As a school leader, when is it best to make “top-down” decisions, and when should you make it a collaborative process?

How can you tell which stakeholder input to prioritize?

What’s the best way to communicate with your staff in a way that feels transparent, but doesn’t burden them with too much information? 

How can you make decisions confidently when you’re supervising staff in positions you’ve never held yourself? 

I invited Dr. Jen Schwanke to episode 170 of the De Facto Leaders podcast to discuss these questions. 

Dr. Jen Schwanke is a longtime educator, teaching and leading at all levels. She is the author of four ASCD books, including the recently-released The Principal’s Guide to Conflict Management, and has published hundreds of articles for various educational publishers. She has written and presented for multiple state and local education organizations, and has provided professional development to various districts in the areas of school climate, personnel, and instructional leadership. An instructor in educational administration at Miami University of Ohio and The Ohio State University, Dr. Schwanke currently serves as a Deputy Superintendent in Ohio. You can find her at jenschwanke.com.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✅Getting to the “root cause” of pain points: How can you tell what people really need from you? 

✅Being decisive vs. being collaborative: The different types of decisions leaders need to make and the strategies for handling them

✅When should we use our own expertise to solve problems, and when should we leverage the expertise of others?

✅Shaking things up vs. maintaining the status quo: How this changes the way you lead

You can connect with Dr. Schwanke at her website at jenschwanke.com, on X @jenschwanke (http://jenschwanke.com), and on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/drjenschwanke/

In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers develop a strategic plan for putting executive functioning support in place in collaboration with their school teams. 

You can learn more about that program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

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