I have a special episode for you this week. To kick start the conversation around equity and race in education, I have a very special guest on the show to discuss her experience as a student and teacher and coach-of-color, and how we can make our schools inclusive and equal environments.

Natalie Wilson is a former teacher who has moved into the field of coaching, helping women who want to find long-term loving relationships. Natalie and I met at an event a few years ago, and we bonded over our shared passion for education. Natalie has a unique perspective on the impacts of racial biases in our school system and the impacts they have on students. This is something I believe the field needs to hear right now.

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I had an email exchange recently with a potential client that really caused me to have a hard think about how we, as leaders, make decisions. When making decisions, there are several different roads we go down, and I’m outlining them here today.

When we’re making an important decision, our brain often wants evidence and guarantees that what we are deciding will definitely yield our intended result. Or worse, we want to say decisively yes or no, but we feel like we should go the other way. This is not how we make empowered decisions as the leaders of our schools.

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Over here in the month of June, we’re discussing the potential and possibility that can come out of this crazy uncertain time we’re living in. We can consider what is possible if we apply ourselves, but we have to be willing to do the thought work that takes our mindset from where it is now to where we want it to be.

I see this especially with new leaders. You want to believe you are competent and you can be confident in your role as a principal from the get-go, but just telling yourself that you can do the job flawlessly is not going to create a true belief in your abilities. And this is where the Rungs of Belief come in.

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We are into the month of June, and because of the uncertain and challenging times we’re facing in our schools right now, I want this month to be all about what is possible. So many school leaders are dreading what the return to campus learning will look like, but I want you to look at this as a time of opportunity and innovation.

Throughout history, society has faced problems, and somebody has stepped up and devised a solution in the face of the seemingly unsolvable. Everything that we value, whether it’s something we use physically or a teaching method, was originally just an idea that didn’t exist outside of the innovator’s mind. So, I’m posing today that now is the time to use your thoughts wisely and make the impossible possible.

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Now that all of my clients have settled into running their schools from home, more and more decisions are having to be made away from campus. And as a lot of my clients are new school leaders or are aiming to become a principal in the near future, they’re dealing with a lot of these decisions for the first time, and the distance isn’t making things any easier.

I want to share with all you listeners what I’ve been coaching my clients through the past few weeks. I’ve had clients interviewing for their first principal position, giving interviews to candidates for teaching jobs, helping new staff settle into their jobs, and even having to fire people. I’ve been coaching on all these things for years, but social distancing has brought a whole new dimension to all of this.

 

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