot in the boot camp and it's something that I want to address today is this idea that a lot of you are working really, really hard and you are not seeing the results for the work that you are doing. Now, if that's you, then today's episode is going to be for you because there the the, the boot camp, the big take away from the boot camp this year was that you don't have to do that. There is another way. And today I want to talk to you about what that other way is.

And I also want to talk to you about the danger of waiting too long to make the shift. So why don't we go ahead and and just dive in? You know, like, one of the things that really bothered me, that continues to bother me is that I see so many school administrators who are killing themselves for their schools. You are coming in early. You are staying late. You do all kinds of PD for yourself, often at your own expense. You are constantly looking for ways to help kids improve. You're doing everything that you were trained to do.

You're doing things right. And you're still not seeing the results you want to see. There is nothing to me more devastating in a job than to to do all the work and pour yourself into your job. And then you get your test scores and they've barely moved. Or you work really hard to support teachers and then you overhear the snarky comment in the staff lounge. Or, or you work hard all night long trying to give teachers the right kind of feedback and you give it to to them and it's just dead eyes. You plan just an amazing PD and people are sitting in the back on their phones. You put a system in place and nobody follows the system.

You identify a problem and come up with a solution and everybody's sitting around waiting for you to go, waiting for somebody else to take care of it. And they're not taking ownership of the problem themselves. And so it feels like it's all on you. And yet you take it all on because you believe and you've been told what that's what it means to be a leader. And you continue to keep doing everything right. And when it doesn't, when you don't see the results, you end up blaming yourself. You end up saying, well, maybe I need to do this.

Maybe if I just had a better system, maybe if I did this, maybe if I did the other.

When it's not you because you're doing exactly what you were trained to do, you're doing everything right. But on today's episode, the big question is what if you are doing every the, the, the right work, but you're doing it the wrong way? What if you are doing everything, quote UN quote right, but you're doing it wrong? If you're feeling that way, then, then then keep, stay, stick with, stay with me because I have hope for you. I do, you see, listen, the, there's no mystery to what it takes to really make a school move, right? We all know, we all agree that we need to give teachers feedback. I mean, if we don't give teachers feedback, how are they going to continue to grow? We all agree that we need to be doing that.

So you go out and you do the walkthroughs and you create the checklist and you create the rubric. Or maybe you went through one of those exercises where you, you know, unpacked the rubric, correct, and you circle the nouns and underline the verbs. Or maybe it was underline the nouns and circle the verbs. You did all the things. You get into classrooms regularly. You have worked hard to change your language so that instead of challenging people, you're saying things like, I wonder about, or you're giving people goes and grows and, you know, you're doing everything you're trained to do. And yet teachers are still not changing. They're not moving their practice.

You go into classrooms over and over and over again and you see the same nonsense that you've been giving teachers feedback about and it's still not working you. We all agree that part of our jobs and a very important part of our jobs is to provide professional development in order to help teachers grow. So we plan these great PD sessions or we set up PLCS. We look for resources for teachers who are struggling. We are on forums for principals saying, does anybody have a resource? I have a a teacher who's really struggling with classroom management. We go to conferences, sit in sessions that don't really pertain to us because we're hoping we can get something for our teachers. We read books hoping to give things to our teachers.

And then we read a book and we like this is the solution that the teacher did this? They would do well in their classrooms. We give the book to the teacher. The teacher doesn't read it. We plan a PD around the book with all kinds of activities to make it really fun. And like I said, people in the back won't look at their phones or they have fun. They do the PD and they're like, how was the greatest PD ever and thanks for it. And then when you go into the classroom a week later, they're still not implementing.

We have all kinds of curriculum rollouts. 

The district provides training. We reinforce the training still doesn't work. So again, we all agree it's important we do the things we're trained to do. Still doesn't work. A huge part of our jobs is making sure that we are implementing the work with fidelity. So you spend time reminding people, sending out the reminder emails when they don't do it, sending out the gentle reminders. You write people up.

You, you know, maybe you've ever gone through a par process where you've had to collect data and go in and you put people on improvement plans and guess what? One of two things this happens. Either they don't approve at all and they still are in your school, or you. They do the bare minimum to improve and the moment they're off the improvement plan, they go right back to doing what they were doing before. We all agree that a huge part of our job is shaping the culture. The culture starts with us. So we do things to create a positive culture and we still get the snarky comments. We do things to to try to shift the negative culture that we may have inherited.

And we're still hit every step of the way with that, that one person who who is is kind of secretly going behind our backs to, to undermine everything that we're trying to build in our schools. So here we are doing the right work and we all agree it's the right work. I'm not going to tell you that you don't need to give teachers feedback. You do. I'm not going to tell you don't need to give them support, you do. I'm not going to tell them that you don't need to be helping them be accountable. That's a big part of the job. I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be shaping culture.

You need to do it. But even though we all agree that that's the big bulk of the work that we do as administrators, you're going around and you're doing the things that we all agree are supposedly the right things, and it's still not working. You're still not seeing the results. You are running yourself ragged trying to build something using the tools that you were given. So the what? It's not that you're doing it wrong. It's not that you are doing the wrong things.

You're doing what you were trained to do.

The problem is that that we are doing the work we were trained to do, but we're doing it the way we were trained to do it. And so we're getting the results that we're getting. And so it's not that you're doing the wrong work, but it may be that you are doing the right work. You're just doing it the wrong way. And that's why you're so tired. That's why it's not working. You're sitting around beating yourself up thinking maybe it's me and it's not you. It's that you are doing the right work, but you're doing it the wrong way.

So here's the real danger of that You keep doing the right work, but doing it the wrong way. You're going to work your wear yourself out building a school that you don't even want. Let me tell you what I mean by that. Let's say that you continue to go and say, you know what, I'm going to give feedback. I just need to get into more classrooms. So you move heaven and earth to get into 3 classrooms a day and you're giving people glows and grows and you are reinforcing tactics rather than helping people take ownership over their practice. So that when you get into classrooms, what's happening is people become more and more compliant, but they don't become independent thinkers. You get into more classrooms, you give people feedback, and then what happens is that that people continue to stay stuck in their practice or they they only move when you're there to give feedback.

So you now are responsible for what happens in every single classroom. And think about the pressure that you're putting on yourself when you are holding yourself responsible. If you believe that the only way good instruction happens is if you get into classrooms to ensure that it happens, then the responsibility falls on you and you've now built a school where you are responsible for what's happening in every single classroom, not the teachers. You've built a school where everybody's looking to you to tell them what to do, and they're not making good instructional decisions on their own. You have a school where everybody is compliant, but the scores still aren't moving. Because if you are the one who is driving the instruction and the teachers not doing that thinking, if you're the only one doing the thinking, then your instructions going to stay stuck. It may even decline because you can't be everywhere all at once. So you're working really hard and you're creating more work for yourself and you're building a school you don't even want.

Think about this when it comes to support. 

If support is all on you and you're the one that has to find the candy, the, the, the, the, the cool new resource, and you're the one that's always sourcing different things for teachers, then teachers don't actually take ownership. They don't even feel empowered to take ownership over their own PD. They're just waiting for you to come and show up with the next resource that they need. And what else will happen is if you are the source of all of the resources, you are the source of all the support. The teachers will sit back and wait until you come and support them. They're not empowered to make changes on their own, and sometimes they don't even feel capable of doing it because your support has handicapped them to the point that they're afraid to make decisions on their own. What else happens is that you plan all the PD you plan.

So now you are full time at full time work trying to address every skilled deficit you see in the classroom rather than taking a step back and figuring out what do we need to focus on right now that will best move us forward. And you become a default party planner because you're always looking for a new thing to make the PD stick. You're always looking for a new trick or strategy that's going to help people get more engaged when in reality, they're just sitting back and they're just waiting for you and they never grow on their own. If you continue to run around and do the right work, but do it the wrong way, then what happens is you are the only person who is accountable in the building. And you, in order to get people to do their jobs, have to spend all of your time chasing, checking and correcting. That means that every time you want something done, you have to send the reminders. You have to stay late checking to make sure everybody did what they said that they were going to do. You have to chase people down when they didn't do what they said they were going to do.

You have to look at their work and make sure that it's right, and if it's not right, you have to do all the correcting for the work. You are accountable and what happens in that situation is everybody, somebody sits back and waits for you to do it because you have never helped them build their own accountability. You simply, every time there's a gap, you rush in to fill the gap because of course it needs to be done. And if if they're not going to do it, somebody's got to do it. So it might as well be me. And you rush in to fill that gap, which means that people get used to you rescuing them. They get used to you filling in the gaps. So they begin to leave more gaps.

And the more they do that, the more worn out you are. 

And so nobody actually is accountable except you. You keep doing the, the, the, the working on culture, but doing it the way that you were trained. You know what's going to happen. You are now the party planner. You are the one on on a Sunday night at the grocery store saying I need to buy something, a snack or something that I can give them tomorrow when I don't have a budget. So now you're using your own money to do something to boost their morale because it's been a really tough week. I need to find a thing.

And I mean, there are a lot of people who like doing that sort of thing. I'm not telling you not to do it. I'm just telling you that's not the real work. So now you are running around trying to find the new freebie. You're the one on the phone with the vendors trying to get the T-shirts in time. You're the one who is calling the caterers and hoping and then trying to get them to return your call so that you can have something at the next staff meeting that people will like. You're the one who are listening to the people snark about how cheap your T-shirts are or how this food isn't as good as last year. You're the one trying to find more budget to be able to do things and feeling like you can't fix culture because you don't have the money to do so, when money has nothing to do with what your culture looks like.

And so at the end, you're wearing yourself out and you're training people to think that culture falls down to food and freebies and fun, rather than the real work of building a culture that can withstand a budget crisis, that can withstand a really tough week and keep moving towards your vision, mission, and core values. You work hard doing the right things but doing it the wrong way, and you end up building a school that you don't even want. You end up building a school where it's all on you and everybody just sits back and watches you work. You end up building a school that can't be held together unless you're there. You end up building a school where you don't feel like you can go to a conference or take a vacation because if you do so, everything falls apart. You end up building a school where everybody just kind of outsources the thinking and the doing to you. Everybody is waiting for you to move it forward. And the real trap of all of this, that's the way we were trained to do it.

That's how people have built the job over the years. We don't even question it anymore. We don't even look at it and say, you know what? That's why does it have to be this way. We just assume that it it has to be this way because everybody else is experiencing the same thing. OK builders, real quick before we get on with the rest of the episode, I want to talk to you about the 100% collective. If you are interested in becoming a builder and developing that 100% mindset, then the 100% Collective is for you. Not only do we have monthly master classes, live master classes where I show you how to take some work that you are already doing, but do it like a builder.

Do it in a way that is more effective, more efficient, in a way that takes the work and stops it from being drudgery and makes it actually something that feels meaningful, that moves you forward. We also have done for you tool boxes with all the tools you need to be able to implement. And we have step by step playbooks that layout the entire process for you so you don't even think about it. You just take the playbook and you can implement it right away in your schools. And we have a supportive community. So this is a safe place where you can bring your challenges and there are other people, other builders just like you who are encouraging you, who are plotting you when you win, and who are giving you their experiences as well so that you can learn from each other. If you are tired of just kind of going through and doing the work the way you've always been doing it and you're ready to stop being a leader and to start building something amazing, the 100% Collective is where you need to be. Join us at buildershipuniversity.com/community Now back with the program.

And every year we go into the new school year and we pledge this year's going to be different and better. 

But we keep going into the school year with the same tools. And then we wonder why we're so tired. We're so exhausted, how why the job doesn't feel like it should, why we're burned out. And we think that the solution to burn out is to take a break. Some of us think it's to take a step back. Some of us think if you know, like a massage, I love them. They're not going to solve this kind of burnout because this burn burnout is perpetual.

And the work that you've been doing has created the context that you're in that that continues this burnout. So you're just on this hamster wheel. You just keep going and going in and going and going. And So what happens is that every single year we pledge to do something different and we end up falling into the trap of doing the same thing that we did last year. I want this year to be different for you. I want this year for you to get off of that hamster wheel. Where the more you work, the more you create conditions where you have to work more. I should write that down that, that that was that should be on AT shirt.

The more you work, the more you create conditions. No, I should change it. The more you work like a leader, the more you create conditions that require you to work more. Those are two things differently. See, we're all doing the same thing on the surface, right? We're all doing feedback. But builders are doing feedback in a way that builds ownership in the teacher. So the teacher takes ownership over their practice.

So the teachers not trying to comply with you and appease you, you and your feedback and jump through the hoops of your rubric, the teacher is looking and saying, listen, we're trying to get to 100%. You're giving them feedback that helps them see the gap between where they are and where they need to be so that 100% of their kids are successful. And then you're giving them feedback in a way that helps them take ownership of that gap so that they now feel responsible for closing that gap. Totally different. So on one hand, you've got feedback that creates dependency and compliance. On the other hand, you've got feedback that creates ownership. They're both hard. Choose your hard.

They both require you to spend some time in conversation, but one conversation results in action. Another conversation results in eyes rolling, teeth sucking, hurt feelings blank stares. Choose We're all giving teachers support, but one kind of support, that leadership support keeps you constantly feeling like you've got to fix your teachers and keeps your teachers constantly resisting your support because your support often is handicapping to them so there's no growth. Or you can offer support like a builder and provide support that empowers teachers to own that not only take ownership over that gap, but close the gap between where they are and where they need to be. You're showing teachers step by step how to get closer and closer to the goals, and you're making it so easy for them to take the first step. You're empowering them to take the first step, that once they take the first step, they begin to drive their own professional growth and development because they can see now the pathway to getting to where they need to be. Choose We all believe that we have to do something around accountability. Our jobs.

Part of our job description is that we have to help people be accountable for doing the work in the schools. 

So you can either approach accountability like a leader and spend all of your time chasing, checking and correcting. And the more you do that, the more people step back and let you work, and the more accountable you make yourself and the less accountable you make everybody else. Or you can do accountability like a builder. And instead of trying to convince people to think differently and feel differently so they'll move differently, you just build airtight systems. You get rid of the accountability, the leaks, you get rid of the parts of the system that make it easy for people to do something different. And you create systems that are so airtight that people just follow the system. You didn't convince anybody.

You just made a system where it was easier for people to do the right work, the right way, even when you're not looking. You see, the mistake that we make about accountability is we think that in order to make people accountable, we first have to change their hearts and minds. No, you don't. Sometimes you just need to make it easier to do the right thing than it is to do the wrong thing, because most people will choose the path of least resistance. So I'm not trying to repair people. I am repairing systems and letting the systems do the work on the people. Because after people get in the systems for a while, their beliefs change. When their behavior changes, their beliefs change.

So I'm working on something that I have complete control over, which is the system, instead of working on something I have no control over, which are the people. And I'm building a system so airtight that people get in line and alignment with a system and they begin to change as they do So choose your work. We all have to do culture. We all have. We're all responsible for culture. But you can spend your time hoping that cupcakes will change things and make people all of a sudden happy to work in your school. You can spend your time trying to bribe people into feeling happy and better. You can spend all of your time trying to fight burnout and repair burnout, or you can do culture like a builder.

And you can start working on the things that really matter, the habits and stories in the organization. And you can build a culture that gets people meaningfully engaged in the work and keeps them meaningfully engaged in the work even when it gets hard. Choose your work. We're at the beginning of a new school year and all of us has a choice to make. Are we going to do things We've always done just a better version of it. You know, people always talk about it's like rearranging the deck chairs on the deck of the, the Titanic, right? That, that, that a lot of what we do at the beginning of every school year, we have a school that is sinking.

We have a culture that is turning toxic by the day.

We have an accountability system with so many leaks that people are now just kind of standing back and letting other people do the work, and they're not feeling ownership or accountability for the work. We have a support system that creates resentment, not results. We have a feedback system that is more about compliance than real change, and we know it. But we go in and we put a new bow on it and we say maybe instead of glows and grows, I can do yays and nays. It's the same thing. We are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic rather than addressing the hole that's making the ship leak and sink. Or we can choose to do something really different the school year. We can stop doing all that stuff over there and focus on doing the work that matters.

Now some people tell me, Robyn, you know, I'd love to do that. I really want to do. I really do. But you know, I got to get through the beginning of school year first. No, you don't because this is the time where you start setting the tone for the year. This the choice is in front of you right now. The more you delay it, the harder it's going to be to come back to it later on. Some people are saying, well, Robyn, I've got I've got to get my culture straight first before I could do that.

No, the reason your culture is the way it is is because you're doing the stuff over here, this leadership stuff. You're doing the quote UN quote right work, but you're doing it the wrong way. It's why your culture is stuff already do this work over here. Your culture shifts. Well, Robyn, I am close to retirement and and so I don't I don't, you know, like it may be too late for me. No, you're still in the building and you still have a school year in front of you. So it's not too late for you to change. And if you do make the shift, then you can go into retirement feeling like you did something that mattered, feeling great about a school that you transformed on your way out.

So all of those excuses do not change the fact that you have a choice to make right now. Do you continue to do the right work, but do it the wrong way and get the results that continue to frustrate you? Or do you really take a look at the work you're doing and decide that I'm going to do the right work the right way this year? I'm going to do the, instead of doing this leadership stuff that's just a lot of stuff under the name of feedback, support, accountability, and culture. Or am I going to do true feedback, true support, true accountability, true culture like a builder now not I want to tell you that you don't have to make that choice by yourself. Like you can choose. I want to do it like a builder. You don't have to figure it out alone.

You know, the doors to Buildership University are open right now and we are doing another intake this year with a small group. If you are a principal and you are saying, you know what, I don't want another year like that. I really do want to make a difference. I do want to do these things, but do them like a builder to build a culture where people have take ownership over their own practice. They they hold themselves accountable. They are engaged meaningfully in the work. They are empowered to continue to grow.

I really want to do things differently this year.

Then I want to invite you to join us in Buildership University. The first step is you need to fill out the application. We'll review your application and if we believe we can help you, then we will approve your application. If we don't believe we can help you, we'll let you know. We're not going to just kind of say sign up and you just hope the application tells us a little bit about who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. If we believe we can help you, we will then let you know and get in touch with you and then start help working with you to get the PO process done so that your district can cover your tuition. Or if you're covering your tuition yourself, help you get set up so that you can join Buildership University. And then when you come into Buildership University, we're going to help you build a different school so that you can finally do the right work, but do it the right way.

Doors close for applications on Monday, August 11th, 2025 so you still have time to get your application in. I would love to help you do things differently this year because it doesn't have to be the way it's always been. You do have a choice. You don't have to keep living with the the, the, the stress of doing all of this work and not seeing the results. The frustration of every single year feeling like I can't do it that way again and then doing it that way again. There is another way and my plea to everybody, whether you join us in Buildership University or not, my plea to everybody is to decide. Make the decision. Stop doing all of this work and killing yourself and building a school you don't even want.

Start doing work that really matters. Start doing work that can actually make a difference. Start building the school that you've always dreamed of having and having and the results that you've always dreamed of, of creating and making the difference that you've always dreamed of making. Because you've decided this year to stop doing the work and the chores of of this this job and start doing the work that matters. Like a builder. I'll talk to you next time. Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you, where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have.

Inside you'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me, tons of resources, templates and exemplars, and monthly live office hours with me where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now. If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental games each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today. Hey, it's Robyn here and I want to thank you for listening to today's episode. Now if you have a question about today's episode or you just want to keep the conversation going, did you know that we had a school Leadership Reimagined Facebook group? All you need to do is go to Facebook, join the School leadership reimagined Facebook group. Now they're going to be a couple of questions that we asked at the beginning because we want to protect this group and make sure that we don't have any trolls come in and that it really is for people who are principals, assistant principals, district administrators. So make sure you answer those questions or you won't get in.

But then we can keep the conversation going. Plus, we do a lot of great bonus content. I'm in there every single weekday. So if you have a question or comment about the episode, let's continue the conversation. Join us at the School Leadership Reimagined Facebook group and I'll talk to you next time.