One goal that almost every client I have had wants for their life is to be able to act in courage. When I ask them what that really means for them, the common response will center around not feeling fear when it comes to making decisions and taking action.

That is not what courage is, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be incredibly useful. Courage is complex and for sure it’s not easy to master, but as a principal, when you can create courage in those moments when you feel fear, you will be the leader your teachers and students deserve.

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We’re into May, which means we’re starting on a new topic for the month! This month’s topic is something that I know I struggled with for a long time, and it’s something we could all do to have a little bit more of – courage.

What better way to start off the topic of courage by talking about the thing that keeps us from embodying it the most? Fear. So many of my clients and people I speak to say they feel fear when it comes to making big decisions around their school and their career. Some people are afraid to leave the office before 6pm for fear of being fired. How crazy is that?

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Having awareness of and the ability to create a money manifesto is the one thing I wish I’d had when I was a principal. Imagine if every decision you made about the budget was totally expected by your staff because you’d laid out these essential ground rules for how you approach money from day one. For me, it would have made every financial aspect of the job so much easier.

Identifying how you think about money is a vital part of being a school leader, but also in your life away from work as well. As we’ve learned, we all have strong feelings about money that we have developed over our lives, but what can we do to shape our thoughts around money so that they can serve us properly?

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Last week, we talked about identifying our money beliefs and really bringing them up to the surface. Now, I’ve been doing the work I shared with you all last week and have come to some realizations about my own money mindset that I’m incredibly excited to share with you guys.

I know that this month’s theme may not feel like it directly connects with your role as a school leader, but it absolutely does. Our brain does not compartmentalize belief systems, so the way we think about money in our personal lives is affecting the way we think about money at school. The reason I created this podcast was to bring reform to our schools by incorporating personal development, and this work is at the heart of that mission.

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I’m wrapping up the theme of human resources this month with a humdinger for you guys; dealing with conflicts on your staff when staff come to you with a problem, when you hear about it through the grapevine, and when their problem is with you, their leader.

Dealing with conflict impartially and fairly is something we’re always expecting to deal with when it comes to our students. However, our adult staff members getting themselves tied up in disagreements is just as likely to happen, and we’re even more likely to hear about it through the grapevine, so it really can be tricky to deal with tactfully.

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