EPISODE #323

Hey builders, before we begin today's episode, I need to let you know that it's here. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the next cohort for Buildership University. As you know, we only open up Buildership University twice a year. We did so in the winter and now we're doing our summer intake and it all starts on Monday, August 4th. So here's what you need to do. If you've been wanting to be a part of Buildership University and just dying to get in, this is your chance. So on Monday, today, August 4th, at 8:00 AM, we will open up Buildership University.

So what you'll do then is you will go to buildershipuniversity.com and fill out an application. Once you fill out the application, you will hear back from us in between 24 and 48 hours. And then once you are in, we will help you work through the PO process so that you have time to get things done before we start the Buildership University program. So that means that you fill out the application, you get your application, and that holds your spot, and then that also gives you time to work with your district to get your PO settled and all of that. So here's what you need to do. Mark your calendar for Monday, August 4. On Monday, August 4, go to buildershipuniversity.com and fill out your application. Now here's the most important part.

The application window is only open for one week and spots are limited. And I have to tell you, some of the spots have already been taken by people who are in the boot camp. So you need to get your application in early to make sure that you hold one of the spots that are left. So go to buildershipuniversity.com, complete your application. The deadline for all applications is Monday, August 11th. And then from there we're going to be transitioning to supporting people in the next Buildership University cohort. All right, now on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagine podcast episode 323.

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 the school leadership Reimagined podcast. 

I'm your host, Robyn Jackson and, and today is going to be a little different because this week is a little different.

See, right now I am in the virtual room with over 1000 builders. Throughout the week, 1000 / 1000 builders have signed up for the Staff Alignment Boot Camp and they are from all over the world. And something's been tugging at me all week long and I wanted to talk to you about it today. In case you're not in the boot camp. I know some of you all are, are starting school soon. And you, even if you're not with us in the boot camp, you're still with us in this work. And every day this issue has come up. And so it's something that I really think that you need to hear today.

And it's it's about this idea that many of you feel like you are doing this all by yourself. And I want you to know you do not have to do this alone. You're not alone, right? So let me guess right this morning you woke up solving problems. You woke up and before you'd even kind of gotten out of bed good. Your mind was already going through all the the challenges that you're facing in your school right now, all the things you have to do to get ready to go back to school. You may have dealt with a parent e-mail before you even had your coffee and you were solving staff issues on the way to work. Baby, you're listening to this podcast while, you know, you're supposed to be doing or while you're doing something else and hoping that there's a nugget here that can help you solve a challenge that you're facing right now.

You probably are, you know, upset in the back of the PD that you're supposed to be doing that, supposed to be helping you recharge and you're too busy answering emails or, or sending texts to staff members about things that are happening and blowing up in your school right now. You know, it's, it's, it's kind of, we just accepted it for all this time that this is the gig, this is the job. And in fact, if you have been trained like a leader, you've been told that it's all about self sacrifice. You're being rewarded for self sacrifice. And there's this unspoken message that if you are really committed, you'll just handle it. If you are really committed to this work, this is what leaders do. But can I tell you something? This isn't what builders do, right?

Because what what builders do is we recognize that not only can we not handle it all by ourselves, but we shouldn't. And what builders do is we build something so compelling that we no longer have to do it by ourselves. We no longer have to do it alone. So instead of of being a boss and saying go, and you're in your office by yourself and you're just sending other people out to do the work. Or even being a leader and saying, let's go. And you're standing over here and trying to convince people to come with you. And you keep running back and forth to from where you want to be to back to where everybody else is. And if you're the only one and pulling, you become a builder and you say come and you invite people to build alongside you so that you're not carrying the work all by yourself.

Other people are building too. So yeah, that's kind of what I want to talk about today because I see the pattern again and again and again. I mean, I, I've done it myself. You know, when I first became a, a, an administrator, the, the whole light, I just felt so isolated. You know, when I was a teacher, even though as a teacher I had teacher colleagues, We'd go hang out. We do stuff together. It was kind of us, you know, in our department. My team had friends, you know who, who were, you know, I could just pop up in their classroom down the hall and chat and, you know, talk about our day and laugh about our kids and, you know, you felt like you were part of something.

Then when you become an administrator, it starts this US versus them dynamic. All of a sudden, you're not getting invited out to the happy hours. You know, people go, you know, you see them. And if they do invite you and you show up, the conversation changes when you show up and you can feel it and you almost feel like they'd have more fun if you weren't there. And even if you have some friends on your staff, those friendships only go so far because they're not with you. They're, they're, they're, it's, it's a whole different gig, a whole different job. And so they're not in the principal meetings with you.

They don't experience the same pressure that you have for moving your school forward.

They didn't just get chewed out by the the Superintendent because your scores weren't where they needed to be. They're not getting the calls that you're getting from the parents complaining or the union complaining or, you know, they're not getting the anonymous notes in the suggestion box that are, are, are, are, are trashing your, your, your work. They're not reading the climate survey where somebody writes the anonymous snarky comment that you can't seem to stop thinking about. At the end of the day, if you're a principal in the building, it's just you. If you are an assistant principal in the building, it may be just you or one or two other people, but you're outnumbered and outgunned and so you feel alone. What makes it even more isolating is that if you are thinking like a builder, you don't even fit in with your principal colleagues, right? So everybody else has kind of accepted that, you know, this idea that hey, we can't, we can't reach them all. We're not going to, we're not going to reach them all.

We're going to do our best. We'll try to get better, but we're just not going to reach them all. That's what most people believe. I don't care what they say. I don't care how many times they repeat all means all. When you look at their school, when you look at their approach, when you look at their leadership, they don't really mean it, but you do. You believe it, and you not only believe it that it, that it should be, you believe that it's possible, but everybody else around you tells you that you're being naive, that it isn't possible. We'd like to have it that way, but it just isn't real.

You believe that you can get your entire staff aligned and you believe that they can stay aligned all school year. But everybody else tells you, yeah, sure, that's cute, everybody's aligned now. But you wait until October happens. You wait until you know the the the first parent complaint comes in. You wait until people start the honeymoon wears off, then you'll see you can't get them aligned. And most people are satisfied with compliance. But you don't want compliance. You want people to embrace the work and own it and, and, and, and move it forward.

You don't want it to all be on you. You don't even think it's not that it's not fair you, it's not fair to the teachers for you to be the only one doing this work. The teacher should be involved in work that matters rather than just simply taking orders. And you're the only one with the vision, the vision to sit in the hearts of the teachers too, because that vision is so compelling and powerful, it can drive the work forward. And you don't want to hoard all of that for, for yourself. You really want to spread it around and help everybody catch a hold of that vision because it changes how you approach the work. Nobody thinks that way. You're, you've been, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you have seen what it could look like for your school and you can't Unsee it. But your colleagues are satisfied with the status quo.

Your colleagues are just worried about just getting through the day. 

Your colleagues don't have don't share your passion. And that's isolating and that's lonely. And so not only are you being the strong one in your school who is kind of holding it all together, but you're also the visionary in your school and you are the one who sees what's possible. But not everybody else has caught that fire yet. And so the loneliness happens on all sides. You're lonely because it's kind of you over here and your teachers over here.

You're lonely in your district because you see something different than your colleagues do, than your boss does. You believe something different than everybody else does and you are operating in a different way so that, that, so you are doing things differently and, and, and you're getting different results. And that becomes even more isolating because you're the only one making progress in many cases. And I was talking to a builder the other day instead of Buildership University in the office hours, and he was saying that his school was the only school to get A, with an A or B rating in his entire district by the state. That's it. It's, it was just him. And so in a way, you know, people can pretend to be happy for you, but are they really? Some people are, you know, they, they start you, you start setting yourself apart and you start putting up results and proving that what everybody else says wasn't possible with these kids.

You're proving them wrong. You're showing how it, how it can be possible. And as a result, people start to resent you because they've been making excuses about why it can't be done while you've been actually doing the thing that they said can't be done. And so, yeah, they might well congratulations and applaud in the meeting when you're getting the plaque and the award. But, you know, silently, they resent you because now you're putting pressure. You're showing them that it can be done with these kids. All of that can be so isolating. And So what you're trying to do is just gut it out because you were told that, well, I mean, this is a lonely job.

This is, it's lonely at the top, right? You've heard that, you've been told that it should all fall on you because that is the gig. That's the job. You're the administrator, you're the principal. So it does fall on you. You've been told that your job is to make teachers happy. You've been told that your job is to be the you know, the buck stops with you. And so you've been carrying the weight of leadership by yourself.

Builders don't do that. Builders don't carry the weight of leadership. Builders build. Builders create a building where they're not the only ones who are carrying the vision. The the a builder creates a vision so compelling that other people volunteer to be a part of it. And at first it's one or two or three or four. And then as it the, the movement catches on and, and and starts igniting in your school more and more and more of your staff until your entire staff owns the vision with you.

Builders don't worry about compelling people to do the work.

What builders do is create work so compelling people will choose to do that work. And they'll do the right work the right way for the right reasons, even when you're not in the room. So instead of you being alone trying to drag your school towards the goal, instead of you being alone carrying the entire weight of your school on your back, you've got everybody working with you. Not only that, but builders find other builders see a lot of people once they become a builder, they get really frustrated because they get excited about what they see happening in their school. They get excited about the possibilities that buildership unlocks for them. And then they go and they start trying to convince their colleagues, the, their principal colleagues, the people they see in the meetings and, and they try to convince them that that it's possible. They try to show they, they try to share it with them. And one of the things that always happens in, in, in every single cohort we have in buildership universities, people get those first big wins.

You know, we designed the cohort. So you get your first big win in the first six weeks of being a cohort. We get, we get two big wins, 3 Actually, you get 3 big wins the first six weeks of being in a cohort. I mean, big wins like things feel different. Something shifts in your school. It happens in that first six weeks and people get so excited about it and like you like a new convert, they run out and they want to evangelize the world. And they quickly realized that not everybody is ready for that. You know, like, you start talking to people about 100% and if they are steeped in leadership, they can't see it.

And so then they come back deflated and frustrated because they're trying to convince their colleagues in the neighboring school who for years have commiserated about why things can't be better nursing. They can be. Let me show you how. And that colleague that said that they wanted help doesn't really want this kind of help. They want to continue to wallow in leadership. They want to continue to settle for these tiny incremental gains. They don't really want to change. They want everything to change without having to change.

And when builders realize that, it can be deflating because they've seen it, They've seen what can happen. They've experienced the win for themselves. So they're not telling them what they heard, they're telling them what they experienced. And they start to realize that not everybody talking about 100% really believes in 100%. And so there's this moment that you will have as a builder where you realize that all those people who are talking about all means all and every child every day, no matter what it takes, and all those slogans that we hear are not willing to do what it takes to get there. And if you peel back the layer, they don't even believe it. And then you start to feel alone, which is why if you are going to stay in this work and survive in this work, you need to find your people. One of the cool things about the boot camp this week is that we have a Facebook group and it's at the Facebook group.

I've been telling people, find your people. 

And so you see people making connections in the Facebook group. It's a pop up Facebook group. It's not going to last forever. So people are it. And we do that for a couple of reasons. But one of the reasons we do it is so that that energy, you know, stays there in a group and it doesn't evaporate over time. 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. And it also forces people to not just connect with people because we're in a group together, but to take those connections offline to, to find their tribe of builders. And then inside of Buildership University, one of the things we have is we have something we call BU Commons. And it's a place, it's an online place where we can connect with each other. So when people post their wins, instead of everybody being jealous and hating on them, like, well, sure, that can happen to your school, but you know, my school, you know, all the foolishness that we normally deal with.

You don't do what they didn't BU Commons because everybody's building, everybody's a builder. So when they see your win, they're excited about your win and inspired by your win. And when, when they share their win, you get excited, you get, get inspired. And then we also have office hours. And like my favorite thing about Buildership University is office hours, quite frankly. In fact, a lot of my team goes to office hours even though they're not required to because they love it, right? These, these are people who, you know, it's not even their job to be there.

They're there because they love it, because it's a place where we can connect.

People will show up to office hours. They don't even have a question. They don't have an issue. They don't have a challenge. They're just tired and they're feeling isolated, and they come to office hours just to fill their cup. Because when you're a builder, you're going to be lonely. But you don't have to carry it alone, right? You got to find your people.

There's a saying, I don't know if it's true or not. People say it enough that, you know, it's kind of become this cliche that they say that you are the sum of the five people you hang around the most. I'm sure there's a kernel of truth to that, right? People you hang around influence you. So I want to ask you, how many people are you around who believe like you believe, who are doing this work like you're doing this work? Because it becomes so much harder to be a builder when you are surrounded by leaders. So builders not only are building things internally in their school, they are building other builders in their school. They are helping their staff catch the vision.

They are helping their staff take ownership of the vision for themselves. They are helping them. Their staff start working and building with them. They are not at the top telling other people what to do. They are building and inviting people to join them and build alongside them. And so that keeps you from feeling alone in the work. And then to keep you from feeling alone as you are doing this work and believing what you believe, you need to build a cadre of colleagues who are also other builders. You need to find other builders and connect with them because builders think differently than leaders.

And if you are surrounded by leaders, you will find yourself being pulled back into leadership. I'll tell you this. I was, I was in office hours the other day. I try not, you know, I try to give you a sense and a glimpse of what happens in office hours without breaking confidentiality. So I will say this. I was in office hours the other day and there was a builder in office hours who hadn't come to office hours in a while. And this builder was starting to slide back into leadership. And I had to be pretty frank with her, right?

Because that's, you know, we, we're builders and, and you, you know, iron sharpens iron. And so she's talking about some of the things that they're doing. And I'll, you know, she's feeling good about some of these things. And then I said, OK, those things are great. You know, things that her district had done, programs that she had purchased, all these things, you know, the leadership stuff. And we listened for a while and then then we challenged her. We said all those things you did all those programs that you did all those those P DS that you set up. Everybody feels great, don't they?

She goes, yeah, you know, things are people are really excited and and and happy. And I said, but what are they happy about? What's your vision? And she told me your vision. And I said, have you made any progress towards your vision? And she said, no. I said, so then every all you did was make everybody feel good about continuing to fail kids now. Ouch.

And it was hard for me to say, but it was exactly what she needed to hear because she realized, you know what I've slipped back into leadership. And leadership will make you feel good about failing. Leadership will set you up to believe that those good vibes that you created are what's really important. When what's really important is how are you, how much progress are you making towards your vision? If you try to do this by yourself and you're the only builder surrounded by a whole bunch of leaders, what will happen is those leaders, that leadership talk, the leadership paradigm, the leadership stuff will begin to drag you back to where you don't want to be. Now, good thing for her, she came to office hours because she said you're absolutely right. I have, I have gotten back into leadership and there's something that shifted in her that day. And she thanked us for holding her accountable to her vision.

That's what happens when you surround yourself with other builders. 

So you don't have to do this alone, and you shouldn't do this alone. You don't have to be isolated and you shouldn't be isolated. You don't have to carry things all on your back, and you shouldn't carry things all on your back. What it really means to be a builder is that you are constantly building. Too often I see principals who are brilliant and committed and hard working and they are wasting their time and energy because they are trying to do this by themselves. They are leading, not building. If you really want to be a builder, you're going to have to do 2 things.

You're going to have to build other builders in your building and you have to put yourself intentionally in the company of other builders. You have to tune out all of the leadership noise and stay focused on what it really means to be a builder because leadership is seductive. Leadership will drag you back if you're not careful. So it's not about just saying I believe in 100%, it's also about putting yourself in a place where that belief gets reinforced, where that belief gets challenged and supported. That belief stays in front of you. It's about building that belief in other people. When you do that, not only are you not alone, but you built something that will last long after you leave. You know, the challenge with being the principal that carries everything on your back is the moment you leave, the school falls back to what they were doing before.

And I've seen so many principals have been really frustrated by that. They have been at a school, they've poured their heart and soul into that school, and they have made progress. And when they leave and somebody else comes in, all that progress gets erased. But here's what happens with builders. Because you are building. It's not about you. You are not the the spoke in the wheel and everything comes on you.

You're not the superhero that's rescuing a school.

Instead, you are the builder who's going into a school and who is building other builders and creating a new culture so that that culture outlasts. You know, that's legacy. Not only that, because you're putting yourself in a place with other builders, you don't have to do it alone. You get better by just being around other builders. You become a part of a movement that not only influences your individual school, but as your colleagues start to see what's happening for you, they become curious. They want to know more. They want to be what you've become. They want to build what you've built.

And now not only do you have a legacy in your school, but you now have built a legacy that's going to impact other schools. Because when you are a builder, you build. If you're feeling alone right now and isolated and you feel like you're carrying things all on your back, I get it. That's what leadership is taught you to do. But I want you to know that that's not the only option you have, because when you become a builder, you stop carrying it on your back online. You know, somebody was saying to me the other day in office hours, she was just saying that this is the first year where I feel like I, you know, she, she, she, she went away on vacation and stuff was still being built when she came back, it was being built. She said this first year I don't feel like I'm carrying it all by myself, that my staff is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, not because she delegated it to them, but because she's built other builders and they are building somebody else. Was sent me Adm and said this year feels different.

It feels lighter. We've had people this week in the boot camp come builders who are in Buildership University come and share their stories and they all say the same thing, that that, you know, I knew and suspected for years that there was another way. I just didn't know what it was. And now that I know what it is, I can't go back because I'm building something that will outlast me. I'm building something that is so compelling that other people have picked up hammers and chisels and nails and they start building too. And so now for the first time, I don't feel like I'm doing it by myself. And then as people have begun to do this for a while, they're starting to not only see the impact in their school, they're starting to see the impact in their colleagues. And they're also finding other colleagues, people who are supporting them, people who are telling them you're not crazy to want 100%.

I'm going for 100% to people who are inspiring them. People who I was talking to, we were in office hours the other day and someone's getting really discouraged because she's at the beginning of her buildership journey. And I just started reminding her about other people in Buildership University who've been where she is and who overcame some of those same challenges and the results that they're seeing on the other side. And she was just saying at the end, I needed to hear this. I needed to hear this, because everybody around her is telling her it's not possible. In the meantime, she's surrounded by people, builders, who are doing the thing that she's being told it's impossible. So not only does she know it's possible, but she knows it's possible for her. And that's what I want for you.

I want you to realize that you don't have to do it alone. 

If you're listening to this podcast, then that's great because you already know that you know that that that spark inside of you that is saying, Hey, listen, 100% is possible that you're not crazy because there's a whole group of builders all over the world who believe the same thing. There's this movement that is building of administrators who are not going to accept the status quo, who believe that it can be different, but not because we do the same thing and hope for different results. That's crazy, but because we do something different. People who recognize that you don't have to do it the way that they trained you, because the way that they trained you is quite frankly unsustainable. That you can take a vacation and you can go home before before the sun goes down. And you don't have to sacrifice time with your family and you don't have to spend nights and weekends catching up because you can put systems in place and put a belief in place that means that you no longer have to pull alone. So I guess that's my message this week.

You don't have to carry things alone and you're not crazy. There's a whole group of builders out there who are doing this work and proving that 100% is not only possible, but it's possible for you. So you don't have to settle this year or just survive this year. There is a better way and there are people who are already walking in that better way. And we'd love to have you be a part of us. So thanks for spending time with me today. We'll see you next week. And until then, remember you do not have to lead alone.

You can build and and build other builders and build a legacy. If you decide to stop leading and approach your work 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 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, 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.