WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:12.059 --> 00:00:18.119 Welcome to Transformative Principal, where I help you stop putting out fires and start leading. 00:00:18.629 --> 00:00:20.129 I'm your host, Jethro Jones. 00:00:20.129 --> 00:00:22.829 You can follow me on Twitter at Jethro Jones. 00:00:22.829 --> 00:00:22.889 Okay. 00:00:35.545 --> 00:00:37.945 Welcome to Transformative Principal. 00:00:38.155 --> 00:00:39.445 I'm so glad you're here. 00:00:39.505 --> 00:00:40.375 I'm Jess Jones. 00:00:41.935 --> 00:00:49.765 Transformative Principal is a proud member of the BE Podcast Network, and you can find a podcast for anything that you are interested there. 00:00:50.635 --> 00:00:52.195 And if you don't find a podcast that you're 00:00:53.335 --> 00:00:53.635 to me. 00:00:53.755 --> 00:00:54.625 Let's make one. 00:00:54.655 --> 00:00:55.585 That will be awesome. 00:00:57.400 --> 00:00:58.300 Today I'm excited to 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:00.460 program. 00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:10.510 He is the principal at Yardville Yardville Elementary School and he is the author of four books, his latest, which is called Autopilot Practical Productivity for School Leaders. 00:01:11.350 --> 00:01:12.820 we're gonna talk about a lot of the stuff in there. 00:01:12.820 --> 00:01:18.520 And he also runs the website, four O'clock Faculty, which you can find at four o'clock faculty.com. 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:21.400 welcome to Transformative Principle. 00:01:23.897 --> 00:01:26.557 I'm glad to be here and, uh, can't wait to chat. 00:01:26.642 --> 00:01:27.082 We 00:01:27.130 --> 00:01:27.550 also. 00:01:27.550 --> 00:01:38.740 So, uh, the book, autopilot Practical Productivity for School Leaders is, uh, something that I've been a big fan of for a long time, and I hope we can get into some nerdy stuff about it here in a little bit. 00:01:38.740 --> 00:01:46.270 But the way that you have kind of set this up is that you encourage principals find a way to run the school before the school runs you. 00:01:46.270 --> 00:01:47.055 What does that mean? 00:01:50.162 --> 00:01:55.942 have a lot of administrators in schools and a lot of school leaders who are struggling right now. 00:01:56.322 --> 00:01:57.602 So there's a lot on their plate. 00:01:57.842 --> 00:02:01.302 There's more that's constantly added to their plate every day. 00:02:01.982 --> 00:02:09.362 And I think it's about finding a way to get into some of the strategies that are going to help you set up those systems to be more successful. 00:02:09.622 --> 00:02:26.257 So, minimizing some of the things that, Maybe you shouldn't be doing, uh, maximizing the time that you have for the important stuff and, uh, really helping administrators to find a way to, to do more, uh, with less. 00:02:26.457 --> 00:02:32.937 And, uh, I think that's why we need to really focus on productivity for, uh, those school leaders. 00:02:33.220 --> 00:02:33.460 Yeah. 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:35.770 You know, I have a little bit of a different take to this. 00:02:35.770 --> 00:02:37.960 I think that principals should do less. 00:02:38.350 --> 00:02:41.500 Uh, you're talking about finding a way to do more with less. 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:43.510 I think principals should just do less. 00:02:43.750 --> 00:02:49.960 And, uh, there are so many things that we are quote unquote supposed to do in schools. 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:58.330 I think we need to take a step back and first figure out what is actually essential and what is just nice to have done. 00:02:58.690 --> 00:03:00.370 Uh, what, what are your thoughts on that, rich? 00:03:02.042 --> 00:03:07.802 Yeah, I think one of the biggest things that, uh, school leaders struggle with is elimination, right? 00:03:07.902 --> 00:03:13.362 So a lot of those things on our plate, we kind of look at and, um, some of it's nostalgia, right? 00:03:13.422 --> 00:03:14.902 We've, we've done this for a long time. 00:03:14.982 --> 00:03:16.102 We've always been doing this. 00:03:16.202 --> 00:03:17.322 Let's continue to do it. 00:03:17.862 --> 00:03:26.422 Uh, but I think when school leaders can get rid of some of those things, uh, one of my biggest pieces of advice for, um, school leaders is to, uh, do it the right way. 00:03:26.432 --> 00:03:27.892 A time inventory, right? 00:03:27.992 --> 00:03:30.612 Like, how are you actually spending your time during the day? 00:03:31.072 --> 00:03:32.812 Uh, what is taking up most of your time? 00:03:33.132 --> 00:03:45.192 Uh, figuring that out and if it's things that you can either delegate or automate, um, really taking those things off of your plate, uh, is really the key to, to making your life a lot more easier as the school leader. 00:03:46.555 --> 00:04:00.505 I think that time inventory is so important and had a little email course for years called Ideal Week where people can go to Jethro site slash Ideal week, sign up for uh, an email list, uh, and it will. 00:04:00.565 --> 00:04:08.665 Walk you through every day for five days, how to do that time inventory, what you can eliminate, how you can manage that, your time better, that kind of thing. 00:04:08.875 --> 00:04:15.445 What's your advice for doing a time inventory or a time audit of how you're spending your time? 00:04:15.445 --> 00:04:16.405 What does that look like to you? 00:04:18.477 --> 00:04:22.457 So I think it's, uh, really, you could start with your calendar, right? 00:04:22.497 --> 00:04:25.437 Because I think your calendar shows a lot in terms of how you spend your time. 00:04:25.817 --> 00:04:30.097 Now, now some school leaders don't block everything out on their calendar. 00:04:30.617 --> 00:04:36.777 Um, I think that's probably the first place to start is, you know, um, putting everything onto your calendar. 00:04:36.957 --> 00:04:42.337 So if there are times when you're fighting fires within the building, making sure that those things are documented. 00:04:42.357 --> 00:04:46.957 So, you know, you know, today I put out 12 fires and didn't really get to anything else. 00:04:46.957 --> 00:04:54.652 So I think for, you know, It could be as simple as, you know, pen and paper on the desk, um, jotting down what's going on throughout the day. 00:04:54.932 --> 00:05:04.792 Uh, but I think it does start with the calendar and making sure that you're, uh, recording everything that you're actually doing, uh, so that you can look back on that and see if, um, it's worthwhile. 00:05:05.015 --> 00:05:21.245 Yeah, I, I think that that thing of documenting things that don't typically go on your calendar is really important because every day as a principal, you run into these things that aren't on your calendar, but it seems like they take up all of your time. 00:05:21.655 --> 00:05:23.665 And, and that is a really. 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:26.950 Difficult thing to recognize. 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:46.120 Um, I have this little tool, which is called a, uh, it used to be called Timer, which is a, it's a eight sided dice thing basically that fits in the palm of my hand, and I use that to, uh, swap between different modes of work each day. 00:05:46.420 --> 00:05:47.890 And it keeps track of what I'm doing. 00:05:47.890 --> 00:05:52.060 There's also an app that I can just start that thing and say, this is what I'm working on. 00:05:52.450 --> 00:05:56.680 And this kind of intentional design about your 00:05:56.912 --> 00:05:58.312 Okay. 00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:00.310 to what you're doing is valuable. 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:09.280 The real problem with that is, uh, when you're not at your desk, then it's hard to flip that thing to the right side that says, this is what I'm working on. 00:06:09.280 --> 00:06:09.380 And so. 00:06:10.375 --> 00:06:15.355 Taking the time to really do that is Im, is super important and can be really valuable. 00:06:16.375 --> 00:06:22.195 there are you, one of the things you said a couple minutes ago was figuring out what you can automate and what does that 00:06:22.332 --> 00:06:23.392 Yeah. 00:06:23.425 --> 00:06:23.875 today? 00:06:23.875 --> 00:06:27.985 Because automation looked very different just five years ago. 00:06:28.165 --> 00:06:30.250 So what does that look like to you right now? 00:06:33.342 --> 00:06:40.102 I always talk about how automation, a lot of people think about automation in terms of technology and what that looks like. 00:06:40.742 --> 00:06:46.222 Within my school, I'm a pre -k to 5 building, so we have elementary students in our building. 00:06:46.862 --> 00:06:49.602 But I think a lot of automation can actually happen within a building. 00:06:49.612 --> 00:06:54.912 By by delegation, right is automating through other people doing things. 00:06:55.312 --> 00:07:03.172 So one of the examples from our school is we have, um, our morning announcers. 00:07:03.292 --> 00:07:04.552 So our 5th grade morning announcers. 00:07:04.752 --> 00:07:10.292 So I've been in other buildings where the school principal does the announcements or maybe it's a school counselor or someone like that. 00:07:10.672 --> 00:07:12.092 I basically train. 00:07:12.242 --> 00:07:16.462 Our fifth grade students at the beginning of the school year for about two weeks. 00:07:16.582 --> 00:07:18.522 It takes me to get through everything with them. 00:07:19.102 --> 00:07:21.882 We have a full template for how the announcements go every morning. 00:07:22.362 --> 00:07:30.102 I train each of them in each of the different roles of the morning announced team, and after that two weeks, it's automated, right? 00:07:30.162 --> 00:07:31.402 They can do it any day. 00:07:31.882 --> 00:07:41.797 Um, any of them can do any of the roles and, um, You know, I hand them a schedule and say, here's when you're announcing, uh, and it's great because it takes that off of my plate. 00:07:42.057 --> 00:07:43.597 Um, it's an automated piece. 00:07:43.677 --> 00:07:44.337 It gives. 00:07:44.637 --> 00:07:53.537 Those students, that leadership piece as well, helps them to kind of develop their own, um, their own leadership and empowers them to do so. 00:07:54.017 --> 00:07:58.577 So, I don't think the automation always has to be a technology piece. 00:07:58.677 --> 00:08:01.757 It could be having others help you with some of that stuff. 00:08:02.677 --> 00:08:13.167 Um, you know, and, uh, You know, I think what we're kind of talking about here is how, how it looked a lot different, you know, five years ago than it does today. 00:08:13.667 --> 00:08:21.887 Um, I think it's that power of, of AI and what that can actually do for us, uh, to help us, uh, take some of those tasks off of our plate. 00:08:23.435 --> 00:08:26.110 So, uh, we'll talk about AI more in a second. 00:08:26.110 --> 00:08:30.610 'cause you got a whole chapter on this, uh, uh, on this, uh, automation. 00:08:30.610 --> 00:08:30.970 Thing. 00:08:30.970 --> 00:08:34.990 And really, uh, a lot of it is about empowering and delegating others. 00:08:34.990 --> 00:08:37.960 So definitely want people to check that out more in depth. 00:08:37.960 --> 00:08:45.370 But I want to pick your brain a little bit more about this because a lot of value in having the students do the announcements. 00:08:45.370 --> 00:08:59.440 In my schools, we created a daily news crew that did a livestream video that they sent, uh, to the teachers in, in the first school I was at, we actually plugged it into our, uh, in-house video system. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:00.070 'cause every. 00:09:00.670 --> 00:09:05.050 Every classroom had a TV in it and we could broadcast into every room, and that was, 00:09:05.467 --> 00:09:06.867 Yes. 00:09:06.867 --> 00:09:07.007 Okay. 00:09:07.330 --> 00:09:11.770 the benefit that that gave from me, one, not doing the announcements, I would, I would 00:09:11.887 --> 00:09:12.827 Are you? 00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:16.360 kids got everything ready and got everything set up and, and did 00:09:16.447 --> 00:09:17.847 Okay. 00:09:17.860 --> 00:09:18.820 for the announcements. 00:09:19.150 --> 00:09:22.690 What was so cool about that is that the kids had this feeling of. 00:09:24.295 --> 00:09:25.885 Of contributing to the 00:09:25.977 --> 00:09:28.797 Podcast is brought to you by Broadband. 00:09:29.035 --> 00:09:31.015 like it mattered, that they were there 00:09:31.157 --> 00:09:32.387 Broadband is the place for you. 00:09:32.425 --> 00:09:39.895 for me that was a huge, uh, boon for all of those kids to see what they could to contribute to the school. 00:09:40.765 --> 00:09:46.645 Can you talk a little bit about that empowerment piece and how it makes people feel like they're such valuable members of the community? 00:09:48.697 --> 00:09:50.837 Yeah, it's, it's really that ownership piece. 00:09:51.457 --> 00:09:57.317 Um, you know, there were, there was a time when I was leaving the building one day, I had a meeting off, off campus. 00:09:57.497 --> 00:10:05.557 And as I was leaving, I had to walk through the playground where kids were outside playing and had a student stop me and say, you know, who's, who's going to be in charge while you're gone? 00:10:05.557 --> 00:10:07.397 And my answer was everyone. 00:10:07.567 --> 00:10:07.967 Right. 00:10:08.167 --> 00:10:13.647 And I think that's the ownership that you're looking for, uh, for, um, for your school, right? 00:10:13.707 --> 00:10:17.827 You want those students to, to feel like they're needed at the school, right? 00:10:17.907 --> 00:10:19.947 To, to take some piece of ownership. 00:10:20.627 --> 00:10:24.247 Uh, we actually do our fifth grade leadership, uh, roles. 00:10:24.367 --> 00:10:28.707 So, um, morning announcer is just one of those, but we have several other roles within the building. 00:10:28.807 --> 00:10:31.207 We have peer leaders, we have, uh, safety patrol members. 00:10:31.207 --> 00:10:36.227 Um, we actually ask our students in four at the end of fourth grade, uh, think about. 00:10:36.367 --> 00:10:42.327 Maybe a couple of the jobs that they want for the following year, the leadership roles and they have to write a resume. 00:10:42.607 --> 00:10:53.667 So they get some of those skills where they're thinking about what it is that they do well, what skills they may have and how they might lend those skills to the school. 00:10:54.267 --> 00:11:00.427 And I think the more that we can empower students to do those things, those are the things that they're actually interested in. 00:11:01.167 --> 00:11:06.807 And several years ago, I was talking to one of our third grade students and it was a student who struggled. 00:11:07.162 --> 00:11:11.742 with getting things done in the classroom, like wouldn't do his work, wouldn't do his homework. 00:11:12.482 --> 00:11:17.782 Um, and this was a kid who was at home, you know, with his own YouTube channel. 00:11:18.222 --> 00:11:24.982 And so every day he was making videos that are going up on his YouTube channel, and it was trying to harness that energy. 00:11:25.212 --> 00:11:37.252 Into helping him learn, and I think when we can do those things, give those students projects or different skills that help them to take their interest and bring them into school. 00:11:37.432 --> 00:11:43.192 I think that's more powerful than any worksheet or anything like that in the classroom. 00:11:43.905 --> 00:11:44.205 Yeah. 00:11:44.205 --> 00:11:44.895 Absolutely. 00:11:44.895 --> 00:11:57.255 And that's, that's one of the big amazing things as we transition, transition to talking a little bit about AI is what AI can do to personalize things for each and every student in front of us. 00:11:57.375 --> 00:11:58.485 And, um. 00:11:58.885 --> 00:12:26.290 You know, we're recording this in November and just today released that they are going to have chat GPT for teachers, which will be free for all K 12 teachers for the next, uh, 18 months or so, and being able to take a. A story, a problem, uh, something, and then instantly individualize it for everybody in your class is a really powerful thing. 00:12:26.650 --> 00:12:28.870 And I'm curious to see where this goes. 00:12:28.870 --> 00:12:35.950 We don't know exactly what it's gonna look like just yet because they're starting with a, uh, with about 150,000 teachers. 00:12:36.310 --> 00:12:36.760 Um. 00:12:37.195 --> 00:12:38.575 Uh, I'm sorry. 00:12:38.575 --> 00:12:44.395 Before they release a Tera Bay, they're starting with this smaller group of three districts, if I read the, uh, press release correctly. 00:12:44.815 --> 00:12:50.245 And, and so it's interesting to see what kinds of things these, these things can enable. 00:12:51.415 --> 00:12:57.145 What other ways do you see AI really impacting the day-to-day work of a principal? 00:12:59.657 --> 00:13:07.497 I do think it makes it a lot easier to handle some of the minute details, right? 00:13:07.577 --> 00:13:13.677 The minutiae, the administrivia where, you know, you're, you're responding to an email. 00:13:14.157 --> 00:13:16.257 I think it's just a time saver across the board. 00:13:16.257 --> 00:13:18.277 Using it in many ways. 00:13:19.277 --> 00:13:27.877 Scheduling, you know, managing all of those small details within the school day that used to take up a lot of time can be done. 00:13:28.042 --> 00:13:29.382 Instantly, almost now. 00:13:29.682 --> 00:13:37.722 So, um, I, I think as a time saver and just an efficient from an efficiency standpoint, I think it absolutely helps school leaders every day. 00:13:42.830 --> 00:13:50.870 And these little things, um, that are things that often need to be done, but we don't, uh, they take time. 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:56.060 These little things are really powerful where AI can step in and do that. 00:13:56.060 --> 00:14:02.205 You know, you used to create a, an Excel spreadsheet and do a mail merge and that kind of a thing, and now that can. 00:14:03.055 --> 00:14:16.435 Done even easier and more individualized with just a couple things and you say, Hey, I need to do this and recreate this for 10 different groups and it will rewrite the same message for a bunch of different people. 00:14:16.855 --> 00:14:24.775 And that kind of thing is, is really powerful and, and it really forces us to ask, going back to what we talked about before, um. 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:27.940 Do we really need to do those things? 00:14:28.270 --> 00:14:30.160 Uh, are those things essential? 00:14:30.460 --> 00:14:36.850 Maybe instead of sending an email, we need to pick up the phone and call somebody, and we have to really interrogate those things. 00:14:37.150 --> 00:14:40.750 What are some of your piece of advice for how to make smart decisions 00:14:40.752 --> 00:14:50.057 Oh, I think I think the big piece is, um, we always talk about the, uh, the person along with the AI, right? 00:14:50.177 --> 00:14:57.357 Where you're using it as a thought partner, um, you know, versus kind of just spitting out information and instantly sharing that. 00:14:57.837 --> 00:15:04.437 Um, so, you know, I think the term that, uh, Has been most popularized with that is the human in the loop, right? 00:15:04.517 --> 00:15:07.997 You want the human there to make sure that everything's going okay. 00:15:08.797 --> 00:15:18.537 I'm actually on our district's AI committee and we've been talking about what, um, how teachers should be using it, how students should be using it. 00:15:18.562 --> 00:15:30.782 Um, and we have kind of repurposed that phrase to the human in the lead, and I think that's really the big difference is not only are you in the loop, but you're leading that process, right? 00:15:30.882 --> 00:15:39.702 You're, um, deciding, um, number one on what your prompt looks like, um, and I think that's a key part of it is how are you prompting AI? 00:15:40.002 --> 00:15:41.302 Uh, what are you asking it? 00:15:41.382 --> 00:16:07.617 What information are you putting in there, um, to, um, Hopefully spit out exactly what it is that you're looking for, but then also taking that information on and making sure that when it is shared out, you know, there's no bias involved that you are really taking control of that process and not just using it as an instant time saver to to eliminate yourself within that role. 00:16:12.805 --> 00:16:22.645 Yeah, and there's a great quote from, uh, from Ethan Molik who is at UPenn, who's doing lot of good stuff on, on a AI stuff, and he recently said that. 00:16:23.485 --> 00:16:29.485 human in the loop is evolving from a human who fixes AI mistakes to human who directs AI work. 00:16:29.875 --> 00:16:35.155 And that is, uh, that's a big change from where it was just a couple years ago. 00:16:35.455 --> 00:16:41.065 But that really needs to be the, uh, the idea that the human needs to be in charge and leading. 00:16:41.065 --> 00:16:43.675 And I think that's, that's really important. 00:16:43.765 --> 00:16:44.185 Um. 00:16:44.610 --> 00:16:53.370 One, one other thing that I, that I want to talk about, uh, from your book is you talk about energy and you having the energy as a principal. 00:16:53.700 --> 00:16:59.910 Can you tell me a little bit about how you see that and what that looks like for, uh, the school leader and, 00:17:00.087 --> 00:17:05.667 Yeah, as I said earlier, I think we have a lot of administrators who are in school leaders who are getting. 00:17:05.952 --> 00:17:07.272 burnout, right? 00:17:07.412 --> 00:17:17.592 Um, and they're struggling to, to keep up with everything that keeps coming at us and they struggle to, to maintain the, um, energy to kind of fight those fires on a daily basis. 00:17:17.832 --> 00:17:35.152 So I think from the, from the energy perspective, I think you sometimes have to, um, close up shop, you know, and, um, uh, the other day I wrote a blog post about, um, the open door policy and how it's killing productivity, right? 00:17:35.392 --> 00:17:54.052 Um, And I think, you know, I've, I've been in a number of interviews over the years for administrative physicians, and I think nearly every candidate that we, you know, we've ever asked that question of what's your, what's your leadership management style, you know, and almost everyone spits out that answer of why I have an open door policy, right? 00:17:54.152 --> 00:17:55.672 People can come see me at any time. 00:17:56.092 --> 00:18:03.877 And I think when you have that open door, um, it invites everyone to dump Their problems on you. 00:18:03.957 --> 00:18:16.057 And I think that's what happens to a lot of school leaders across the board is those problems are dumped on them, you know, and I kind of use the phrase you're the problem solving vending machine at that point, right? 00:18:16.197 --> 00:18:17.757 Somebody is throwing in some change. 00:18:17.817 --> 00:18:20.577 They're giving you a problem and hopefully you're spinning out a solution. 00:18:21.237 --> 00:18:25.017 And I think when that happens, I think he can can burn you out. 00:18:25.137 --> 00:18:28.817 So, uh, I think it's important sometimes to close the door. 00:18:28.957 --> 00:18:44.937 When you're working on something meaningful, letting others know that you are putting that do not disturb sign on the door and letting them know that you're doing some meaningful, important work in there because even even if you have that open door policy and you do close your door, you're still going to get people knocking. 00:18:45.057 --> 00:18:46.697 You're still going to people trying to come in. 00:18:46.897 --> 00:18:51.857 So, um, I think from an energy perspective, I think sometimes we do have to close the door. 00:18:51.957 --> 00:18:54.207 We do have to make ourselves to close the door. 00:18:54.232 --> 00:18:55.232 Less available. 00:18:55.432 --> 00:19:03.372 I don't want to say unavailable, but less available, um, for, for some of the minutiae and, and making sure that we're taking on everybody else's problems. 00:19:03.372 --> 00:19:04.332 Thank 00:19:08.110 --> 00:19:08.870 Teachers have essential work. 00:19:09.145 --> 00:19:18.205 Work that they do that they cannot be disturbed from and get frustrated when they are disturbed from it, which is direct instruction teaching students. 00:19:18.535 --> 00:19:24.775 And it is perfectly acceptable for principals to have that work that they do without getting interrupted. 00:19:24.775 --> 00:19:24.955 And the 00:19:25.212 --> 00:19:25.492 you 00:19:25.555 --> 00:19:26.125 most people. 00:19:26.830 --> 00:19:27.910 Deal with is that they 00:19:27.972 --> 00:19:28.692 very much. 00:19:28.810 --> 00:19:36.040 issues that they, those things they need to work on and they do 'em at home at night instead of making it part of the school day. 00:19:36.520 --> 00:19:46.540 And I, I coach principals and I have for, for many years, nearly a decade now, and one of the things that I started doing was saying, we're just going to, we're 00:19:46.622 --> 00:19:49.032 We're going to be starting in about a minute. 00:19:49.222 --> 00:19:53.622 So I want to take a quick moment to remind you that the June 23rd election is not here yet. 00:19:53.635 --> 00:19:54.355 are gonna do it 00:19:54.402 --> 00:19:56.802 We still have the presidential elections, which are scheduled for July 1st. 00:19:56.802 --> 00:20:02.692 So we're going to be doing a lot of work on that, but I want to make it real clear that we're going to be working to get our elections done. 00:20:02.802 --> 00:20:07.937 So we're going to be getting it done, but we're also going to be doing a lot of work to I'm going to be talking about what's going on in the world. 00:20:08.095 --> 00:20:08.185 a 00:20:08.357 --> 00:20:12.167 And I'm going to talk briefly about some of the things that are going on. 00:20:12.167 --> 00:20:12.577 For the 00:20:12.595 --> 00:20:13.195 can start 00:20:13.557 --> 00:20:15.997 most part, most of the time, there's a lot happening on the internet, 00:20:16.105 --> 00:20:16.345 and 00:20:16.457 --> 00:20:18.097 not very easy to do the talk, 00:20:18.145 --> 00:20:18.415 to an 00:20:18.417 --> 00:20:20.017 and that's what we have here at this talk. 00:20:20.172 --> 00:20:37.892 I think it's also about training, uh, you know, our colleagues and our our staff on, um, you know, we we use this language with our elementary students, but, um, to to rate a problem on a scale of 1 to 10 right? 00:20:38.112 --> 00:20:39.532 Um, is this a 10 problem? 00:20:39.612 --> 00:20:40.572 Is this the 1 problem? 00:20:40.692 --> 00:20:42.212 Is it a 3 problem? 00:20:42.272 --> 00:20:46.132 Like, where is it on the spectrum of how big of a problem is this actually? 00:20:46.692 --> 00:20:48.412 And I think for. 00:20:49.742 --> 00:21:04.722 For our colleagues that are in the buildings, you know, I think it's about training them to figure out like, okay, you're you're at my door right now, making this into a big problem, a 10 problem, but it's really only a one or two, right? 00:21:04.842 --> 00:21:07.082 And I think for me, it's about. 00:21:07.167 --> 00:21:10.147 Staying pretty calm and even keeled, right? 00:21:10.587 --> 00:21:12.167 Not too high, not too low, ever. 00:21:12.967 --> 00:21:16.787 Um, and I think that does help to kind of calm others in those situations as well. 00:21:17.327 --> 00:21:22.067 But it is really helping others to kind of see what, what's an actual problem. 00:21:26.985 --> 00:21:27.855 Yeah, for sure. 00:21:27.855 --> 00:21:34.750 And a, a. Understanding how big of a problem something is, is another skill that needs to be developed. 00:21:34.750 --> 00:21:40.960 And we don't have time to go into that today, but I will, uh, ask you my final question, rich, which is this. 00:21:41.260 --> 00:21:45.880 What is one thing that a principal can do this week to be a Transformative 00:21:45.887 --> 00:21:49.847 So I think the biggest thing is, is finding that way to run the school before it runs you. 00:21:49.967 --> 00:21:52.412 So, um, I would say Elimination, right? 00:21:52.512 --> 00:21:53.772 That's the number one thing. 00:21:53.852 --> 00:22:00.852 So I think if the, um, school leaders out there can, can do a time audit, um, you know, take a look at their schedule tomorrow. 00:22:01.012 --> 00:22:01.872 What does it look like? 00:22:02.252 --> 00:22:03.432 Um, what's on their schedule? 00:22:03.512 --> 00:22:05.572 What are they doing that they can delegate to others? 00:22:05.872 --> 00:22:07.912 Um, what are they doing that they can automate? 00:22:08.172 --> 00:22:11.052 And, um, what are they doing that doesn't need to be done? 00:22:11.232 --> 00:22:11.452 Right? 00:22:11.532 --> 00:22:21.692 And I think if you can eliminate one thing from your plate this week, um, you know, I think that certainly makes you a much better leader going into going into the next week. 00:22:26.290 --> 00:22:26.530 Absolutely. 00:22:26.610 --> 00:22:27.725 I, I totally agree. 00:22:28.025 --> 00:22:29.105 Find something to eliminate. 00:22:29.105 --> 00:22:29.885 That's huge. 00:22:29.885 --> 00:22:32.090 Take something off your plate that makes a big deal. 00:22:32.345 --> 00:22:33.905 Difference once again. 00:22:33.965 --> 00:22:35.465 Uh, rich, thank you for being here. 00:22:35.465 --> 00:22:39.005 His book is Autopilot Practical Productivity for School Leaders. 00:22:39.365 --> 00:22:40.295 Go check that out. 00:22:40.295 --> 00:22:41.795 You can get it wherever books are sold. 00:22:41.795 --> 00:22:42.755 Amazon for sure. 00:22:42.755 --> 00:22:46.685 There's a link in the show notes at Transformative Principal dot org to that book. 00:22:46.745 --> 00:22:47.165 Rich, 00:22:48.005 --> 00:22:48.155 for 00:22:50.499 --> 00:22:51.745 Yeah, Jethro, thank you. 00:22:51.805 --> 00:22:52.165 Absolutely. 00:22:52.365 --> 00:22:54.025 It's been fun and I appreciate it.