A friend of mine wrote this piece recently. He writes,
“In my principalship days, the role was incredibly challenging. After leading a small high school that I helped found, I became the principal of a new and very large comprehensive high school. I served for three years, and then it all caught up to me. The combination of grievances, lagging construction woes, overall enrollment (by 1000), and the typical grinding issues campus leaders face all took their collective toll. After year three, I was fried. My own children wondered why I was so edgy and exhausted all the time. Family first, so I took a good haircut and entered higher education as a tenure track professor.”
“I often look back on that time without regret, but instead with, ‘What could I have done to hang in there longer?’ I wanted to lead the school, of course. That is what I signed up for. What did I lack? I was solid on teaching and learning, assessment, and the whole curriculum, instruction and assessment side of education. But something was amiss. Well, up reflection and new awareness, this former principal will admit he lacked AT LEAST ample resilience, self-awareness, and intentionality, all traits of a highly effective leader.”
“2023. I can’t imagine a campus principal’s role these days in our K-12 schools. And I rub elbows with campus and district leaders all the time. I would be lying if I told you I really understand what the role TODAY is like.”
“However, I do know this much. Among the deep challenges leaders in K-12 schools are facing whether urban, rural, or suburban, are prevalent. The include, but are not limited to:
- Disgruntled and aggressive parents like never seen before
- Much deeper and more frequent student misbehavior
- School safety
- Social media slamming
- Attracting and retaining teachers
- Political headwinds
- Addressing learning gaps/loss
- Accountability ratings”
“Leadership carries with it the promise of growth and the challenge of navigating through unchartered territories. But how does a leader evolve equipped for these current challenges? How do they not become the former me, a casualty of the role? The answer lied in the transformative journey of executive coaching. Not mentoring. Not technical assistance. Executive coaching that transforms leaders into the best versions of themselves. Remember that principal I told you about above? He REALLY needed an executive coach. Let me explain why.”
“The executive coaching that I am talking about is to transform leaders to become the best versions of themselves. This takes a highly talented and credentialed coach, such as coaches who are International Coaching Federation (ICF) certified. Why an executive coach for campus leaders? Well, principals are analogous to CEO’s. They are running highly complex learning organizations with students, teachers and families all impacted by their leadership. While the school may be the unit of change, the principal is the catalyst for change and improvement. Principals must be at their best.”
“However, what happens if the catalyst is tired, bruised and worn out from the role? As the second most impactful role on a campus impacting achievement, the principal HAS to be the best version of himself or herself. That’s a big ask in today’s K-12 schools, even for veteran leaders. In fact, if you are in social media groups that feature principals, you will see even the strong veteran leaders often post with deep sadness and frustration that they ‘just can’t do this anymore,” looking for ways out and what to do next. I get it. But there is a way to mitigate this.”
“Guess what? It turns out when a leader engages with an ICF certified executive coach, the benefits are remarkable. The coached leader winds up with the traits I lacked: MUCH improved self-awareness, resilience, intentionality, self-care and much more. But do not take my word for it. Research provides the benefits and impact that executive coaching has on leaders.”
“A meta-analysis identified over 70 positive outcomes from executive coaching, grouped into 11 categories based on 64 screened studies (Athanasopoulou and Dopson, 2018). Three types of positive outcomes for the leader were found: improved personal development, positive behavioral changes towards others, and improved work performance. The study also found executive coaching helps improve resilience, workplace well-being, reduces stress, and improves planning. Finally, the study also found positive organizational-level effects in handling organizational change.”
“A second thorough study found the benefits of coaching for school leaders come from various domains. Here’s a synthesis of the outcomes concerning coaching from Zuberbuhler, Salanova, and Martinez:
Enhanced Leadership Skills…
Personal Development…
Behavioral Changes…
Improved Work Performance…
Reduced Stress and Improved Well-being…
Organization Benefits…
Higher Work Engagement…”
“Imagine if ALL campus leaders had these positive outcomes by engaging with a highly credentialed coach. Recall I mentioned the school is the unit of change, while the leader is the catalyst for change and improvement. A well-coached leader makes a powerful, effective leader. No doubt about it.”
I could have written this piece fifteen years ago. But now I would have to change a few things.
No doubt coaching makes a difference. But why are we coaching principals? Why aren’t we coaching learners?
Why is a school the unit of change? Why isn’t the learner the unit of change?
What we might want to do is to use all of this coaching research, including the ICF credentials, and apply it to developing young learners that can define, plan, execute, and evaluate their own learning.
Let’s focus on the right unit of change – the young learner.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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