Principals as Head Coach

My wife asked me today if I was excited to go back to school on Monday. I am BUT...we discussed the big difference between going back to school as a teacher and back to school as a principal.

Back when I was teaching, coming off a break brought a sense of new ideas that could be implemented the first week back in. As a principal, there are definitely a lot of new ideas, but when it comes to implementation, most of them tend to be set up for a filtering - through the teachers or students or PTO before they can be truly implemented.

That thought, the football podcast I listened to about head coach firings/hirings, and this article on management brought on the realization that this job does tend to be more of the head coaching variety.

For an NFL franchise, (outside of a few extensions), the job of the head coach is to lead the culture, provide accountability, interact with each member of the organization, and chart the direction of the team towards success. It is the assistant or position coaches that work with the individual players, scheme the plays, or handle direct discipline/recommendations.

This is the role of the principal as well. If I see myself as guardian and head of the culture working with and supporting the teachers and leaders (parent or students), the idea of implementing new ideas takes on the proper sense of timeline and process.

Head coaches can fall into issues when they micromanage, failing to trust their assistants, or unmanage, failing to support/monitor their assistants and players. As a principal, we need to be sure that we are supporting and monitoring the teachers, staff, students, and families to maximize our chances at a successful educational and spiritual outcome.

As the article linked to above says:

The things that can put you in the top percentage of managers are the simple habits: Keep effective 1:1s with your team, make them actionable and accountable so you’re both making progress together on what you discuss, and ensure your team members are growing and developing.

Whether we want to accept it or not, principals are managers - ones with a unique ability to influence not only employees but our "customers" - the students and families we serve.