Setting Leadership Priorities

What’s Necessary, What’s Nice, and What’s Got to Go
Suzette Lovely - Capistrano Unified School District, CA
Setting Leadership Priorities
September 2005 | 128 pages | Corwin
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ISBN: 9781483361574
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ISBN: 9781412915755
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Description

Dig out from your desk and discover a refreshing new world of school leadership!

Do you find yourself so busy digging a ditch with a spoon that you don't have time to go back to the tool shed and fetch a shovel? Are your in-box and daily schedule at maximum capacity? Does it seem impossible to include those extras that would make your job more enjoyable and satisfying? Conquering overload is a constant challenge for 21st-century school administrators. This book breathes fresh air into the often murky world of priority management.

Setting Leadership Priorities teaches busy professionals how to distinguish between information, activities, and situations that must be retained, those that might be refined, and many that should be relinquished. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a teacher and administrator, Lovely understands that reducing frustration and overload helps administrators by:

  • Increasing retention rates and improving success on the job
  • Allowing them to redistribute leadership by delegating
  • Creating balance in their daily lives and in their long-term professional journey

When the emergencies outnumber the victories and you can't see the door over your towering in-box, it's time to reshuffle your priorities and let clarity emerge. 

Contents

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

1. The Information Invasion

  • Global Communication: Friend or Foe?
  • Overshooting the Mark
  • California’s Billion-Dollar Experiment
  • Learning to Set Limits
  • Conclusion: Turn Off the Spigot

2. Teaching Leaders to Let Go

  • Beef Up Communication
  • “Selective Abandonment” at Work
  • Make Room for the Essentials
  • It Takes Courage to Say No
  • Conclusion: Hope Is on the Way

3. Business As Unusual

  • Getting Into Gear
  • Building Organizational Fitness
  • Deposit Time in the Bank
  • The Battle of Blind Accumulation
  • Stop the Madness
  • Conclusion: Don’t Catch the Ball Every Time It’s Thrown

4. The Power of One, the Impact of Many

  • Loading the Bus With the Right People
  • P(3) = Persistence x Passion x Practice
  • One Principal, Many Leaders
  • Delegation Without Guilt
  • Conclusion: Bring Home the Yellow Jersey

5. Getting a Grip on Data

  • Excavating Quality Data
  • Take the Plunge
  • Turning Data Into Knowledge
  • Sow the Seeds of Success
  • Conclusion: It’s Elementary

6. Is the Sky Really Falling? Distinguishing a Bona Fide Crisis From Make-Believe

  • The Story of Urgent Ernie
  • No Need to ‘FUD’ About It
  • Fighting the Adrenaline Rush
  • School Leadership Is Not an Emergency
  • The Throes of CoDependency
  • Conclusion: Blow Out the Candles and Move On

Epilogue: Let the Odyssey Begin

  • Balance Inside Disequilibrium
  • Courting Successors
  • Pass the Mate
  • If at First You Don’t Succeed, TRI-TRI Again
  • Just Do It

Resource A. Sample District Complaint Policy

Resource A. Sample District Complaint Policy

Resource B. Testing Your Organizational DNA

Resource B. Testing Your Organizational DNA

Resource C. Who’s Riding Our Bus? Personal Inventory & Team Activity

Resource C. Who’s Riding Our Bus? Personal Inventory & Team Activity

Resource D. Leadership Lessons in 30 Minutes or Less

  • Getting Results Through Time Efficient Meetings
  • The Classroom Walk ‘Bout
  • Passing Out Psychological Paychecks: 50 Ways to Recognize Employee Performance and Boost Morale

References

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

Description

Dig out from your desk and discover a refreshing new world of school leadership!

Do you find yourself so busy digging a ditch with a spoon that you don't have time to go back to the tool shed and fetch a shovel? Are your in-box and daily schedule at maximum capacity? Does it seem impossible to include those extras that would make your job more enjoyable and satisfying? Conquering overload is a constant challenge for 21st-century school administrators. This book breathes fresh air into the often murky world of priority management.

Setting Leadership Priorities teaches busy professionals how to distinguish between information, activities, and situations that must be retained, those that might be refined, and many that should be relinquished. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a teacher and administrator, Lovely understands that reducing frustration and overload helps administrators by:

  • Increasing retention rates and improving success on the job
  • Allowing them to redistribute leadership by delegating
  • Creating balance in their daily lives and in their long-term professional journey

When the emergencies outnumber the victories and you can't see the door over your towering in-box, it's time to reshuffle your priorities and let clarity emerge. 

Contents

Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Author

1. The Information Invasion

  • Global Communication: Friend or Foe?
  • Overshooting the Mark
  • California’s Billion-Dollar Experiment
  • Learning to Set Limits
  • Conclusion: Turn Off the Spigot

2. Teaching Leaders to Let Go

  • Beef Up Communication
  • “Selective Abandonment” at Work
  • Make Room for the Essentials
  • It Takes Courage to Say No
  • Conclusion: Hope Is on the Way

3. Business As Unusual

  • Getting Into Gear
  • Building Organizational Fitness
  • Deposit Time in the Bank
  • The Battle of Blind Accumulation
  • Stop the Madness
  • Conclusion: Don’t Catch the Ball Every Time It’s Thrown

4. The Power of One, the Impact of Many

  • Loading the Bus With the Right People
  • P(3) = Persistence x Passion x Practice
  • One Principal, Many Leaders
  • Delegation Without Guilt
  • Conclusion: Bring Home the Yellow Jersey

5. Getting a Grip on Data

  • Excavating Quality Data
  • Take the Plunge
  • Turning Data Into Knowledge
  • Sow the Seeds of Success
  • Conclusion: It’s Elementary

6. Is the Sky Really Falling? Distinguishing a Bona Fide Crisis From Make-Believe

  • The Story of Urgent Ernie
  • No Need to ‘FUD’ About It
  • Fighting the Adrenaline Rush
  • School Leadership Is Not an Emergency
  • The Throes of CoDependency
  • Conclusion: Blow Out the Candles and Move On

Epilogue: Let the Odyssey Begin

  • Balance Inside Disequilibrium
  • Courting Successors
  • Pass the Mate
  • If at First You Don’t Succeed, TRI-TRI Again
  • Just Do It

Resource A. Sample District Complaint Policy

Resource A. Sample District Complaint Policy

Resource B. Testing Your Organizational DNA

Resource B. Testing Your Organizational DNA

Resource C. Who’s Riding Our Bus? Personal Inventory & Team Activity

Resource C. Who’s Riding Our Bus? Personal Inventory & Team Activity

Resource D. Leadership Lessons in 30 Minutes or Less

  • Getting Results Through Time Efficient Meetings
  • The Classroom Walk ‘Bout
  • Passing Out Psychological Paychecks: 50 Ways to Recognize Employee Performance and Boost Morale

References

References

Index

Index

Additional materials

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Setting Leadership Priorities

What’s Necessary, What’s Nice, and What’s Got to Go

Suzette Lovely
Cancel Print

September 2005 | 128 pages | Corwin

Format Published Date ISBN Price
Hardcover 27/02/2023 9781412915755 $73.95
Paperback 01/02/2026 9781412915762 $37.95
Lifetime 01/02/2026 9781483361574 $35.00

Dig out from your desk and discover a refreshing new world of school leadership!

Do you find yourself so busy digging a ditch with a spoon that you don't have time to go back to the tool shed and fetch a shovel? Are your in-box and daily schedule at maximum capacity? Does it seem impossible to include those extras that would make your job more enjoyable and satisfying? Conquering overload is a constant challenge for 21st-century school administrators. This book breathes fresh air into the often murky world of priority management.

Setting Leadership Priorities teaches busy professionals how to distinguish between information, activities, and situations that must be retained, those that might be refined, and many that should be relinquished. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a teacher and administrator, Lovely understands that reducing frustration and overload helps administrators by:

  • Increasing retention rates and improving success on the job
  • Allowing them to redistribute leadership by delegating
  • Creating balance in their daily lives and in their long-term professional journey

When the emergencies outnumber the victories and you can't see the door over your towering in-box, it's time to reshuffle your priorities and let clarity emerge. 


Table Of Contents:

  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • 1. The Information Invasion
  • Global Communication: Friend or Foe?
  • Overshooting the Mark
  • California’s Billion-Dollar Experiment
  • Learning to Set Limits
  • Conclusion: Turn Off the Spigot
  • 2. Teaching Leaders to Let Go
  • Beef Up Communication
  • “Selective Abandonment” at Work
  • Make Room for the Essentials
  • It Takes Courage to Say No
  • Conclusion: Hope Is on the Way
  • 3. Business As Unusual
  • Getting Into Gear
  • Building Organizational Fitness
  • Deposit Time in the Bank
  • The Battle of Blind Accumulation
  • Stop the Madness
  • Conclusion: Don’t Catch the Ball Every Time It’s Thrown
  • 4. The Power of One, the Impact of Many
  • Loading the Bus With the Right People
  • P(3) = Persistence x Passion x Practice
  • One Principal, Many Leaders
  • Delegation Without Guilt
  • Conclusion: Bring Home the Yellow Jersey
  • 5. Getting a Grip on Data
  • Excavating Quality Data
  • Take the Plunge
  • Turning Data Into Knowledge
  • Sow the Seeds of Success
  • Conclusion: It’s Elementary
  • 6. Is the Sky Really Falling? Distinguishing a Bona Fide Crisis From Make-Believe
  • The Story of Urgent Ernie
  • No Need to ‘FUD’ About It
  • Fighting the Adrenaline Rush
  • School Leadership Is Not an Emergency
  • The Throes of CoDependency
  • Conclusion: Blow Out the Candles and Move On
  • Epilogue: Let the Odyssey Begin
  • Balance Inside Disequilibrium
  • Courting Successors
  • Pass the Mate
  • If at First You Don’t Succeed, TRI-TRI Again
  • Just Do It
  • Resource A. Sample District Complaint Policy
  • Resource B. Testing Your Organizational DNA
  • Resource C. Who’s Riding Our Bus? Personal Inventory & Team Activity
  • Resource D. Leadership Lessons in 30 Minutes or Less
  • Getting Results Through Time Efficient Meetings
  • The Classroom Walk ‘Bout
  • Passing Out Psychological Paychecks: 50 Ways to Recognize Employee Performance and Boost Morale
  • References
  • Index

Recent Product Reviews:

"Anyone who feels overwhelmed at work will find that this book is a wake-up call; Lovely offers a plentitude of strategies to prevent burnout on all levels: intellectually, emotionally, and physically."
NACADA Journal, Fall 2006
"A fascinating and practical set of ideas and strategies, useful to effective leaders.""A highly practical approach to coping with the daily realities of leading schools."
Kent Peterson, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Most school administrators are familiar with such adages of leadership as 'Effective leaders do first things first' or 'Work smarter not harder.' But knowing how to recite adages is much different from knowing how to apply them. This book offers specific, practical, and valuable tips that can help harried peripatetic school administrators improve their effectiveness."
Dr. Rick Dufour, Educational Author and Consultant, Moneta, VA
"Suzette Lovely has synthesized a number of best practices and offers an easy-to-read resource--especially for central office leaders."
Pam Robbins, Author, The Principal's Companion
"Suzette Lovely challenges traditional school reform efforts and leadership nostrums with a fresh and compelling alternative. From the practical elements of meetings and delegation to the personal priorities of health and family responsibilities, the author provides a comprehensive approach to leadership priorities that will help struggling leaders survive and will help successful leaders achieve greater heights."
Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D., CEO, Center for Performance Assessment

Recommendations