Episode 256

full
Published on:

19th Jul 2024

Leading from the Middle: Secrets to Building a Student-Centered School

Summary: Superintendent Sue Lemon shares her journey, insights, and leadership wisdom honed during her tenure at Rosedale Union Elementary School District. Taking the helm right before the COVID-19 pandemic, Sue discusses the importance of community, structured hiring, and effective communication. She delves into how she navigated school closures, embraced input-driven decisions, and championed a student-centered culture. Sue offers invaluable advice on leadership, the power of asking questions, and cultivating a servant's heart. Join host CT Leong in uncovering the nuances of leading with humility and courage in education.

Key Takeaways:

  • Student-Centered Hiring Practices: Rosedale Union Elementary School District prioritizes hiring staff with a strong commitment to student-centric approaches, using specific interview techniques to ensure alignment with the district's values.
  • Leadership Development: Sue emphasizes the importance of nurturing potential leaders within the district through mentorship, structured collaboration, and continuous professional growth.
  • Crisis Management: The episode highlights the critical role of transparent and frequent communication during crises, as evidenced by Sue's approach during the pandemic.
  • Decision-Making Framework: Sue discusses the importance of recognizing different types of decisions—those made by staff, by herself, and collaboratively—and the value of input from all levels.
  • Trust and Humility: Trusting one's instinct, acknowledging mistakes, and being willing to adjust strategies as needed are key elements of effective leadership.

Chapters:

0:00

Building a Family Atmosphere in Rosedale Union Elementary School District

7:00

A Journey from Teacher to Superintendent Guided by Faith

13:15

Navigating School Closures and Reopenings During a Pandemic

19:41

Leadership, Decision-Making, and Learning from Mistakes

23:42

Systematic Leadership Development and School-Wide Collaboration

26:59

The Importance of Collaborative Decision Making in Leadership

Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk

Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda



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About the Podcast

Engaging Leadership
Engaging Leaders to Build High Performance Teams
How do you build a high-performance team?
That question occupies the minds of most leaders.

Answering that question in today's environment is especially challenging.
You need to outperform previous years on a fraction of the budget.
Do more with less is the mandate.

How do you pull this off?
That's why we're here.

Each week we will interview executive and senior leaders in HR, IT, and Sales. They'll share their best practices and playbooks for empowering managers and building high-performance teams.

Engaged leaders empower managers to build elite teams.
Tune in every week for game-changing insights.


About your hosts

CheeTung Leong

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I'm committed to helping people live their best lives through work.

I'm one of the co-founders of EngageRocket, an HRTech SaaS startup and we are focused on helping organizations build empowered managers, engaged employees, and elite teams.

I'm a big nerd when it comes to economics and psychology and regularly use data and tech to help folks live their best lives.

I've been recognized by Prestige Magazine as one of the top 40 under 40 business leaders and have been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and Tech in Asia.

Jim Kanichirayil

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Your friendly neighborhood talent strategy nerd is the producer and co-host for The HR Impact Show. He's spent his career in sales and has been typically in startup b2b HRTech and TA-Tech organizations.

He's built high-performance sales teams throughout his career and is passionate about all things employee life cycle and especially employee retention and turnover.