Leadership Competencies

Competency 1: Communication – Effectively listens to others; clearly and effectively presents and understands information orally and in writing; acquires, organizes, analyzes, interprets, maintains information needed to achieve school or team 21st century objectives.

Throughout the year, the administrative team met every Friday to update each other on our areas of responsibility. This meeting culminated into a running communication sent out to all staff weekly. This was especially useful for looking back into prior communications to reconcile dates and track deadlines.

Competency 2: Change Management – Effectively engages staff and community in the change process in a manner that ensures their support of the change and its successful implementation.

This year at Corinth Holders, we had several opportunities that necessitated a need to revise the bell schedule. Much of this due to an increase in the number of lunch blocks as well as changing FlexTime to be included in a block to being a separate entity. All changes were discuss and approved by the SIT and communicated through email and the school website.

Competency 3: Conflict Management – Anticipates or seeks to resolve confrontations, disagreements, or complaints in a constructive manner.

Throughout our time in the NELA program, we had many opportunities to participate in conflict management scenarios. These included both live/cold situational practice as well as thought out written responses.

I appreciated the opportunity to practice as I have been able to use many of the strategies learned while dealing with discipline situations at Corinth Holders as well as tough parent conversations.

Competency 4: Creative thinking – Engages in and fosters an environment for others to engage in innovative thinking.

Part of our SMART Lunch schedule at Corinth Holders High was to assign a lunch time in the FlexTime system to students alphabetically. This however created a problem with students assigned to MTSS Interventions when they fell during the student's assigned lunch. I collaborated with the administrative team and created a MTSS Lunch Pass for students to use; allowing them to attend a different lunch and still participate in their interventions.

Competency 5: Customer focus – Understands the students as customers of the work of schooling and the servant nature of leadership and acts accordingly.

When it came time to communicate with students concerning their placement for MTSS, I chose to meet with them in small groups. During these sessions, I explained what exactly MTSS was, why they were chosen, how the interventions would work, scheduling interventions in FlexTime and how to exit the program. I believe taking the time to meet personally was so much more effective than sending an email or letter.

Competency 6: Delegation – Effectively assigns work tasks to others in ways that provide learning experiences for them and in ways that ensure the efficient operation of the school.

During the structure building phase of MTSS implementation, there came a point where we had to delegate teacher responsibilities and form teams. Being new to Corinth Holders High, I decided it was best to collaborate with my partnering administrator to decide on which teachers would be the best fit for the role. After defining the teachers and teams, we spoke with the teachers with their PLC's and communicated the duties and responsibilities.

Competency 7: Dialogue/Inquiry – Is skilled in creating a risk-free environment for engaging people in conversations that explore issues, challenges or bad relationships that are hindering school performance.

One of the first things I did during my residency at Corinth Holders was to informally interview each staff member to find out one personal thing of interest to them. This not only completed a project for the Human Resources class, it assisted in forming relationships with each staff member. When it came time for a crucial conversation, it helped to make uncomfortable situations more manageable.

Competency 8: Emotional intelligence – Is able to manage oneself through self awareness and self management and is able to manage relationships through empathy, social awareness and relationship management. This competency is critical to building strong, transparent, trusting relationships throughout the school community.

I believe one way to foster transparency is to model transparency. At the beginning of the school year, I created a short Google Slides presentation to introduce myself as well as communicate my values and vision. Doing this opened many doors to personal conversations with staff than might not have happened otherwise.

Competency 9: Environmental Awareness – Becomes aware and remains informed of external and internal trends, interests and issues with potential impacts on school policies, practices, procedures and positions.

As COVID began to wind down during the 2021-22 school year, responsibility for communications, tracking and reporting cases became one of my duties. I had to constantly keep a finger on the pulse of the county COVID rates and updated protocols for contact tracing as well as stay abreast of reporting responsibilities. We had several communication spreadsheets for the school to be updated as well.

Competency 10: Global Perspective – Understands the competitive nature of the new global economy and is clear about the knowledge and skills students will need to be successful in this economy.

One of the most fun activities during my time at Corinth Holders was to walk around during our College and Career Fair and speak with students about their goals for the future. I was able to encourage some who were undecided by using my career path as an example. Those who knew what they wanted to be when they graduated needed help in deciding what classes to take and finding community experiences were available to help them explore their interests further.

Competency 11: Judgment – Effectively reaching logical conclusions and making high quality decisions based on available information. Giving priority and caution to significant issues. Analyzing and interpreting complex information.

The power went out at the school due to an automobile accident early one morning. The county decided it was best to dismiss early as power would not be restored until afternoon. I was put in charge of bus dismissals, which was challenging as we shared buses with elementary and middle schools. Using the map below, I was able to determine which buses to depart first, and organize the students waiting in the cafeteria by their bus number.

Competency 12: Organizational Ability – Effectively plans and schedules one’s own and the work of others so that resources are used appropriately, such as scheduling the flow of activities and establishing procedures to monitor projects.

Once the process of MTSS began, we decided at the beginning of the second semester it would be good to have an overview of our goals for the end of the year. The county provided a framework to complete this process and doing so gave us the vision needed to end the year successfully. This facilitated dates for upcoming benchmarks, how many students were currently in process and seeing growth and implementation adjustments needed.

Competency 13: Personal Ethics and Values – Consistently exhibits high standards in the areas of honesty, integrity, fairness, stewardship, trust, respect, and confidentiality.

Being the lead contact and manager of a new program at Corinth Holders presented many opportunities for honest dialogue with our staff. I had to learn the program, then train the staff, then manage the outcomes both positive and negative. The program itself is widely underdeveloped and became the source of much angst among all stakeholders. The following example of an email is one I sent frequently as I worked to maintain trust and respect in the midst of this ongoing implementation problem.

Competency 14: Personal Responsibility for Performance – Proactively and continuously improves performance by focusing on needed areas of improvement and enhancement of strengths; actively seeks and effectively applies feedback from others; takes full responsibility for one’s own achievements.

Each week through my reflections, I described in detail any situation that took a substantial amount of my time to resolve. I always looked forward to the feedback from my Cohort Director and Executive Coach as they provided much needed perspective and analysis of my actions. Putting their feedback into practice truly assisted with my ongoing growth and confidence.

Competency 15: Responsiveness – Does not leave issues, inquiries or requirements for information go unattended. Creates a clearly delineated structure for responding to requests/situations in an expedient manner.

I always appreciated administrators who responded to messages and emails within 24 hours, so I decided to make this a best practice as well. Throughout the year, I was finding it difficult to prioritize responses with a full inbox and the need to be in several places at once. I developed a star system within my inbox whereas I could quickly assign a star color immediately after reading the email, then respond according to color after school dismissed.

Competency 16: Results Orientation – Effectively assumes responsibility. Recognizes when a decision is required. Takes prompt action as issues emerge. Resolves short-term issues while balancing them against long-term goals.

Managing the MTSS process became especially strategic when we began exiting students from the process. When an interventionist submitted a student for exiting, I placed that student on the next DPST agenda, requested input from the teacher of the student and examined their overall grades and any behavior referrals. All of this data was brought before the committee for discussion and decision making. Some students were recommended for continuation of MTSS interventions, requiring me to notify the student and interventionist as to why the decision was made.

Competency 17: Sensitivity – Effectively perceives the needs and concerns of others; deals tactfully with others in emotionally stressful situations or in conflict. Knows what information to communicate and to whom. Relates to people of varying ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

During my time at CHHS, I encountered an EC students who was especially drawn to me. I continually encouraged her and talked to her in the halls until she began visiting me in my office during each transition. Because the front office is a space of confidentiality and disciplinary situations, it became necessary to talk to her about the appropriateness of her visits. The following email is an example of my response to one of her requests to visit.

Competency 18: Systems Thinking – Understands the interrelationships and impacts of school and district influences, systems and external stakeholders, and applies that understanding to advancing the achievement of the school or team.

During the beginning of the year teacher workdays, our administrative team divided the county's required trainings into a jigsaw activity. Each administrator took a piece and developed a presentation that would fulfill the district's requirement for the teachers. We then communicated a rotation schedule. As a result, all required county and site based training was completed in one day, leaving the remaining workdays for the teachers to use as they wished. My section was on Flextime and SMART lunch options.

Competency 19: Technology – Effectively utilizes the latest technologies to continuously improve the management of the school and enhance student instruction.

The most challenging entity of my responsibilities at Corinth Holders was the management of the FlexTime system. I had to learn the system myself, then train the staff on how to schedule activities and manage their rosters. FlexTime had never been used at a large school, and presented some challenges for the programmers. I managed problem tickets for the system and organized Zoom calls with the programmers to help resolve our issues. This continues to be an ongoing process, but one by one we are working out the issues.

Competency 20: Time Management – Effectively uses available time to complete work tasks and activities that lead to the achievement of desired work or school results. Runs effective meetings.

A best practice I continue to use is to create a meeting agenda with time allotments attached. Running an effective meeting that keeps attendees focused and interested is an important goal for successful outcomes. It also lets attendees know exactly what to expect and shows respect for their time.

I also utilize Google Calendar for every-day accountability of my time. Scheduling absolutely everything ensures achieving the goal of first things first and begin with the end in mind.

Competency 21: Visionary – Encourages imagineering by creating an environment and structure to capture stakeholder dreams of what the school could become for all the students.

At the conclusion of my Problem of Practice presentation, I presented a slide on the recommendations for moving forward into the next school year. Thinking about all aspects of MTSS and the various groups of people involved, I developed six different activities I believe would truly assist administration next year in continuing the implementation journey successfully. We have already begun working on several of these recommendations and are excited about what this might mean for our students who participate in MTSS next year.