EPISODE #86

You're listening to the school leadership reimagined podcast episode 86. 

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 faith. 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, Robin Jackson. And today we're going to talk about five lies you were told about leadership. You see, over the years, we have learned some things about leadership, we've been told that there are some things that we need to do in order to be good leaders. And we dutifully follow the advice. We go through the training and we implement it and it fails us. And we've never kind of taken a step back and stopped to think that, you know, we blame ourselves we think it's it's our fault that things aren't working. Maybe we didn't do it right. Maybe we just need a better version of that strategy. And we never take a step back and stop to think and question whether or not what we were told about leadership in the first place is even true. And so today, I want to expose five lies that I see a lot of leaders buying into believing and and as a result, using strategies that don't work that don't serve them. And then they beat themselves up. And they they get frustrated. And they work harder, trying to make a flawed strategy work when in reality, that strategy is rooted in a lie about leadership.

Today, we're going to dispel those five lies and talk about what you could be doing instead. 

Now before I jump into that, I got to share with you the success story that I heard this week. So I got an email from a builder who has been to builders lab, and she just sent me a quick note to just say, I just need to tell you about a conversation that one of my APS just had with the teacher, this teacher was notoriously difficult, you know, call the union all the time, you know, did was not open to getting feedback was very resistant to the direction that the school is going. But they as a school, just step back and and establish some core values as a school. And they use a process that we teach you in builder's lab. And when her AP had this conversation, and he was dreading the conversation with the teacher, her AP have the conversation with the teacher. And it was an easy conversation because he anchored that conversation in the core values that they had just committed to as a school, the teacher who had always been resistant in the past said, you know, you're right, I'm not in alignment, those core values, and she volunteered to get herself back into alignment. And that's the power of of having core values, like a builder because when you do that you no longer have to chase check and correct teachers, you no longer have to hold teachers accountable. Instead, those core values serve as a way of teachers holding themselves accountable. And so what could have been a really horrible conversation turned into this really positive reaffirmation of sky core values. And it's actually changing and shifting a very toxic portion of their culture. And so, you know, at this point, I probably shouldn't be surprised when I hear stories like this coming out of builders lab, but I am, I don't know if it surprises the right word. I think I'm just delighted every single time when I hear a story like that, and the more and more of these stories are coming in.

Every day, when I hear stories like that I just First of all, I'm very proud of the builder who took what they learned at builders lab and implement in their school and then to I just, I get the warm fuzzies because this works, it works. And we keep getting affirmation that it works. This is what you learn at builders lab, you learn how to create a vision, a mission and a set of core values and then you learn strategies that you can use to to get everybody committed to your vision, mission and core values so that those difficult conversations that you've been having that that that feeling that you're just dragging your whole school along, they go away, they evaporate. Instead, your school becomes a place where you love working every day one or the other. We just heard from another participant at builders lab and She was saying that at the beach, you know, last year she was, she just didn't even want to work at her school anymore was so toxic, she was worn out every day by the people. And then she did builders lab over the summer. And she implemented what she learned a builder's lab, that vision, that mission, those core values that those three pieces in her school when she got back in the fall, and she said, Now, it is a place I love to work.

That's what happens when you apply what you learn at Builder's Lab in your school. 

Builders lab isn't just some three day training where you learn a couple of little tactics, no builders lab helps you establish some things that your school that you can anchor in all year long that can carry you through every single crisis, whatever your crisis is, and can change and transform your culture where everybody loves coming to work. And they're all doing the right work the right way, for the right reasons. That's what you learn at builders lab. And so we're getting close to the deadline for tickets and builders lab, we're having our next builders lab in January, January 25, to 27 2021. And now that we are here in December, you don't have a lot of time left. If you've been thinking about coming to builders lab, it's time to get your tickets. We are doing this virtually again. And I'm going to tell you what we did a virtual builders lab for the first time this summer. And it was incredible. It was an incredible, and I'm not just saying that because, you know, we do build this lab. It just the people who came to that builders lab, I don't know something about the virtual environment where people bonded in a way that I didn't, I haven't seen what with our face to face builders let people bond we have this, you know, we work hard to create an entire experience. But there was something about that 360 degree virtual experience. Maybe it was because people were all attending from the comfort of their own home and opposed to being in a conference room where we normally have it. Yeah, I don't know, people just kind of they relaxed, they opened up, they bonded.

We're all working together to work together through that 90 day process. People were bonding they some people were coming to the office hours, like I don't have a question, I just wanted to see what people were doing. People are supporting each other and encouraging that it's a real community. And it's lasted beyond the three days and builders lab. And so we're going to replicate that in January, when you come to builders lab in January. It's not just a three day zoom meeting. I know a lot of us have zoom fatigue. At this point. This is not a three day zoom meeting, we have built an entire studio so that you have an you have an immersive experience. Yes, we are using zoom. But it's not you sitting watching me, you know kind of dragging in my slides all day. We have a studio, we have multiple cameras, you you there's opportunity for interaction all throughout, you can stop me in the middle of a presentation, ask a question. That's why we keep it small and intimate. You are working in small groups. If you come as a school team, which a lot of people are doing now with builders lab, especially since it's virtual, you can bring your whole admin team. And so if you do that, we will put you in a breakout room with your admin team so that you get work done. And then after those three days, you're not done with that, Oh, no, we we work with you for the next three months to make sure that you can implement what you learned during the three days a builder's lab in your school.

Our goal is that you have a success story to tell at the end of that 90 day follow up. 

We just ended the 90 day follow up for this summer's builders lab. And the success stories have just been incredible people are making a meaningful difference in their schools this year, in spite of the fact that many of our builders are in quarantine or doing remote learning, or are doing some sort of hybrid model. You're seeing the success stories. And they don't just stop at the end of those 90 days. They're building they're building, we still hear from builders who came to build your lab a year ago, two years ago. And they are they're there. They're calling and they're writing with even more success stories. So if you want to turn your school into a success story with the people and resources you already have, and you want some help doing that. I really strongly urge you to come to builders lab those three days are they're an incredible experience. We don't just kind of you know, not only do we do we do the training, we also send you a builder's box, we'll have all the things you need plus and prizes every day, we're opening a new envelope, it's just it's really cool. You need to check it out. So you need to come you need to go to mindset think.com slash builders dash lab, that's mindset sync.com slash builders dash lab.

Now let's get to these five lies that you were told about leadership Lie Number one, there is no power dynamic. Now, I don't hear people say this but I see people live this a lot. One of the things that we talk about a lot of builders labs, we talk about one of the we talked about the four disciplines of builder ship so the four disciplines of build a ship are four things that you can do to help people get really committed to your to your vision, mission and core values and develop the will and the skill to carry them out. And whenever we get to the feedback section, I always talk about the power dynamic. And there's always someone who says, Oh, no, that's not an issue. My school, my teachers, and I get along really, really well. You know, I see this light playing out in another way, when people think that actual real reflection can happen in a post observation conference. And with the power dynamic there, it's really hard for people to be truly reflection reflective. A lot of times the reflection that you see in those post observation conferences is performative, we know that, that a lot of teacher evaluation instruments have teacher reflection, or you know, as part of the the standards and so teachers know that they are expected to be quote, unquote, reflective during this post observation conferences. But they also know that they're being judged on the quality of their reflection in that conference, that the reflection itself is a factor in their overall evaluation. So is there really true reflection happening? Maybe, but the power dynamic affects that and what leadership tells us is that, that know, the power dynamic doesn't affect that if you just ask the right question, if you just ask, I wonder about, or if you use the terms, you know, like, ask those follow up questions that you're taught a lot of times in, in those feedback trainings that we all get sent to that there's going to be genuine teacher reflection, maybe. But in most cases, that reflection is performative. And it is a part of what I call the the the evaluation dance that we do in those post observation conferences.

Builders don't ignore the power dynamic, we recognize it. 

We don't ignore the fact that in that post observation, conference conversation, true reflection is difficult because the power dynamic is there. It's it's the elephant in the room. And so rather than ignore it, or pretend that it doesn't exist, we work with it, we we structure, that post observation conference, so that we recognize that there is a there's a power imbalance in those conversations. And we take specific steps to to address that power imbalance to deal with that, so that we can have a truly reflective conversation that actually changes practice. You know, a lot of times we think that the that the point of reflection is reflection itself, you know, I want my teachers to be more reflective. Well, why do you want them to be more reflective? Do you just want them to be more introspective? Or is there something else you're looking for. And usually, the reason we want teachers to be reflective is because we want them to own the change that they that we're asking them to make themselves, we don't want them to just be compliant, we want them to see why that change is necessary. And to make that change with fidelity to make that change, you know, from their own, from their own professionalism, rather than just doing what we're telling them to do. Well, you can achieve that. And reflection isn't the only way that you can achieve that. And so builders recognize that we recognize the end goal is not reflection itself, the end goal is that that reflection translates into action. So we don't have post observation conferences with the goal of just reflection, we know that the power dynamic present in that post observation conference, oftentimes stifles true reflection.

So we make we take steps, we structure the conversation in a way that helps teachers take what we get from that conversation on the change themselves and make the change in their classrooms. So we do it through something we call one thing feedback and micro slicing. And you learn all about that in builders lab. I don't have time to go into that now. But the idea is simply this builders don't buy the lie, that there isn't a power dynamic what the power dynamic doesn't exert this gravitational pull. In an observation post observation conference, we fully recognize that the power dynamic is there. You see a lot of leaders don't want to recognize that because they see themselves as the kind of leader that doesn't use their power. Well, regardless of whether you're using your power against people, there still is a power dynamic there. And if you ignore it, if you act like it doesn't exist, it then what you do is you are acting out in your power dynamic see as as the person who's in the position of power, you have the privilege of ignoring the power dynamic, because it doesn't affect you the same way it affects the teacher. And when you don't recognize that when you ignore that you are capitalizing on the power dynamic that you say doesn't exist. So builders don't do that builders recognize that there is a power dynamic.

We are respectful of that power dynamic. 

We recognize that the teacher sitting across from us and that post observation conference feels that power dynamic. And we structure the conference in a specific way a bill just lab I show you four different conversations you can have that recognize where the teacher is at that particular moment. And you can choose the right conversation so that you are helping the teacher come to a realization about their practice, in a way, that's also respectful of the fact that there is a power differential happening in that room. Now, if you don't do that, if you buy into the live leadership, if you ignore the power dynamic that exists, you often steamroll over a teacher and the most you can get is compliance. But when you recognize that there is a power dynamic there, and you're respectful of that power dynamic, and, and you are respectful of the position, the teacher is in at that moment, you can still foster that reflection, but that reflection isn't the goal, the reflection then leads to meaningful change in the classroom. So that's the first lie.

Now the second lie is that your job is to solve problems. A lot of times leaders walk into a building and they have this laser focus, here are the problems, what are the solutions? So whenever I talk to leaders, and I'd say, Tell me about your school, you know, they tell me, they tell me all the problems, and then they tell me all the things they're going to do to solve the problems. And every single meeting leaders are kind of focused on what's the problem? And how do I solve the problem? That's my role. Builders see things totally differently. Builders do not see themselves as problem solvers. They see themselves as problem investigators. There's a big difference. You see with with builders, they're looking to figure out that just what is the problem, but then what is the problem behind the problem, they looking to really understand the problem first, before they jump to a solution. leaders, if you see yourself as a problem solver, you you the moment you recognize a problem, your brain shuts off, it stops thinking about the problem and starts immediately jumping to a solution, which means that you jump to a solution prematurely.

You grab at any solution, and you think "I'm done, problem solved."

What's the next problem? Here's the solution. And so you walk through your day, solving problems without actually resolving anything. builders are not quick to solve problems, they take a step back first, they, they try to understand the problem. And they get to the root cause of that problem. And I'm not talking about root cause analysis here, the tool that builders use is they use the builders blueprint, they understand and take all the challenges that they're looking at, they figure out what's the one thing that if we solve this creates this kind of domino effect and begins to solve a lot of the other problems as well. So we're not solving problems, we investigate problems, we understand them. And then once we get to the root cause, then we can start looking at a solution. But we're not so focused on just problem solution problem solution that we miss the root cause.

Line number two, your job is to be a problem solver. Now, line number three is related to that. And that is the problem is the problem. Though, a lot of times when when leaders come to me and they say okay, here's our problem, we need more rigor. And I'm saying why do you need more rigor? Why do you think that's your problem? Because the class I go to classes, and they're not rigorous enough? Okay. But why do you think rigor is a problem? While our kids aren't achieving? It must be rigor, therefore rigor is the problem. And do you see that circular reasoning just gets crazy? What builders do is they don't ever look at the surface problem. They're always looking for the root cause. So a lot of times when when people kind of build this lab, and we're working through our builders blueprint, trying to really understand the root cause, people come with a predisposed notion of what their problem is, it's the same problem they've been dealing with for years, I've got teachers who are apathetic, I've got kids who don't show up, I've got dealing with poverty, and they kind of named these big problems. And when they first start working on the builders blueprint, you know, one of the things that we teach you is that the heart of every problem is either going to be an issue around your vision, your mission or your core values. And when they look at problems that way, that you know, it's hard for them to shift from this thing that's bugging me this thing that's had that's a headache, this thing that I'm getting beat up by with my central office, this thing that has been troubling and plaguing our school for years, it's hard for them to take a step back and figure out is that an issue that's really a mission issue, a vision issue or core values issue.

When you step back, it takes your eye off the immediate concern and helps you think about the root cause. 

The next thing is that we teach you a different way of looking at data. So rather than doing, you know, a data die that you would like, I don't know, look, you just overwhelmed with all this data. We have a very, very focused look at data. You're not looking at all the data, you're looking, you're using the data to tell you something very specific. You're asking very specific questions of the data. And you're only looking at the data that helps you answer those question. So it keeps you from getting into data overload. And then we break that down to what does that mean? It's happening instructionally. And then what does that mean in terms of what we need to be do from a builder ship perspective, and that builders blueprint helps you take the initial problem, the the the lack of rigor, the teacher apathy, the low student attendance, the low student achievement, and it helps you understand what is the root of that problem, they'll just recognize that the problem is never the problem. It's always a symptom of a deeper problem. And instead of chasing symptoms, and trying to solve symptoms, it's better if we look at that, and figure out what is the root problem and then solve that problem once and for all.

The problem is no longer a problem. In fact, we don't even see it as solving problems, we see it as from moving obstacle, every problem presents an obstacle getting in the way of your vision. And if you can remove that obstacle once and for all, you have a clear path to your vision. And so builders are not about solving problems. They're about removing obstacles, but until you understand what those obstacles are, until you can recognize that every problem that you're feeling is really a symptom of a bigger, a bigger issue and go to that bigger issue in real and work on that. You're always going to be chasing symptoms, you're always going to be, you know, running after these little things that annoy you and you never get to the root cause it's why so many leaders are frustrated right now. Because it seems like as soon as you saw one problem, there's another problem coming up. And then you solve that problem, there's a Next problem. And it feels like this, this massive game of whack a mole, well, builders don't play whack a mole, they see all these problems pop up, and they they stop, they take a step back, and they say, Okay, these are symptoms of a bigger root cause if I can get to the root cause if I can understand that, then I can remove that root cause so that it no longer presents an obstacle. I can also ignore the things that seem like problems, but aren't really problems that get in the way of my vision.

Builders have selective eyesight, not every problem requires a solution. 

There's some problems that builders don't deal with right now, because they are not the root cause. And that gives builders a lot of focus, it keeps you from chasing every symptom down. And so we got to get away from the lie that a Our job is to solve problems, or be that the problem is the problem because it keeps us chasing symptoms, it keeps us chasing our tails. Instead, we have to take a step back, when we see problems arise, we always dig for that root cause we look and say, Is this a problem we need to solve right now is this getting in the way of our vision mission and core values? If not, then we don't have to deal with it, we need to deal with this over here. It gives us that selective attention, but that laser like focus, and that's why builders who are experiencing some of the same challenges that leaders are experiencing right now are not stressed out. And in fact, they're still making progress toward their vision. Whereas leaders are so busy chasing problems, that they're never making progress or just running in circles. So that's line number three. line number four is all you need is a better plan. Leaders are great planners. The problem with leaders is not that they need another plan or that they need another planning process. Every school district I look at has, you know, a multi step strategic planning process with check ins and, you know, paperwork and forms and people to fill in leaders dutifully go through that. And yet, they're still not achieving their goals every year they're still or they're or what's happening is the process itself, because they know they have to go through the process.

They actually dumbed down their goals so that their goals show so that when they go through the process, they show progress every year, even though they're not making any real, genuine progress. Leaders are great at planning. And so we think that if we just have the right plan, or we double down and we sit down and plan and we spend a week planning and we create a strategic plan, that that's going to solve everything. And it's not builders, we create plans to but our plans look different. Because instead of having a plan that we do once at the beginning of the year, we never look at it again, builders have a plan, that planning process that's iterative, and it's taking in new data. And the plan is always adjusting based on the new data. It's also helping us understand whether or not we're making progress. We're not just making a plan and then looking up at the end of whatever arbitrarily decided deadline and saying did we did we make our goal? Oh, well, maybe we need to lower our goal. Now what builders are doing is every single day, they are checking in with our plan and saying are we on plan? That's our first question. Are we doing work that's on plan? Yes. Okay. Are we seeing the progress that we should be seeing? No. Okay, so let's go back and see what we're what our plan missed and how do we change our plan and adjust our plan to make sure that we're making that steady progress, and it's why builders have a victory every 90 days.

Builder's are not better planners, but they execute those plans better. 

You see, leadership teaches you that the plan is the thing, what builders are saying the plan is that step, but you also need to execute, you also need to come back and look at your plan and check in with it on a regular basis, you also need to make sure that you're keeping you're staying on track. And, and you also need to make sure that you're taking in new information, because as builders always say, new level new devil, you know, we don't just create a static plan, every, every level we reach in our plan, every success creates a new set of problems. So we have to go back, we have to have a plan that's flexible enough that we can deal with the new challenges as they come up, rather than just sticking to a plan that may no longer mean anything, leaders spend all their time planning, builders spend all their time executing. And there's a difference. So that's my number for now, the last lie that we're going to talk about today, the lie of leadership that I think a lot of people are struggling with right now is that if the cause of the problem is outside of you, then the solution to that problem is also outside of you.

I'll say that when again, a lot of leaders believe that if the cause of their problem is outside of their control, then the solution to that problem is also outside of their control. So there's certain problems that that leaders face that they feel there's nothing I can do about it. So leaders will see a problem like poverty and, and what's happening in the community. And they'll say that's outside of my control, I can't do anything about it. So the best I can do is live with the vestiges of poverty live with, with some of the symptoms that poverty brings into our school and try to mitigate some of the symptoms a little bit. But I'm never going to solve poverty because that I didn't cause it, it's outside of me. So I can't solve the problems that poverty creates in our school, or leaders will look at a problem like parents working several jobs, or our pet lack of parent and parental involvement. I remember going to one school one time and they said, Well, our problem is the parents don't read with their students. It's an elementary school, they're not reading with their kids, they don't see the value of school. So the kids come to school, and they don't see the value of school. And there's nothing I can do about it. Because if I'm telling the kids that an education is important, but their mom is telling them that they only have to stay in school to the 16. And then they can drop out and go on welfare and the government will take care of them for the rest of their lives. What can I do and they throw up their hands. And I'm thinking a builder would look at that and say there's a ton of things we can do.

Just because the cause of the problem is outside of my control doesn't mean that the solution to the problem is outside of my control. 

What builders do is they take a look at the challenges that they're facing, they may be in the same community dealing with the same issues of poverty, or parental apathy. They may be in a community where the student the the family's very, you know, I've worked in schools with their families have been very wealthy. So poverty is not an issue. But there are other issues that are happening in those schools where kids are burned out before the you know, they leave Middle School, they're already burned out from this pressure that the families are facing, or the kids are overly scheduled. And so they just don't have you know, they don't know how to manage that, you know, or control their own impulses because everything has been scheduled for them or, or they have their families with, you know, weird and interesting dynamics that affect how kids come to school or, or parents who are helicoptering over their kids. And so the students are never learning independence or you know, whatever. Every school has its issues, and a lot of those issues originate outside the schoolhouse. But builders don't let that intimidate them. Instead, builders understand that even if the cause of the problem is outside of our control, once that those issues spill over into our school, it's now our problem. And the solution is within our control.

When builders are dealing with poverty, they don't try to solve poverty, what they look at us which which of the symptoms that poverty creates, are affecting our ability to achieve our vision, mission and core values. And how do we mitigate that? Even as a classroom teacher, this was an eye you know, it's a classroom teacher, I have this attitude of a builder. One of the issues for me was that I was right. I was working with 11th grade students who were who who didn't see college as an option for them. They were many of them were going to be the first their families to go to college, many of them were underprepared. Not academically for college. We were doing a really good job of that. But they were underprepared for just college itself. And so a lot of our students would leave, we'd get them into college, but then they drop out that first year because life on a college campus was so different from life in their communities they they really struggled with, with what I call the soft skills of college. And around that time, I saw some research by a guy named William William setelah. Second, he talked about eight non cognitive variables that are the biggest predictors of college success in high school students. His research had been used by the Gates Foundation to identify students who would be good candidates for the Millennium scholarship that the Gates Foundation was doing back then.

I started looking at the research.

I don't remember all the characteristics now, but one of them was the the presence of a strong adult advocate. Another one was leadership experience. And other one was a preference for long term goals over short term goals. And I still remember looking at that list and saying, These are things that parents have to do, I can't do this stuff. This I'm an I see the kids for one period a day and their high school English teacher, how am I going to help them acquire these eight non cognitive characteristics when I don't have control over their home life. But remember, a leader says, if the problem originated outside, then the solution is also outside. But a builder says it may have originated outside, those are things I can't control. But what can I control? can I provide students with leadership experiences and classes. So I rearranged my class so that the students took more leadership in the day to day operations of the class that gave them leadership experience, I wanted them to have a strong support group, I wasn't sure they could get that at home. So I organized my class into study pods. And the students were required to study together and to function as a support group for each other. Instead of calling when students were absent. I said, Hey, listen, a member of your pod is absent, what are you going to do about it, who's going to call who's going to call him tonight and tell him what the homework is, who's going to check in with him and study with him to make sure that he doesn't, what he missed today doesn't affect him on the test that we're having next week.

The students created their own support networks, they needed a presence of an adult advocate, I became very adult advocate, I was the one that was getting on them and putting them on a schedule for getting their college essays in joy, looking at their applications, and making sure they have the guidance counselor's became adult advocates. We got them mentors for some students. So they had an adult advocate, if their parents couldn't be an adult advocate. And we went down that list and we said, what are all the things that we know make a difference between kids who make it in college and kids who don't? And if they can't get it at home? How do we make sure they get it at school. As a result, not only did we have more kids being successful in honors and AP classes in that school, but we had a higher degree of students who went to college and a higher degree of students who completed their first year of college successfully. So if you think like a leader, it always puts you in this passive victim stance, there's nothing we can do about it. And I hear leaders say that all the time. What can I do about it? I can't make the parents I can't do this. I can't solve poverty. I can't make the government I can't make the district. No, you can't. But you're thinking about a problem like a leader and not like a builder because a builder recognizes that. And the builder says, What can I do? What does it take to still help us achieve our vision, mission and core values? And what can we control, and that's what we're going to work on the solution, the cause of the problem may be out there. But the solution is right here, in this in this building in this school among us. And that's why builders can try them where leaders fail.

Let's recap the five lies of leadership that I've been talking about today.

The first one is that there is no power dynamic. And what that does is when you ignore the power dynamic, you really disrespect the teachers who are who are working really hard, you don't get their full commitment, because you ignore the power dynamic. When you recognize that there's a power dynamic. When you work within the bounds of that power dynamic. You can empower teachers to take ownership and responsibility for their own behaviors. So that way, you're not always chasing and checking and correcting people, you're not sitting in ignoring the power dynamic while you're benefiting from it. Instead, you recognize the power dynamic, you leverage that to help teachers feel more empowered, so that teachers begin to take responsibility for their own practice, and make meaningful change in the classroom. line number two, your job is to solve problems. Whenever you see yourself as solving problems, then you play this, this game of whack a mole that is so exhausting. If you say no, my job is not to solve problems. My job is to investigate problems to figure out which ones need solving, then you changes it gives you that focus. And closely related to that is line number three, which is the problem is the problem. Builders recognize that those are symptoms and they always dig for the root cause of the problem using that builders blueprint so that their work has focused and meaning and they eliminate those problems that are standing in the way of their goals once and for all, so that they clear the path and make a clean path towards achieving their vision, mission and core values in their school.

Line number four, all you need is a better plan. Leaders spend time planning builders spend time executing doesn't mean that the builders don't plan we do we have a way of planning that's iterative, but we execute which means that we actually hit our goals rather than writing another plan. And then line number five. If the cause of the problem is outside of your control, then the solution is also outside of your control builders don't buy that. Even if the cause is outside of our control, we know that the solution rests right here with us. And we keep digging until we find a solution. And that's what makes builders creative. That's what makes builders resilient. Whereas leaders, if you believe this lie, you're stuck. Builders don't believe this lie. It keeps us unstuck. It helps us to find options that other people miss. And it helps us to reach our goal while other people are sitting there wallowing in whining about things that are outside of their control.

If you find yourself believing these lies, you don't have to continue to believe them. 

The more that you make the shift from being a leader, to being a builder, the more you will recognize that these are lies that have been holding you back. And when you free yourself with these lies, you begin to to start achieving more for your school and in less time and with less effort and energy and headache. Because you shed these lies, and you now are stepping into the truth, like a builder. That's all for this week. As you go throughout the week. Think about these lies, catch yourself believing these lies and see when you're acting out in these lives and then intentionally reject these lies. So that you can begin to achieve what you want to achieve for your school. And make the difference that you came here to make. And you can do it with the people and resources you already have. If you want to help with that bill, just live as a place to come people have these epiphanies all during builders lab, and we'd love to see you at our next builders lab. So again, go to mindstepsinc.com/builders-lab to get your ticket. 

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 builder ship 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 offers. 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.

I'll see you then!

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.