School Leadership
Trust—all across our country—is perceived as wounded and limping. Whether within corporations, government, or our schools, many feel the damage is irreparable. We disagree, and you should as well. You have the ability to rebuild trust in your circle of influence and create optimism that replaces cynicism. Trust rules. It drives your school’s cohesiveness. It drives performance. It even drives student achievement.
Implementing change is like flying solo for the first time. It scares the crap out of you when you look down at the runway, but once you land, you can’t wait to get back up into the sky.
Because our work here at School Webmasters bridges the world of education and the world of business, it is easy for us to see similarities and differences. Here’s what we’ve learned.
As a baby boomer, I am not exactly proud of the fact that my generation is stereotyped as rebellious when it is also associated with self-centeredness.
What is your school culture like? How would your students describe it? What about your staff? How can you improve it? Here are some ideas!
Nationwide, schools in the United States have a public relations problem. It would seem they could fix these problems with some well managed strategic communications and marketing efforts, right? But, the problem goes deeper than that. It isn’t even entirely a perception problem; some of it is a reality. We must respond to these issues quite differently.
If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time, you know that we believe communication is at the heart of every school’s success. That includes your school reputation, public relations, school marketing, customer service, and crisis management. In each of these areas, without rock solid communication strategies in place, you risk losing control of the situation.
Working in a school can be a tough job. It is also one of the most important roles in American society.
Take note, today’s staff members want to be asked for feedback and to be heard.1 I think we also recognize that in addition to more frequent communication, how we communicate can mean the difference in how effective we are as leaders. This means better listening skills.
Blogging shouldn’t seem like a new fandangled idea any more, especially as you delve into your position as school marketer. You might be hearing about it in conference sessions, in articles about school social media impact, or from other education blogs.
Blogging for schools is not a new concept, that’s for sure. The question school marketers should be asking themselves is, "to blog or not to blog?"
No other industry would even consider asking their technology department to manage their communications, public relations, or marketing strategies. These two areas of expertise require radically different skillsets. It would be like asking a prima ballerina to conduct brain surgery. Both are experts in their fields, but their fields are vastly different. But public schools do it all the time. So, how did this come about?
I’ve been preaching for years that content is king. I’ve written numerous articles espousing this recommendation. However, I’m kind of old-school and I actually read content—on the Web, in books, in ads, etc.