Building Leadership Skills Across Your School

Like many school administrators, I began my career as a teacher. I was successful in that role and loved helping students develop collaboration and problem-solving skills as they mastered the mathematics curriculum. When I moved from my classroom to the assistant principal’s office, I had to develop a new set of leadership skills.

Fortunately, there was a process. Before I could even interview for the job, I had to enroll in an administrative credential program. Once I got the position, the state required a two-year induction process to clear my credential. Most important, my university assigned me a veteran administrator to serve as my leadership coach.

I learned quickly that leadership is not just something you are born with. This discipline requires formal preparation and continuous study. Yet, as I continued to serve at school sites and now in the central office, I noticed a distinction between two groups of managers. In the school kitchens, at the central office, and in the maintenance yard, another group was working just as hard as our credentialed leaders to support schools.

These classified directors, supervisors, and managers oversee the Technology, Nutrition Services, Transportation, Maintenance, and Finance departments. Unlike me, these leaders were not required to have a leadership degree or credential, and many had no formal leadership training.

Often, these vital leaders’ professional development was an afterthought: We took a talented mechanic, put him in charge of the maintenance office, and expected him to lead. But overhauling an engine requires a totally different skill set than navigating labor relations, delivering a tough performance review, or building a healthy workplace culture.

When we promoted individuals based on their technical skills without offering leadership training, we didn’t set them up for success. We realized this issue, and we decided to address it head-on by creating a leadership academy within our district to provide training and support.

TEACHING MANAGEMENT SKILLS THROUGH A CLASSIFIED LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

We established our Classified Leadership Academy as a cohort-based program that meets monthly throughout the school year. Experienced leaders attend these sessions alongside their newer peers, both to sharpen their own skills and to support those who are learning their roles.

Each of the training sessions is led by a district leader who has completed a leadership training program, but the sessions are meant to be collaborative so that those who are serving in the non-instructional roles can share their own best practices, ask questions, and improve their skills.

These collaborative sessions build relationships, create connections between departments, and provide new perspectives on situations. When considering how to provide critical training to leaders, start by thinking through the areas you have found challenging in your own leadership role, and use those to guide the kinds of training sessions you and your administrative team design.

Our program aims to support leaders in building their capacity across four major management areas:

Personnel relations management. Often, non-instructional leaders manage teams subject to collective bargaining agreements, and leading in a unionized environment requires a solid understanding of employment contracts.

In our sessions, we conduct a deep dive into our union contracts to ensure that our managers understand how the various articles affect their work. This is often done as a scavenger hunt, with managers searching the contract for answers to posed questions or scenarios.

Additionally, we train them to write effective staff evaluations that celebrate what is going well and support improvement in areas that need growth. As part of that process, we introduce the idea of progressive discipline, reminding them that the goal is to help employees grow. We also discuss and practice documenting performance issues and the importance of keeping one’s own emotions out of an evaluation.

We have leaders work together in small groups to practice writing evaluations in response to provided prompts, and we encourage them to save those examples to reference throughout the year.

Strategic interpersonal communication. For leaders, it is important to be able to communicate clearly and effectively. In our sessions, we practice this kind of effective professional communication by having our cohort review sample written communications, such as letters and emails, and evaluate them for clarity and effectiveness. Beyond written communication, we have them practice verbal communication through role-playing leading team meetings.

While consistent effective communication is important, it is also crucial to build the skills of how to have challenging conversations when necessary. During our sessions, we train our leaders in active listening and de-escalation strategies so they are equipped to resolve interpersonal friction before it turns into a formal complaint.

We utilize a lot of role-playing to practice difficult accountability conversations. This builds confidence and ensures that these leaders won’t avoid addressing issues when they arise.

Organizational culture. Public education is constantly shifting, and leaders must be prepared to manage those changes constructively while maintaining department morale. In our sessions, we help new leaders understand why staff may resist changes and learn how to communicate the “why” behind district and department changes to increase staff support.

We also discuss departmental culture and offer ideas for building a positive work culture, including staff shout-out bulletin boards, weekly newsletters, notes of appreciation, and staff potluck lunches.

Situational leadership. Administrative credential programs teach educators how to think ethically, and non-instructional leaders need the same philosophical grounding. We have found that modeling and role-playing are the best ways to practice. We use activities to explore situational leadership, teaching new managers when to be directive, when to coach, and when to delegate.

In our sessions, we provide scenarios across a variety of situations that prompt managers to consider ethical decision-making, transparency, and the avoidance of conflicts of interest. Participants practice scenarios in pairs or groups, offering constructive feedback to help one another grow.

Over the past few years, our leadership academy has increased manager confidence, reduced turnover, decreased personnel complaints, and improved departmental cultures. Investing in all of our non-instructional leaders creates a consistent environment in which every adult, regardless of their job description, is fully equipped to lead.