hearing is open-ended, lacking the framework of a class period. With
the agreement of the parties involved, schedule such hearings during
a mutually free period during the school day. This provides a forty- to
sixty-minute limit to the hearing. When the parties involved in a meet-
ing know it must end at a certain time, they tend to become task oriented
and finish what needs to be done within the time allotted.- There will be people, usually teachers, who just want to speak with the
school leader. These people, whatever their issue or problem, are more
important than paper and listening will improve their morale and their
instruction. Such impromptu, informal meetings sometimes provide a
school leader with insight into the teacher or information on the tenor
of the school. Of course, the school leader needs to set some limits on
such impromptu meetings:
o From the start, indicate that there is only a certain amount of time,
due to already scheduled observations, meetings, so on.
o Use nonverbal signals to end the meeting, such as moving to the
swivel chair in back of the desk to indicate there is work to be
done.
o A well-trained secretary will know to knock on the door to say that
the superintendent is on the phone or indicate that there is a required
meeting in another office.- Finally, sometimes, very rarely, a principal has to shut her door to take
care of a task that must be done. If she has an open-door policy and does
everything mentioned above, her staff will respect her need for work
time on these rare occasions.
- Let Your People Fly
A principal saves time by delegating and letting her staff members do
their jobs, as described in the next chapter.
68 Chapter 5