Real-Life Communication
Many school superintendents say that effective communication skills
take care of the most important part of their job. Communicating is what supers
have to do best if they want to be effective. Their days are full of meetings,
phone calls, email and correspondence with all kinds of people.
"Communication
skills are vitally important," says Neil Gannon. He is the former director
of an organization of superintendents. "Their whole job involves communicating
with their school board, who they report to, plus all their staff -- central
office staff, school principals, teachers, parents, the general public, the
media, the students, the government."
School-related stories are always
hot topics in news hours and papers. As a superintendent, you can expect plenty
of camera time, speaking for one of the many schools in your district.
"You
are the spokesperson for the school district," says Joseph Schneider. He is
the former deputy director of the American Association of School Administrators.
"Whenever there's an issue with the school district, the media will go to
the superintendent for a comment. So you've got to be good one on one, and
you've got to be good in front of the camera."
But the bulk of communication
is directed internally. Annual reports, day-to-day correspondence and meetings
are meant for those with an interest in the school system -- whether that's
a child, a job or a government mandate. Superintendents must be skilled at
dealing with all groups by communicating with efficiency, wisdom and tact.
You
are the superintendent of a school district. You are submitting your annual
report to the community and various levels of government. The report includes
statistics of student achievement as well as other overviews of the district's
year. You are to preface it with a message from the superintendent -- a general
letter which outlines the report's intentions and the schools' mandates.
Write
a 250-word letter to the report's audience, addressing them as parents, staff,
the community, the board and the students. Include a push for more involvement
of this audience in providing an effective learning organization. Mention
the purpose of the overview: to identify areas in the school system needing
both improvement and praise.
Outline the district's vision: to encourage
research-based change and staff risk-taking to develop better teaching methods.
Ask the questions the report is based on this year: did we do what we said
we would do? Did we achieve what we expected as a result? Encourage feedback
from the audience, and thank those who helped put the report together.