Learning Curves: A New Administrator's First Days on Job

As with anything new, there is a learning curve. For some, the learning curve is short and quick. But for others the learning curve can be as long as Route 66 out to California. Some curves are pot holed and filled with delays. Some are smooth sailing and a joy to ride on. I am not sure which curve I am on just yet, but I do know that in my short three months as a newly minted administrator, I have learned some important lessons. 

Growing up, I was always focused on what was going to come next in my life and had trouble appreciating the here and now. I secured a full time teaching position in the fall before my college graduation. I eagerly started my first teaching job and within three years had begun taking classes for my Master’s in educational leadership. 

I immediately knew I wanted to be a school leader. This year, I began working in a small K-6 district as a vice principal. Weighed down with the boxes that carried my principal books, binders and dreams, I loaded my car the first day and smiled ear- to-ear as I entered the new world of administration. It was my dream coming true at last! This is my time to put into action all of the beliefs 

I developed through my principal’s preparation program. Now, I am three months in and I find myself reflecting. Thinking about my new start has brought to the surface some forgotten “best practices” for leadership. 

For beginners, I am learning to accept not knowing everything and learning how to figure out what I don’t know. If there is a question, concern, or doubt I should be able to provide an answer. After all, I am an administrator now. Isn’t that my job? Wrong! My realization has been that I do not need to provide 

an answer to questions that I do not know. Honestly explaining that I am not sure and will look into the matter and get back to the appropriate person can save both time and energy. Retreating on an answer that I initially gave can cause a loss of trust with staff. 

Another misstep that I have caught myself making is not appreciating the ghosts of the school’s past. Every school has long-held traditions and practices. These beliefs make each school, community, or group of individuals who they are. For example, when I was a student attending North Hunterdon High School, we held the annual Can Game against Voorhees High School. We held pep rallies and planned our weekend around attending that particular football game. The game was not a championship game 

for the conference title. It was a tradition of neighborhood school verse neighborhood school with the winner holding the “Can” until the following year. To an outsider this event probably would seem trivial. All of those idiosyncrasies that may seem unimportant to some are time- honored traditions to others. They become apart of who we are as a collective group. Highly successful businesses like Facebook, Google, and 

Zappos have established workplace cultures that help to contribute to their success. The culture is unique, different, and becomes a part of who their employees are and what they believe in. Culture can make or break a company or a school and being the new kid on the block means maintaining neutrality to the importance of such activities. 

Tied to learning and respecting the background culture in a school is the idea that change should come quickly and should be widespread. This has been another difficult lesson for me. I’m someone who wants to jump in with eager enthusiasm to make things new and improved. After a week in my new position, I had a laundry list of items that I felt needed to be looked at or reviewed. These were varying in degree of importance from food items on the lunch menu to reworking an entire reading program. Recently I met with my former administrator who was kind enough to sit down and offer me some advice. Her first thought to me was: prioritize. 

“Gather information about the school, district, teachers, and their needs,” she said. “Use that information plan to work on the most pressing issues first and then move on to the issues that can take a back seat for awhile.” 

This was sound advice. Reflecting on the last three months, I jumped in with both feet and began to swim for my life which caused others to feel like they were riding a tidal wave. My intentions were honest and true, but my delivery sunk. Keeping in mind that my new position should be a marathon and not a sprint, I hope to slow down my energy and work to empower others with it, not drown them. 

This brings me to another important point for new school leaders; it can be lonely out there in the big, big world of administration. Feeling isolated within your school is a common theme in discussion circles of new principals. 

“You’re alone when surrounded by people. It’s an odd feeling,” related one new administrator in a recent meeting. “You can have a wonderful staff and support system just outside your door. But at the end of the day, you are making some decisions on your own and dealing with issues that come across your desk individually. That can be intimidating and frightening,” contributed an administrator in a small district where there is only one principal per building. Isolation can also bring stagnation to ideas and motivation. Especially for new administrators, maintaining professional relationships with other school leaders can help provide positive support in a variety of areas. Problems and situations can be looked at through new lenses. This is understandably an integral part of FEA’s beginning principal mentoring program, Leaders to Leaders.  “Reaching out to my mentor or other colleagues helps to bridge the spaces where I don’t have experience, but am faced with a decision. Just knowing that I can run an idea by someone helps to relieve those fears,” acknowledges one new principal who regularly networks with other budding administrators. 

Being new to a position is both motivating and terrifying. The whole world is at your feet and the open road is yours to travel. Like Robert Frost standing in his woods contemplating which path would lead him on a new adventure, a new principal stands at the threshold of their school building deciding which is the path that will make all the difference.