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No matter what you do, there will be times when your teachers disagree with you. When that happens, you have a choice. You can be a boss and use your positional power to steamroll over any disagreement (and create toxicity, stifle everyone’s voice, and drive true innovation underground). You can use leadership strategies and try to negotiate (which unintentionally creates resentment, further pushback, and passive/aggressive resistance). Or you can use a very simple framework Builders use to resolve conflict and ensure that everyone walks away satisfied and more deeply committed to the work. Tune in to discover the exact framework (including the specific words to say) to help you resolve any disagreement #LikeABuilder.

Everyone tells you that the key to building trust is transparency, but no one ever tells you how to achieve that transparency. So, we either try to be "strategically transparent" sharing some thing while withholding others (which often leads to more distrust) or we feel that we have to strop ourselves naked and share everything. Well the good news is, there is a better way. On today's episode, discover how you can be truly transparent and build real trust and still be able to keep confidential things confidential #LikeABuilder.

Are you focused on control, conformity, or alignment? Your answer will likely determine whether you have a toxic culture, a good enough culture, or a 100% culture. Tune in today to discover why trying to stay in control of your school will lead to burn out, toxicity, and failure, why conformity is a trap that keeps your school locked in “good enough,” and how to build true alignment that not only unleashes creativity and innovation, fosters true accountability, and frees you and your team to be your best selves #LikeABuilder.

The difference between a toxic, good enough, and 100% culture can usually be boiled down to how each culture pursues its work. Toxic cultures are reactionary and pursue their work from a sense of panic. Good Enough cultures pursue their work to alleviate the tension between where they are and where they need to be, often settling for whatever will relieve the tension regardless of whether it is right for students. But Builders know that in order to sustain true urgency around the work, they need to keep a laser focused on the most important work. On today’s episode, discover how you can foster a true sense of urgency in your school  #LikeABuilder.

One of the biggest traps leaders face is that they have been trained to focus on making their staff comfortable instead of safe. The challenge is that once you start focusing on your team’s comfort, you end up making people comfortable where they are instead of challenging them to pursue something better. On today’s episode, discover the steps you need to take to transition your school culture from a culture of comfort to a culture of safety so that your teachers feel empowered to take risks, pursue bigger goals, and ultimately achieve your vision for 100% of your students  #LikeABuilder.

This week, we have a real treat in store. We're sharing one of the most popular segments of the live recording we did of the Culture Cure Course! This segment outlines the 4 core stories every school tells and challenges you to determine what story your school is currently telling. So listen in on this segment of the Culture Cure Course and then identify the story your school is telling. Because, once you understand the story your school is currently telling, you can transform that story into a success story #LikeABuilder. 

Do you feel like you are the only person in your school who truly believes that success for 100% of your students is really possible? Does it feel like you have to drag your school towards your goals? Are people openly or passively resisting your 100% vision. If so, this episode is for you. Discover the 3 steps you need to take to get your entire culture on board and building success for every student  #LikeABuilder.

Ready for some straight talk? Many of us are doing the “right” work for the wrong reasons. So in this episode, we’re having the hard conversations about what really drives our work. Discover how to remove one of the biggest barriers that prevents you from being effective and exponentially multiply the impact you can have on the lives of those you serve #LikeABuilder.

Last time (episode 200) we looked at the 5 types of cultures typical of schools. Unfortunately, if you want to achieve success for EVERY student you serve, you need something MORE than the typical school culture. You need a 100% School Culture. So on today’s episode, we’ll look at the 4 characteristics of a 100% School Culture and how you can begin to build one in your school #LikeABuilder.

Normally when we think about school cultures, we think that a culture is either healthy or toxic. But, did you know that there are actually five different types of school cultures? In today's episode, I’m breaking down the characteristics of each of the 5 types of school cultures. But here’s the thing. No matter what kind of school culture you have, there are challenges and pitfalls. So tune in today to discover what type of school culture you have and how you can avoid the challenges that come with each type of school culture #LikeABuilder.

Years ago, someone gave me a piece of advice that I have turned to time and time again and today's episode, I'm not only sharing that advice with you, but I'm going to show you how to apply that advice to your Buildership journey to get more results and to feel more calm and confident #LikeABuilder.

If you’re fairly new to Buildership or even if you’ve been on your own Buildership journey for a while, there is a real temptation to try to do ALLLLL the things right away. Afterall, once you see the power of Buildership, you realize how much of what you’ve always been taught to do isn’t serving you or your students. So, while you may want to rush to implement Buildership in your school, don’t. Buildership takes time in order to do it right. That’s why in today’s episode, you’ll discover why implementing Buildership properly takes about 3 years. We’ll break down the entire Buildership journey (including all the wins you’ll experience along the way), the Buildership timeline, and the very real dangers of trying to do too much too fast. By the time you’re done listening, you’ll hopefully stop putting pressure on yourself and give yourself permission to take your time#LikeABuilder.

What do you do when staff morale begins to slip? Well, if you are a leader, you look for an inspirational video to play at your next staff meeting, a PD activity you can quickly put together (trust falls anyone?), or a cool gift you can leave in teachers’ mail boxes (“Oh look! It’s an ice scraper with our school logo! I’ve always wanted one of those.”). But we all know that those things don’t work. For one, they can come off as manipulative and disingenuous. For another, they offer a bandaid at best for a much deeper and more nuanced problem. That’s why Builders approach morale problems differently and in today's episode, I’m going to break down the exact steps Builders use to solve morale issues once and for allEven if you aren’t experiencing morale issues right now, this episode is great to help you prevent them from ever cropping up. So, whether you are currently immersed in morale issues or you just want to understand how to avoid them altogether, this episode will help you raise the morale in your building #LikeABuilder.

Do you know your Builder Type? There are 4 Types of Builders. Knowing these 4 Builder types not only helps you understand where you are as a Builder, it helps you overcome your biggest block right now so that you can be an even better Builder tomorrow. On today’s episode, we’ll use that framework to discover which of the 4 Types of Builders you are and find out what you need to do next (based on your Builder Type) in order to level up #LikeABuilder.

Do you ever feel like you keep solving the same problems over and over again? Why not put systems in place to quickly resolve those common challenges when they crop up? That way, instead of being caught off guard, you can quickly recover from your most pressing challenges by digging the well BEFORE you’re thirsty #LikeABuilder.

I debated about whether or not to air this episode because I take abuse very seriously but the more I heard from administrators about their situations, the more I realized that many administrators are in abusive relationships with their supervisors. So, we need to talk about it which is why in today’s episode, we’re going to explore 10 warning signs that you are in an abusive relationship with your supervisor and what you can realistically handle it #LikeABuilder.

There are some sneaky beliefs that many of us were trained to adopt that actually keep us from making a bigger difference in our school. Not only do they lead to frustration and feeling stuck, these false beliefs prevent us from having a bigger impact and rob us of our confidence. But what really makes them so dangerous is that we are often taught to think this way in our leadership development programs. On today’s episode, we tackle these 3 false beliefs and show you the simple mind shifts (we call them “mindsteps) you can take to overcome these false beliefs and see the true possibilities ahead. #LikeABuilder.

We tend to treat people problems as if they are all different and require different solutions for each situation. But in today's episode, I’m going to make the case that every people problem you face -- whether it’s a resistant teacher, a toxic culture, or a broken relationship with your team -- are all different versions of the exact same problem: A lack of Alignment. And, I’m also going to show you how the solutions we’ve been taught to apply -- writing people up, having tough conversations, working on the relationship, etc. -- won’t solve these problems. However, there is a solution and I’m going to break it down in today's episode. By the time you’re done listening, you’ll know how to stop wasting time dealing with these type of challenges one-by-one and apply the ONE solution that will solve them all   #LikeABuilder.

Does true staff alignment -- where everyone on your staff is on the same page and working productively towards your school vision -- seem like a fantasy? If so, you'll want to tune into this episode where you'll discover how you can create true alignment in your school. Plus, you'll hear a real-life example of how an "unremarkable" principal achieved true alignment in his school, and you'll find out the steps you must take in order to create real staff alignment in your own school #LikeABuilder.