Your Weakest Link
As a school leader, you are responsible to put together and manage the strongest team of teachers and support staff as possible. What skills you look for in a team member can vary somewhat based on the specific school culture and job description. What is critical to understand, is that the strength and quality of your school is only as good as your weakest link. One weak employee, one naysayer, one bad apple, can ripple through the staff and become the source of many issues which you, as school leader, will need to be accountable to handle. Therefore, in the privacy of your own mind, or perhaps with the assistance of other assistants, it is a good idea to occasionally target the weak links in the school that may be holding others back, impeding progress, or giving the school undeserved bad PR. Accepting mediocrity instead of excellence would seem unacceptable. Allowing employees, be they teachers, assistants, custodians, receptionists, or secretaries, to bring their B-game to work is saying to everyone else, including students, that you are okay with a mediocre “B-game” school.
This does not necessarily mean you have to immediately dismiss the employee but it does mean, once they are identified, that a plan be put in place to improve the skills base or attitude of the employee.
Once the weakest employees are identified, it is important to be clear and specific about what is not allowing the school to excel so that you can articulate this to the employee in a manner which is helpful and supportive in assisting the employee to improve. Once you feel you have identified the deficits clearly, it is highly advisable to get additional input from other administrators, supervisors, or co-workers. This not only gives you additional support of your observations but also sends the message down the chain that mediocrity has no place in your school.
Next, schedule a “growth meeting” with the employee for the purpose of clearly articulating the issue, how it is impacting the school (perhaps also providing several anecdotal episodes to illustrate), and to offer support, training, or coaching to enable the employee to up his/her game. Follow through with the training and coaching, but put a reasonable time limit on it. Your school should applaud personal growth but there, as well, needs to be personal accountability. Provide the employee with regular updates on progress or lack thereof, giving specific feedback.
If the employee fails to accept the critique, refuses the support to remedy the weakness, or cannot seem to change the behavior that is holding the school back, then your job as school leader is to begin plans to dismiss that employee and replace him/her with a stronger employee.
Remembering that the excellence and progress your school can make are mitigated by mediocrity, should maintain your impetus to identify and support the weak links. By helping them or replacing them when needed, you are simultaneously supporting everyone else on your team, most importantly your students. You give the message that you expect everyone to perform at their best to be part of the team.
