I had the privilege of presenting to the new administrators from the great state of Illinois last week. Jessica Johnson and I discussed ways that administrators could use different forms of technology to make their day/professional learning more streamlined and “digital”.
I had several admin there ask me about my “role” as an assistant principal and how I balanced my responsibilities. Different campuses, districts, states, have different ways of handling leadership roles, obviously, but I think there are some parallels.
One thing to keep in mind, at least something that was helpful for me, was to always remember that the trade off of not having the full weight and responsibility of a campus hanging over my head is that my opinion isn’t the “final” one. I try really hard to offer when I am asked and to always, always, always defer to my boss on campus level decisions, 🙂
Having a comfortable, trusting relationship will go a long in establishing the climate that will allow you to disagree and discuss decisions that are made. My principal last year and I had completely different philosophies when it came to education, so I had to be very careful to answer any questions that I was asked in the way that SHE would want them answered vs what I instinctively could answer. It was an excellent experience that helped me develop and articulate my thoughts on my stance. It isn’t enough to just “make” decisions, you should be able to define and articulate why you believe what you believe.
Ask up front and know in advance what their expectations are for you and for your role. I always run my decisions and thoughts by my boss before I move forward, just to make sure that we are on the same page. You will find that if you do this a LOT in the beginning, you will slowly but surely start to feel more confident in what they’d want you to do, and you won’t have to confer with them that as often.
I think finding and learning your administrators strengths (and weaknesses!) will help you to also “see” what your role may be. It takes a team and your job to be the yin to their yang! Make sure your administrator knows YOUR Â strengths and weaknesses as well. Part of their role is to help mold you into the kind of leader that is ready for your own building. There are a variety of personality tests that are available…I’m a big fan of the gallup strength finder. It helps me amongst a crowd know how to balance teams as well.
Know that every opportunity, positive or negative, is developing you into the kind of leader that you will be. Â Even if in your role you are relegated to being test coordinators, discipline divas, and wear a textbook tiara, those are important facets if what makes a building run. You’ll want to know every nuance of those pieces for when you’re in charge of the whole puzzle!
hAPpily yours,
Amber
Hey Amber…I don’t know if I totally agree with you here. I get the idea that you have to be a team when you are sharing admin responsibilities, but I don’t think that the assistant should morph into the principal, but they should actually have a balance of both perspectives. When I was hired as an AP, I was lucky enough to have a principal who TOLD ME to challenge him on his ideas and that it was my job to ensure that he didn’t look like an idiot when presenting something. Sometimes, that meant totally disagreeing with him, but that was always done privately. Our answers to staff were not HIS answers, but a morphed version of both of our philosophies. When I became a principal, I hired an AP that had differing viewpoints from myself because I know that they would help me to become better as a principal. As a principal, I agree that you should prepare an AP for their own building, but an AP should also have a part in the development of their principal.
Instead of trying to answer something from their perspective, I would simply say, “Let me talk to…”, and the come back with a shared answer, especially if I knew that I was going to say something that I didn’t agree with. If you totally disagree with your principal, no matter what you say, people are going to figure that out. An admin team has to be a team, not a principal with clones of themselves.
Does that make any sense?
Georgiekins,
I by no means meant to imply that I was a “clone” of my previous principals’, or that their philosophy was “bad” or anything…just different than mine. If you are coming into an environment that is already rocking and rolling, I’m not going to presume that we’re going to change or adapt visions just b/c I’m there. As the newbie, I didn’t want to just take over to step on any toes. Great example…I am very anti homework. She didn’t have a problem with it. When teachers asked how to handle Ss not turning in homework, I had to answer based on her stance, vs mine.
I’ve also worked with an administrator that I was able to co-handle every nuance of our campus, but we’d also worked together for 4 years. I think it depends on the administrator team and the experience.
Thank you for reading, GFC, and always challenging my thinking!
Amber