Career Growth Guide for School Principals

Grow your career with this structured framework (suitable both for school principals and educators)

When I find school leaders, 

Innovative, curious, and talented

struggling to get the right kind of jobs

My heart sinks and I start feeling helpless

But most school managements just use such leaders

And once they have been used, they are asked to leave

And there is another predatory school management waiting

To use this situation to negotiate and reduce the perks & benefits 

---

So I decided to write this guide

And also decided to start a cohort 

a structured one that will help a set of 5 

Innovative, curious, and talented school principals 

Let’s first read the guide and then we can explore the program

---

In 2019, I taught a program ‘Becoming an Influencer’ to a few school leaders

Then I started observing these people and I realized, although they grew much better than their peer group

but not in the way I expected

I wanted to understand ‘WHY’ and I started searching for answers

And soon, I knew, that although It was about the Influence, It was not only about the Influence

---

I realized, in total, you need to understand 5 things

• School Innovation

• Brand Communication

• Networking

• Influence

• and Leadership Skills

Let’s explore them one by one

---

1. School Innovation

There are four kinds of innovation that you should understand as a school leader

• Systems Innovation

• People Innovation

• Learning Innovation

• Brand Communication Innovation

I would very strongly suggest you read 8 Steps to Innovation-led School Growth to understand it a little deeper.

2. School Growth

There are four kinds of innovation that you should understand as a school leader

• Finalize your School Growth Goals

• School Growth Planning

• School Growth Strategy

• School Growth Action Plan

For more details, I would very suggest you read School Growth Fundamentals | Guide for School Leaders

3. Networking

The peer network is not the network, you network with those, who can handpick you and put you in places

and there are four key things that you need to improve your network

• Start listening to vendors

• Stay ahead on the learning curve

• Improve your Influence

• Build a local community

I will soon write a full post to explain these four steps

4. Influence

I have delivered a full course on Influence and I still enjoy watching this testimonial video from the participants

I enjoy it because it feels like I was able to help

I can tell you in short that most successful school leaders have not created their influence on social media.

Try building books, blogs, research, and communities, if you are serious about it.

5. Leadership Skills

Most school leaders fail here. If you run an open-door policy for all your staff members, probably it will be very difficult for you to really be able to reach your potential.