Messaging Matters - William D. Parker

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on the good outcomes instead of the negative ones?

      If you will ever be able to prioritize these positive moments and shift the direction of public policy in support of schools, you might start a national or global movement. But to do so, you must address two leadership issues.

      1. You must prioritize and strategize time for doing what matters.

      2. You must believe that messaging matters by understanding a comprehensive approach to building healthy school cultures and overwhelming others with the positive performances and celebrations of your students.

      I wrote this book with the school principal in mind when I was a school principal. But the ideas in these pages can help all school leaders: superintendents, directors, instructional coaches, and teacher leaders. If you are reading this book because you simply want ideas for innovative communication tools, you may get more than you bargained for. My definition of messaging is much more extensive. This book is a comprehensive approach to building healthy schools that requires digging deeply into the motivations of your leadership, the value of listening to others, and the power of seeing your school through the eyes of others. It also involves building a collaborative community in which you consistently cultivate an environment of mutual respect, goal setting, and celebration. At the same time, this book is practical. I will share plenty of ideas on actions and tools you can begin to use immediately to improve your messaging.

      After more than two decades as an educator and more than half those years in school administration, I’ve witnessed the positive and negative perceptions that school leaders can create among students, teachers, parents, community members, and colleagues. As a principal, blogger, author, podcaster, and speaker, I’ve also seen the powerful connections, growth, and energy of other leaders who have learned to maximize their communication platforms.

      My own story is just one of many. I have taught in large and small schools. I began my career as a high school English teacher. I eventually began working on a master’s degree in school administration and became a high school assistant principal in a school with fourteen hundred students. During the writing and publication of this book, I was principal of Skiatook High School in a city north of Tulsa, Oklahoma. (As this book went to press, I transitioned to the position of executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals and Oklahoma Middle Level Educators Association.) With 750 students in grades 9–12 at Skiatook, messaging became an important part of my leadership. Each year we strategized with student leaders and teachers on mottos, announcements, and celebrations. We provided constant feedback on the wins we saw every day in student learning and activities. We worked hard to create a culture of collaboration, engagement, and positive entanglement. Skiatook has more than eight hundred parents who subscribe to weekly newsletters. It uses a variety of social media channels to promote a culture of learning and excellence. As a result, I like to describe the school community as raving fans of the school.

      Over the years, I have spoken and presented to many groups of aspiring principals, school leaders, and student leaders. I also reach out to thousands of others around the globe through blogging, writing, podcasting, and posting on social media. Of all the interactions I have with others, the most common are those with my school community members and colleagues about the learning, activities, and celebrations happening in our school—not the drama, discipline, or difficulties. I believe this powerful form of messaging can benefit every school. That collaboration, relationship building, and celebration can be the norm for any school leader committed to the power of sending a message about school culture.

      Today we have incredible capacity for building positive entanglements with members of our school community and celebrating our schools. Using social media, blogging, publishing, networking, and marketing are no longer tools or skills limited to corporate or business interests. Schools have amazing opportunities to leverage all these tools as well. But the journey begins by investing in your teachers, students, parents, and community through meaningful connections. That makes the message you have to deliver authentic and worth celebrating.

      Perhaps you’ve already caught the wave of messaging power for your school. Or perhaps you are reading this book because you are interested in why messaging matters. Or maybe you want more strategies for improving your own communication influence. In the chapters that follow, you will find more than just tips on using digital tools. You will find strategies for effective communication, but more important, you’ll discover why messaging matters. When you make a commitment as chief communicator to your students, teachers, team members, and community, amazing things begin to happen.

      ■ Negative interactions can become the exception instead of the rule.

      ■ Students and team members engage more in what matters most.

      ■ Schools celebrate powerful learning opportunities instead of hiding them.

      In addition, strong messaging allows your leadership influence to grow in the following ways. You will:

      ■ Communicate expectations in advance and increase your ability to navigate your entire school year before it begins

      ■ Deal with challenges in a positive way

      ■ Provide meaningful feedback to teachers

      ■ Enhance your school’s image with digital tools

      ■ Promote effective strategies that work

      ■ Improve student behavior and performance

      If you’re going to maintain a positive perspective on school leadership that keeps you committed for the long term, you need motivation and strategies for improving the platform for your message. How can you make that happen? First, you create a positive culture through your entanglements. Second, you celebrate that positivity one message at a time.

      I have divided this book into three parts to help you learn to maximize your messaging: (1) with teachers, (2) with students, and (3) with parents and the world. Each part contains a Now It’s Your Turn section that contains questions for reflection and taking action. You will also see suggestions for digital tools throughout with ideas for ways to create effective online platforms.

      If you read no further than this introduction, let me leave you with this question: What kind of lasting impression do you want to impart to your students, teachers, parents, and the community from and about your school? My fear is that many principals become so distracted in the tasks of school management that they lose sight of the importance of taking back the conversations about their schools. What about you? If you are ready to take new steps toward building powerfully positive entanglements and persuasive messages in your leadership, then read ahead and let’s learn together how your messaging matters.

      Now It’s Your Turn

      • In what ways do you intentionally work to keep your environment positive?

      • In what ways have you already embedded practices into your school for cultivating strong relationships and promoting positive happenings?

      • What is one step you can take today toward improving the entanglement experiences of students and teachers in your building?

1 Building a Positive Culture for Messaging

      The less people know, the more they yell.

      —Seth Godin

      When I was a boy, I loved lying on the front porch at night. With no streetlights or neighbors, our West Tennessee farmhouse was enveloped in darkness, surrounded by swampy creeks and woods, accompanied by the sound of crickets and the serenade of spring frogs. The blanket of stars above me was a thick, mesmerizing maze of constellations. My dad went through a phase of interest in telescopes, so sometimes we took turns looking for planets or peering at the moon.

      Did you know that only one side of the moon is visible from the Earth?

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