Great School Leaders Always Follow Through (Leadership Matters Part 6)

During my first year as a principal, all school administrators met together to learn about a new program we were implementing across the district. This program promised to support our students’ emotional well-being, build personal leadership skills, and improve academics and school success.

I was excited about the program–I had previously read the books on which it was based, and I had already implemented many of the strategies touted by the program on my own campus.

However, in subsequent conversations with many administrators, I was surprised to see very little buy-in for the program and a sense of distrust that we would even be using the program within two years.

These administrators were right. What started off as a major initiative fizzled out across the district, and we were left with an expensive online program that no one really used.

The costs are high for school leaders who don’t follow through. Not only are you wasting the time and resources of your people and your organization, you also undermine trust every time you don’t deliver on a promise.

I heard about a principal who promised students a pizza party for showing growth on a benchmark test, and the pizza party never appeared. Just guess how students performed on their next benchmark test.

Great schools are led by leaders who develop trust by consistently following through on promises and initiatives.

Here are three considerations that will lead to better follow-through in your leadership.

Make Few Promises.

It’s hard to follow a leader you don’t trust. Followers become cynical, saying “Sure, we’ve seen this before,” every time that leader makes a promise. That leader also makes it hard for future leaders when they prime their followers to expect little follow-through.

When I first took on the role of principal, one piece of advice I received from Tony McGee, my first superintendent, was to make very few promises. This may be the most important piece of advice any new administrator could ever receive.

I’ve made many plans that didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to. No matter your role in the school, there are always things outside your control that can change your plans. It’s much easier to follow up with a teacher or student to say something didn’t work out due to circumstances beyond your control if you never made a firm promise to them in the first place.

In my experience, saying things like “I’ll see what I can do” and “Let me check on that and get back with you,” accompanied by follow up, builds trust with your followers. Even if the outcome is not what they would have liked, it shows that you still have their best interests at heart.

Know this: If you do make a promise, you’d better move heaven and earth to keep it. Once you lose someone’s trust, it is very difficult to gain it back.

Be proactive: ensure follow-through from the beginning.

Before pushing through a new initiative, think about the needs of the organization and how your initiative would help fulfill one of those needs. Use your school’s goals and values as a rubric for alignment.

Also, think about the context. Is your staff ready for another initiative? Can you get the parental support or student buy-in you need for your initiative to be successful? Do you have the resources you need at hand? If you are lacking in an area, you may have to shore that area up before tackling a new initiative.

Everything has a cost, and that cost is more than money. People’s time, energy, and effort are resources that can be depleted just like a bank account. Don’t forget, it takes a lot more resources to implement something brand new than it does to repair something that’s already in place.

Next, be sure to get buy-in from the right people. The best teachers have learned this–if you can get the cool kid to participate, then the whole class will participate. But if the cool kid rolls his eyes at your fun activity, you’re done for.

The same is true in leadership. Spend time developing relationships with the people who have influence in your school, and when you need their help to follow through on something, you can be sure it will be done.

Set up a schedule of check-ins to make sure that important milestones for your initiative are being met. Everything at a school takes time, and urgent matters will overshadow important matters if you don’t take time to schedule check ins. The road to success is a long one, but you have to constantly check your progress to know that you’re getting anywhere.

Finally, understand that with any new initiative, there will be resistance. Change is hard, and it will take more effort up front to start the initiative than it will be later to keep it going. Maintain flexibility, but don’t give up too soon.

Don’t take it personally when people complain. Sometimes they have a valid point, but often they are just venting frustration to you. If you do determine that it’s time to quit on an initiative, bring it to a close as elegantly as possible.

Spot a doomed initiative before it starts.

There are many reasons that initiatives fail, and as the school leader, you should take responsibility for each of these reasons. It’s important to follow through with the initiative and to check on the people responsible for implementing it.

• Initiatives fail when there is no clarity. Your people won’t follow through if they aren’t sure what they’re supposed to do. Make sure to address all the “W Questions.” Who is this for? When will it occur? What resources are needed? Where will it happen?

• Initiatives fail when no one takes responsibility. If you are the building leader, you are ultimately responsible for every initiative on the campus. Some days you may be so busy putting out fires that you don’t get to follow through. Designate people to take responsibility, and help them when you can. If you are that person who is designated to take responsibility, make it a priority to follow through on all the steps.

• Initiatives fail when there are no deadlines. Big projects take time. Setting a final finish line with no milestones to check along the way will make progress choppy, and some things will necessarily fall through the cracks. Work with your team to set reasonable timelines and make sure to check in when you say you will.

• Initiatives fail when there is no buy in. If you believe strongly that something will work, then you have to get the right people to believe that, too. My former principal, Victor Gilstrap, taught me this important phrase: “‘We’ is greater than ‘me.’” The truth is, an idea that you develop 75% and that you use your people to finish up the last 25% will be much more effective than one you develop all by yourself. People will care more if they have skin in the game.

What about you? What are some ways you can increase follow-through in your leadership?

Let me know in the comments below!