EPISODE #314

You can’t get to 100% on good intentions

You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 314.

Hey builders, before we begin, I have a quick question for you. Are we connected on social media? The reason I'm asking is because as much as I love giving you the podcast episode every single week, I'd love to take our relationship deeper. So if we're not connected on on social media, let's connect. I'm on LinkedIn at Robyn_mindsteps. I'm on Twitter at Robyn_mindsteps. I'm on on Facebook and Robyn Jackson, please let's connect so we can keep the conversation going Now on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 314.

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 going to tell you something you probably don't want to hear because you are about to waste another summer. Now. I know, I know. You just wrapped up the school year, or you're counting down the days until the school year's done and you know your mind is already racing ahead. You've got lists, you've got plans, you've got trainees you have to do. You've got a SIP plan that you've got to complete. You are convinced that if you could just get through this year, next year will be different. If you work smarter over the summer or harder over the summer, or you buy that new program, or you read that new book and finally implement it, or even if you listen to this podcast and try to do some buildership stuff, I've got news for you.

Nothing will matter unless you do one thing. And so if you're going to do all those things that you do, don't do the one thing that we're going to talk about in this podcast today. You're going to waste another summer. So here's the deal. Every year about this time, we have two emotions. One, relief that the year is over. And two, there's this vague sense of disappointment because you worked hard and yet you think back to the plans that you made last summer and you feel like we should have done more. I thought we'd be further along than we are now.

And so while you may have some wins this summer or the, you know, this year already and you may be excited about those wins, most of us felt like we should have been doing something more. And so we say, OK, this year's going to be different. And we run into the summer and we immediately start, right. We get all the plans. We think about all the mistakes we made last year and we say we're not going to make those mistakes again this year. We're going to do things differently. And so we start correcting and we start working hard. We go to summer conferences, we get inspired by the keynote speakers.

We, we go to a couple of sessions where we hear somebody talking about what they're doing in their school and we think that's it. That's what we can do for our school. We, we have plans, we read books. We, we, we, we come up with ideas, we hire new staff. We, we think that, OK, let's have that meeting, you know, that sit plan meeting where you look at the data and it hurts and then you start dreaming and you say this year is going to be different. And we do that every single year. And every single year at the end of the year, we sit down and we're not as far as we wanted to be. I hate that feeling.

I, you know, I, I, I go through it myself and I remember going through it where you just, you look back and you say, I thought I thought I'd be further along than now. And it's a weird feeling, especially if you had a few wins because you know, there are some things to celebrate and you don't want to diminish that, but you still think, but there's so much more that we need to do. We're not at 100% yet. There's still other things we need to do. And so we fool ourselves in thinking that if we just work hard this summer, if we just do the right thing this summer, next year can be different. And if you are going into the summer with that in mind, you're about to waste another summer, right? So the reason that we do this is, is all this time, right? We think and we've been trained to think that better planning equals better outcomes, right?

So it feels almost safe to think if I just work harder over the summer or if I just get the right people on my team, or if I just get the right focus for the year and then figure out what my theme is going to be, then maybe next year will be better. It, it feels it, it, it makes us feel like there is hope, like so that we're not just completely, you know, crumpled by despair. Otherwise, we're, we're just going to grab a bottle of something and sit on a curb and question our existence. So it makes us feel like we still have agency, like there's still something else we can do. But at the end of the day, it means that our, you know, we do all of this work next year.

We're still facing the same disappointment.

Our team is still not aligned. We're still not making the progress we want to make. And, and, and, and so we stay stuck. And so I want to talk to you today about what you need to do differently this summer so that you don't waste another summer, what you can do differently so that next year can feel different, right? So here's the thing. The reason that a lot of our careful plans often fall apart is because we are building them without having a clear vision. Like you knew I was going to say that, right? You knew that at some point I was going to talk about vision. But it's really important because even though you've heard me say over and over and over again, you need a clear vision, so many of you still don't have one, right? We, so you're, you've got a vague vision, you know, like I, I want my kids to thrive or I want them to be meaningful, engaged and learning.

I mean, what does that mean? Do you know what it means? Do your teachers know what it means? Do your kids know? Nobody knows what that means? And so you're walking around with this aspiration, but you haven't turned it into a vision yet. Or maybe you have a vision, but once you created that vision, one that works, a builder's vision, 100% vision, you haven't done anything with it. It's just there you, you say it, or more likely you wrote it down somewhere.

And if somebody asked you about it, you say, well, hold on a second, let me look it up. But that vision hasn't truly started driving decisions yet. That vision hasn't truly created alignment. And one of the things that we've been talking about inside of the 100% collective is that that all of the work that you're already doing takes on a totally new meaning when you have the right vision. So last week we did a live master class inside of the collective where we talked about how to hire A next master teacher. And we, we looked at the difference between a job posting that's just your typical generic job posting, the one that you were taught to write, the one that looks like everybody else's school, and a job posting that is governed by your vision. And the difference was dramatic. I mean, people's jaws were dropping.

People were like, are you serious? And then we took their generic job postings and we started rewriting them so that the job postings, you know, actually reflected the true vision. And they got so excited about hiring. And what it also did was it helped sharpen what they were looking for because a lot of times people think, you know, I'm just, I'm looking for a second grade teacher. I want her to be amazing. What, what does that mean? I don't know what that means. But when you have a clear vision and you write that job posting based on your vision, you now have clarity about the right person for that post.

And you'll recognize that person when they walk into the room and, and for the interview and you'll know who you're looking for. That's just one example of what happens when you have a vision, you know, like a lot of the stuff that we're doing, the collective, you know, because the collective is all about taking work you're already doing, but do it like a builder and giving you structures and frameworks to do it like a builder. So even things like having an exit interview or doing one on ones or planning your master schedule, they take on entirely new meaning when you have clarity around your vision. And so if you go into the summer and you don't have clarity around your vision, if you don't have a clear vision, a 100% vision, one that is meaningful and urgent, and most importantly, one that passes the tingle test, it's powerful. It makes you excited. Then all the work you do this summer, it's just going to look like every other summer and you're going to get the results that you've been getting every other year. Now maybe you have that vision, but you've been neglecting that vision. It was, you were so excited about that vision when you first created it, but now it's on a shelf somewhere.

It's not driving the work. 

You still believe in it. It still passes that tangle test for you, but you have not been working towards evidence. You haven't been doing the work to align everything, everything that you do to that vision. Well, if you don't spend the summer working on that level of alignment, then your vision is going to stay stuck. You're not going to move anywhere. It's going to be just something that gets you excited and something that mocks you because every single year you're not getting any closer to it. So that vision becomes a burden because you're not doing the work it takes to move towards your vision.

You see, the summer is the time for you to spend work getting yourself into more and more alignment with the vision. But if you're not doing that, if you're just writing a SIP plan, but the SIP plan isn't being filtered through your vision, even if you're using a district SIP plan, that is, you know, you know the things that the district has you do. But even if you're doing that, you could take that drudgery of a of a task and turn it into something that's empower, empowering and meaningful. If you drive that SIP plan through your vision, most of us aren't doing that. You're going to be hiring people. But if you're just hiring people and we've always hired them and you're not doing it to filter through the lens of your vision, then you're just rolling a dice and hoping that these people are going to be great. But you don't know because you haven't taken this stuff and sifted it through your vision. If you are thinking about your master schedule, but your master schedule hasn't been sifted through your vision, then yeah, you might have all the butts in the seats.

But you're not doing it in a way and designing an instructional program and process that is moving your students towards your vision. You might be going to PD this year and you know, having a good time, hanging out, drinks with your friends. Nothing wrong with that. But when you're sitting in those sessions, if you don't come to those sessions and look at those sessions through the lens of your vision, then you are just going to get seduced by the shiny object and start grabbing on more programs that aren't going to work in your school. If you are spending time working out plans for the year and going through the data and trying to figure out how to make the data work differently next year, and you don't do that through the lens of your vision, then you're just looking at numbers. Red numbers, green numbers, but you're not going to know how to turn those red numbers into green numbers because you don't have clarity around your vision. I cannot emphasize this stuff. You have a choice.

Right now, you are standing at the precipice of a choice. You can either choose to spend this summer moving your school closer to your vision, or you can choose to spend the summer doing the same stuff you've always done and getting the same results you've always gotten. But I want you to take a step back and think about that feeling that you have right now. When you look back at the school year, do you feel like you did everything you set out to do? Do you feel like you made significant progress towards We are 100% goals? Do you feel like the work you did this year was fulfilling and meaningful?

Are you going into the summer excited or are you going into the summer exhausted? 

Hey 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, 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 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. You see, that's the difference that the decision you make right now is going to have on future you. That's the difference. Do you want to go and spend another school year like the last one? There may have been highs, you may have had a decent school year, but you deserve more than a decent school year. And your students definitely deserve more than a decent school year. They deserve an extraordinary school year.

They deserve a school year where you have a 100% of your students thriving and you have 100% of your staff aligned. And it doesn't happen if you go into the summer without a vision or you go into the summer neglecting or ignoring your vision. You see, summer is the time of the school year when most school leaders double down on tactics, right? They go into specific, deep specifics. They, you know, OK, now I'm going to adjust our curriculum. I'm going to plan PD. I'm going to go to some PD this year. I'm going to really, you know, pick a theme for the year.

I'm going to do all this stuff. But those that it, that's just what it is. It's just stuff. It's just tactics. It's not what will create lasting impact, right? If you want to see lasting impact, you can't do summer like you've always done it. You got to do summer like a builder. You see, builders understand that those tactics outside of a vision don't get you anywhere.

They spend their summers differently. They start with their vision, and if you don't have one, they spend the time defining A compelling vision and then creating a powerful vision story around that vision. Because then anything that is not in alignment with that vision, anything that goes outside of that story, they know they don't need to waste time on. And so the rest of that time is spent really highly focused. I don't know about you, but a lot of times it's hard for me to focus. Like I know what I want to accomplish, but a lot of times I'm not sure how to get there. And it's probably one of the most frustrating things that I experience in my work is that I know what I want to do. And sometimes I, I, I, I got the feeling, but when you ask me, I start stumbling. I'm not quite sure and I start getting vague and I'm not clear about it.

And so I know what I want to do. 

I may not always be clear about it. And so I just start moving forward and trying all the things. And one of the most frustrating things for me in the world is that I spend time going down, going in One Direction and get halfway down the road and realize, no, this isn't right now. Yes, doing that helps me to get like more clarity about what I want, but it also I look at all the time that I wasted or I get excited and intrigued by somebody, some some guru, somebody I heard speak or somebody'd book I read or somebody heard in a podcast. And I get excited about what they're doing without really understanding whether or not it's going to fit with what I'm doing. And I let that personality lead me down the wrong way.

Or my team is excited about something and I want to make sure I'm bringing them on board. And so they want to do something and I want to be supportive and then I let them do it. But it takes us too far a vision. And then I have to go and have the tough conversation and say, Hey, this isn't working or I just have to live with the mess, right? Or I get excited, so excited about the vision and then you know, I'm I do that. But then the work to achieve the vision I don't do I get, you know, I get excited about I want to stay kind of in the, the the dream and I don't either know or spend time turning that dream into reality. And so I get frustrated because I have the dream, but I don't have a plan. I didn't spend the summer doing a plan to to make that dream reality.

I've experienced all of those frustrations and the challenge that that that I want to make for you today, the thing that I want to do is I want to save you from those frustrations. I want to prevent you from experiencing that again. This summer can be different, right? So The thing is, if you skip the vision, you are setting yourself up for more of the same. If you take time now and really think about your vision, if you don't have one, getting that 100% vision and, and, and, and, and really kind of narrowing down on it so that it's clear, so that it drives the work. And if you do have a vision already, a 100% vision, then really spending time thinking about what you do that's out of alignment with that vision and spend the summer getting into alignment, then things can be different. Think this summer can be different. It's, you know, a lot of times I have a hard time explaining this to people sometimes because, you know, a lot of times from the outside looking in, what a leader is doing and what a builder is doing look remarkably similar, right?

Leaders do master schedules. So do builders leaders hire, so do builders leaders create lunch schedules? So do builders leaders go to training, so do builders. So from the outside looking in, it doesn't look that much different. And I think This is why so many people call themselves builders but are not doing the work of buildership and then can't. Understand why they're not getting the results that builders are getting. But if you peel back a layer, the first thing you'll see and the first major difference that that exists is that, yes, leaders are doing some of the same things that builders are doing it, but they're doing it in isolation. The master schedule's here, the lunch schedule's here, the curriculum plan is here, the PLC plan is here.

Nothing is connected, so they're just completing tasks. 

Builders, everything is connected. Everything is aligned with their vision, mission, and core values, which means that when they do their master schedule, the master schedule makes so much more sense and actually moves them forward. When they're doing the hiring, the hiring is so much more strategic there. You know, we, I was talking to the folks in the workshop last week about the ninja moves that the builders do when they hire there to make sure they're attracting the right people and repelling the wrong people. And then what they can do in the interview, the kinds of questions they can ask in the interview to really get at the heart of who's in front of them. Because, you know, everybody performs in the interview. But builders have a way of kind of really wedding through all of that fluff and getting to the heart so they know exactly what they're getting anyway.

Those are ninja moves. We don't, you can't see it from the outside looking in, but builders are thinking differently. They are doing things differently. Yes, builders are sitting in training, but while you're sitting in training and dreaming about lunch, builders are sitting in training and very quickly wedding through what is going to actually serve the vision and what's not. And they don't even waste the brain cells on the stuff that's not going to serve their vision. So they can walk out of even a bad training with more insight because they have that vision lens on. You know, a lot of times people are taking it easy in the summer and they're like, you know, I need a break. I just, you know, because I'm just so burned out.

And listen, we all get that. We all need breaks. There's nothing wrong with a break. But a lot of times leaders get want to have a break from the work because the work is exhausting. Whereas builders need a break to recharge for the work because the work is invigorating. So even the way we take breaks looks different. And so this summer, I don't know what your plans are. I don't know what you got in front of you.

But I do know this. There's only one thing that's going to make a difference between just another summer where you get through, you work really hard, the school year creeps up on you, you're not ready. You've done a whole bunch of stuff, you have a whole bunch of hope. And then by October everything is back to normal, even though you had the great year and everybody was more all excited. October it's business as usual and a summer where you go through the summer. You are building and putting things in place that last you all year long. They're still working in October, they're still working in January, they're still working in March.

And next summer when you finish the school year, you feel like we actually made progress.

You might even be saying and be congratulating yourself that we had our 100% vision and not only that, we did so in a way where the entire staff was in alignment. I don't want you to waste another summer. And so here's the thing. Here's my challenge for you right now. Take a minute and pause before you dive into your summer plans. If you are still working and trying to get through the school year, it's still important. Don't put this off. Think about this now because even how you finish the school year is important.

And if you're done and you're just just need a break, I get it. But you remember this feeling of exhaustion you feel right now because you do not want to be feeling this next year and now if the decision you make right now will determine the feeling that you have next year. So wherever you are right now, just pause. Before you dive into your summer plans, ask yourself, am I clear about where I'm going or am I about to waste another another summer? And if when you're look at it honestly, you realize that you are about to waste another summer, then you still have an opportunity to do something different. And over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be talking to you about what that's something different looks like. And talking to you about how this summer you can you can maximize the summer without wearing yourself out. How you can spend the summer in a way that's productive, not just because you're getting work done, but because you're putting things in place that you'll be able to count on throughout the school year.

So I want you to stay tuned for that. And those of you who are in a collective know that we're going to be doing some things in the collective this summer with work. You know, things that you're already doing. We've got some new playbooks coming. We've got a couple of new master classes coming that are going to help you think through some of the things that you're doing this summer. But do it like a builder and think through your vision so that you can do that. And for those of you who are not in the collective, what are you waiting for? Come on, join this collective.

You might have been busy during the school year. So yeah, I'll get to it. But the summer is here. Spend that time doing the work that you have to do anyway, but doing it like a builder, doing in a way that you, once you do it and once you set it up, it becomes a system that you can rely on and it makes your work more easy and more meaningful in the process. So I'm all over the place, aren't I? OK, let's get back to the point. Here's the thing.

The summer goes really, really quickly.

It does. You know, you think you have all this time and next thing you know, you look up and the kids are coming back. And so you only have a few weeks to really get something done. And you have to ask yourself, do I want to spend another summer doing same old, same old and getting the same old, same old? Or maybe this summer I should do things a little differently. Maybe this summer I should either craft my vision or get back to my vision and spend the summer aligning the work around my vision so that the work feels more meaningful, more fun, and it has a bigger impact. Maybe instead of wasting another summer, I should decide to spend this summer 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.

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

School Leadership Reimagined is brought to you by Mindsteps Inc, where we build master teachers.