Communication as a Leader #SAVMP 24

Amber's assignment for this week -- Communication as a Leader -- is a great topic because it is one that trips up lots of folks involved in leadership. Decisions get made that trickle down to the people who have to implement them, and if there has not been STRONG and proactive communication about the why and what for's of decisions, people get confused, and they get angry.

I have spent the last year and half trying to tell the "story" of our school effectively so that the folks who like to get negative have all the facts and can't invent their own whimsical tales of why and how decisions are made. Do the decisions make everyone happy? Of course not. There are always folks who do not like change, and there are always folks who don't like accountability, and there are always folks who just don't like YOU! LOL. As a leader, you will need to accept that it is sometimes lonely work being in front of the line. 

I have used two very powerful tools to shed light on the AMAZING things happening at our school and on the AMAZING people who create the work day-in and day-out so that the magic happens for our students. I also share my vision consistently using these tools by focusing on the data, the educational research, and the best practices that generate this vision. 

What tools do I use? I use my Monday Memo called the Cheetah Chat  and my Friday Flash called the Friday Cheetah PUPdate. However, these aren't your average newsletter style documents that share faculty birthdays and inspiring quotes. We put those "announcements" of meetings and other business items in our Cherry Blossom and on the Google Calendar. I use the Chat and PUPdate to embed videos, links, and images from all over our campus and from all the great educational leaders to provide the clear vision and expectations for the faculty and for our challenging work. Further, I rarely send out emails to the staff in the interim because during an early leadership team meeting last year, one of our wise team leaders expressed frustration over the amount of email she has to plow through in her email inbox from everywhere, including the district level. This created the cultural norm for our campus that we ALL try and protect teacher's planning time; therefore, it is the expectation on Monday and Friday that faculty take the time to read these training documents.

Here is an example of a recent Chat where I show campus data, inlay campus expectations, and recognize the efforts of members of the faculty for innovative ideas.

Next I have included below an example of the PUPdate which is emailed early Friday mornings. These are really energizing to create because it requires me to continually have my mind on the great things happening on campus so that we can celebrate the small victories! It allows me to recognize the hard work of the folks who are in the front seats and foremost rows on the bus {a Good to Great reference-I recommend you read it},  and it reinforces the expectations for everyone so there are no questions about the non-negotiables for our team.

The attachments are always valuable as you can see from the images included below that add to the mere words of the email above:

You can see the smiling faces of the children who are why we do what we do, and you can see the environment emphasized for faculty that we have fun together and remember to balance our hard work with loving life!

Communication in leadership is critical. You must OVERcommunicate. Communicate, communicate, communicate! I just can't communicate it enough!