EPISODE #311

You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast, episode 311. 

Hey builders, before we jump into today's show, I need to know something. Are you and I connected on the socials? Because if we're not, we need to be. So connect with me. I'm on Facebook at Robyn Jackson. I am on Twitter at Robyn_Mindsteps. I'm on LinkedIn at Robyn Jackson. Let's connect and let's keep the conversation going.

Now on to the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 311. 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'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 talk about something. I am fascinated with it. Have you ever heard of the term quiet quitting? Now I know I'm I'm showing my age here, right? Because I had to Google what it meant. I heard it. I wasn't quite sure what it meant.

I googled it but Oh my goodness this is so interesting. So quiet quitting is when an employee decides to do the bare minimum to get by, so they they they give only as much energy and effort and enthusiasm as is minimally required by the job, and no more. And it's a way that a lot of people are setting boundaries and trying to find work life balance. But I've been thinking a lot about quiet quitting because we are in the month of May, many school years are winding down or ending, or you have just a few days left. And I think there's a lot of quiet quitting going on this time of year. And I want to talk to you today about how builders deal with that and what you can do now to make sure that your staff isn't quietly quitting and make sure that you're not quietly quitting just because the school year is ending. So we're going to talk about the second, but before we do have a couple of reminders. So the first reminder is that I have a couple of slots available.

So I do some private consulting, mostly with school district leaders, right? So if you want help and support as a principal, that's a Buildership University is for you. That's where we do the mentoring for, you know, Buildership University is a mentorship. We're going to open up another cohort, Buildership University the end of July. So look out for that if you're interested in that. And then if you're not quite ready for the full mentorship, but you do want to get access to training and resources, that's what the 100% Collective is about. But if you're a district person and you've got some stuff that you need to get done, something very specific, you know, maybe it's that you really need to get your team aligned. Maybe it's that you need to be planning PD for the, the summer for the, the group of people you work with.

Maybe you have a new initiative you're trying to get off off the ground. So there's, there's a targeted project that you're really trying to work on. Maybe it's that you want to develop a vision for your district or your department and you want to get your team team aligned around that vision so that you can really move the district forward. Something like that, something very discreet and you want some help with that. You want somebody as a not just a thought partner, but somebody that can kind of guide you through that process, give you the tools you need and help you come out with a real result. Then then we have a couple of slots available. So I'm just, I've just helped a couple of people achieve some things.

And so now I have some space in my calendar over the summer to help those of you who are at the district level.

So if you're at the district level and you want that kind of support, then reach out to us by sending an e-mail to info.info@mindstepsinc.com. And then we'll have a brief conversation, see if I can help you. And then if I can, we usually do an engagement over a month to six weeks because that's just let you know we're trying to, there's something very, very clear that you want to accomplish. And over that time we get it done. So we do the work. We meet virtually. I, you know, we'll give you tools and resources and help you shape the thing that you're trying to build. That's something you're interested in.

Give us, send us an e-mail at info@mindsubsync.com and we will get you, you know, get some time on the calendar and chat and see if we're a good fit. OK, that's the first reminder. 2nd reminder, you know, the 100% collective is there. We just had an incredible master class last week on how to do one-on-one. It was, you know, it's not the sexiest thing in the world like having a one-on-one meeting, but so practical. And people are already reporting that they're setting the system up because you know, during the master classes we give you the whole system. They're setting up their system now and doing it with their team and starting to see some really amazing and incredible results. And then during that conversation in the one on ones, we just, you know, we were talking to some people and they wanted some help doing exit interviews for staff members who are leaving because it's a great time to get some really rich data and how to set them up, you know, all the scripts and that sort of thing.

So we just put a new playbook inside the collective on exit interviews. It has all the questions you need to ask, how to structure it up. We have a communication pack. So what emails you send to people to invite them to, to the interviews, how you send the follow up emails? What do you do when when people get stuck or you get pushed back? How do you take the information and make it something that is useful to you as you're planning for next year? You know, the whole thing start to finish. So you don't have to think about it.

You just download the playbook, get the tools and then start doing your exit interview. So that for those of you who are in the collective that is now up inside the collective, you can take a look at that. If you want to get your hands on that playbook, join the collective. We have so many playbooks just like that because the collective is really about helping you take the work that you are already doing, right? The you, you're, you're ending the year, you're interviewing, you're doing all the things you're already doing, but do it like a builder and we give you everything. So if there's a system that you need to install in your school, we give you the entire system, right? If, if you know there's an e-mail that you need to send in order to make it work, we give you a template for the e-mail. If there is a tool or handout you need to give the staff, we give you that handout.

We give you every everything you need so that you can start doing your work like a builder and start seeing results.

So if you want to be a part of the collective, you just need to go to buildershipuniversity.com/community and join the collective there and start getting access to all these amazing tools. OK, I think that I have covered everything. Now I want to talk about quiet quitting, right? Because I believe that the month of May is when a lot of us quietly quit, right? We during the month of May, we are just kind of retired, right? And our teachers are tired. And so we go into survival mode during this month and we are just coasting to the end.

We're counting down the days. And so we are kind of locked in these routines, but our routines are just about just making it through. And it's a fun time of the year, right? You know, you have the end of the year parties and the celebrations and the field days and the graduations and and so those things kind of mask our quiet quitting a little bit. But how much instruction is actually happening in classrooms right now? How much are people just kind of coasting or kids still really learning? Are we still pushing towards our vision or are we saying, well, we'll get to that once the teachers leave or we'll get to that in the fall, right? What looks like burnout for a lot of us is a lot of times something else entirely.

And it's a sign that our culture has slipped into compliance, our culture has slipped into neutral. And so this episode is not about how do you reinvigorate your staff so that you can get through the end of the year. This episode is about something deeper. It's really about how are we shaping, maybe encouraging a little bit of that quiet quitting how we maybe have, we may have quietly quit ourselves. What we can do about it so that it may doesn't just become survival month, a month that we survive and get through the end of the year. May becomes a time that really builds and sets us up for the fall. OK, so first let's talk about the leadership response, right? So this time of the year, the leadership response is that, you know, we, we see people are burned out and we make excuses.

Well, it's been a tough year. Everybody's burned out, right? And we never ask a question. Why are they burned out? What did we do? How, what is it about our school that is structured so that every may people are burned out? Why is it that that every time at the end of the year our people are burned out? Why do we accept that as normal?

Why does it have to be that way? 

Why aren't we doing things to make the end of the year, create more energy for people? Why are we not excited about the fact that we've completed a year of school? What, isn't that feeding our energy? So we never questioned that, right, our leadership responses that we, you know, during this time of the year, we just have to get them through. So we do things like, well, let's remind them of the vision. And you know, we, you know, I see people online in these principal groups saying, you know, can anybody give me a idea for a staff meeting that that will pet my teachers up and get them refocused on why this matters? We show them the start with why videos and we asked them to, you know, think about their own why we do or some other feel good reflection activity, right?

We celebrate them a lot, preferably with food, right? We, we, we or we try to keep them busy with end of the year rituals so that they look like they're being productive. So we do all the end of the year field trips and the parties and the, you know, the other things just to kind of feel like we're doing something. And I've nothing against those things, but we, we have to use them intentionally. And a lot of times we're using them to mask a burnout, right? Nobody feels like teaching. Let's take them on a field trip. Nobody feels like like, you know, we just finished testing in a lot of cases or we're about to go into testing and nobody feels like doing anything else.

And so let's just have a party. Let's just have a field day. Let's just let's, you know, let's, let's do something to distract ourselves from the fact that we just don't feel like working. And trust me, I get the spring fever too. You know, I was talking to my team the other week and I was like, I just, I don't feel like working. I mean, it's really some days, especially the beginning of spring when the weather gets nice and the days get longer, I have a hard time focusing. So I get it too, right? So what when we distract ourselves with other activities that are not necessarily moving us towards our vision, they're not on mission, they're not about our core values, then what are we really doing and what message are we really sending to our staff, right?

And so as if you do the leadership approach, then what you do is you turn May into just, it's maybe comes all about managing disengagement rather than eliminating it. May comes all about comes becomes all about occupying everybody, the kids, the teachers, yourself until we can just get through the end of the year. Maybe comes about survival and, and the leadership strategies that we used during this time, they send a subtle message that we're all just limping to the finish line and we're just trying to get through the year. And the school year is not something to get through, right. So you do all that leadership stuff that you were trained to do in May, you might get compliance. In most cases, you're not getting anything. You're just masking everybody's disengagement and you're normalizing disengagement for this time of the year rather than questioning why do we have, why does this time of the year have to be a time of survival? And you are creating a culture that often times leaks into the school in the fall, right?

So, you know, how many times have you come back and like, how is your summer? 

Who had needed that summer after last year, right? So what we're doing is we're treating school. Is this something we have to survive that we need to rush to get a break from? Now, hear me, I'm all for breaks, right? We, I, I believe in taking a break. So I'm not, I'm not vilifying breaks, but I'm saying the school year is not something you need a break from. The school year shouldn't be something that is so exhausting that I just have to spend the summer in a catatonic state in order to get enough energy to get back in the fall.

If that is what's happening with your teachers, something is dangerously wrong in your culture and we need to address that rather than normalizing exhaustion and normalizing burnout, right? So here's how builders deal with quiet quitting that happens in May. So the first thing is that we have to, builders are very careful about the messages we send. We're not just going to go to the default mode of what every school does, right? Every school treats May as if we got to get through it and distract ourselves and survive and countdown until the end of the school year. What we're doing is we're, we are constantly asking ourselves, but everything that we do, what message is it sending? Is it building our vision, mission and core values, or is it subtly undermining our vision, mission and core values? So we're careful about those offhand comments, like just 18 more days until we're done or let's just get through this because we know that those comments are what are building the culture of our building, right?

So instead of countdowns and survival language, we're telling people these last weeks that we have in school, they're revealing who we really are, right? Because when you're tired, that's when you start revealing who you really are. How many of you know people always say that people who are tired and people who are drunk tend to tell the truth, often brutally. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that it's a lot easier for me to uphold a facade when I'm well rested and I'm not hungry. But when I'm tired and hungry, that's when the real character, my real character starts to show. And unfortunately, it's not always that great, especially when I'm hungry. But that's another topic. The same thing is true with your school.

When your school is tired, when you're in May, that's when you see who you really are, right? When you're when you're in May, that's when you start to see the cracks in your culture. It's easy to keep your culture going in September. It's easy to keep your culture going in January when everybody's like, we're back, let's get started again. But when you're tired this time of the year, that's when your culture really comes through. And So what builders are doing is we're constantly watching and tending our culture. We never, ever let it go. Because if you let go of your culture, if you know culture's always at work, if you are not being intentional about shaping your culture, then your culture begins to shape itself, often times in ways that you're not going to like.

So we're careful about the messages we send. 

We're careful about the activities that we put on the calendar at the end of the year. We're careful because we want to make sure that the messages we send in both our language and in our calendar are reinforcing our vision, mission, and core values. So I want to challenge you right now. Take a look at your end of the year calendar. How many of the things and activities are you doing are suddenly undermining your vision? Let me give you an example. Let's say you're like, you know, everybody's tired.

Let's just have some fun. Well, there's two things. First of all, you're, you're, you're, you're sending the message that learning in the classroom is not fun, right? And then the second thing you're sending is that we need a break from the, our work towards our vision. And so we're going to do something else because the work towards our vision is wearing us out. We need a break from it. People may be thinking, oh, Robyn, you're just making too big of a deal out of it, but I don't think I am. Everything you do is reinforcing the culture and reinforcing the narrative of your school.

You've heard me say this time and time again, whoever controls your narrative controls your culture. 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 it's 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 applauding 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. Culture is about your organizational habits and the stories we tell about them. So if our habit is that this time of the year we need a break, and we tell the stories that we need a break because the year has been hard, because learning isn't fun, because this is more fun than what's happening in the classroom, then you are subtly reinforcing a culture.

And that culture is what we'll under undermine your vision. 

How can you say on one hand all kids and we need to move towards this vision and your mission. This is why it's important. And our core values. These are the things that are non negotiable. And then over here, develop habits and tell yourself stories about those habits that undermine the work that you say you want to do over here. You can't, you cannot have those split messages. And what will happen is your vision, your mission, your core values will start to become lip service.

People will hear you, but they it won't sink in because over here your culture is what's reinforcing it. So I don't think I'm making a big deal about this. I think we're not making a big enough deal about the ways that the subtle ways that our culture either reinforces or undermines our vision. And So what builders are doing is builders are constantly thinking about what is the narrative that this activity will create? What is the, what is the habit we're forming? And how does that habit build? Build up our vision, mission and core values. And I don't rationalize here, right?

Because you might say, you know, like one of our core values is find the joy. So that's why we're doing the celebration. But then over here you're telling people we're just tired. So let's let the kids run and work off some energy. You're not finding the joy. That's not, that's not a story about finding the joy. That's a story about how you don't have any joy. And so if you keep doing that, you, you are going to send mixed messages and the subtle message of your habits and your stories are going to overturn and undermine the, the overt message of your vision, mission, and core values because you're not living them out.

They're not alive in your culture. So I can't emphasize this enough because this is really a culture building moment. We think it's harmless, but it's not. You are shaping your culture, right? So what builders do is we make sure that we're anchoring in our vision. You see, we think the end of the school year represents the end. I mean, I, I fall into it too.

And I mean, it is in a way, right?

Like it's, it's, you know, we're going on break. The students are getting promoted to the next grade, we hope. And so in a way, it is an ending, but it's a continuation of a bigger story. And we focus so much in the ending that we don't think about the continuation, right? We think it's a hard top rather than a comma in a bigger story, right? So what leaders do is they use May to tie up loose ends, right? But builders are not just tying up new loose ends. We're also seeding for next year.

And I think a lot of us forget that there's a huge opportunity in May to seed for next year, right? So instead of wrapping up initiatives, we're connecting the work we do this year to next year's priorities. One, one of the things I love about having a vision and is that a vision isn't tied to a year. One of the things I hate about school improvement plans are that they have a start and a finish and they, they act like the year is a start and to finish. The vision says we're going to keep moving till we get to 100%. And so at the end of the year, it's a great time to reflect and see how we're doing and to start thinking about what needs to happen for next year. Because I always say that next year is being built right now. So let's be intentional about that and not just in our own work, but be intentional about our conversations with teachers, right?

So we don't say, hey, this is your last data cycle. We say this data is going to be really important because it shows us what we've done this year and it's start. It's going to to serve as some baseline data for next year. We will take this data into our summer and use it for planning. And I'd like for you to be reflecting on the data over the summer as well and thinking about what that's going to mean for what you do next year. We're not saying this is this this last PLC would let's wrap up the year. What we're saying is let's take a moment to reflect and let's rehearse what we need to be thinking about for next year. So this is this is about keeping people meaningfully engaged, not by, you know, doing a hard stop, but by saying this is, this is our, This is our opportunity for us to pause, to reflect, to plan and dream and think about next year.

And when you've had it's, I know this seems subtle, but it's not. This kind of messaging shapes your culture. And we have to be intentional about this, right? So the third thing is that when builders are looking at the end of the year, it doesn't mean that we're not celebrating. We have celebrations and promotion ceremonies and staff, you know, appreciation. I talked about that in a previous episode. But our celebrations should be celebrations with purpose. And our celebrations should not be about pity, right?

A lot of times our celebrations are really about pity. 

I feel bad for them. They've worked so hard this year. We should do something for them. Do you think about how different the celebration feels when you go to them and say, here, take this cake because I know how hard you work and how hard the year has been, versus here, let's have some cake and take a moment and pause and talk about the year and what we've learned from it and how we've grown and what we're going to be doing next year as we get closer and closer to our vision. Do you see the difference between those two celebrations? A lot of our celebrations have the veneer of pity over top of them. And nobody wants to be pitied, right?

Yes, our teachers are working hard, but if they're working hard and the and and and it's a thankless job and there's no connection between the work and where you're headed, then your cake is not going to solve that. But if they're working hard and they're making steady progress towards their vision and the work is meaningful, then when you celebrate, that celebration takes on meaning, right? You, you, your, your, your purpose for celebration colors, how that celebration celebration feels. Who wants to be pitied? Who wants a pity party, right? Versus having a celebration that really celebrates the work that we've done, the progress that we've made, the that re anchors people and that vision, that mission, those core values. So be careful about how you celebrate people, right? And then use the celebration to tell and advance the story.

This is a huge missed opportunity. I did a whole episode on celebrations for teacher Appreciation week because this is such a missed opportunity. Your celebrations tell a story, right? So couple weeks ago, I have a great uncle. He just turned 95, right? It's, it's, it's kind of cool just to, you know, he's still up and moving around and you know, he is, he's got all this energy. He doesn't look 95. And when we were celebrating his birthday, it wasn't just, hey, you've made it to your 95th birthday.

The stories that people started telling about, you know, just the family. That celebration re anchored us into who we were as a family, right? When you have celebrations that advance your narrative of your school, the celebrations serve dual purposes. Now, you know, sometimes I feel funny about talking about that because I don't want to seem as if I'm being manipulative in our celebration. So people might be thinking, good grief, Robyn, why can't we just have a celebration? But why do we have celebrations? Think about us as a species. Why we celebrate.

We celebrate to mark our progress and to advance our story. 

That's why we celebrate. So whether you are doing it on purpose or not, your celebrations are telling a story. And sometimes our celebrations are telling our teachers a story. You pour things. I know you are, you've had to work really hard this year under terrible conditions. And I, I, so here take these cupcakes or these bagels or this coffee station. It's my just small token for you know how sorry I am that you have to continue to work under these terrible circumstances versus, hey, we've done a lot this year.

We've accomplished a lot this year. We are closer to our vision than we were before. You are different because of the work you've done this year. You have actually changed kids lives. Do you see the different stories? And you don't even realize it after time, but it's so important. Be careful about how you celebrate and use your celebrations to advance the story rather than to show pity on your teachers. All right, now, the last thing I want to talk about is that May is a stress test for your culture, right?

I, I alluded to it earlier, right? When you, when May will tell you whether or not your systems are any good. Because if your systems fall apart now, they weren't any good to begin with. Let me, let me talk to you about what I mean. Like, let's say you have a system for communication with parents, and if people stop communicating with parents in May or slack off on communicating with parents in May, that system wasn't, that system wasn't very strong to begin with. It's a stress test for all of your systems. Let's say you have a discipline system and people start slacking off on doing the things they need to do to keep kids engaged and learning, and they're just sending them to the office because they're sick of them by now. Let's say that you have a system for planning, and people just stop planning in May and use the same lesson plans they did last year because they're just trying to get through the last 12 days of school.

Then that lesson planning system isn't that great. If your systems fall apart in May, they weren't that great in September. And so this is an opportunity for you to pay some attention right now, because it's not just the the people who quietly quit in May, Your systems quietly quit in May and you need to pay attention to what systems are falling apart this time of the school year. And then that gives you time over the summer to rethink that system to, to start shoring that system up so that it will be a better system next year. If your if your expectations begin to unravel in May, you need to re examine those expectations and see if you really meant them to begin with, right. So this is an opportunity to pay attention to what's happening. You don't want to just survive May what systems are quietly quitting? And because a lot of times it's not your people, it's it not your people alone.

It's also that your systems weren't that great. 

And may will show you that. And then just pay attention. You don't have to fix them right now, but what you should be doing is paying attention to them and then over the summer fixing them. Those of you who are BU, you know, you've got the accountability architecture. So if you start seeing systems falling apart in May, then just put them into your accountability architecture and then start, you know, going through that accountability architecture to figure out where the accountability leaks are in your system. And then you can start closing those accountability leaks over the summer so you have stronger systems next year, year, right? So here's the thing.

Quiet quitting is a real thing, right? You can quiet quit. Your teachers can quietly quit. Your kids can definitely quietly quit if we're not careful. And your systems can quietly quit. And a lot of times you have the convergence of all that quiet quitting happening in May. But it doesn't have to be that way, right? If you if you are very intentional about paying attention to your culture in May and doing things to shore up your culture in May.

Making sure that you are not sending the wrong messages through either your language or how you celebrate using May as an opportunity to get people re anchored in your vision, your mission, your core values. Paying attention to the systems that are starting to fall apart and using May as a stress test for the systems that you have in place to see where you can you find accountability leaks so that you can close up those leaks in the summer. All those things make May one of your most productive months because again, next year is being built right now. So what happens in May is not just about, you know, getting through the end of the school year. What happens in May, if your, if your if your intentional about it is what really sets you up for the summer and for the following school year year, right. So you want to make sure that you close out this year with intention. You want to make sure that you are using this time to reinforce the culture that you want to have rather than letting the culture start drifting and giving you a culture that you're not going to want in the fall, right. So if you feel like you're quietly quitting right now to home, come on back.

Come on back builders are you are being very intentional about May because May, a lot of what you're doing in May is about shaping your culture. You don't want to miss this opportunity. If your teachers are quietly quitting, then pay attention to what about your culture is signaling that that's OK and start fixing it. If your kids are quietly quitting, you want to pay attention to the messaging you're sending them with the systems you have in place for them and where they're. You're starting to see accountability leaks and really use this time to reinforce your culture for your students and their families. And if your systems are quietly quitting, you want to make sure that you're spending this time finding those accountability leaks. You don't have to fix them right now, but you should be thinking about them and addressing them over the summer.

They can be one of the strongest, most powerful months in the school year, but you're going to have to do it differently.

But if you do, you can turn May into a wonderful opportunity to build the culture that you want to build and help you achieve your vision, mission, and core values. But only if you approach May like a builder. I'll talk to you next time. 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, real quick before you go, if you enjoyed today's episode and you know someone who would really benefit from what you heard here today, maybe they're struggling with a thing that we talked about in today's episode. Would you take a moment and share this episode with them? You see, not only will it help us get the word about buildership out to more people, but you're going to look like a rock star because you're going to give people something they can really use to help them get unstuck and be better at building their schools. Plus, it would mean the world to me. Thanks so much and I'll see you next time.