A Framework Aspiring School Leaders Can Use to Build Their Professional Capacity

Over the past two years, I’ve interviewed more than 80 educational leaders across the United States and a few from Canada and Australia. This was a personal project to learn as much as possible about school leadership. The process pushed me out of my comfort zone, and some major themes emerged. I’ve turned several of these themes into what I call the Leadership FRAMEwork: 

• Find opportunities 
• Relationships  
• Align your values, goals, and passions
• Master your craft
• Execute and take action 

There’s an underlying theme of failure in the FRAMEwork. This is not a negative. You will hit roadblocks the first time you attempt to put the framework into practice. Failure is a milestone and learning opportunity, not an endpoint. 

For example, I wanted to write about all I’d learned through interviews and other work. I wrote one of my first educational articles about how school administrators can use mindfulness practices. I submitted the article to five outlets, and it was rejected by all of them. Each time it was denied, I tweaked it or added something I’d learned since the last time. 

I submitted it to Edutopia, and they rejected it, too—but the editor saw something in it and asked me to rewrite it with a new focus. I did just that, and the article was published. This has led to multiple organizations reaching out to me to present or speak about mindfulness in education. Each “failure” pushed me to learn and refine my work. 

Here’s my advice to aspiring administrators for embracing failure and learning, as well as using the Leadership FRAMEwork to transition into leadership. 

Find Opportunities

We can’t wait for people to hand us things. In my interviews, a common theme was the need to go out looking for opportunities to lead and grow. If you notice something that needs to be fixed, why can’t you be the person who does it? 

Find opportunities to demonstrate leadership. There are many ways to do this. If you’re a coach, look for head coaching opportunities. If you teach at a high school with department heads, try to get one of those roles. Any school will have opportunities for teachers to step up. If your school has no opportunities that you’re aware of, talk to your administration and ask how you can be a leader in the community. 

One of my favorite things is when teachers ask to help me with the master schedule. It not only takes some of the burden off my plate, but also increases buy-in from the staff because teachers had input in it. You can also look for opportunities at the district level. My district always seeks teachers to volunteer on different committees. 

Relationships

In education, we know the most important thing is our relationships with students. Relationships are equally key when expanding your network. If you’re working on a problem, whom could you reach out to for help? Educators got into this profession to help others. If you want to talk with someone you don’t know, send them a message, and you’ll be surprised by how many people say yes to a meeting. 

For aspiring leaders, building authentic relationships with current school leaders is a great way to get your foot in the door. Do you know your assistant principal or principal well? Spend time asking them about their job and letting them know you’re interested in leadership. Have you worked in multiple locations? Reach out to your previous administration to talk leadership. 

Alignment

Align your values, goals, and passions. I’ve previously written about this topic, and the main idea is that there must be a connection between these three things. You’re much more likely to achieve your goals when there is alignment. 

Is school leadership something you’re passionate about? Does it fit with your core values and goals? If not, that will make the transition harder. If it does match, nothing will stop you in your pursuit. Spend 20–30 minutes going through the above reflection activity. It’s worth the time to help you determine if this transition will be a good fit for you. 

Master your craft

The best leaders are always learning. They know that they’ve never arrived, so when they notice an area they need to improve upon, they work to learn more about that deficiency. Leaders work to surround themselves with people who are smarter in certain areas than they are. Having a diverse team of people around will help you continue to grow.

What professional development do you need in order to take that next leadership step? Demonstrate your willingness to keep learning and growing. Do you need to get a coach? Go to a conference? Sign up for some graduate classes? At a minimum, find podcasts, books, and/or articles to keep learning. 

Execute and take action 

Barbara Smith, a Canadian principal and author of six books, told me, “Theory without action is useless.” If you want to make an impact in education, you can’t spend all of your time learning and talking with people about what is going on. You need to take action. 

You’ll never be completely ready for that next step. Research shows that women will wait until they meet every job qualification before applying. That said, you can’t be considered for a job if you don’t apply. You will fail along the way; that’s just part of the journey. Don’t let that deter you from trying. You could get the first job you apply for, or you could apply for a few years before getting one. I’ve met people in both situations. Either way, you have to keep trying. Ask for feedback along the way, and then act to work on that and improve. 

The Leadership FRAMEwork is a model that can be used in many different scenarios, but it’s certainly applicable to aspiring leaders. The steps are done concurrently. Any change takes time, but I’ve found that it is worth it.