EPISODE #285

Is this all there is?

You're listening to the school leadership reimagined podcast episode 285. 

Hey Builders, before we begin today's episode, I just want to remind you that tomorrow is the last day to join the last BU cohort for the year. So if you are interested in getting your vision completed and having your staff all buy into your vision and be committed to your vision and having a plan for how you're going to achieve your vision, if you want all of that done before you go home for the holidays, then you need to go to BuildershipUniversity.com and join this cohort, because that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to get your vision done.

We're going to show you how to get your staff committed to your vision, and we're going to help you develop a plan to achieve your vision so that when you go home for the holidays, all that's done. And when you come back in January, you can hit the ground running. But tomorrow is the last day.

We have our kickoff call tomorrow, November 7th, so you want to make sure you get it done before then. Now, if you're worried that your PO is not going to be ready before then, we have a way for you to get started right away. Just go to BuildershipUniversity.com and look for the BU quick start so that you can get done.

If you need any help with anything, give us a call at the office at 1-888-565-8881. All right, now on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast, episode 285.

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 a lack of time, money, or resources? If you're facing those challenges right now, here's 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 want to ask you a question. Have you ever been doing your work and you felt like, really, is this all there is? Have you ever been doing the work and wondered if, you know, maybe this was the right work for you? Or maybe, you know, maybe are you the right person for the work? Have you ever had this feeling that there's something more, there's something missing from the work? Now I know we are not supposed to say that aloud, but it's just you and me talking here. So if you've ever felt that way, or if you know someone who's felt that way, then today's episode is for you.

And to be honest, it started with a couple of things. So first of all, you know, I lurk in a lot of the principal groups. That sounds a sinister lurk, but you know, I read, you know, some things, sometimes it gets a little messy in those groups for me.

So, you know, kind of popping it out. But anyway, I was in a principal's group on Facebook and in the last couple of weeks, I've seen more and more people posting this very question. They're doing it anonymously, but they're saying, I've been in this work for a while and I'm just starting to wonder if this really is all there is.

And it comes from this thing where people fought hard to become administrators. They finally get the job and once they're in the job, they wonder, wow, I worked so hard to get here, but it doesn't feel the way I thought it would feel when I got here. Is this really all there is? So that's the first thing that happened.

Second thing that happened, happened inside of office hours. So for those of you don't know, inside of Buildership University, we have every single week we get together for office hours. It's me, it's the folks inside of BU, and it's a confidential, safe space for people to talk.

So I'm not going to talk specifically about what somebody brought up in office hours, but I was listening to a couple of principals, just one, a couple of principals talking about some things. One was celebrating some wins, but, you know, even though the person was celebrating some really big wins, the person was just kind of wondering like, OK, I'm winning in all these areas, but it just, I don't know, it doesn't feel like it's, you know, I still don't know that I'm fully fulfilled. I'm happy about the wins, but and I feel guilty for feeling this way because I am having these great results.

But I don't know, is this really it? 

Is this all there is? Another person was just starting the process and was saying that one of the reasons that that they even came to BU to begin with was because they were doing the work and they had what would be considered a decent, good school. But they just, I don't know, even though they're being rewarded for doing a great job, is this really all there is? So I'm seeing this trend in how people are talking about it. I think more and more people are struggling with this idea.

But again, we don't we feel guilty about saying it because we have an administrative role. A lot of people would love to be in our shoes. We worked hard to get there.

We're told from everybody in our district and everybody around us that, you know, like in the Devil Wears Prada, a million girls would would kill for your job. You know, like you or you've hit it. You're at the pinnacle and you have this amazing position.

And it feels almost ungrateful to wonder, is this really all there is? We are usually hard workers. We don't want to complain. And so it sounds like we're complaining when we're not.

We're not unhappy in the role. It's just that, you know, there's something more that we want from the role. And so we don't say it aloud because it feels ungrateful or it feels it feels, you know, kind of whiny.

And it's even worse if you have a school that's doing pretty well, because what do you have to complain about? Your school is doing great. You know, there are schools that are falling apart every single day. You're doing a good job.

So so why are you so dissatisfied? We we beat ourselves up for feeling this way. And so I want to provide a safe space today on today's podcast for us to talk about it, for us to say the stuff that maybe we aren't comfortable saying aloud for. And I also want to pull back the curtain or pull back the covers.

Which metaphor am I trying to use here on why we feel that way? There's a mythology. In fact, there are two big things that I think that we were taught as leaders. That's a part of the leadership paradigm that make us feel this way.

And so I want to just talk about those things, expose them for what they are, the myths that they are, so that you can get them out the way and really focus on finding true fulfillment in this work. And again, you probably are on some ways very fulfilled with the work. But if you've ever felt like, is this it? Then today is for you.

All right. So there are really two things that lead to that feeling. One is a myth that we have about the role itself, the job, the work.

And the other one is a myth that we have about our role, who we are and the role that we play in the work. So I'm going to tackle both of these myths today because both of them, I think, are insidious and eroding at our confidence. And so let's tackle them.

Let's get them out the way so that we can stop feeling this way. 

So the first is about the work. When I first became an administrator, there was an assistant superintendent.

He was outgoing and he took it upon himself to give me some advice. He said, you know, young lady, in this work, if you just worry about the five B's, you'll be OK. And so I'm sitting there, OK, well, you know, what are the five B's? And he said, I'm glad you asked.

You just need to know are the butts in the seats, are the books being taught, are the buses on time, are the balls in the court, and is the budget under budget? If you worry about those five B's, you'll be fine. Now, you all may be thinking, oh, that's so antiquated. That's such an old paradigm.

But is it really? You know, maybe they're not five B's now. Maybe they're six. Maybe we can add benchmarks to the list.

And then maybe then we will have gotten it. But our jobs are reduced to that work, basically, that kind of busy work. Think about how much time you spend in your day doing one of those five B's versus the time you spend having the impact that you really want to have.

More importantly, think about how often you are rewarded for some version of those five B's versus the work that you really believe will make a difference. You know, as a as an administrator, look at what what you get rewarded for. Look at the things that that you get commendations for, you know, attendance, right, butts in a seat.

You get accommodations for winning the state champion balls on a court. You get you get rewarded for for when they do walkthroughs. How how many of your teachers are following the pacing guide, the books? Right.

You get rewarded for for coming in under budget. You get rewarded for not having any incidents on the bus and making sure in the buses, you know, can extend to your discipline data. Right.

So you're getting rewarded for that as if that is the work. And so that's how you can have a school that's doing well, a high performing school and still feel unfulfilled. And one of the reasons why I started Build Your University was because I wanted to create a space for people who weren't satisfied with anything less than 100 percent because the reality is in most districts, as long as you're not the bottom and as long as you're making the prescribed three to five percent growth every single year, they don't ever expect you to get to 100 percent.

That's not even a part of the process for them. 

They they don't even believe it's possible. And so you can get rewarded.

You can be considered a high performing school when your students than when less than 100 percent of your students are achieving and everybody's going to throw your party. But in your heart, you're saying, but what about the 10 percent or 20 percent or 30 percent of students who still aren't there yet? And people will poo poo and and put it off. But in your heart, you you you don't feel fulfilled because, you know, the work is greater than what people are presenting the work to you as.

And so I did a sentence and a preposition. Sorry about that. I was asked a preposition of English teacher moment.

Forgive me. So you are getting rewarded for. Not serving all of your kids, that sounds so blunt, I don't even like hearing it when I say it myself, but that's what's happening.

And so you can start to say, really, is this all there is because you want something more or you might be saying, really, is this all there is? Because in your district, the stuff that they're telling you you need to focus on isn't the stuff that you believe really matters. Or you might be feeling, really, is this all there is? Because the mythology of leadership says that as long as the stuff is taken care of, you've done your job. When you feel like there's something bigger that you were called to do and yet there's no space, there's no conversation, there's no there's no expectation that you do anything bigger than just manage.

And if that's you, if that's how you're feeling, then welcome. You're in the right space because builders recognize that and then they do something about it. A lot of times I've talked to builders who have said, you know, I was in my school and I had a decent school, but I couldn't move it beyond good.

And I was starting to wonder if I was even cut out to be a principal or if I was in the right space. It's not you. That's the mythology around the work.

If you feel that way, it's because you're in an environment that is telling you that this is all that it is, that there is. This is the work when the work is so much bigger than that. And if you are feeling that way, you need to get out of spaces that tell you that the work, that shrink the work into the five B's, that oversimplify the work and to some of the busy work that that you're being asked to do on a day to day basis and get yourself in a space that sees the work as big as you see it.

And that's really hard. 

I remember being an administrator and I remember, you know, my first couple of months in the role talking to the area superintendent who had hired me and, you know, he's asking me how things are going. And, you know, instead of like doing the politically correct thing, I told him honestly, you know, I'm just kind of bored.

I feel like I'm solving the same five problems over and over again. And he looked at me like, you dummy. I wasn't really asking for the truth.

And I realized at that moment maybe I should have said something a little bit more, you know, well, sir, I'm enjoying it. I'm looking forward to the opportunities and, you know, all the things that you're supposed to say. I didn't know.

So I said the truth. But the truth was that in the role. That's what I was doing.

I was solving the same five or six problems over and over again. And it wasn't until I started looking for ways to reinvent the role to really make the difference that I wanted to make that I started feeling some sort of fulfillment for the work. And if you're in that position right now where you feel kind of trapped by the very narrow definition of the role that you were given, I want to encourage you to redefine the role to make it work for your kids.

It's Robyn here real quick, I just want to interrupt this episode for just a second, because if you are enjoying what you're hearing, then would you mind sharing this episode with somebody else? So all you need to do is just go to your phone. If you're listening to it on your phone or your podcast player and then click the three dots next to this episode and I'll give you the option to share the episode. Now, if you do that, three things are going to happen.

First, the person that you shared with is going to think you're a hero, especially if they're struggling with what we're talking about right now. They're going to love you. Secondly, you're going to feel good because you're going to get the word out about Buildership and start building this Buildership Nation.

And third, you will get my eternal gratitude because I really want to get this out to the world and you'd be helping me out. You'd be doing me a huge favor. So please share this episode with someone right now who's who's dealing with this same issue, someone you think would really benefit.

And now back to the show. It's scary, I know, especially if your district is heavy handed and rewards you for doing the other stuff. But that's the difference between being a leader and being a builder.

A leader is trying to squeeze yourself into a role that's too small for you. Being a builder is about building out the role and turning it into something that is big enough to encompass the dreams that you have for your students and for your school. All right.

So that's that's the first thing. 

For some of you, it's that. But for others of you, it's not the mythologies that you've been fed about the role.

It's the mythology that you've been fed about you and and what you need to be doing next. You see, we kind of treat being a principal as the be all and end all. And then after that, it's I got a central office job as if there's only one track for every single person in education, teacher, coach, administrator, principal, district administrator, superintendent, secretary of education.

And then, you know, you die a saint. Like, I don't know what else there is that that seems to be the only track. And so you are you might be a person who's very ambitious.

You might be a person who has a big vision for an impact that you want to make in education. And then you are fed the myth that the only way that you can do that is by following the prescribed track for for the for for for the job, the career track. And so some of what you're feeling is like, is this all there is, is that you've been fighting for the next role and the next step and the next rung on the ladder on a track that isn't the track you should be on to begin with.

That certainly was the case for me. Now, for some of you, that is your specific track. That's what you should be doing.

I have friends who came through my admin training with me and I looked at them and I said, you're going to be a superintendent one day. I can see it. They were perfectly cut out for that.

There are others who, you know, started the I have a really good friend. I love and admire her so much for this because she started the administrative track and realized this isn't the impact that she wanted to have. This isn't the lifestyle she wanted.

This wasn't the role that was right for her. And she made a decision not out of frustration, not out of, you know, like a lot of people. I'm just going to go back into the classroom.

She made a conscious decision when she was on the ascendancy on that career track to go into the classroom because that's where she felt she could have the biggest impact and make the biggest difference. She made that decision on her own. I love and admire her so much for that because she rejected the mythology that there was only one track.

She realized this wasn't the. She was a great administrator and was in the queue for for becoming a principal and would have moved to central office very quickly. She had the talent.

She had the skill, but it wasn't the right thing for her. She made that decision. She rejected the mythology and realized that you can have an impact in a lot of different ways.

And she chose what was right for her. I wish more of us did that. You know, I got pushed until, you know, I got to reach the breaking point and resign.

I see other people getting pushed. 

Well, you know, I have to be this and I really want to be this. And, you know, I see people right now who are aspiring administrators and they want with all their heart to be an administrator without having an understanding of the work and really thinking about what is the impact that I want to have? Who am I? What is my destiny? Destiny sounds like so woo woo.

So maybe not destiny, but what is what is the impact that I want to have? Instead, they just are being they've just blindly been told the only way you can have the big impact is you go from teacher to administrator to central office. Well, that might not be your role. So some people are asking, is this all there is? Because you spent so much time pursuing a role that you don't even want.

And then when you get there and you finally, you know, King me, I am now the principal of the school. You realize you didn't ever want to be a principal. That wasn't the thing for you.

Now, here's where this gets insidious. I was talking to someone about this just recently. There's a book called The Big Leap.

It's been on the book list, you know, one of our summer reading lists. And the chapter that spoke the most to me was a chapter that talks about what they call your zone of excellence versus your zone of genius. Your zone of genius is where you are doing work that is perfectly suited to your gifts, your talents, your aspirations, your dreams.

And it's where you can have the biggest impact. And what he says and the thing that struck me is that most of us are not operating in our zone of genius. And he talks about some of the other zones and, you know, I won't go through it.

I've done all podcasts and I'll link to it in the show notes, but he talks specifically about what he calls the zone of excellence. And that's where you are really good at what you do. You are rewarded for what you do, but you're not fulfilled in what you do.

Usually what happens in the zone of excellence is that everybody else is being served by your gifts and talents, but you feel unfulfilled. And a lot of us, because we believe in this mythology about one track to being successful in education, we are operating in our zone of excellence. From the outside looking in, you're doing great.

From the outside looking in, you're hitting milestone after milestone, achievement after achievement. From the outside looking in, it seems like you are doing a fantastic job and everybody else is benefiting from your gifts. But at the end of the day, you don't feel fulfilled.

I know what that feels like. I've been there. And if that's you, I want you to be brave enough to recognize it and step out of your zone of excellence, because if you're serving everybody else, but you are going unfulfilled, then you basically are sacrificing not only your own happiness, but the impact that you really could be having if you get out of the trap of the zone of excellence and truly find your zone of genius.

So if you're feeling like, you know, is this really all there is? And you feel like there should be more. Ask yourself, is it because there's more that you want to do in your current role? And because people have shrunk down the role of being an administrator so much so that there's no space in the role anymore for you to do the thing that you want to do. And if so, as a builder, you build expansion.

You create that space. 

You don't have to do the role the way they tell you to. I don't care what they say.

You don't have to do it that way. You can do the role. Because here's the thing, if you make the impact that you could make in that role, if you just expanded the role, people leave you alone, right? So the reason they shrunk the role to the point where you just feel like you're claustrophobic is because they're worried that if they don't do that, they're not going to get the results.

If you get the results by expanding the role, people leave you alone. So be a builder, build the expansion into your current role so that you can do the thing you want to do. But if you are feeling like, is this all there is? Because no matter how expanded the role is and no matter how successful you are in the role, you feel like everybody else is benefiting, but you don't feel fulfilled.

You don't feel like that, that sense of purpose in the, it's not the role, it's you, you're in the wrong role. You're in a zone of excellence and you need another role. And so then you need to figure out what is your zone of genius and then find a role that matches your zone of genius.

Either way, here's the thing I want you to know. You are not trapped. You always have options and you, those options might be stay in your current role, but do that role the way you know you should be doing it.

Your option might be, this isn't the right role for me. Even though I'm successful in the role, it's not the right role for me and I really need to find my zone of genius. Either way, you always have options.

And for those of you who are in your current role and you're happy, this is still important because at any moment, these myths will sneak up on you and can take a role you're perfectly happy with and that you're perfectly suited for and turn it into something else. You have to guard against that so that you can have the impact that you were meant to have. I believe so much in the potential of people, right? That's why I became a teacher, but it didn't stop when I just looked at kids.

I believe in the adults too. I think that there's so much more that we're capable of. We got to get rid of the garbage that we believe about leadership.

You have options. 

People come to me all the time. Well, my district, you always have options.

And the more that you begin to realize that the less you feel like you're stuck, the less you feel like you there should be more, you know, because you're right. There should be more. You know, is this all there is? No, it's not.

But the person who determines whether or not that's all there is, it's not the district or the person defining your role or it's not it's not your bank account. I need this job because if I don't have this job, I can't feed my family. It's not it's not your own.

Idea of ambition and the ladder that the career ladder that you've been sold. It's none of that. The only person who determines whether or not it's whether or not this is all there is, is you.

So my goal today is to, you know, really destroy the myth of leadership that says the role has to be a certain way, or you can only be in a certain kind of role in order to find fulfillment and be successful and encourage you to, to break free of other people's very small ideas about what the role means or about what you are capable of doing and recognize that there's so much more available if you stop thinking like a leader and start thinking 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 gains 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, this is Robyn, and thanks for listening to the show. Now, if you really enjoyed the content, would you do me a favor and share it with somebody else? All you need to do is pull out your phone, click on the little three dots next to the show, and you'll see an option there to share the show.

Click that and send it to somebody else who could really benefit from what you learned here today. Not only are you going to look like a rock star, but you're going to be helping out somebody else who really could use this information. Plus I will be so grateful.

So just go ahead right now, click on those three dots and share the show. Thanks for listening. And I'll see you next time.

Thank you for listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast for show notes and free downloads visit https://schoolleadershipreimagined.com/

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