8 Ways to Overcome Management Fatigue

As a school administrator, I remember always having the best intentions when it came to instructional leadership.  During every summer, my team and I would reflect on the past year and establish a better vision and plan for how we all would collectively work to improve learning.  In theory, we devised ambitious, yet attainable goals during these months, or so we thought. Then reality would strike. It began immediately upon school starting with meetings and more meetings.  These were then followed by back to school nights and athletic events.  Throw in constant emails, texts, paperwork, parent issues, and calendar notifications, and the reality of educational leadership manifested itself in the form of management, which often came at the expense of instruction and school culture.

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Now I am not saying management is not essential.  Effective school leaders can find a balance between the three. The challenge though is when the scale tips in the direction of management more time is spent here than is needed or wanted.  Herein lies the rub.  The digital age is both a blessing and a curse.  The latter takes form when administrators feel they are a slave to email, their calendars, and paperwork in the way of digital documents. Ask any school leader if this is what he or she honestly signed up for and the answer is most often a no. Management fatigue can be grueling.  It also takes an eye off the most critical job of any school leader – improving learning while developing a positive culture. 

I will be the first one to say that it is easier said than done when it comes to creating a balance between management, instruction, and school culture. It was a significant point of contention for me that finally came to a head when I reflected on this question:

How does the time I am spending actually impact learning?

In reality, the majority of my time was not being spent on improving instruction or building up school culture. Without a good focus on these areas, it is quite difficult to improve learning outcomes. The question above helped me to evaluate better where the majority of my time had to be spent. If it’s important, you will find a way. If not, then you will make an excuse. Don’t try to find the time to become a leader of learning. Make the time by committing to a few changes that will create a healthy balance between management and leadership that impacts the learning culture.  Below are eight ways to consider making this a reality.

1. Commit to getting into classrooms more. First off, you can’t fix problems or issues with instruction if you don’t know about them. It is also impossible to give teachers valuable and needed feedback for the same reasons.  One of the most instrumental changes I ever made as a principal was committing to getting in classrooms every day, whether for unannounced observations and non-evaluative walks and sticking to it. 
2. Build time into your calendar to write up observations. Here in lies another powerful way I broke free from the stranglehold my calendar had on me.  By turning the tables per se, I blocked time after every observation to write it up and in this case being at the mercy of my calendar was a good thing as time was directly spent on developing suggestions to improve instruction and learning. 
3. Lead professional learning. Don’t ask others to do what you are not willing to do yourself. By planning and facilitating workshops and breakout sessions in your respective school or district, the chances of the specific strategy taking hold increase.  Remember, you get what you model.
4. Attend professional learning. I know full well how tough it is to get out of your building or district for a day. However, you really need this break from management responsibilities as well as to give your brain a needed push.  It will also help keep you on the cutting edge of the latest strategies in education. Although difficult, you must resist the urge to check email and engage in work not related to the session. If need be, step out briefly to attend to this out of respect to the presenter. Be present at all times, not just physically.
5. Cover classes. Better yet, teach a class. The former is a bit more manageable than the latter. During my first two years as an administrator, I taught a section of biology and wished I had continued to do so. Covering classes so teachers can observe their peers or attend professional learning not only gets you out of the office but provides you with an opportunity to connect with kids.
6. Greet kids as they enter and leave the building. If you want this to work, then don’t plan meetings during this time and leave the device in your office.  There is no easier way to build culture and relationships with those who you serve by sharing a smile, handshake, or works of encouragement to start and end the day. 
7. Eat lunch with the kids to get a pulse on culture. I loved spending my lunch in the cafeteria talking to my students. Not only did it give me a longer time to eat and relax but I also was able to receive Minecraft tips that I would later share with my son. The conversations also gave me valuable insight into what we could do to meet the needs of our kids better. 
8. Delegate. The role of a leader is to create more leaders.  You cannot accomplish this if you do everything yourself.  When it comes to delegation, management tasks should be the first ones that are delved out.  Examples include meetings, testing schedules, and budget preparation. I had a role in all of this and more as an assistant principal but continued to be highly involved when I transitioned to the principalship.  Once I began to delegate more of these responsibilities out it freed up more time to focus on all of the above items.

Don’t let the managerial aspects of leadership drag you down. Everyone has the same amount of time during the day.  Go back to the original question I posed to determine how you are spending your time to be primarily a learning leader as opposed to a manager.  Difficult choices have to be made.  These are not them when it comes to lessening the burden of management. Yes, it will always be part of the job. Just don’t let it become the dominating component.