I was visiting with one of my most long-time colleagues when she took a call from a principal she was coaching. The principal was asking for advice on how to get one of her teachers moving… like literally. The teacher in question has a habit of sitting down most of the time during instruction. The principal has tried to “nudge” the teacher into better habits and practices but so far with little progress.
Do we want to own someone else’s actions or do we want them to do so? Do our words and instructions play a part in our teachers’ acceptance of accountability?
My colleague so accurately shared that while influence is our best card to play, on occasions we have to yield authority to get some of our people to improve their performance.
Her advice to the principal, since suggestions weren’t working, was to move towards directions. Unfortunately, people don’t always respond to our leadership, inspiration, and motivation and our expectations are necessarily reduced to writing. As she coached the principal in how to do this, she ended with, ” and then ask her what she needs you to do” to help her follow the directions.
When the call was over, I asked my colleague about that question: do we really want to say ‘what can I do for you’? Is there something else that we would be better served to say?
What if our closing question pushed the other person into accountability for the progress? What if our question forced them to visualize themselves fixing the problem, changing their behavior?
I’d like for you to be working directly with students, being mobile and visible throughout the lesson. We know that your presence plays a part in the students level of engagement and focus. It also makes it possible for you to monitor and assess their work, and be available for redirect and questions. This is something we expect of effective teachers at our school. What will you need to make this happen?
It’s not just parsing words… what happens next becomes a different thing based on that last question. If you ask, ‘what can I do to help you? ‘ or ‘what do you need for me to do?’ it implies that you see the situation as one that will require your ongoing engagement. You don’t have the resources to do that with every employee in every situation, every day. Your work as an administrator is in developing your people to be able to take the expectations (see that last paragraph) and empower them with the responsibility of seeing that it takes place.
You are where you are from having “figured out” things along your journey; the people you supervise get where they’re going by doing the same, which is why we lead with questions instead of answers.
Wait… does this seem like it’s less than the caring leader you’ve been taught to be? Remember, your value is seen in what you’re able to get others to do… your main work at school is in getting others to do theirs well, and hopefully with joy. It doesn’t mean that you are there to do everything. What IS a good practice for you is to see how the teacher responds to your expectations and communicate with them when they do it right, not just when they’re doing it wrong. That can be done with a quick convo in the hall, or a note (sticky, email, or other) to let them know they’re on the right track.
Leaders win when we teach others to be self-reliant, self-motivated, self-disciplined, self-aware, and self-correcting. We don’t ignore those who reach those heights… we acknowledge, appreciate, and recognize them for having gotten to that point, realizing that each of your people are on their own journey toward being successful and effective. You are where you are from having “figured out” things along your journey; the people you supervise get where they’re going by doing the same, which is why we lead with questions instead of answers.
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