Do you want to run a school business but you lack skill and experience to grow it? If YES, here is every detail you need to run a school business successfully. We all remember back in school where as kids we always thought that the teachers were not handling things right; how there were too stern, not creative enough, boring etc.
Growing up, we sometimes look back and realize how childish these assumptions were; and for the students that turned out to become teachers or school administrators themselves, they now get to discover firsthand how difficult managing a school is. Running a successful school is indeed a herculean task because it has to deal with managing human beings and their different temperaments. You always have to keep the balance so that things don’t get out of hand one way or the other.
You also have to know that if your students are not successful, then your school is not successful; studies have proved this. So, as a school leader or administrator, you should not merely focus on administrative success, but also on academic success. You should endeavor to strike a balance between the two because one thumping the other would mean failure for you.
1. Get your priorities straight
When running a school, the school administrator should be able to prioritize activities that go on in the school. School management involves multiple chores that one may likely get carried away by minor issues, when there a weightier issues seeking attention.
To ensure that your school is run successfully, you have to create a list of goals that you plan to achieve during the school day, month or year, and take a detailed look at how you spend your time each day.
Allow yourself set times during the day to close your door and focus on what you need to get done to help your school succeed. Limiting your access may feel like a step away from the students and teachers you serve, but by prioritizing your leadership duties, you will ultimately help your school become more efficient.
2. Take time to organize yourself
It is very easy to become disorganized when carrying a huge responsibility, especially if organization has never been your strong forte. But you have to know that to be successful in school administration, you have to run a tidy roost. Professional school leaders need clear, organized systems for maintaining documents and commitments.
At the beginning of the school year, devote some time to setting up effective systems to manage the documents that come across your desk. In addition, decide how you’ll manage your appointments by committing to either a paper calendar or digital alerts.
Schedule your teacher observations, outside meetings, and even blocks of time to attend to email and phone calls. By organizing your time and providing set hours for certain tasks, you’ll be less likely to waste time and will be more present and effective during each of your commitments.
3. Ditch the use of paper
One way you can effectively keep everything organized is to ditch the use of papers altogether. Reducing or eliminating paper files and forms can free physical space, help you get better organized, better preserve confidential information, and save money on expensive supplies like toner, ink, and copy machine repair. By shifting to a more digital approach, you can also help your teachers remove clutter in their classrooms and invite more flexibility into meetings.
4. Make feedback a priority
While running a school, it is quite pertinent to always respond to enquiries be it from parents or the teachers. You should in fact make time for this. You should always complete feedback forms, and always schedule a follow-up session to review your feedback with the teachers and allow time for processing and reflection.
Without concrete, actionable feedback, you won’t make the most of this important teacher development tool, so take the time to conduct your observations so that they leave the teacher with specific, productive next steps on how to improve class instruction.
5. Always maintain a positive attitude
While running a school, a lot of things that happen in a typical day can make you question your capabilities, but this is where you need to crank up that positive attitude and believe that things would turn out right in the end; and they often do.
It is your responsibility to set the stage for your school just as your teachers set the stage for their classrooms. It is very important that you take this seriously because if a school administration loses his or her positive grind, it would reflect on the teachers, and the students can always perceive this, and they take it for vulnerability.
6. Don’t get your heckles up on every issue
Like I said before, running a school can be difficult, and an average day can present a lot of issues that can task the nerves, but the key here is to know what is worth blowing steam over and what is not. You have to realize that not every issue needs to be addressed, and not every issue should be given attention. Identify what you stand for and fight for what is important.
7. Put your students first
A lot of times the government and related agencies churn out rules on how they think a school should be run and how the students should be treated. Of course they have the overall good of the school and students in mind while doing this, but as a seasoned school administrator, you should not let those laws interfere with the general good of your students. Avoid letting media or political agendas get in the way of deciding what’s best for your students.
8. Embrace technology
The world has gone tech, and you should endavour to meet up. Avoiding this issue would lead you nowhere and it can even help in bringing your school down in ratings. Learn to apply technology in the necessary areas in the school and teach your teachers to get conversant with them.
9. Keep the central office informed
Hoarding information may hurt you more than it helps you when it comes to running your school. You have to realize that your teachers and other school administrators can be your allies or your critics depending on how you treat them. If you treat them well, they would stand by you, but if you brush them aside, they would always use you as the butt of their side talk. So be sure to ask for their advice and let them know stories of your journey from time to time.
10. Always be kind and affectionate
When it comes to your students, faculty, and parents, you should always be kind and affectionate to them. This is because kindness, amongst other things brings out the best in people, and this trait when given to teachers can rub off on the students.
