By Dorne Chadsey
This is the last of my blog posts focusing on the services we provide to schools and other educational organizations. I’ve covered selection and training, and now I’ll turn to leadership coaching.
Over the past few years, school districts and universities have asked their staff to think of their institutions in a more business-like manner. Faced with severe budget cuts and increasingly frustrated taxpayers, administrators are forced to do more with less. This is one reason why it is critical that educational leaders demand more accountability and push to drive results. In some cases, managers may be eager to do their best, but they just don’t know how to accomplish a certain assignment or other key part of their job. That’s where coaching can make a big difference in a person’s ability to meet the unique challenges of their role.
As the insightful author, Blaine Lee said: We are all capable of change and growth; we just need to know where to begin.
A case in point: A superintendent from a rural school district contacted us to conduct a 360° on one of his principals. The person in question was relatively new in his role and was failing. He had no idea how to take command of his school. His staff was not performing and they were not meeting their objectives.
A Leadership 360° pointed to several areas of weakness in the principal’s leadership approach. He was not decisive enough, allowing his staff to control most decisions. He had low structure and poor follow-up, which made it easy for his staff to ignore his directives. Finally, he had a hard time influencing others or persuading them to take action. He had little control of the building.
This information was shared with the principal in a feedback session. What followed was several action planning meetings over a period of several weeks. The goal was to help him better understand his developmental areas and coach him to improve his performance.
We focused our efforts on helping him to make better decisions more quickly, and to work on establishing a structured environment where expectations were clear and the staff knew he would follow up to be sure they were hitting assigned targets and deadlines. He worked hard to have an impact on others and become more influential.
Some of the coaching we provided him included:
- Setting specific goals and timelines for his staff
- Building a structure for them to work within
- Regularly monitoring their progress
- Becoming more demanding and refusing to accept excuses for non-performance
By the end of the school year, he was in control of his staff and they were accomplishing their goals. He set the direction for his team, held them accountable and emerged as a leader with a bright future.
A lesson to be learned: Administrators want to do a good job, but many lack leadership skills. PRADCO has developed tools designed to help uncover areas for improvement and PRADCO’s professional coaching staff helps struggling managers change their behaviors and improve their performance.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to read my blog posts. I am passing the “pen” to one of my colleagues Steve Hrop from our greater New York City office. I’m sure Steve will have many insightful thoughts to share.
