Maintaining Personal Goals

I started this year with three goals for myself and my administrative team. They are to be visible, effective evaluators, and to have critical conversations. These goals are easy to uphold and meet at the beginning of the year, but as we progress the states are great and the demands greater.

Visibility takes time away from the paper work associated with discipline and evaluations. Evaluations take away from visibility. Taking time to address situations and have the critical conversations takes away from being visible and parts of the evaluation process. I didn't realize that the 3 goals would work against one another. So, how does a leader make these work in harmony?

1. How does an administrator maximize their visibility in a minimal amount of time?
There are times in the day that we must be out. Lunch, exchange times, and am & pm bus duties. When lunch duty ends take the long way back to the office. Go outside and walk around the building and enter an unexpected door. On our campus we have 14 modular classrooms and a weight room outside the traditional walls.
2. How does an administrator complete evaluations without jeopardizing the other goals?
Being an effective evaluator of talent and teaching is a critical skill for an administrator. Focus your efforts on items that are non-negotiable. In the prior to the mid 90's this was probably classroom management. Although this is important, I believe instructional strategies implemented is a higher priority for teachers. Not all the teachers have problems that negatively effect the climate and culture. Help those that are willing to be receptive to constructive criticism.
3. How do you have the critical conversations so they don't take away too much time and take away from the focus on evaluations?
Nip it in the bud. The critical conversation isn't about you and the reluctancy that you have to tell someone they are doing something wrong. Focus on the fault, describe it in detail, and give the person the opportunity to fix the behavior. Don't wait until tomorrow, it will cause you to miss out on time for other duties.

Good luck. It is always wise to have goals, be able to articulate them, and evaluate the effectiveness of your work.

Stress Added

September 25th, my wife gave birth to our third child. We are an excited family, and welcome him to our family. My daughters absolutely love and adore him. Now, how do I keep the momentum that was created in the first month from home?

I have decide to take 7-10 days from work to enjoy and assist with him at home. This means I have missed out homecoming week festivities, including the dance, but was able to view nearly two quaters of our football victory. I will miss some inportant meetings while I am out, and don't know how to balance the new family with the new job.

Keeping the expectations high is important. I am relying on a great set of assistant principals to carry the flag, to keep the ball rolling, and to fight the good fight. I know they can do it.