A Podcast with New Catholic School Leaders in Mind

Welcome to the Catholic School Leaders Podcast. My name is John Mahalio, president and founder of Elementary Advancement Solutions. The goal of this podcast is to connect Catholic school leaders Bye. from across the world to grow Catholic education. Visit us at www. elementaryadvancement. com to see how we can help you make advancement seem elementary at your Catholic school.

Well, today I want to talk to our new Catholic school leaders out there. Now that might mean a Principal, an Assistant Principal, an Advancement Director, a Dean, Recruitment Directors, Athletic Directors, any leadership role in your school, talking to you today. Now maybe you've been hired to lead a school for the first time, maybe you're shifting to a new school, maybe you're leading a Catholic school for the first time after spending a lot of time in a public school setting.

Whatever your story is, you're now in charge of a Catholic school, or a particular area of a school, and all the responsibilities that come with it. So we're going to be talking about those things today. Before I get into this, I want to say, please, please, please, a quick favor to ask you, if you enjoy this podcast, if you benefit from this podcast, Please be sure to like it, subscribe, leave a review, share it with other leaders.

Maybe you know a principal who is just starting out this year, or an Advancement Director, somebody who's in a new role to Catholic education, and uh, share it with them. By doing this, it helps us reach other Catholic school leaders just like you, which helps us to grow Catholic education together, and that's a win for everybody. So I can't say thank you enough for this.

Uh, if you know somebody, like I said, please share it with them, like it, and if you have 30 seconds to drop a quick review and, uh, let others know how much you enjoy it, it just helps us reach a wider audience, and that's an amazing thing to do. So, you're new in your role as a Catholic school leader, and I want to first and foremost say this.

Congratulations! Taking on a leadership role in a Catholic school is a vocation. It's more than just a job, and you said yes to this vocation to lead the future of your school, which is amazing. It shouldn't be taken lightly. So first and foremost, let's celebrate for a minute. Congratulations as you step into this new role in your school. Second, I want to say thank you.

Uh, by saying yes to this vocation, saying yes to this new role, you are taking on that challenge of Catholic education to keep that light shining for future generations. And so Thank you for saying yes to this vocation and your new role at the, at the school that you're at. I'll be praying for you for nothing but success, uh, and just, to just have Christ's light shine through you and, and just to keep that light of Catholic education alive and well. So, congratulations. Thank you.

That's the first thing I want to say to you because I know that the business is going to pick up really quickly for you if it hasn't already. and so let's just take a minute to congratulate and to say thank you first and foremost. So here's some things that as I look back, I've led three different schools, things that I learned from stepping into a new leadership role that I hope will benefit you. And I'll try to make these so that they are applicable to no matter what role you're in.

Uh, but please know that my responsibility and my vocation, my job was as a building principal. And so the reflections I'm going to give here are kind of going to be from that perspective. But I will incorporate it into some of the other roles within the school community.

So here's some things I learned from taking over a school and from leading a school that I think are going to really help you in your new role. Number one, get to know the culture of your school.

First and foremost, get to know what your school community is all about because By now, you've gone through the interview process, you've answered all the questions, you've met with the committees and the search committees, and they've told you what a great place their school is, and it, and it likely is an amazing place. But you're going to learn that, what's important in the culture could either be something that's really, really great, or something that really needs to be improved upon.

and so getting to know the culture of the school is something that, I can't stress to you enough, asking people, sitting down with people, talking to people, just asking a lot of questions. And so, I would recommend getting to know the culture, Make yourself accessible and available to people, that, that want to sit down with you and that want to talk to you and ask them lots of questions and then listen. If there's one piece of advice I can offer you, it's listen, listen, listen.

God gave you two ears and one mouth. Do twice as much listening as you do talking when you're learning about the school and the culture at your school right now. Learn So that you can know where those areas of focus are going to be, and so it helps you get caught up to speed as quickly as possible. Identify some easy wins as you're walking into this, as you're meeting with people, as you're asking a lot of questions, as you're doing a lot of listening.

I'll bet you that you're going to have some repeating and reoccurring themes. that keep coming up over and over and over again. Maybe it's something like, hey, our carpool's not real smooth. Maybe it's something like, hey, our master schedule isn't real great. Maybe it's something like, nobody's ever here on time. I don't know, whatever the case might be, but I'll bet you that you're going to find some reoccurring themes over and over and over again.

Now, certain ones might take you some time to get to. you know, hey, we need to build a new gym and that's going to take, I don't know, 25 million dollars, whatever the case might be. Obviously, unless you have somebody that's a really generous donor on day one, it's probably going to take you some time to get that 25 million for that gym. But, I'll bet you that there are some easy wins out there and low hanging fruit out there that you can jump on right away.

To get yourself some wins to show people that, hey, I'm listening, I'm taking these things seriously, and I'm looking to improve our school to make it better for everybody. Now, one thing I want to caution you on is make yourself available, make yourself accessible.

But, something I will caution you on, and it's not to, uh, look at the negative or anything like that, but I guarantee you that you will have somebody who just has to get your ear right away They just have to talk to you about something. They just have to come see you to tell you everything that was wrong with the school before. be weary, listen, respect their opinions.

But, uh, sometimes that's somebody that is looking to create drama within your community and somebody that you need to be wary of. Not always, but I have found that sometimes that's the case. And so, uh, just know that you're going to do a lot of listening.

You're going to want to do a lot of asking questions, but you want to make sure that you're So, protecting yourself and not listening to the wrong person right off the bat, uh, that's why I say make yourself available and spending time with a lot of different people, because that's going to give you a lot of different perspectives to hear what themes keep coming up over and over and over again.

Now, I mentioned earlier in the podcast, the website, www. elementaryadvancement. com. If you go there, you can get a free download, our six keys to create a successful Catholic school. Uh, it's yours for free. Um, hopefully it'll help you.

I think it's a really great tool because it really gives you, uh, Some areas to focus on the six characteristics that I believe every strong Catholic school has, but also allows you to look at some questions, maybe to, uh, some key questions to evaluate where your culture is in that particular area. So, um, if you go to www. elementaryadvancement. com, uh, you can click on the, the link there, it's a little pop up, it'll say, Hey, receive this. you can, you can get that for free.

Again, uh, I think it's really helpful to you, especially new, being new to your role, as a leader, no matter what it is, because no matter what area you're focusing on, whether you're a principal, president, uh, advancement director, assistant principal, these things going in, in these key areas that you have as a school, make your school a stronger place, which is then going to make your job a lot easier. and your role within the school, be more effective.

Um, if your school is doing a great job in these six areas, your job as an Advancement Director is going to be to tout those areas, those things that you're doing in those areas. Uh, if you're recruitment and you're trying to recruit new students, knowing where you sit in these areas is going to be something that's really, really beneficial to you. Because it's areas that you can tout to new families. So check it out, elementaryadvancement. com, and you can get that for free.

It's something I think you'll be really helpful and really a great tool to have in your back pocket.

the other thing I would say to you, or the next thing I guess I would say to you is, Don't assume that all the schools are the same. chances are that you may have come from a different school. Maybe you've spent time in another school. Maybe you were leading a different school. Maybe it was a public school. Maybe it was another Catholic school. Maybe it was a private school. Uh, maybe you were an assistant principal someplace.

Whatever the case might be, But you know what your culture was all about there. Don't assume everybody's culture is the same. Don't assume that, uh, everybody's experiences are the same. that's where that listening piece of things come in, and really hearing what others have to say. to know where your strengths can really lend itself to making the school a better place.

It also kind of gives you that opportunity to identify the areas that maybe you're not, you don't necessarily have the strengths in so that you can try to get connected with others who can give you some perspective on those strengths. You know, that's a great reason. Our mastermind groups that we do are a great reason for that. Hey, I know how to do this, but I don't know how to do this. And I'm being asked to do this. Does anybody have experience with this?

It's a great way to get connected with people. Maybe you have a support system within your own diocese that you can ask questions to. Whatever the case might be, but don't assume that all schools are the same and don't assume that every school is dealing with the same issue. You may have come from a school that had Uh, high tuition rate and, and no, uh, student assistance being given for tuition to a school where 75 percent of your families are, are dealing with tuition, uh, assistance.

And so, each school has its own unique challenges. as I've always said, that when things are, are great, they're probably not as good as you think they are. And when things are not great, they're probably not as bad as you think they are.

Um, know that the, somewhere in the middle there, and something that you're always striving to get better, you're but don't assume that all of the schools are the same, uh, in terms of the challenges, in terms of what it is that they're dealing with because those preconceived notions that you have, maybe, uh, those scars that you're carrying from your last school, bringing them to your new school immediately could put you behind the eight ball and, and, and almost

present as, as making you unapproachable, which is certainly something that you don't want to do in this new role.

If there's one partnership that I can tell you. to make sure gets off on the right foot immediately. Uh, and chances are that in this new role, uh, and especially for principals, I'm going to talk to you, especially for principals, is that relationship and that partnership that you have with your pastor. That is something that the two of you should be lockstep on everything that's happening.

Uh, making an opportunity to sit down each week with, with this person to, just talk about what's going on with the school and, and, and how things are going, challenges that you're facing. Insights that they may have, um, what direction do they want to see? What's the vision that they want to see for the school? Um, but just creating that open partnership, those open lines of communications early.

I guarantee you, if you show me a school that is succeeding, I will show you a pastor and a principal that are walking lockstep with one another. Establishing that partnership with your pastor is one of the most important things you can do as a building principal.

If you're in a role of assistant principal, dean, development director, advancement director, recruitment officer, whatever the case might be, establishing that partnership with your building principal or your building president is equally as important. They are the person that's going to be supporting your goals. They're the person that's going to be supporting the initiatives that you're doing. Thank you.

as well as you're going to be bringing forth the initiatives that they want to see you, uh, doing. Maybe it's an enrollment goal. Maybe it's a development goal. Maybe it's a fundraising goal. maybe it's a, putting a new sport into play, whatever the case might be.

Establishing that partnership with either your principal or your pastor is something that cannot be stressed enough that doing that early to establish trust, to build that partnership, not a relationship, but a partnership between your role and that leadership role is something that will pay off for you in the long run. But get on that early. Don't wait for things to get rocky and things to, problems to exist before you start to do that. Get on it early. Get on the same page early.

Create that time. Uh, for me, as a principal, I would want to meet with my development directors, advancement directors, recruitment directors, at least once a week for a minimum of a half hour to 45 minutes so that I could be supportive of them. But they would also be able to keep me in the loop of the things that we were working on together to meet the longterm goals of our school. So that really comes into play of what you want your schedule to look like each week.

And we can do a whole other episode on time management and things like that. But the bottom line is establishing for our principals, establishing that partnership with your pastor right away. And for those other school leaders, establishing that partnership with your principal right away is something that's only going to help you be better in your job.

I think one of the biggest things for new leaders is that they are sometimes afraid to invest in themselves. And they're afraid to admit that they don't know everything. And so my next piece of advice to you is, don't be afraid to invest in yourself, and don't be afraid to get better in the areas that you want to get better in. there's a lot of opportunities out there. There's conferences. There are, I had the chance to attend the NCEA conference this past year.

I know the next one is, I think it'll be in Orlando this coming year. It was in Pittsburgh this past year. If that's something you're able to do, to, to attend something like that, to make connections and to, um, hear some first class speakers, all about Catholic education, uh, invest in yourself, make yourself better in areas and continue to grow and to learn. Uh, I mentioned before about the mastermind groups that, uh, I run for principals.

We have one starting here in the fall for new principals that we're going to have where you're able to just to connect with other new principals and really get a network going across the country to help you be better in your job. your development director, advancement director, coming together to learn new strategies, uh, from others.

Getting connected with people to make yourself better and investing in yourself is going to be an investment in your school community which is only going to make your school better, which is going to make you better as a principal. And so, don't be afraid to put on your oxygen mask. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself because when you invest in yourself, it says to others that it's okay for them to invest in themselves.

But that's just going to make your school a better place for your students, for your families, for your faculty. It's going to grow Catholic education. So Get better. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself. And just because you say, Hey, I need to get better in this doesn't mean you're not good at your job. It just means that you want to get better in areas and we all have them. We all have them. And so, uh, invest in yourself. Don't be afraid of that.

like I said, there's a lot of opportunities out there. So, I think another one is identifying the core values of your school.

Now I'm going to say this so that I'm going to slow down on this one and say what are the core values at your school versus what do you want the core values to be. Okay, for example, a core value at your school might be that everybody comes late and everybody leaves early. Okay. That's not one that you really want to, to have.

maybe it's not a core value, but it's a, it's a trait, I guess I should say of, of teachers, but maybe the core value that you want is to establish professionalism and that trait that everybody is having of leaving early, cutting their late, whatever the case might be, is something that you've identified as something that is a problem with professionalism or something that's a core value maybe in a negative way.

So when you're looking at your core values and you ask people, what are our core values at our school? be sure to get clarification of is that a core value or is that what you want the core value to be? It's going to tell you something either way about your school community. If it's something everybody says, Yeah, we'd really like this to be it, but it's just not there right now. It's going to tell you just as much as if you say, listen, this is a core value of your school.

And, and I'm going to say this when it comes to core values, and I'm not saying this to upset anybody or anything like that. If your core value is we all love and care for each other because we're a Catholic school, to me, that's a Catholic school. That's what you're expected to be as a Catholic school. That better be part of your core values. But to me, that's like saying we teach the faith in our school. That's an understood for me. What else do we have that's a core value?

And if that's not one of your core values, put that on your list as something that you need to take note of and bring to your school community is making sure the faith is something that's very much a part of your school and making sure that your community cares about their kids, that your kids know that you care about them. So, identify those core values. What are they versus what you want them to be?

As a new, uh, administrator, as a new leader walking into a school, I remember one of my assistant principals used to tell people when they were coming in that you gotta earn your stripes. And I think this is so true that sometimes we walk in and maybe we've been a principal for 25 years somewhere. Maybe we've been a principal for 15 minutes. Maybe we've had a lot of success as a teacher somewhere. Maybe we've had a lot of success in another role as a coach or whatever the case might be.

And And we're bringing this success, that we've had in our previous roles to our new, uh, vocation and our new job. But you still have to earn your stripes as a new leader. And so that's great that you can rely upon that. That's great that you can build upon those experiences. You can rely upon those experiences to, uh, help you through your new role. Um, but, you know, people might not know you all that well.

And, you know, sometimes within a school community, maybe you were the, a great teacher who's now been assigned or now been promoted to be the principal of the school. you were a great teacher, but now you've got to earn your stripes as the leader of that school. Uh, and there's challenges that come with that. Now you're responsible for overseeing and, and managing and leading people that were colleagues before.

And, and that's, It can be great and there can be some challenges that come with that. Um, but either way, you're going to have to earn your stripes as a new leader. maybe you're moving into a role of a, of an advancement or development director or recruitment director. Uh, and people are looking at you going, well, why did that person get the job and not me?

Um, and, and there's an immediate, uh, Black Cloud over your, your office from somebody in the school because they didn't like it that they didn't get that job.

you gotta earn your stripes, you gotta show results, and I think by, again, going back to partnering with the key leadership people within your school community, whether it be your pastor or your principal, is only gonna put Those things to rest and it's just going to show how good you are and how what an amazing choice you were for this job. but also help you to overcome those things quickly by forming that partnership. Um, the naysayers are going to be the naysayers.

You can't do anything about that. Uh, there was some great advice that Kirby Hasselman gave on a marketing podcast. They did a few weeks ago a few months ago. talking about how to deal with those kind of things. Uh, it's a great listen so recommend that but You you, you do you. Partner with your principal, your leadership, your pastor in moving and advancing the goals of the school forward, um, which is just going to make the school a better place.

I said this one before, and I'm going to say it one more time because I think it bears repeating. Listen, listen, listen. Uh, do a lot of listening as a new leader. Learn about what things, how, how were things before you got there. You're going to see that the previous, person in your role, if your role is not a brand new, position at your school, that there were things that maybe went very well. They're going to talk about things that maybe didn't go so well.

Some opportunities for improvement. what are those things? Learn about those things. If you're walking into, this is not uncommon, unfortunately, but if you're walking into a, uh, role where you're a fundraiser, you know, head of the fundraising officer, uh, maybe the, the person that was before you wasn't exactly a good steward of, of the money. Maybe there were communication issues. Maybe there were, reporting issues, whatever the case might be.

and you've got to build that trust back up again. And so. Listening, listening, listening, and learning the story of your school, um, and knowing, just where those opportunities are for you to make improvements and get those easy wins with that low hanging fruit is something that I can't stress enough. So, do a lot of listening, do a lot of talking, do a lot of asking questions.

I remember a former, um, A boss of mine told me once, he said, ask as many questions as you can within the first couple of months that you're in this job. Because if you ask them in the first couple of months that you're in the job, people are going to think, wow, this person is really, really sharp and they really want to get better. If you don't ask those questions, everybody's just going to make the assumption that you know it.

And when it comes time a couple months later that you don't know it, and you're asking those questions that you should have been asking before, people are going to say, how did this person even get this job if they don't know the answers to these questions? So don't be afraid to ask as many questions as you can.

At the beginning to really help you get to know your school culture and to really just get to know, you know, the history of your school because, you know, you're taking over a school that might be a few years old, might be 100 years old, and you're now responsible for stewarding that for the next 100 years. Uh, so listening, listening, listening goes a long way. Establishing those partnerships with your key leaders on campus, is so very important.

The last thing I'm going to tell you is, I think, uh, I always say this, I appeared on a podcast a couple months ago with, uh, President Jethro Jones, and I told him that I felt a lot of Catholic schools come down to three, three words, okay? Now, obviously, I'm going to just say that the Catholic faith is, clear far and away the reason that we exist in terms of being a Catholic school.

So when I say my three C's, uh, that Catholic faith piece to me is overlying and overarching on all of these areas.

So, but if you have Clear communication, you have consistency in your policies, and you have great curb appeal. People are going to see that, and it's probably going to knock out 90 percent of what you're doing as a school, and give confidence in you as a leader. So being a good communicator, communicating with your families, communicating with your faculty, what's happening at your school. If you are responsible for the advancement work at your school, communicating where dollars were spent.

I just did a great podcast recently about communicating ways that, uh, how you can communicate, how funds were used to give people confidence in your office. just honoring what people's requests are, creating trust, and just over communicating what's happening at your school is so important. Being consistent in your policies. you know, we're going to let this person do this, but not this person. We're going to do this, but not for this.

there might be a reason that you're creating inconsistencies in your policies that nobody needs to know about. Maybe your family has a special circumstance. That's not what I'm talking about. But when you're giving different rules for different people, uh, this person gets a uniform violation, but this one doesn't and they're doing the exact same thing. Uh, that consistency in how you operate as a school to keep people from guessing how you're running your school is so important.

And so, consistency, curb appeal, communication, the last one being the curb appeal that I just mentioned, what do people see when they come to your school? When people walk up for the first time, this was a great exercise that I did with my leadership team was I took them outside and I said, I want you to walk up to our school for the first time. Don't say anything, but just write down what you see. Look around like you're looking at this school for the first time.

Is the sign that welcomes people to the school old and rusted? Does it need to be replaced? When people come up and they ring the doorbell or what are they greeted with? Or what do they see? Do they know it's a Catholic school right away? What's that curb appeal that people have? Think about a new family who's visiting your school for the first time.

They may be on your campus for 15 seconds and it doesn't matter what you show them because the curb appeal that they were met with when they pulled up to the school is something that really turned them off and they said, Yeah, we're probably not going to do this, but we're going to go on the tour anyway. You're playing from behind at that point. Communication, consistency, and curb appeal are going to help you in so many ways, no matter what your responsibility is at your school.

These are just a couple things, like I said, that, that I have learned, if I can help you in your role as a principal, as an aspiring principal, as a development director, as a recruitment director, this is why I exist. This is why my, my company exists at Elementary Advancement Solutions is to help you grow Catholic education, www. elementaryadvancement. com. There's a lot of resources on there. There's some articles on there. very much.

Uh, old podcast, but also times that you can set up just to set up a consult with me, uh, at no charge, just to see if I can help you in what it is that you're doing as a school community. Um, that's the goal of this is to really help grow Catholic education. I just, was so saddened to see so many Catholic schools closing, uh, over the past 10 years and, and wanted to make sure that, you know, moving forward that I took an active role in making sure that we could help and.

make Catholic schools thrive, not just survive, but we want to see them thriving again in your community. So if that's something I can help you with, if you're new to your role, um, there's a lot of opportunities out there, that I'd be happy to help you with and talk to you about. Uh, like I said, mentioned about our mastermind groups that are out there. It's a great way for you to get connected with leaders all over the world, not just in the United States, but over the world.

to learn new strategies and new skills and just bounce ideas off of. It's a great thing to do. Our mastermind groups are rock stars. So big shout out to them. you know, hey, if that's something that you think could, could be in your future, reach out to me. Let's set up a time to do a virtual cup of coffee on zoom and hear more about your school and what your goals are. So thank you so much again for listening.

Again, I remind you that if you like this podcast, if you think this is something that. Would benefit others. Be sure to like it, subscribe, uh, leave a comment, leave a, uh, a review on there, or share it with others, share it with colleagues, whatever the case might be. Uh, I want to say thank you in advance for doing that. praying for you in this new role. You've been blessed. said yes to a wonderful, wonderful vocation of working in a Catholic school.

And I promise you it's something that's really, really rewarding and something that is just going to fill your heart.

So, for all of our new leaders out there in Catholic schools, we're praying for you and, uh, wish you nothing but success in the year moving forward.