Ronald Williamson
Eastern Michigan University

Ronald Williamson
Eastern Michigan University

(A photo from our 2009 Summer Leadership Institute.)

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    High school principals hold one of the nation’s most challenging jobs. They are expected to be expert at supervising teachers, budgeting, public relations, student discipline and decision-making. The complexity of the role means that principals constantly search for tools that can help them be more productive.

    I’m fortunate to talk with principals from all across the nation and I’m always interested in the tools they use to improve their schools. I’d like to share several of those that I find particularly useful.

Tools to Advocate for Your School

Principals are advocates, constantly advocating for their school and ways to improve the educational experience of their students. It is one of your most important roles. When you advocate, you are committed to providing information to key people and groups that can support your vision for your school. Two advocacy tools I’ve seen principals use include the “One Page Fact Sheet” and the “Elevator Talk.”

   One Page Fact Sheet - The One Page Fact Sheet helps you organize the important facts and points you want to share about your school. It can be a handout and it gives you necessary background information, as well as added confidence to talk about your school. One page is your limit. Most decision makers want the basic facts and don’t want to waste time. One page keeps your message focused.

    The Elevator Talk - There are occasions where you have just a brief opportunity to make personal contact with a key decision maker. These opportunities occur anywhere but often are no longer than the time it takes an elevator to travel one or two floors, and no more than 30 seconds. People tire quickly of tedious talk about an issue particularly when part of a casual encounter.

    There are three parts to an “elevator talk.” First, you want to share who you are and what you do. Then you want to talk about your issue. An example would be that you are working to increase the rigor in your school for all students. Finally, have one or two key facts that you want the person to know or things you would like them to do. Don’t overwhelm the person with too much detail.

    You will want to practice telling your story and why you care about this issue. This builds confidence for when you have a golden opportunity: a chance or planned meeting with a stakeholder or “mover and shaker.”

    An effective "elevator talk" is essential in networking, engaging partners and opening new doors. First impressions are easily sabotaged with an interaction that's unimpressive because it's too long or too short.

    The payoff is the "what's in it for me?" and doesn't always have to be explicitly stated. Potential partners only care about issues of importance to them. You have a maximum of 30 seconds to get them to care. The easiest way to connect quickly is to articulate problems they can identify with. The stated or implied payoff is the solution to those problems.

Tools to Make Your School Improvement Team More Productive

    Principals work with lots of groups including their school improvement or school leadership team. Many groups struggle to be efficient and productive. I’ve found these tools very useful when working with such groups.

    Have Explicit Norms and Expectations – Spend time agreeing on norms for both the groups operation and for making decisions. I’ve always liked the Seven Norms of Collaboration developed by Bob Garmston and Bruce Wellman. Information about those norms may be found at www.adaptiveschools.com. Always be clear about the purpose and goals for every meeting. Provide an agenda that indicates topics, the action that may be requested, and the time allotted to discussion of each item. Always keep minutes of the meeting and provide time at the end of each meeting for members to reflect on the meeting to identify next steps and any responsibilities that may have been assigned.

   Fist to Five - Be clear about the way you will make decisions. Consensus is often the preferred method but it can be elusive to achieve, particularly when some members of the group hold strong feelings about an issue. A few years ago I was introduced to the Fist to Five, a way to measure how much agreement is present in a group. When using the Fist to Five, ask everyone to raise her or his hand and indicate the level of support, from a closed fist (no support) to all five fingers (strong support). The Fist to Five is an easy way to find out where a group stands on an issue and the need to continue the discussion. Often a group will continue working on an issue until every member can hold up at least three fingers. Details about the Fist to Five are available at www.ronwilliamson.com/RW_Web/Resources.html.

    Include Time to Reflect – Always provide time for the group to pause and reflect on the meeting. Identify a way for every member to comment on the meeting and the processes used during the meeting. One group I belong to concludes every meeting with a round robin debriefing where every member is provided an opportunity to comment on the discussion and next steps.

    Many groups also use a parking lot to gather information from members about the meeting. A “parking lot” is one way to anonymously provide feedback to other participants and to the meeting facilitator. One model I’ve found useful is a grid of four blocks---one indicating what went well, one indicating what needs improvement, one for questions, and one for ideas to improve the meeting. Participants use post-a-notes to anonymously place items on the “parking lot.”

Tools to Gather Data About Your School

   Principals have access to lots of information about their school--- student grades and test scores, survey results and attendance data. While useful, these data often don’t give you information about the way that students and parents experience your school. I’d like to share two tools that I used when a principal. Both provided interesting insights into the day-to-day experience of students that my School Improvement Team used to modify our school goals around instructional effectiveness.

   Student Shadow Study - One technique for gathering information about the curricular and instructional experiences of students is to conduct a shadow study. Shadow studies involve selecting students at random and “shadowing” them throughout their day.

  A shadow study, originally developed by NASSP, charts the experience of students at 5-7 minute intervals. This allows the observer to show the ebb and flow of activities during the day. Spending the entire day with a student, and documenting their experience, provides interesting insights into the student experience. Of course, students quickly figure out that something is going on. The best approach is to talk with the student and assure them that you are not gathering information about them to report to the office.

  Focus Group Meetings – A focus group is a group of individuals brought together for a more or less open-ended discussion about an issue. Focus groups provide a useful tool for gathering information about people’s beliefs and attitudes. They consist of a structured conversation and are generally most useful when conducted by an outside facilitator. This encourages people to speak more freely and discuss difficult issues. The information that emerges should be scripted, analyzed for patterns and themes and then publicly reported and discussed.

   There are several advantages to holding a focus group meeting. First, participants can learn about your school during the meeting. You can gain a deeper understanding of how participants perceive your school. These small group meetings provide data that may be helpful in working with larger groups.

   Additional information about focus groups is available in Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change (www.principals.org) and sample focus group questions can be found at http://learningobjects.wesleyan.edu/downloads/focus_group_protocol.htm

Final Thoughts

  I’m always looking for good ideas from principals about how to make their work more productive. I’d love to hear from you about tools you use so that I can share them with others.

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