Capacity Building in My Direct Reports

Connecting the aspirations of our administrators to organizational goals and furthering the process through weekly check-ins

If you aspire to be a great leader as the superintendent of your school district, then you aspire to inspire people to work hard at becoming the best version of themselves. If all the individuals in your school district grow into the best version of themselves, then the school district grows into the best version of itself.

We’ve all had the experience of hearing a gifted motivational speaker who inspired us to go conquer the world, only to be brought back to the reality of the day-to-day grind of running a school district. So how do we as leaders inspire the individuals we lead in a perpetual way that withstands the rigor of a school year?

As superintendent of a 750-student district in north-central Iowa, I have seven direct reports consisting of my building principals and directors. In my first couple of years as superintendent, we set annual goals collectively (such as 80 percent of students in grades 9-12 will be proficient in reading, math and science according to our standardized state assessment, or we will successfully implement MTSS districtwide), which we attacked with intensity and vigor in August, only to forget these goals as soon as October rolled around. As a result, we never got any traction in the areas we wanted to grow.

To solve this problem, I developed a four-step process that has played out effectively. First, find out what each individual wants for themselves. Second, guide them in forming achievable goals with concrete action plans that will get them what they want and benefit the organization. Third, work hard to help them achieve it. Fourth, celebrate the accomplishments.