I wrote an article sometime ago about a few steps for transforming schools entitled “School Transformation a Lesson From Popeyes!” https://www.herbertoneil.com/school-transformation-a-lesson-from-popeyes-2/It was one of my favorite blog posts, maybe because I like fried chicken but more importantly I believe that most any broken system can be transformed. As I looked back on the blog post I noticed that I left out a crucial piece.  We can never forget to build relationships with our stakeholders.  Just like I missed discussing it in that blog post about transformation, as new leaders we often forget that critical piece.

I was looking at our learning competencies for school administrators and noticed that we placed building relationships under the competency of “Influence.”  Before we changed the name to influence we called it “How to get people to do things.”  As a leader you must be able to get people to do things, and I mean get them to authentically do things. If you don’t establish some type of relationship with them, then people become alienated and will only do things for you because of your position power, and usually this will be for a short time.

So what am I saying? Before you do anything as a new school leader, take time out to get to know people. It will pay huge dividends later when times get tough! I’ve learned over the years how tough the school business is. And there’s so much to learn and so many tough things you have to do. The toughest though is to step back and build high quality relationships with your stakeholders. Unless the building is on fire you have time to do it!

Please do not forget to read my blog post over “Hugs, Handshakes, and High Fives!” https://www.herbertoneil.com/hugs-handshakes-and-high-fives/