Don’t BE SELFISH as a leader….

Lead your team through this easy accountability strategy and raise their performance and build a more cohesive team.

Worried about keeping your top talent?

Desire to build on the talent you have?

This research article was shared with me from a mentor on why organization’s are losing their top talent.

In this quick lesson I share multiple solutions for any leader to begin building their High Performance Culture.

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Raising Your Awareness,

Dr. Tom

I believe that problems shape our leadership soul.

Solving them is what we are paid for as school leaders.

However, if you desire to solve the root cause of the problem, you need to implement this strategy first.

I believe what is appreciated appreciates. And in turn, was is depreciated, depreciates. 

Here is what I mean. 

One of the services my company provides is facilitating climate surveys and exit interviews for  schools.

I was reading through the notes from one school and saw this response from a departing teacher.   

“When I turned in my resignation letter no one from the administrative team came to talk to me. I felt devalued as an employee.”  

It made me think about my practices as a school leader. 

How do I treat people? Do they feel appreciated around me? Or depreciated? 

I know that I have definitely avoided many rooms and halls of staff who turned in their resignation or who have been told they are not coming back.  

I am definitely guilty of not engaging some staff. 

I come up with excuses in my head. They don't want to talk to me. I am just glad they came today...terrible right?

But then I started to notice...

I have learned that if you aim to be an influential leader you have to give up the right to complain down. 

Think about it, no one wants to be led by a complainer. 

You simply cannot lead and whine at the same time. 

For example, as a principal, you cannot complain in front of employees about other employees. You’ve not only modeled poor leadership but you’ve also made it alright for your employees to do the same. 

As a teacher, you cannot complain about other teachers to parents in front of your students. You’ve now decreased your peer’s credibility and in the meantime, lost some yourself. 

As a parent you cannot complain about your school, your principal, your child’s teacher in front of your child. This has now given your child the right to do the same. To not follow rules or respect teachers or classmates.

When I was a special education teacher I had a GIANT EGO. I thought I knew it all. Mainly because I was very...

I believe that compromise is not about listening and learning from others, it’s about giving in on what you truly desire. 

It’s skipping the run because it’s too cold. It’s having one more cookie because they are amazing. It’s sleeping in when you need an early start to get that report finished. 

It’s also letting parents pick up their kids late daily without penalty. It’s not saying something when an employee comes in late. It’s picking up the slack for others who don’t finish the job on time. 

It’s not being prepared for the team meeting. It’s creating double standards for employees and separate standards for administration. It’s making a commitment without following through. It’s failing to address obvious problems. It’s sending surveys but not using the information to create change. It’s talking about, gossiping about employees. It’s accepting inferior performance and...

As a leader, do you aim to be loved or are you going lead?

As someone who always considered himself a relationtional leader this is a challenging question.

When I first started as a middle school principal I found myself seeking more affirmation then information.

I would set a vision and then ask everyone their opinion.

If their vision did not agree I would make a compromise for them, not hold them to the image I was seeking to create.

I knew that a leader’s personal stock increases when people buy into the relation.

However, to create significant change, I did not the importance of shifting from pleasing people to challenging people.

Change the leadership question from are we all ok to are we all committed?

Commitment is the line for challenging people.

When you don’t have alignment in the commitments of your people, everyone in the organization can feel it.

It creates disconnect of the people from the purpose.

When you have alignment, and everyone is on the same...

As a school leader, you are in the people business. If it is good for the people, it will be good for your business. 

I recently met author and thought leader Jeff Henderson. He wrote the book, Know What You're FOR.

Jeff has an incredible path to success, working with Fortune 500 companies like Chic-Fil-a and some of the largest churches and school districts across the country on their purpose, values, orientation, culture and marketing.

In Jeff's book, he shares that there are two critical questions that every organization needs to ask and work daily to ensure the answers align.

1. What do we want to be know for? (Your Vision)
2. What are we know for?  (Current Reality)

The first question you need to ask yourself and your team. You will probably get a handful of different answers.

Here is our What are you FOR statement: 

Leaders Building Leaders, at its core, is about making a difference. Our brand is for principals and school leaders who desire to unlock their...

I believe that when it comes to improvement (personal or school) consistency is more important than intensity. 

One school that exemplifies this principle is Piedmont Community Charter School in Gaston County North Carolina.

In 2015, Piedmont was in the middle of a leadership transition and was underperforming in the areas of academics and student enrollment. It did not have a reputation for being a school or rigorous academics, especially in high school.  

The new Head of School at the time, Jennifer Killen, had an incredible challenge ahead of her. She knew that she would have to work diligently not just on her own leadership capacity, but the skills and the quality of her team. 

Fast forward to this past year and Piedmont Community Charter School was recognized as one of the “Best High Schools” by U.S. News & World Report. They also moved into a state of the art new facility. Piedmont Charter’s new campus...

If I were to ask the question: “Do you want to grow?” How would YOU respond?

I believe it would be a resounding yes, I want to grow! But the truth of the matter is that for most of us, we avoid any form of pressure because we don’t want to feel uncomfortable. You see, we have been taught that comfort is a place to be desired and strived for. 

I would like to introduce a new thought today. 

All living things grow and that growth requires stretching. 

In John Maxwell’s 15 Laws of Growth, the Law of the Rubber Band, he says: “True life begins at the end of our comfort zone and we arrive there by stretching.”

When it comes to tension and stretching, a rubber band is a great example.

Rubber bands are ONLY useful when they are stretched. You would not be where you are professionally, and who you are personally, without some form of tension or stretching taking place. 

For many, the thought is, when I graduate from college and...