Recently I have begun my doctorate in ed leadership. Minus the hour and half drive to and from, it has been great for me. One of the things we discussed early on was the 80/20 concept. Which means focusing 80% of your time on the 20% of most important items. We often spend much of our time on the management piece to our job, or at least I do. We lose focus of what is really important. Should I be on top of running attendance for the fourth time today or should I get into a classroom to observe and provide useful feedback. We have to find ways to get those tedious or less important items done some other way. Through delegation and realizing what is important is the way.
Recently I have been focusing on strengthening my PLC's and getting into classroom to give much needed feedback for my staff. This is my 20% that is worth focusing on.
What is your 20%, and what is really important? It certainly isn't sitting at my desk all day working on management items. How do you balance management and leading?
I agree. I have found that it really helps when I actually block off an hour/day in my calendar to visit classrooms. I do walkthroughs for about 10-15 minutes in each classroom where I fill out a non-evaluative feedback report. I then schedule time with each visited classroom's teacher to debrief what I saw and offer feedback. If I spend an hour a day doing walkthroughs, I should be able to visit 20 classrooms per week. The managerial duties will always be a part of our job. However, these items can be cut down through delegation, as you suggested. The rest can be done when students aren't there.
ReplyDeleteIs it less meaningful by sending them an email, I have been doing this to speed up the feedback. I do know it would be more effective meeting them face to face.
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