EPISODE #315

The moment I realized Summer Planning was a Lie

You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 315.

Hey builders, before we begin today's episode, I want to tell you about something really cool that we have coming up. I'm doing a free live virtual training on Monday, June 9, 2025, and the title is The Lie of Summer Planning. Why you are still leading alone and what to do instead.

During this absolutely free training, I'm going to show you how to approach summer planning differently. Listen, I can't do anything about the fact that your district may require you to do a SIP plan or a PD plan or some sort of strategic plan. I can't change that, but what I can do is show you how to do it in a way that makes it meaningful, in a way that makes your plans more powerful, and in a way that helps you to really get your team on board so that you're not the only one doing the plan and enforcing the plan.

Instead, everybody gets into alignment with the plan, everybody takes ownership of your plans, and everybody implements your plans, not just at the beginning of the year, but in October, in January, in May. So if you want to figure out how to do summer planning differently, if you are frustrated with all the hoops you have to jump through for your district that don't seem to matter, and if you're tired of making plans in the summer that don't get done during the school year, you need to join me for this training. Go to BuildershipUniversity.com slash summer to get your free spot for this training.

Again, it's BuildershipUniversity.com slash summer. Now, on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast, episode 315.

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 talk about summer. I know last time I talked about, you know, the fact that you were about to waste another summer and that was more kind of like in your face and cheeky, but today I want to talk about what I see happening in the summer and how you can make this summer work differently. You see, over the years, I have worked with principals and even when I was an administrator myself, the summer was a really interesting time. You know, you're so, you know, exhausted from the end of the school year, but you're kind of excited because the summer feels like a restart and so you go into the summer really excited about how you're going to do things differently and how you finally have the time to do things differently.

I used to be so excited about that. And then the district says you got to be in all these meetings and you've got to do all these PD things and the district gives you a new sit plan format that you have to do and you have to plan your summer leadership team meeting and you have to submit all this stuff and you're trying to dig through the data and oh yeah, you might want to take a vacation or two, but your vacation is constantly being interrupted because you're still hiring, the master schedule is not quite done or you thought it was done and now it needs new adjustments to it. You thought you had your hiring set and then somebody else decides to get promoted and take another position somewhere else and now you're out of an AP or you're missing a teacher in a critical leadership position in your school and so now you have to find somebody else.

And before you know it, the summer is over and all those things that you were hoping to do this summer don't get done. And the plans that you made this summer, maybe you're excited about them, but what happens is after in-service week you present your plans, maybe people listen to your slideshow and your presentation, maybe you had a couple of people excited about it, but most people are going to just be kind of sitting through it anxious to get into their classrooms and get the work done and by October you're going to be the only one left who's even thinking about your summer plan. And we repeat this pattern year after year after year and I'll be honest, for a long time not only did I do it when I was an administrator.

But then when I started coaching administrators, I tried to look at that process and tried to make it a little easier.

So I gave people tools so that they could do a better job of planning their leadership team, you know, meeting throughout the year, make it feel more like a retreat and get some meaningful conversations or I would create templates for people on how to write a better SIP plan and, you know, of course, even if they liked my template, the district's template said they had to do it another way so, you know, what good was my template? In other words, I spent a lot of time at the very beginning trying to tweak the existing process to try to make it work until I realized that there's no amount of tweaking that's going to make that process work, though the process itself is fundamentally flawed and broken and it's fundamentally flawed and broken for some really important reasons. I'll tell you when I came to this realization, it was a few summers ago and I was working with a group of principals that I was coaching. I was working, a district had hired me to work with a group of principals and we were going through this whole summer planning process and I thought I was so brilliant, right, because I had spent some time looking at their summer planning process and, you know, refining their tools and made all these, you know, templates and stuff.

You know, I love that, you know, I love sitting down and trying to figure it out and I was working within their system but trying to make their templates better and, you know, I thought I was so smart and really proud of the work that I'd done and I'd shown it to the district and they were like, oh, we love this and, you know, this is great because, you know, the tools were decent tools. They did help with what the district was already doing so it's not like, you know, my tools were garbage. So, I'm excited and so the day that I'm meeting with the principals, you know, they all have their little resource packets and I'm giving them the tools and we start going through the tools and the principals start asking questions, right.

They started asking things, well, you know, first it was kind of like, well, how do I do this part and how do I do the, you know, kind of the technical tools but after they got into those tools for a little bit, they started asking other questions. One person started by saying, I mean, this isn't much different from what we're already doing and another person said, this tool feels like more work than what I was doing before and I know I'm supposed to be professional but I got mad. I'll be honest, I got I got annoyed. I started thinking about, oh my goodness, these people are just, they just always complain and they're so lazy. They don't want to do the real work, you know. I got offended because they were pushing against my pretty pristine tools.

I'm trying to be gracious, you know, during the, you know, so I'm like, oh, well, you know, this one really helps you do this and if you really want to see a difference this year, you need to do this and, you know, I'm using all of the stuff but if I'm honest, I wasn't really at that point trying to be helpful. I was trying to defend my tools. Now, I'm not proud of that but that's what I was doing and so, in a way, I was almost gaslighting them telling, you know, because I wasn't hearing what they were saying or I heard it but I interpreted it through the lens of my perception.

So, if you don't like my tools, you must be lazy. 

If you don't like my tools, you must not be really committed to all kids, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah, like I hate admitting that to you but listen, confession is good for the soul and we've all done it, right? So, anyway, I was in my feelings and I'm defending it and, you know, I'm the person in the front of the room and even though I don't have direct power over their jobs, the fact that their district bought me in to train them gave me a little bit of indirect power and so, people stopped pushing back and they just started going straight into compliance mode because, you know, I'm the person in the front of the room and it took me longer than it should but I started noticing that they were just in compliance mode and it bothered me because builders don't go into compliance mode.

How can I say that I want to build people and yet, I have created a process and an experience that pushes people into compliance. So, we got to the lunch break and over the lunch break, I am not feeling good at all. I feel I feel like a fraud. I feel horrible and I sat down with my little precious tools and I was looking at the tools and I was comparing it to the beginning and, you know, it wasn't exactly the same, you know, I could live. So, first I'm like, it's not the same. My tool does this and their tool does that but then it started to dawn on me. They weren't saying that the tool was exactly the same like a one-to-one match exact replica copy of the other tool. What they were saying is that my tool was creating the same experience for them. It was creating the same feeling for them. It was creating the same. This is busy work notion for them. So, even though it was different in format, it wasn't different in feeling.

I'm gonna tell you what y'all that was a hard moment for me because I had spent the entire morning trying to convince people to use my summer planning tools and like I said, they still, I stand on this, they were beautiful. They were beautiful leadership tools. And I thought, you know, that my updates made them into builder tools but I was starting from the wrong point. I was starting based on the assumption that you needed those tools and those tools are what was going to make a difference the next year and it was the wrong assumption.

I didn't go into this process like a builder. 

So, after, you know, like midway through lunch, I start going to the organizers and I say, I think I need to take a different, you know, a pivot this afternoon. And are you okay with that if it means that they don't finish these tools today? The organizer was not okay with it. They were like, but we need to get them to finish these tools. And so, I had to make a choice, right? So, I was serving the principles but the organizer was paying and if I wanted to, you know, get invited back, if I wanted to, you know, build my business, then it made sense for me to do what the organizer said do.

So, I had a crisis of conscience because if I went and did what I wanted to do, I wasn't sure the organizer was going to be happy. But if I did what the organizer wanted me to do, I'd be going against what I believe and what I teach. So, they're coming back from lunch and I am, like, I'm of two minds. I'm torn. You know, I'm looking at their faces, right? They relaxed during lunch but you could tell, you know, they're putting back on, they're like, okay, let me just get through this meeting. They're looking at their watches and saying, okay, it's 12, we get out of here at three, three more hours, I can make it.

They were girding their loins and I could recognize it because I used to be them. I would do the same thing. I would, you know, like, what can I sneak into the training in the afternoon that makes me feel like I'm doing the work and look like I'm doing the work but gets me through three hours of doing more of the same. And I don't know, I just looked at their faces. I saw the subtle signs that they were just preparing for the afternoon but they weren't excited about the afternoon. And I looked at the organizer who was, you know, kind of nervously pacing and wanting me to kind of push it through because it would make them look good.

And y'all, I just, I just said, well, I mean, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. And so I just, I took a deep breath. I girded my own loins. I got in front of the group and I said, let me tell you something, this morning, I know it seemed like I didn't hear your feedback, but I've been thinking a lot about it during work and during lunch and you're right. If we keep doing this the way we're doing it, it's no different than what you were being asked to do before. I saw the organizer's face look like, what are you doing? I saw other people's face like, wait, what's happening? I saw a couple of other people's face like, I told you.

And then I started to recenter the work.

And I said, if you create this plan and you create it by yourself and you create it in a way that's not anchored in your bigger vision for what you want for students, and then you take this plan and you roll it out and you push it and shove it down your staff's throats, the plan is going nowhere. So my dilemma now is how do we help you to turn this process into something meaningful while still meeting the demands of the district? Because I had a lot of empathy for the organizer. The organizer didn't create the requirement.

The requirement was required by their state. But I said, so I'm going to go off script a little bit this afternoon because we have to take this state required document and instead of finding a better way to do the state required document, we need to make this document work for us. We need to build a process that turns this document into something that also serves your vision. So let's take a step back and let's start with your vision. The organizer is looking at me like, oh, you are never coming back. She's mad and disappointed because here I am going rogue and putting her in a tough position. And I mean, I felt for her, but I also believed that we had to do this for the people. So like I said, not my shining moment, but the first 45 minutes that we spent back, we spent re-anchoring in the vision. And then we took the state document step by step and we started turning it into something that would serve our vision. We spent the whole afternoon doing it. We got to three o'clock and people weren't rushing out the door. They were staying because for the first time, that state required thing that they were doing made sense.

And instead of doing a whole bunch of leading from the front, I spent the afternoon kind of wandering from one group to the next and helping them really problem solve it and develop something that would align with what the state was asking, but also would align with their vision. It was a great afternoon for me and for everybody else. And the organizer did come around when she saw that I wasn't trashing the state document and getting her in trouble, but I was making it more meaningful. She started getting into it too. And then she started following me from one group to the next, listening to what I was saying so that she could support it afterwards as the superintendent for these principles. 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 masterclasses, live masterclasses, 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 it's 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 toolboxes with all the tools you need to be able to implement. And we have step-by-step playbooks that lay out the entire process for you, so you don't have to 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 slash community. Now, back with the program.

It was a great afternoon. It was messy and it wasn't polished and slick, but it was meaningful. It was meaningful for the principals in that room, but it was also meaningful for me because it reminded me of something that I'd forgotten. See, a lot of times we get so caught up in the tools and the strategies and all the other stuff that we forget what makes us builders. What makes us builders is not just that we say we believe in 100%. What makes us builders is that we sift everything that we're doing through that 100% vision.

I forgot that in that moment. 

I got more focused on trying to take an existing process and zhuzh it up and give it a little builder sparkle to it, rather than taking a step back and viewing the entire process through the lens of buildership. I think a lot of people do the same thing. You've got that summer SIP plan that you're required to do. You got to do some sort of school improvement plan. It's probably going to ask you to write very prescribed goals, maybe a reading goal and a math goal and an SEL goal, even if your vision doesn't quite fit that, even if your school needs something different.

You're probably going to be required to create some sort of PD plan, or even if you're not required, you feel like you should. You create a PD plan. You spend the summer going to conferences and reading books, looking for a book that you can do for a book study or looking for a strategy that can be like a one-size-fits-all kind of magic silver bullet to address some issue that you've noticed in the data. You are probably spending some time looking at the data and spending some time with those red numbers in your data and looking for and creating a plan that you believe is going to help you address those red numbers in your data. You are probably sitting down and trying to figure out what your strategy is going to be. Your district may have given you an improvement goal, 5%, 7%, 13% that you need to meet by the end of the year.

And so you're looking at that improvement goal and trying to develop a plan that you believe will get that 5% or that 13%. Maybe you got some feedback from teachers at the end of the year, a survey, a climate survey or something. And so you're trying to create a plan to address that feedback, that survey. Maybe you got some feedback from your supervisor. There's some things teachers are saying about you and they want you to fix it for the year. And so you're putting a plan in place for doing that. The problem is, is that if you start there, you're going to end up doing it like a leader. You got to take a step back. You got to make sure that you keep your eye on the bigger picture.

Now, if you don't have a vision, this is going to be hard. 

And so your first step is you got to create your 100% vision, because once you do that, everything else gets much simpler. When you have a vision, you can sift through the noise and you can figure out what really matters and what really deserves your time, attention and focus and what does not. If you do have a vision, it's time to reconnect to it because the temptation to fall back into leadership, especially when you are being called into meetings, principal meetings, and they're telling you what you have to do and giving you deadlines and requirements. It's easy to just say, well, let me get this stuff done and then I can get back to buildership. And I'm going to tell you right now, that's a trap you will never get back.

The moment that you step back into leadership, it becomes so much harder to crawl back out. So you just need to avoid stepping into it anyway. Listen, I can't change the district requirements that you're facing, whatever they are. I can't change it. I can't change the state requirements that you may be held accountable for reaching. What I can do though is remind you that those requirements don't mean that you have to step back into leadership. You can meet the requirements and still do it like a builder. The hard part for a lot of people is figuring out how, right? Maybe you hear me today and you're like, okay, I want to do that, but I don't know how. I mean, the state's saying I have to do it this way.

And normally this is something that if you were in BU, I'd say bring the office hours. We're going to take those state requirements. We're going to show you how to do it. But there's so many people struggling with this that I've decided to do something different. I'm hosting a live training. It's going to be on Tuesday, June 10th at 7 p.m. Eastern. It's live on Zoom. It's one hour and it's a reset. Before you make any plans this summer, before you dive into anything that you're doing, this is a way to help you get straight so that you can approach it like a builder.

I'm going to be showing you how to think like a builder through the things that you're facing. I'm going to give you some practical examples of some things that you may be required to do this summer. And I'm going to show you how to take those things and approach them like a builder. And then I'm going to be showing you a simple process you can use so that as you're doing the summer planning, you can stay focused on what matters while still meeting the requirements that you face over this summer.

So the reason that I'm offering it for free is because I don't want price to be a barrier. 

I want if you are a builder, I know how hard it is to stay focused on buildership during summer planning. I have failed myself and I don't want you to fail. I don't want you to spend the summer writing plans and creating plans because you think you have to or because you're required to that are going to leave you pushing alone in the fall. Because here's what happens, and it happens every single year.

We do all these plans in the summer, we roll them out first week of school, and by October we're the only ones left still thinking about those plans. And the reason is because we wrote those plans in isolation, we wrote those plans without thinking about it like a builder, and then we rolled out those plans in a way that doesn't quite engage and invite everybody to own it. And then once people sit through your slide presentation, they're done, they're off. And this is why you are carrying your plans alone. So you don't have to carry the plans alone this summer. If you come to the training that I'm doing on June 10th, then you'll be with other builders and we can start tackling those things together.

And then if you do things the way that I'm going to show you on the training, you won't have to carry those plans alone in August and September and October and November and December and January and February and March and April. And you won't spend May looking at the plans that you made over the summer and feeling deflated and defeated because you didn't meet them or feeling exhausted because you did, but you met them because you were the only one dragging the plan forward. I want you to know that there is another way.

And so you can join me at the training. It's just one hour of your life, but you spend that hour with me and you might be able to get your life back for the rest of the summer. So go to buildershipuniversity.com slash summer, sign up for their training. It's one hour. And during that hour, we're going to show you how to think about summer planning differently. Before you write another plan, before you submit your plan, before you get, you know, go get your leadership team together to do your summer leadership stuff.

You need to be on this training so that this summer can feel different so that you don't have to keep carrying things alone so that you don't have to keep switching back and forth between being a leader and a builder. You can be a builder all the time, even in the face of district requirements. And so that you can make this summer more meaningful for both you and for your staff because you approach summer planning 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, 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.

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