There is not a single leadership program that can prepare you for leading an organization during a pandemic. It is challenging enough to lead an organization's day-to-day operations; it is a much more difficult to provide leadership during a national emergency.
I was excited to begin the first day of my first principal job at Dr. Hector P. Garcia Middle School in San Antonio on March 16, 2020. That excitement quickly turned to panic as the district shut down schools, extended spring break, and then moved all schooling remote. I was going to have to lead an entire campus from afar, without having met a single teacher or student in person.
During 11 weeks of virtual learning, I hosted leadership meetings and Google Meet sessions with leaders and teachers and tried to keep everyone calm during a very anxious time. I led online learning for students, trained teachers, checked on the mental wellbeing of staff, organized drive-by parades (where students decorated their families' cars and staff lined up to wave at them), recorded videos for students, monitored planning meetings, and also provided schooling at home for my own three children.
The situation was overwhelming, but it also provided some valuable leadership lessons. In Crucibles of Leadership, authors Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas describe leadership crucibles as "intense, often traumatic, always unplanned experiences" that are transformative and become the sources of distinctive leadership abilities—named after the vessels medieval alchemists used in their attempts to turn base metals into gold (Bennis, & Thomas, 2002). The lessons learned throughout this difficult time are the "gold" we can carry with us, even as situations continue to change.
It's OK to Get Down to Business
As a seasoned leader, I have always believed in what author Daniel Venables refers to as "building a team before you need it" (Venebles, 2009): the idea that building interpersonal relationships among your team is the first step to laying a strong foundation of trust and understanding. Unfortunately, this practice was one I had to forgo. On our first day back after spring break, we had our first remote morning meeting with the administrative team and front office staff. "I am so sorry," I told my team. "I usually start with community building when I start somewhere new, but we just have to get down to business." This situation was in complete opposition of what my leadership "gut" was telling me to do. Luckily, everyone was patient as we began the long, unknown journey into distance learning.
Given the situation, I had to focus on a management style of leadership, but knew it was not a state I could remain in. As time went on, I did return to building the team with my staff. As the months have gone on, we've been able to host grab-and-go luncheons with prizes, snack tables for teachers, and community-building activities during faculty meetings, including inviting the high school band to come for a parade down the hallways.
Be Present
How can you be present when everyone is online from home? How are you supposed to meet with students and parents? These were questions that I struggled to answer. Before beginning my role as a new principal, I wrote down a transition plan that included a "to do" list for myself. I wanted to meet with every person on the leadership team one-on-one, meet with every group of staff on campus, and work a car line to meet parents. The best platform for establishing trust and care is face-to-face interaction.
Once I knew we'd be remote, I still wanted my staff, students, and families to know I was present to support them. For teachers, I organized a rotation to make it to each of their virtual planning meetings. In every meeting, we had a theme that we would address after our planning sessions. One week it was virtual show and tell, where educators introduced their families or the favorite place in their home; another, we had a fiesta in line with San Antonio's annual celebrations. I also tried to share the experience my family was going through, letting my own kids come on camera and say hi or showing staff around my house on camera. It was a virtual way to be vulnerable and personal on Zoom, a chance for us to learn a little about one another. I also tried to show up for individual educators. When a teacher would email me to ask a simple question, I would ask for a Zoom meeting, so we could meet and get to know each other.
No Such Thing as Over-Communication
The campus already had a very comprehensive expectation of communication. But as news of school closures came, information changed by the hour. I knew it would be important for my staff, administrative team, and community to hear from me daily. I used the Smore platform to send a principal newsletter email to parents each week, which is a practice I plan to continue. On social media, I posted uplifting stories about our staff, quotes of hope, and status update on the building and our virtual plan. I instituted a daily email communication to all staff, not only to share important information about the school day, but also to weave in reassurances.
I shared personal stories about how my family was handling the situation and stories about the successes our teachers were having (highlighting great lessons they were doing with the students, or spotlighting teachers who delivered items to students' houses). Families and staff often wrote back to say they appreciated the level of vulnerability, authenticity, and honesty as we navigated continuing changes.
Social-Emotional Learning as a Priority
Social-emotional learning for both students and adults is an important aspect of leadership during any year, but especially this one. Students learn to manage their emotions and relationships and practice self-care. Teachers should have opportunities to lessen anxiety and stress, manage relationships, and set positive goals.
The challenge was to deliver SEL to both students and adults from a virtual platform. Our district's counseling team offered students virtual paths to access SEL (newsletters, virtual counseling visits, Zoom meet and greets), but I struggled to figure out how a virtual leader could offer SEL to adults I was just getting to know online. This was an area we could have done a better job in. At the beginning of the pandemic, when all of our faculty meetings moved into a virtual platform, those meetings were quiet. Everyone was on mute except for our leadership team, and it was just a dissemination of information.
We eventually turned to incorporating self-care and relationship building for teachers into our "virtual" leadership model. We organized an "after hours" Zoom social hour, when staff members, dressed in 1980's attire, could unwind and play a trivia game and compete in a raffle for the best costume. This gave me a chance to meet and speak with people in a social setting beyond the workday. I felt like we could let loose and start to form real relationships.
We also added Zoom breakout rooms to the faculty meetings. I gave staff a prompt from Mr. Rogers, who said: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, and especially in times of disasters, I would remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are so many helpers-so many caring people in this world." Staff discussed the ways they, or someone they knew, were helpers during this difficult time. They seemed to appreciate being able to talk with colleagues they had not seen in a long time.
At another faculty meeting, I had our counseling department do mindfulness and relaxation practices with the staff. Next year, I plan to add in a weekly staff and community check-in. Both staff and community will be able to fill out a short, open-ended questionnaire on how they are doing, so our administrative and counseling teams can make better decisions on what types of support our community needs and prefers.
Though this period of crisis is not over, a signal of true leadership, as Bennis and Thomas say, is "an individual's ability to find meaning in negative events and to learn from even the most trying circumstances" (2002, pp. 97). It's what we do with that learning that matters most. It is my hope that all leaders can harness their own crucibles and emerge stronger and more committed to becoming better leaders for students and staff.
