Ep #72: Courage Before Confidence

Last week, we talked about fear and how it paralyzes you from taking action. I’m taking it a little further this week and giving you the tools you need to be able to go from inaction all the way through to taking action with conviction and from a place of genuine belief.

Whether you’re a school leader thinking about taking the next step in your life, or you’re a teacher who wants to move into a job as a principal, there is only one thing holding you back, and that is your thoughts. I’ve experienced this firsthand when I first started to dream of starting my business as a coach. I know that if I could get through it, you can too.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #71: Why We Experience Fear

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?

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #70: Money Goals

We’re wrapping up the month of April with a great topic, especially as the end of the school year gets closer – goal-setting. I’m going to be using monetary goals as an example in this episode, but you can apply this work to literally anything in your school or home life.

As a school leader, I’m sure you have a lot of experience setting goals. However, a lot of the goals we are forced to set can be things we have little control over or are impossible to achieve. After a while, understandably, that starts to really bring up a lot of negativity around setting goals four ourselves, professionally and in our personal lives.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #69: Your Money Manifesto

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?

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #68: The Truth About Debt

We’re continuing on the subject of money this week with everyone’s favorite topic – debt. Okay, it’s nobody’s favorite thing to talk about, but it is incredibly important, both in your personal life and your job as a school leader.

We know that having a school desperately in need of investment in the students when you have a low budget to work with can be incredibly stressful. This crosses over into our personal lives when it comes to buying a house, or even just treating ourselves because, lord knows, we need it.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #67: Building a Relationship with Money

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.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #66: Identifying Your Money Beliefs

It’s April, and this month’s topic is one of my favorites, and something that I feel isn’t discussed enough in our world –money.

Money is such a huge part of our lives, personal and professional. As a school leader, sure, we talk about allocating budgets and salaries and spending to get the best for the kids in our schools. But as a principal, there’s something lacking about the conversations we have around money mindset.

Of course, for some people, money is tricky to talk about. Some of us grew up in an environment where we didn’t talk about money because we had none, or maybe you were taught not to show off because you had plenty. Either way, as a result, money and how it makes us feel has become a kind of icky subject to broach.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #65: Conflicts on Staff

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.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #64: Supporting Your Staff

Supporting your staff sounds like an obvious part of your job as a school leader. However, I can tell you from personal experience, when you’re caught up in all of your other duties, it’s easy for “being a supportive leader” to fall by the wayside. Especially when angry parents are involved, siding with your staff becomes a tricky balancing act.

I have learned over the years that teachers want a principal who has their backs. This is a huge reflection of your leadership in their eyes. Your staff wants to know you are listening to their concerns and that you believe their story. That said, you can’t hold their hand every step of the way.

Read more

/0 Comments/by

Ep #63: Hiring New Teachers

It’s getting to the time when you’re mapping out what your staff will look like come the start of the next school year. Last week was all about how to let staff go responsibly and with both parties’ best interests in mind. In this episode, I’m sharing some recruitment tips to increase the chances that you don’t have to fire anyone next year!

There is so much to think about when hiring new staff. As a school leader, being considerate of your team dynamics and considering which prospective teachers will really add to your current crop is of the utmost importance. If you rush this process, trust me, nobody is going to end up year happy.

Read more

/0 Comments/by