I try to practice mindful listening. I am genuinely curious about what people are
thinking. Which is probably a good
quality for a superintendent to have since it seems a lot of people want to
tell me how to run the school district.
I wasn’t always an effective listener. I remember developing the skill of listening
with an open mind and heart when, after serving a few years as rural superintendent,
I took a one-year job with the state department of education. As in every state, there are citizens who get
ticked-off at something that happened in their school or school district and
they decide they are just going to go right to the top – they try to get the
State Superintendent on the phone.
Often the state staff will have minimal or very old experience
working in a school district. They hate
to take those calls from citizens with complaints. Being a former superintendent, I had
background in a variety of topics, so I ended up being the go-to guy for that
individual who was calling the state superintendent to fix things back in his/her county.
Of course, it is easy to listen without bias when the
problem really isn’t yours to solve.
Almost all issues were not within the responsibility of the state to
decide. They were a local issue, purely
local control, so I would try to give them all the time they needed to run out
of wind and words. Then I would ask a
few clarifying questions. Then I would
restate to them what it sounded to me was the big issue. I might tell them why the principal might
take such action or why the school board made such a rule. Then I would coach them on who to call back
in their local district and what questions they should ask.
I only had that job one year. I moved to another county to be school
superintendent, but I continued to
develop and value the use of listening in leadership.
Today, I learn so much about the pulse of the district and
how our district efforts are having an impact in the classroom by keeping my
ear to the ground. I have monthly
advisory groups of staff and students and I’m in the schools a lot. Dropping into the staff room at lunch time can
be very enlightening. Some folks don’t
want to talk shop at the time, others grab me by lapels and tell me what’s on
their mind.
I encourage our district leaders to do the same. When they go to a school, go with a question
that would provide useful teacher or student feedback to your efforts. Ask it several times. Ask follow ups.
40 years ago it was called MBWA-Management By Wandering
Around. It still works. Go down to the floor where the work is being
done - where the children are taught to
read, to prove their answer, to collaborate in solving problems, to
create. That’s the only place you’ll
know what really is going on and when you know that, then you can lead them to
the next level of success.