I’ll be honest, as a supervisor and district superintendent, it was often tough to remember who did what well? I do know that a few leaders made it easier for me. Here are a few tips on how great leaders “lead up” through this process whether you are in the education world or otherwise.
- Stage 1: Start Small – Be sure that your boss hears the great news that you hear. Oftentimes your boss is too far from the work to really see your day-to-day interactions and the success stories, so bring them the good news! Send over a copy of a “thank you” email that one of your staff sent you. Include a note “Hey boss, I am not sure if you knew I was working on staff morale (or whatever makes sense here), but it looks like I am finally having some success!”. Note: you are not “creating” positive press yet at this stage, simply passing it along.
- Stage 2: Remind Them of Your Goals – If you didn’t agree with your leader on your goals at the beginning of the year, well this one’s going to hurt… If you did agree on goals, great! Now you must report out on your progress along the way. Remind me, as your supervisor, what the goals were… “Hey, just a heads up that this part of the project we agreed on is done! Two parts left and I know they’ll fall into place soon!”. Mid-year reminders help me remember what we agreed upon, AND it keeps me from giving you new “goals” throughout the year because I have forgotten what your real goals were.
- Stage 2: Part B…Remind Me of your Struggles – Everyone has struggles and failures; if you don’t, then your work is not aiming high enough. Telling me that you are struggling with something reminds me of the hard work that you are doing. If I don’t hear about your struggles all year long, then I wonder if your goals were tough enough?? Don’t get me wrong, I do not need to take on your problems as the leader, just give me some assurance that you’ve “got it”. This is IMPORTANT… in the end, if you are successful, then I watched you grow through struggle. If you didn’t meet your goal, then I can look back and know that we had at least talked about it and I was aware.
- Stage 3: Create Positive Press – This is where the experts win. Leaders who know their staff, parents, “customers” if you will, are always able to point to “pockets of success”. If you feel comfortable, survey your staff on how you are doing as a leader. If you are still growing as a leader, then maybe you survey only on certain work you have been striving to improve upon. If your staff are not your greatest fans, then what about your student’s parents? Just your PTA? How can you as a leader tell me through outsiders’ opinions that you are doing great? I need to hear from someone else how you are doing, and much of the time, only the negative information is reported to me, show me the positives!
- Stage 4: Self-Reflect – If your leader is not asking for your self-reflection during your evaluation, then they are missing the real opportunity! What have you learned this year? What would you have done differently? How will you train over the summer to improve? If I cannot see that you are self-reflective as your leader, then I will feel the need to “let you know” where you are lacking; if YOU tell me how you are going to improve, then I have little to say except to ask “how can I support you?”.
- Step 5: Make This Easy For Your Leader – Wrap it all up in a nice tight bow. Before I ask for your “year in review”, send it along my direction. You may have sent me 10 positive accolades in emails from staff during the year, now pull them all together with your whole packet! Send me your goals (with summaries), send your surveys, your data on improvement, and your self-reflection. And be sure to send it to me before I begin writing your evaluation! I don’t need to go back and search for the positive accolades you sent me, they are right in front of me! You have done well as a teacher or a leader, now celebrate your success with a bit of humility as you look towards goals in the next great year!
- Step 6: Summarize and Set Goals – After the evaluation, don’t let the new year start without goals in place. Two weeks after you are evaluated, be sure and send back what areas of growth you want to work on. Gain my acceptance early, as your leader, and I will feel much better that we are both on the same track to success!