Pitfalls of Rookie Administrators

A week of school has come and gone.  Across the state and nation teachers and kids are learning to live with the expectations and personalities of new administrators.  I have watched this phenomenon for a long time and sadly it appears that most university courses really do not prepare anyone to be an administrator in a public school, else wise the problems listed below would not occur.  A quick Google search for “first year teachers” yields about 155 million hits.  A search for “first year administrators” yields less than half that many and most of those seem to be about how administrators can help first year teachers.  Clearly, someone needs to talk about first year administrators. 

Sadly, there are few first year administrator mentorship programs, but there should be.  The change from classroom to front office is dramatic and can be traumatic.  First year administrators need a lot of coaching and support.  From my point of view there are distinct behaviors that proclaim to the world that this person is a rookie public school administrator and may be doing more harm than good.  Here is my list, not exhaustive and not in any particular order, but a list none the less of observed rookie behaviors in need of coaching and mentoring.

“When I taught…”

A teacher leaves the classroom in June and arrives in August as an administrator.  This change in roles is huge.  As a teacher one has a support group, fellow complainers, and a sense of belonging, confidence and expertise.  As a first year administrator all of that is gone.  I remember walking into the teachers’ lounge as a teacher and I was warmly greeted and quickly brought up to speed on the latest gossip.  When I walked into the teachers’ lounge as a first year principal all conversation stopped.  It hurt.  I found my name written on bathroom walls for the first time in less than flattering terms.  The temptation of a first year administrator is to return to that teacher support group with tales of what one did as a teacher, how one handled discipline, etc. as a teacher, yadda, yadda, yadda.  First year administrators do not get it that they are not a teacher and teachers know that.  Every reference to what one did as teacher will result in eye rolls and eventual alienation.  (The same can be said for experienced administrators who change districts and spend all their time talking about how things were done in their previous district.)  An administrator has a different point of view and a different set of responsibilities.  He or she is not a teacher any more.  The trick is to develop a new support group of fellow administrators rather than attempting to rejoin the ranks of teachers.

“Because I said so.”

A rookie will feel the need to establish his or her power base if they are insecure, and typically they do so in absolutely the wrong way.  Everyone knows who the administrators are and everyone knows the responsibilities of that position.  But if a rookie is insecure about their “power”, he or she will find someone in the organizational structure and order them to do something, “Because I say so,” or some other lame excuse.  Such phrases may make sense with children who lack the life experience and knowledge to understand the logic of a rule.  That is never true for professionally degreed, certified adults.  Asking people to do their jobs is not pulling rank.  Arbitrarily insisting it be done your way or the highway is, and denotes a rookie.  Mature administrators know that everyone in the organization can contribute, have insight and ideas and it is never wise to limit thinking to just one person.  That is a total waste of resources and guarantees poor decisions.  Peter Senge talks about the myth of “I am my position.”  This is a real trap for first year administrators who awake one day knowing they now have structural power because of their position.  Rookies can undermine that power in a hurry by exercising it in the wrong ways.  A much better approach is to recognize that everyone has a job to do, we are all humans, and we must work together to accomplish our mission.  Listening is a key skill.

“Everyone sit down and be quiet!”

Clearly one of our challenges is to maintain student safety and order.  And, clearly we are outnumbered.  When a rule is broken the easiest way out is to punish the whole bus, but that is a rookie response.  If a student misbehaves it is our job to identify the culprit and respond appropriately to that individual.  To tell the whole bus they must not talk punishes kids who were not a problem; punishes kids who were behaving.  Such a strategy totally undermines whatever authority an administrator may have.  This response is especially heinous if we are talking about adults.  Addressing a problem via an announcement at a faculty meeting or via email when the issue lies with only one or two employees sends the message I do not have the courage to talk with you one on one.  It takes courage to lead.  It takes the courage to go to one kid or one employee, tell them what they are doing wrong and determine consequences.  Arbitrarily requiring the entire group to bear the brunt of the punishment may get compliance, but it will not get respect.

“Be loyal to me.  I am your boss.”

All adults in public education are employed by tax dollars to better the lives of the children in their care.  We do so in a variety of ways, but our mission, our reason for being is to promote growth and improvement in our children.  Any other mission is self-centered and/or off target.  Mature administrators will want staff loyal to that mission, rather than loyal to some person on the organizational chart.  It would scare me to death to think that fellow professionals would not be committed to our mission rather than committed to me.  Yes, experienced administrators want loyalty, but loyalty to a mission not a person.  A mission is grand and all encompassing.  Every person has flaws.  If staff is not loyal to the mission then the administrator is set up to become another emperor walking around naked.  The very people perceived to be disloyal may the ones that the administrator can learn from the most.

“You Owe Me.”

Frequently there is a temptation on the part of rookies to develop staff indentured servants.  A rookie can do this by simply saying “you owe me.”  Once the building is full of people that owe the administrator then it seems to the rookie that their power has increased.  That is so not true.  The barter system and indentured servitude went away for a reason.  I think it is unethical for an administrator to perform a function that is part of his or her job and then somehow imply another staff member is indebted to them.  If that same rookie is doing something he or she should not do, then that is also cause for alarm.  If that same rookie is doing something he or she would not do for every employee then that again is cause for alarm.  It is no more reasonable for an administrator to say, “You owe me” than it is for a teacher to say the same to an administrator regarding teaching each day.  Not only is this unethical, it can breed a covey of favorites; staff that everyone knows the administrator favors over others.  Such favorites will be undermined by others as will the administrator for creating them.  Nobody owes anybody for doing our jobs.  Our communities pay us to do that with their tax dollars.  Serve those with whom you work rather than seek their indebtedness.

“No.”

I believe the biggest temptation on the part of a rookie administrator is to simply say “no.”  A teacher needs understanding today for a sick relative.  Just say no.  A parent needs understanding today for a sick kid.  Just say no.  A sister is getting married out of state.  Just say no.  The authority to say no is inherent in an administrative role.  Every time an administrator responds to a request with a “no” he or she sends a little arrow to the heart of the person who asked.  Every time an administrator says “yes” or seeks to help create the solution the employee seeks, the administrator grows in stature in the eyes of the employee, or parent, or kid.  Clearly, an administrator cannot say yes to every request.  But to say no to most if not all requests for special consideration is in the rookie domain.  Do no harm.  Help people.

“Please read this.”

I will never forget my excitement when I saw school letterhead with my name on it.  Wow.  There it was:  “Bob Wells, Assistant Principal.”  Seeing that enhanced typeface on heavy bond paper I felt ensconced in the position for life.  Ha.  That was in 1983.  Now that I had letterhead surely I am expected to write something on it.  How about a memo to teachers regarding cafeteria duty, or bus duty, or students running in the halls, or counting textbooks?  I could think of a jillion memos to write.  The temptation got worse when schools developed the infrastructure for emails.  Now I can really bombard staff with stuff.  I could require them to read my daily dribble.  I could even send quotations from my favorite holy book, my favorite politician, my favorite philosopher, my favorite TV shows, etc.  Further, I can always claim in light of future calamities that I sent the needed information and directions to the employees and they failed to read such.  I am covered.  I am a rookie and need to be covered.  In reality, management by memo is terrible.  If you love the state and federal school guidelines then you may love local memo management.  Politicians have yet to figure out that sending us a memo does not cause change, or improvement, or anything other than resentment and a loss of respect for the sender of such fodder.  Mature administrators know real change, real improvement, occurs face-to-face with fellow professionals who are treated like professionals and are more than an inbox.  They are heard.  If a culture is established wherein all dictates and knowledge roll downhill, then students will fail as they are at the bottom of the hill.

“It is not my fault.”

The hardest rookie tendency to overcome is the defending perfection tendency.  For the sake of discussion let’s say administrators fall into one of two categories:  pursuing improvement or defending perfection.  If I already know everything, understand everything, and can foresee everything then all my decisions are perfect.  If something goes wrong, I must defend my decisions against whomever it is that is flawed and messed up my decision.  I must seek them out to clearly establish blame as Lord knows it could not be on me.  Failure must be someone else’s fault.  On the other hand, if I recognize that everyone is flawed and I want to promote a learning culture where everyone improves professionally each year then I must model the pursuit of improvement.  Such pursuit is a totally different mindset than defending.  It does not take long to identify the defenders and the pursuers.  Pursuers are reading, they are writing, they are learning.  They are engaged with other professionals seeking better and better ways to promote successful schooling.  Defenders will not try.  They will gather with others who think like they think and perceive the rest of the world as something they must defend against.  Such a mindset on the part of a so-called educator is pitiful.

When rookies do any of the above, or all, they totally undermine the professional culture of the school.  Private sector folks simply do not get this.  They seem to reward many of what I call rookie attributes, but that is because the boss or CEO is responsible for whatever widget is being produced and the boss or CEO likely does know more than the guys on the line.  None of that is true in education.  We cannot fire our kids.  They are the ones who must perform.  Teachers do all that they can to promote that performance, but teachers need support in an atmosphere of safety, honesty and mutual support just as kids do.  Undo those things and teachers beat a path to their classrooms and keep their heads down.  That is not a formula for success.  The last thing a public school administrator should be is top-down, my-way or the highway, or scary to staff.

The saddest observations I make are of the folks who are no longer rookies but continue to make rookie mistakes.  Just as I know teachers with 20 years experience who have repeated their first year experience over 20 years, I know administrators with 20 years experience who have done the same, both sets of behavior are tragic and near criminal in my mind.

I do not know what percentage of teachers work with new administrators each year.  I am guessing it is pretty high, maybe 50%.  Whether your new administrator is a superintendent, a principal or an assistant principal you are going to feel the cultural impact of his or her leadership.  My prayer for each of you is that they have either pursued improvement each year and are way beyond the rookie mistakes listed above, or they are just starting out and can learn at the feet of a good mentor.  It is not about power.  It is about service.

Regardless, I wish you all the best this year as you either break in a new administrator or get broken in as a new administrator.  As for me, kids will always be more important than adult egos.