Of course, while you value people, you must get your paperwork done.
In all school districts, school leaders are evaluated on their management
ability, defined as getting reports done correctly and on time. As a rela-
tively new principal, Mr. Thelen remembers seeing a large chart in the
office of the executive assistant to the superintendent. It was a grid with an
alphabetical listing of all the schools in the superintendency printed down
the first column on the left side. This was followed by over twenty col-
umns, each with a short and almost unreadable heading. In each column,
after each school was a green, yellow, or red dot. On closer inspection, it
became obvious that this was a chart of reports due from the principals
of each school over the course of the school year. The green dot meant
the report was submitted on time; the yellow that it was late or in need of
revision; the red that it was not yet received.
The executive assistant explained that too many reds and/or yellows
were used as a basis for negative principal ratings. Therefore, it is ap-
propriate to devote some space here to time-management techniques that
will help you deal with the paper. People are more important than paper,
but the paper must get done.
There have been many books written on time management. This chap-
ter cannot hope to be as comprehensive as these, so in your spare time you
may want to explore the business section of your local Barnes and Noble
(or do a “time management” search on Amazon) to find appropriate read-
ing. However, given that your time is limited, you may find the following
suggestions will meet most of your needs.
TIME-MAnAGEMEnT STRATEGIES- Plan Each Semester, Week, and Day—and Then Be Flexible
Some school leaders seem surprised by everything: an e-mail from the
superintendent requesting information, the union representative want-
ing to schedule the monthly meeting, representatives from the student
government with a complaint, and so on. The events of the school year
and week and day seem chaotic, and the list of tasks to do never-ending.
Such school leaders usually have not planned, and therefore they become
pawns of the seeming chaos that is a school rather than leaders who give
order to chaos and control their own schedule.
People Are More Important than Paper 55