Welcome, new School Heads! It’s a new school year, with new challenges to face and new ideas to implement. We know that, whether you’re new to the role or new to the school, transition can be overwhelming. Knowing this, we’ve compiled a list of three essential pointers to get you started.
Get to know your school’s community.
First and foremost, you should get to know the people you work for, work with, and work beside.
The first people you should establish working relationships with are the Trustees on your School Board: Your employers and boss. These people are the ones who create the overall, driving plans for the school and ultimately shape how the school fulfills its mission. Your job is to implement that plan, through yourself and your administrators. It only makes sense, in that context, for you to get to know the minds behind the operation. See if you can’t take lunch with each of the Trustees separately, to get to know them as people and as your employers.
Do the same with your direct employees—your fellow administrators. These are the people through whom you’ll be enacting the Board’s vision for the school. You’ll need to know each of their idiosyncrasies, their strengths and weaknesses, so you can understand how to best work with and support them. You’ll be able to merge them into an effective team that works together to create programs and build up the school, rather than each working in his or her own “silo’d” office.
Finally, walk the halls. Get to know the students and faculty that make up the living heart of your school. After all, the reason your school exists is to better the lives of its students. Get to know those students—and you’ll learn how you can best offer your school’s mission to them.
Do a lot of listening.
Let’s face it: You’re the new person, whether you’re new to the school or to the position itself. You’re walking into a new role with a different perspective on the culture of the school. Take some time to just listen and learn about your school.
This might include:
- visiting teachers’ classrooms for a few minutes at a time to understand how your school’s mission is being implemented through the curriculum;
- helping during down time between classes and in the parking lot at the end of the day;
- attending various school events and functions like concerts and sporting events—maybe even lending a hand at the concession stand;
- privately asking questions to explain certain interactions from those “community staples” who have been with the school for years; and
- subscribing to—and reading—every communication your school and its departments send to constituents.
Actively listening in this manner serves two purposes. One, it gets you out in the school community, so everyone understands your dedication to and love of the school. Two, it offers you insights into the school that you could not have gotten from your initial interviews and walkthroughs. Even if you’re just new to the position (rather than new to the school), taking advantage of your new vantage point could present new perspectives on old situations that you couldn’t have seen otherwise.
Learn what already works and what should change.
As one of our consultants says, “Everyone has big ideas—they’re cheap. Understanding culture is hard work.” That’s why listening to your community is so important. Additionally, realizing what already works and makes your school a unique place to learn is vital to your success as a School Head.
You may have some great, innovative ideas that could revolutionize the way your school operates and might better deliver your mission to students. But sometimes, innovation for innovation’s sake can be counterproductive, creating conflict and strife where none was before.
So before offering your big ideas wholesale, keep a notebook where you can jot down problems that you see in the school. There could be a bottleneck in a process that cascades to lots of little problems down the line. Maybe a miscommunication that resulted in hurt feelings and confused schedules could’ve been avoided. Start with these small problems and suggest solutions before instituting change on a large scale.
In this way, you can build trust with your school community, and have support for the necessary reforms that you suggest later on.
Additional ISM resources:
The Source for Admission Directors Vol. 14 No. 1 Advice for New Admission Officers
The Source for Development Directors Vol. 14 No. 1 Advice for New Development Directors
The Source for Division Heads Vol. 13 No. 1 Advice for New Division Heads
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 32 No. 1 The Board's Contract With the School Head: Solidify Expectations, Define Relationships
I&P Vol. 29 No. 1 Reculturing for Change: A Head's Primer
