Power Engage: Seven Power Moves for Building Strong Relationships to Increase Engagement With Students and Parents

[00:01] SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Principal Center Radio, bringing you the best in professional practice.

[00:06] Announcer:

Here's your host, Director of the Principal Center and Champion of High Performance Instructional Leadership, Justin Bader. Welcome everyone to Principal Center Radio.

[00:15] SPEAKER_02:

I'm your host, Justin Bader, and my guest today is Dr. Brad Johnson. Dr. Johnson is the author of From School Administrator to School Leader, 15 Keys to Maximizing Your Leadership Potential with Julie Sessions.

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And now, our feature presentation.

[00:30] SPEAKER_02:

Brad, welcome to Principal Center Radio.

[00:32] SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. I appreciate you having me with you today.

[00:34] SPEAKER_02:

Well, tell us a little bit about what you do and what brought you to the point where you wrote this book.

[00:40] SPEAKER_01:

Sure. I was in education for about 20 years in the K-12 setting as a teacher, administrator in public school and independent school. And then once I finished my doctorate, I kind of got into writing. It's kind of what I always wanted to do. And one of the big areas for me, and it was in leadership, so leadership is kind of a passion of mine. And so for the past three or four years, I have actually taught graduate level leadership courses at Concordia University.

[01:16]

And through teaching the courses, I just came across some concepts that I thought was very important. And also with my students, I saw a lot of areas maybe that they liked. And I also remember my own experience in leadership program as far as it seemed to focus a lot more on the administrative day-to-day tasks rather than real leadership. And so I thought that it was important for upcoming leaders in education and even those that are already in those leadership roles to have some of the keys that I felt were important for leaders to be successful.

[01:59] SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And I think we've all felt that tension in principal preparation programs between the need to meet people's immediate needs in terms of operations and being successful with the basics. I think especially when a lot of us come in as assistant principals and are working up to that leadership role, it really does often start with management. And yet, we don't want to just prepare people to do the management work. We want to begin with the end in mind and with that big picture. So what are some of those keys that you've identified that are easy to miss in the focus on management and the focus on administration?

[02:35] SPEAKER_01:

Well, what I do is I start and kind of walk the individual through the book. And we begin with actual leadership styles. Most people aren't aware of this, but Most people tend to work within what's called a transactional leadership lens. And that actually began with the Industrial Revolution. And what it is, it's basically a rewards versus punishment type leadership. And most people tend to gravitate towards it because it is the most comfortable for them.

[03:07]

Because again, as we talked about, most people are moving up to leadership roles based on their past competency. So if you were a good teacher and you have the credentials, a lot of times, you know, you'll move up to an assistant principal or, you know, if you do good in your assistant principal role, then you'll move up to the next level and so forth. And so it's not always about just exceptional leadership. But most people tend to be in what's called this transactional role of reward versus punishment. And it's very much a managerial type leadership. But what I did for the book is I actually interviewed over 30 leadership experts from around the world.

[03:48]

And one of the things I wanted to do was to look at my philosophy has always been that good leadership is good leadership. It doesn't matter if it's in the educational field. if it's in business, if it's in military, et cetera. And so, you know, just getting this wisdom from all of these top leaders was very important. But it also reinforced a lot of what I had experienced myself and that I saw the needs of students as well. And so within this leadership, what I overwhelmingly heard from these people was that they tried to be a servant leader rather than a transactional leader.

[04:27]

And so the servant leader is one that really focuses on the people they lead more than focus on themselves, gaining, moving to the next level or whatever, or feel like they have to micromanage everything. But what they do is they focus on helping those that they lead become better. And so, you know, when you think about a principal in a school, you know, the most important thing they can do as a leader is to empower their teachers and to focus on the strengths of their teachers and to help develop them to be more effective. Once they do that, then their work as a leader becomes easier anyway.

[05:06] SPEAKER_02:

Well, Brad, I really appreciate your emphasis on servant leadership and thinking about how we can go beyond those kind of transactional give and take interactions. What does servant leadership really mean to you? And where do you think we tend to get that wrong or tend to miss the boat on servant leadership?

[05:22] SPEAKER_01:

I think it begins initially, and we begin with this in the book, is the leader themselves, whether he or she is confident and competent in her role And what they have to do is they have to look and see what leadership strengths they do possess and develop those. And once they do that and they become more comfortable with themselves, then I think it's easier to transform more to a servant-type leader. When you're not very competent and you're not very confident in what you do, a lot of times you want to hold on to as much power as possible and you want to kind of rule with the iron fist, so to speak, of, Again, follow – it has to be exactly like I say when I say. And when they do that, they kind of un-empower or they disempower teachers. And I think one of the problems in education is that teachers don't feel very empowered or empowered.

[06:19]

that they don't feel like that, you know, they get a lot of respect in their role. And a servant leader, I think, would go a long ways towards changing that concept. With the servant leader, again, it's not about them. You know, when I speak, I tell people all the time, you know, leadership is, it's all about you, but it's not about you. And when it's all about you, it's about you having the accountability and, you know, that you're the one that's ultimately responsible takes the responsibility for everything that happens under your leadership. But it's not about you in that the goal is to empower those that you lead to take on responsibility, to take on leadership roles themselves, and then to give them the credit where it's due.

[07:03]

So as a servant leader, a lot of times the misconception that you were talking about is that you think of it as like a weak leader or someone that just is going around trying to please everyone. And it's really not that at all. It's really about, okay, I have this group of teachers. Let me identify what their strengths are or their talents and abilities that they bring, and then let's develop those and make them the best teacher they can be. And let's give them some responsibility and allow them to do things. And, you know, you give them room to fail.

[07:36]

You give them room to grow as leaders themselves. But when people feel like their strengths are being utilized – and Gallup actually did a research poll on this. And what they found is that when people in roles – and this includes teachers – when they feel like they're in a role where their talents and their strengths are being utilized, they're six to eight times more engaged in their work – and they feel a higher quality of life too. And so you have more motivation, you have more productivity, you create a better culture in the school when you focus on the strengths and the talents of your teachers, empowering them, giving them what they need to be successful, rather than just focusing on, okay, here's where you need to improve, these are the areas that you need to grow in, which tends to be what happens In general, in our culture, when you think about whether it be an employee performance review or a teacher review, we typically give them a little bit of positive feedback.

[08:35]

But the main purpose of it is to focus on what they need to improve, areas of growth, et cetera. And that's actually not the most effective way to get the most out of your teachers. One of the people I interviewed, his name was Chester Elton. He wrote a book called The Carrot Principle. And he's one of the top leadership experts in the world. But his point was that what we need to do is move away so much from teacher evaluations and move more towards aspirational conversation.

[09:06]

And that's what a servant leader does. A servant leader sits down with someone and doesn't, you know, there are obviously times when you have to sit down with someone and say, okay, here's an issue or whatever. But in general, what you want to do when you have these effective teachers and these teachers that are talented and and everything is that you want to sit down and go, okay, how did this year go? How can we make it better? What can we give you? How can we equip you?

[09:33]

What professional development can we give you? What are the tools that we can do to make you even more successful? And so it's about helping them become even better, Rather than just focusing on, okay, here's your weak area, so let's just work on those to make you mediocre. We want to make them exceptional.

[09:49] SPEAKER_02:

Very well said. And I love that emphasis on helping others develop as kind of the essence of servant leadership. Because I think probably what comes to mind for most people when on the rare occasion that we hear that term – I think what we first tend to think about is just kind of working in a support role, that I'm going to just kind of help people out when they need it, do what they ask, and basically be in a role of assistance. And I think certainly there are things that we need to do as administrators that provide very tangible support for teachers and making sure they have what they need, making sure we're backing teachers up. But you're really talking about developing your own confidence and competence while helping your staff to do the same. Sure.

[10:30] SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. And when you do that, it even funnels down to the students. You think about the classroom. Once we teachers begin to focus on what the students do well, on their talents and their strengths, then they begin to become motivated and they begin to have more confidence and they begin to perform at a higher level too. So our leadership really does set the tone. I One of my quotes and that I use in the book is that, you know, the culture of the school is more important to how it runs than the rules and policies.

[11:05]

You know, it really dictates what goes on in a school. But it is the leadership that really influences that culture. And so, you know, if you have the, you know, the absentee leader that, you know, isn't around much or the one that only focuses on the negatives, That kind of creates the culture for that school. But when you have one that's there really invested in the staff and empowering them and helping them to be successful and praising them. Captain Avershoff, he wrote a book called It's Your Ship. And he took the worst ship in the Navy, and within two, two and a half years, he made it the best ship in the fleet.

[11:43]

And what's interesting about his story is that he had to work with the crew that was on the ship, much like when a principal moves into a role of a school. He didn't have the luxury of changing out all the employees and bringing in new management. He was kind of stuck with what was there, which often tends to happen with the principal. You know, in a school, they kind of have to work with what's there. And so his focus was on that servant leadership, on, you know, giving them praise, giving them feedback and, you know, helping them and encouraging them and and giving them, you know, the freedom to try things and to make mistakes. And but they always knew that he had their back.

[12:23]

And again, that goes back to the leader being competent and confident enough to say, you know what, I'm going to give you the opportunity to fail. And if you do, you know what, I'm not going to beat you down. I'm not going to attack you. You know, I'm going to be there to support you. Let's figure it out and just keep moving forward so that they always feel like that they can get better.

[12:42] SPEAKER_02:

There are two threads going simultaneously here that are really critical, and that is development, helping people build their own capacity, but also culture. I think it's tempting for us to look at individual teacher performance in isolation and think, okay, well, this person is not doing a good job. This person is struggling. And we don't look at the context in which they're working. We don't look at the culture in which they're working. And when you see things like that ship turning around, when you see that take place with the same people, with not a ton of time, you see transformation happening pretty quickly.

[13:18]

I have to think that a lot of the work that's being done is around culture. And a lot of the results that are changing are changing because the culture is changing. What do you see as the servant leader's relationship with culture? What are some things that we can do as school leaders to have some influence on culture beyond just those individual working relationships in order to kind of leverage the power of culture?

[13:44] SPEAKER_01:

So when we're looking at the culture as a principal or any school leader, and again, the thing with this is this, the leadership doesn't have to necessarily be the principal. You know, I tell teachers all the time, they're leaders in their classroom. And then we have the different leaders in different roles throughout the school too. So, you know, in every role, and to me, what I define leadership as is just, When you have the ability to influence someone, you know, it's not necessarily about a title or a role, although that's what we tend to, you know, connect it with. But, you know, it's really about just those that you have the ability to influence and do. But when we're looking at the culture of the school, yeah, you're exactly right.

[14:26]

A lot of times we try to identify things or, like, when we're doing teacher evaluation, it's kind of we're doing it in a vacuum. And that's not really, you know, the case because – The culture is large and it's influenced by a lot of different things in the schools. But again, what I think the leader does is that he or she sets the tone for the school with the culture. And so you're looking at things like having a clear vision and a sense of purpose. And then you have to articulate that. And you need to articulate that on a regular basis.

[15:00]

You know, what is the one or two things that are most important? in the school and articulate those. And because you know this, you go into most schools and you ask them what is their mission statement. Nobody knows. You know, it's something that a committee come together and wrote up and it's on a plaque somewhere, but it's not really alive. And so, you know, it doesn't have to be a lengthy, you know, paragraph or two pages or something, but you know, what is your vision for the school and your sense of purpose, you know, and what are those things, and articulate that to the staff, and so that they understand kind of what their expectation is, and that helps them understand their role.

[15:42]

You should have the clear values, you know, and they're reflected in your decision-making. You know, I talk about all the time, you know, unfortunately, you look at some, like the Atlanta Public Schools, where we had the cheating scandal. You know, people think just because it's education, there's always the value and the integrity there, but you know, sometimes there's not. And so you have to lead with integrity and you have to have clear values that reflect the decisions you make. And again, they kind of have to align. If you're saying, here's my values, but then you're doing these other policies or making decisions that don't align with that, that's a quick way to get everybody off board with you.

[16:24] SPEAKER_02:

Well, let's talk about that one for a moment because I think we all believe that we have positive values. And if we think about the – the Atlanta cheating scandal, as an example, there were probably positive values that were behind some of what happened in, you know, in terms of people's desire to, um, you know, desire to, to serve their students desire to have, uh, you know, to be making a difference, but that got distorted, badly distorted because there wasn't a corresponding value on the other side of it. And those values didn't exist in a healthy tension. And I think if we If you read the analysis of what happened in that situation, a lot of the blame, of course, gets laid at the feet of individuals, but a lot of the blame is also laid on the culture, that there was a culture of fear, a culture of intimidation, a culture of pressure to get results at any cost.

[17:16]

And I think one of the things we have to think about when we're communicating our values is, you know, what's the context of those values? And are we sending the the overall right message in our desire, you know, in our in our efforts to be focused and moving people toward a vision? Are we also bringing kind of a sense of balance so that people, when people hear us talking about achievement and helping students maximize their potential, they're also getting that within the context of, you know, integrity and, you know, concern for students' best interests.

[17:49] SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, just like the scandal, like you said, there were good intentions and some that wanted the best for their students and stuff. But there's always that flip side. And like you said, at the end of the day, You know, again, if there's a disconnect between your values and what you're actually doing, you know, it's time to, like, just put on the brakes and reevaluate or, you know, confide with someone. You know, one of the things I talk about in the book is just the importance of mentorship and to have a good mentor, someone that can help you and throw those ideas off of, especially, you know, when it comes to important things that you feel like, you know, or value or ethical or whatever, you know, it's important to have someone to, a sounding board to talk those through with someone and maybe,

[18:40]

help this young leader, new leader make a better decision.

[18:44] SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. And I think that is, you know, one of the ultimate manifestations of servant leadership. You know, thinking back to my own preparation as a leader, and I think probably everyone who becomes a school leader has that experience where someone is mentoring them, someone is investing in them, even realizing that, you know, if it's your principal when you're a who's mentoring you toward leadership, that's going to be a pain for them when you leave and go become an administrator somewhere else. But it's that kind of paying it forward in the profession and in just investing in other people's lives and helping build their capacity, even if it's not in our own kind of short-term interests.

[19:24] SPEAKER_01:

And I think it's a little tougher in education because when you think of people in leadership roles like principals, for example, they have so much on their plate, you know, that a lot of times they just don't have the time. You know, in the business world, a lot of times you see mentors and people take time. You know, they can go have coffee at 9 o'clock in the morning. and discuss something before they go to a meeting or they go to work. But that's not necessarily feasible in the education world. And so we have to do a little better job, I think, of creating ways to have that time with mentors and mentees and to help each other develop.

[20:05]

I think that's so important. The other thing I think when we talk about school culture too, is that a lot of times I think leaders don't focus on that. And so the school culture actually develops by default. You know, if you have, if you have teachers that are gossipy or you have, you know, it can be a lot of things, but a lot of times, you know, it kind of just happens. And, You know, that informal culture is a lot of times what can be the most toxic to a school. And so, you know, again, I think it goes back to the leader, you know, portraying to the staff, you know, what are your perceptions?

[20:45]

How are your relationships with them? What are your attitudes towards them? And, you know, I think it's almost like a relationship. The more dialogue you have between them, the more open you are, the more they understand your expectations, the more that you can kind of create that positive school culture.

[21:00] SPEAKER_02:

Rod, it's been a pleasure to speak with you and very excited about the book, From School Administrator to School Leader, 15 Keys to Maximizing Your Leadership Potential.

[21:10] SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to speak with you today.

[21:15] SPEAKER_00:

And now, Justin Bader on high-performance instructional leadership.

[21:19] SPEAKER_02:

So high-performance instructional leaders, what did you take away from our conversation about servant leadership? One thing I really appreciated about what Dr. Johnson said is this idea that development is at the core of our service to other people and is also at the core of what allows us to be effective and to effectively serve others while leading others. And I also thought we got into something critical when we were talking about culture. This idea that what people do and what people's expectations are has a lot to do with the culture in which they're working. It's not just about who you are as an individual.

[21:57]

It's about the context in which you're working. And I think as leaders, it's one of our key responsibilities to build that culture, to make that culture as positive as possible, to make it aligned with our values and to make it aligned with our vision and our goals for the future. for our students and there are some specific levers that i believe we can use to influence culture one of them that brad talked about a little bit is communication and he talks more about this in the book i firmly believe that one of the most effective things you can do to influence the culture in your school is to communicate clearly and consistently through drum roll please A newsletter. And a newsletter might not sound like the most powerful culture building tool, but here's what happens when you communicate consistently with a newsletter. You give yourself the space and the platform to communicate about your values, to communicate about school priorities, and to keep people focused on the right things.

[22:55]

And time is always an issue in staff meetings. There are just so few opportunities we have to get people together. Having a newsletter where you can have the space you need and, of course, still be concise and still be focused, but to communicate those values and to get people on the same page. I think is an incredibly powerful tool. A second tool that I think is incredibly powerful is celebration. And the way we celebrate the great things we're seeing, we celebrate growth, we celebrate risk-taking, we celebrate progress, we celebrate people's accomplishments and the good news that happens in their lives.

[23:30]

The more we celebrate what we want to see more of, the more we're going to get of that. And I think that's a very powerful culture building strategy. A third piece to building culture is confrontation. The way we deal with violations of our values and our norms and our culture in the school, the way we talk to staff members about their behavior and holding people accountable. Confrontation is what kind of keeps things afloat, what keeps us moving in the right direction, even when we might tend to stray away from that. So if we get those three things right, communication, celebration, and confrontation, I believe we'll be on the right track to building a powerful culture of excellence.

[24:11]

And if you're interested in more on this topic, I want to invite you to check out our course, Our Way, Building a Powerful Culture of Excellence in Your School, which is a part of the High Performance Instructional Leadership Network. To learn more about the High Performance Instructional Leadership Network, go to principalscenter.com slash leadership.

[24:30] Announcer:

Thanks for listening to Principal Center Radio. For more great episodes, subscribe on our website at principalcenter.com slash radio.