Leader Systems ⚙️ The First System Every School Leader Needs #241

0:00If you're a school leader who feels like your day is running you instead of the other way around, then this episode is for you. You didn't step into leadership just to spend your days putting out fires, answering emails, and reacting to problems. You stepped into leadership to make a difference, to shape culture, to grow teachers, and to improve learning for students. Guys, you want to make an impact. But the reality is that if you don't have strong personal leadership systems, even if you're super passionate, you're going to end up overwhelmed. So today I'm talking about a system that every single school leader needs, but it's often one that gets overlooked that you just don't think about. It's called leader systems. It's the personal professional learning structure that helps you lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Let's get started.

1:02Hi, friend. Are you ready to move into a leadership position? Do you have interests and ambitions that you want to pursue? But feel like you don't know how to take that next step. Do you want to start your own coaching or consulting agency? I'm Mel, and I help educators define their career path through correct mindset, knowing your options, and getting prepared for your career transition. I will show you how to level up your leadership skills, share your expertise in a new way, create impact on a larger scale, and put your leadership in motion. As an educator for over 20 years, I started to feel underused and like I had more to give. I knew when the time had come for me to leave the classroom and affect change on a larger level. Now I'm ready to help you determine where your talents and skills mesh with your passions

2:05and interests, put your leadership in motion, and move into that next phase of your educational career journey. Let me help you define your career path by having the right mindset, knowing your options, and getting prepared for that next leadership position. So power up and put your leadership in motion. Hey guys, welcome back to the Empowered Educator Show. I'm your host, Dr. Mel. I want to talk to you a lot about three systems that really help leaders move from that survival mode to some real sustainable leadership. I really think most everything that you do is going to fall into one of these three systems, either leader systems, logistic systems, or learning systems. Logistics systems help your school run smoothly.

3:05Learning systems help improve instruction and student achievement. But here's the catch that you may not realize. None of those systems, neither one of those systems, are going to work. If your leader systems are weak, and I say that because before you can lead a school effectively, you have to lead yourself first. Leader systems are those structures that help you grow personally and professionally as a leader. It's those systems that help you prioritize your time, protect your focus, and continue developing your own leadership capacity. Things we forget that we are the lead learner of a building or of a district. The best leaders, they understand something that is very powerful, that their leadership growth, your leadership growth as a leader, is your professional learning. You expect your teachers to engage in professional development and to grow themselves because

4:09you want improved instruction. You want instructional mastery. And if you've listened to the show long enough, you know that I'm going to tell you that you need to be in classrooms, making sure your teachers are being developed all the time. But as a leader, you have to engage in intentional, personal, professional learning yourself to improve your own leadership. So let's walk through a few leader systems that are going to strengthen your leadership and help you move from reacting to leading with purpose. The first one is your leadership identity. You have to be clear about who you are as a leader. You have to know what you stand for. When leadership pressures show up and they will, because every leader has pressures, your identity becomes your anchor. So I want you to ask yourself questions like, what kind of leader do I want to be known for?

5:12Am I a leader who develops my teachers and every one of my staff? Am I a leader who builds culture? Am I the leader who relentlessly focuses on student learning? Your leadership identity isn't about a title. It's about purpose and calling. And you know why you lead. Your decisions become much more clear and distractions, they're going to lose their power because you are focused on the prize guys. Your leadership identity is the foundation of your personal, professional learning because it shapes what you focus on growing. The second leadership system is prioritization. One of the biggest challenges for school leaders is that everything feels urgent. All the emails, all the discipline issues, meetings, parent concerns, staff needs. And without a system to prioritize, leaders, you're going to spend your days reacting instead

6:16of leading. That's why you need a filter for your work. A simple framework is to ask, is this something that I should do now, delay, delete or delegate? We talked about that previously. In episode 239, stop doing everything, task prioritization for school leaders. So if you haven't heard it, go check it out, it's just a couple of episodes back. Guys remember not every task deserves your time or your energy. Strong leaders protect their time for the work that matters most, which is building culture, supporting your teachers, being in classrooms, seeing what's going on so you can improve instruction. When you develop a prioritization system, you stop trying to do everything and you start focusing on the things that are going to move your school forward, the things that matter the most and you're going to kick out all that white noise that means absolutely nothing.

7:17The next one is calendar leadership. Your calendar is one of the most honest leadership tools that you have. If someone looked at your calendar this week, what would it reveal about your priorities? Would they see time dedicated to instructional leadership? Would they see time connecting with staff? Would they see time for thinking and strategic planning? Or would they see a schedule completely filled with reactionary tasks? Or even worse, would they not see a calendar at all or an almost completely empty calendar? Leader systems include intentional calendar design. I also talked about that in that same episode. You block time for the work that matters most. You protect time for classroom walkthroughs. You protect time for coaching conversations. You protect time for your own leadership learning guys. I have it scheduled on my calendar, my own personal PD time.

8:19When you lead your calendar, your calendar stops leading you. Leadership is not just about managing time, however. It's also about managing energy. Many new leaders believe that success comes from working hard and long hours. And I've seen a lot of good leaders burn out quickly because they do not protect their health and their time, their personal time. Sustainable leadership requires something different guys. It requires protecting your energy so that you can lead consistently and well. This might mean setting some boundaries around your work hours. Do not take your computer home and work all night at home after you've worked all day at school. Your family doesn't deserve that. You don't deserve that. Your health doesn't deserve that. Stay for a little bit longer after school and then leave and leave it all there. It's going to be there when you get back tomorrow anyway.

9:21You might also need to protect time for prayer or reflection or quiet thinking. Some reflection time is so important so you can make sure that you're doing the right things and you know where to pivot and adjust if you're not. It might mean creating habits that keep you mentally and spiritually grounded. When your energy is strong, guys, your leadership is stronger and when leaders care for their own well-being, they're modeling healthy leadership for their staff as well. I talked a little bit about reflection and personal professional learning but I want you to know that it's not just about working hard. It's about reflecting and growing intentionally. Leader systems include rhythms for personal professional learning. They might look like reflecting on your leadership decisions each week. Maybe it's journaling about what worked and what didn't. Maybe, and here's one of my personal favorites, it's about listening to leadership podcasts

10:21during your commute or reading leadership books. You know that great leaders read a lot of books in a year's time. Or maybe it's simply pausing long enough to think about how you're growing as a leader. Personal professional learning keeps your leadership from becoming stagnant, guys. It keeps you learning, adapting and strengthening your leadership capacity over time. Guys, the hard truth is that your school is only going to grow as much as you grow as a leader. Here's your leader action step for this coming week. Take ten minutes and evaluate your leader systems by asking yourself three questions. Where do I feel most overwhelmed as a leader right now? Which of these leader systems do I need to strengthen? Identity, prioritization, calendar leadership, energy, reflection, whatever it is, write it down.

11:23And then what is one small leadership habit that you can start this week? Leaders, your leadership growth doesn't happen overnight. But small systems create big transformation over time. So as I wrap up, I want you to know that leader systems are the personal professional learning structures that help you lead yourself well. They help you clarify your leadership identity. They're going to help you prioritize what really matters. And they help you design your time intentionally. They also help you protect your energy and grow continuously as a leader. When your leader systems are strong, your leadership becomes way more focused, way more sustainable and way more impactful. And when leaders grow personally and professionally, your school is going to grow with you. In the next episode, I'm going to shift to the second system that every leader needs,

12:26which is logistics systems. Because even the best leader struggle when their school lacks clear operational systems. If this episode encouraged you or challenged your thinking, make sure that you subscribe to the Empowered Educator Podcast so you never miss an episode. Did you know I have an empowered educator community? This community is dedicated to your professional growth and development by providing tools, support, and inspiration so you can make a greater impact. In this community, you can access resources and training materials to support your journey through leadership. This is really a professional learning community, where you can engage just like a PLC where all voices are heard, information is shared, and educators network and collaborate to achieve goals together. Until next time, keep leading with purpose and keep growing as the leader your school needs.

13:27And don't forget to go the extra mile to motivate, inspire, lead, and empower.