1. Stop being a Firefighter
Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
Stop being a Firefighter
Start being a Leader!
Introduce self and learn about others
Retired Supt.
8 years at RV
Came in knowing a lot about Curr & PD
Learned a lot about budgets and public engagement
Now leadership coach for CFR for 8 years
Work with educators across the US
Do workshops about leadership development & effective communication skills
Also doing consulting work with KU on preK programs & LFA.
What is you area of state?
What is your Admin. role?
In what ways do you sometimes feel like a firefighter in your work—you spending all your time Putting Out Fires rather than really being the leader of vision & purpose that you want to be?
Fight on the playground
Parent complaining about a teacher
C.O. wanting some school report
Teacher needing a sub/not being able to get one/ so you must cover for the class
One minute each to share with a partner.
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,

2. Step #1: Reframe the metaphors
Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
Step #1: Reframe the metaphors
Change from Firefighting to Trust Building metaphor
With your actions/responses, show:
I listen
I care about you
You can depend upon me to do what I say I will do
You are not going to be able to stop doing those things. But you CAN adjust how you think about them and reduce the power they have over you & your work. Put these firefighting kinds of actions into a container called Trust Building. We call this “reframing”. Think of these actions/responses as showing how you can build trust with your constituents. You build trust by showing that: I listen, I care about you, you can depend upon me to do what I say I will do.
What are some of the ways you can reframe your firefighting actions into Trust Building actions? Talk with your elbow partner.
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,

3. Step #2: Get focused on what YOU want
Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
Step #2: Get focused on what YOU want
What is YOUR vision?
Talk about it all the time
Create opportunities to move toward it
Help people see the possibilities
Recognize small successes along the way
Keep your Dream for your school front & center.
So how do your help people understand what YOU are about?
Be clear about what you want (your vision for your school)
Talk about it all the time (this helps people know you are serious and “get” what you want to do)
Intentionally create opportunities to move toward this new vision
“enrolls people; gets them excited; helps them see possibilities
With a different partner, talk about your vision for your school. Let your energy and passion show through.
What do you want your legacy to be when you leave this school?
Put this vision in a much larger container called My Dream for this School. Front and center. Something they ALWAYS see you carrying. It is what energizes YOU and your passion and energy will attract others.
Think about this dream. What kinds of things can you do to make if the CENTER of your focus & work given all the other competing factors in your life?
Demo coach.
Now, find another partner and tell them about things you can do to keep your dream front & center. What will you be doing? (looks like;sounds like). Partner’s role is to LISTEN, paraphrase, but NOT to probe or question, but to help you get very CLEAR about what you want and what actions you can take to get there.
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,

4. Step #3: Build Capacity of Others
Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
Step #3: Build Capacity of Others
The irony of upward mobility
Find partners to help you
Delegate tasks to others with your support
Create a cadre of partners who can respond as you would
Now we have one last step to take. That is the Building Capacity task. This step identifies
Partners who can help you either with your “trust” responsibilities OR your “leading the vision” responsibilities.
The is irony in upward mobility within a system. The higher up you go within a system, the more you must depend upon OTHERS to do Your work. AND often you have to forget the skills that got you the job in the first place. This is ironic because you were hired because of your past track record– you were the one who had the good ideas, who solved problems, who worked hard and did the work. But as soon as you get hired for the next level job, you have to give over those skills and begin to learn to use your Influence skills instead. It is not possible for YOU to teach inspired math in every classroom, or for you to be the beloved principal at every elementary school. OR that curr. & PD that you do so well may be done by someone else in the system now. Instead, what you must teach OTHERS to do this work as well as you. That is “building the capacity of others.” (My story at RV)
Identify tasks you could assign (delegate) to others. Give them support and frameworks to use so they know your expectations and learn from your experience. Assist in their admin. development, use their expertise, help create a cadre of people who can respond as you would want them to in a mini-crisis, if one occurs.
Who might be some of Your partners?
What tasks might you be able to delegate with support?
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,

5. Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
It is not about changing THEM; it is about changing YOU.
Reframe
Focus on your Vision
Build capacity in others
So, in the end, this isn’t about changing THEM; it is about changing YOU. It is how you think about your work and use those containers to help you “REFRAME” your thinking about your work.
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,

6. What are your take-aways?
Women In Leadership Conference, Wichita, KS
April 27, 2009
What are your take-aways?
Invite further discussion and ask for take aways.
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC Coaching For Results, Inc
Marceta Reilly, PhD, PCC,