Management in the real world (school)

After our discussion today about scheduling and management issues principals have to deal with, I was left with some new ideas and questions. I wonder how easy it is, especially starting out as an administrator, to delegate tasks and what tasks to delegate. I'm sure this comes through simple trial and error, but I can see how frustrating a day as a principal would be when you have things on a schedule and there are people counting on you to be at a certain place at a certain time. I almost think it would be easier to not have a schedule at all, but a to do list. A to do list would be easier, in my mind, to prioritize and manage. I don't think I would feel like I was letting people down as much. If there is something on my 'to do list' I'm going to do it, it just might not be now or today. If I miss something on a schedule, I've missed it! Being the dean, I have literally had days as a principal and every single day but one, I had zero free time the entire day. I was called from one room to another, dealing with substitutes, or dealing with meetings with parents and those are not even a fraction of what our administrator has to deal with when he is in the building. There were a few days last year that I was able to go into classrooms and observe, and it was so much fun. I can imagine that observations would be one of my favorite parts of being an administrator. After days like I had last week, though, I feel like observations would also be one of my biggest frustrations, especially if there is a 'quota' that has to be meet.

Another idea I do not want to forget, is the idea of putting a schedule on the outside of my office door. If I have something that has to be scheduled it would be on a calendar. I think it would be an accountability piece for any administrator, if everyone is going to see you are unavailable one might think harder about the importance of the issue. I think that sometimes administrators can get a sense of freedom and loose sight of the fact of how many people are counting on them. I also think that doing this allows openness with the staff and a sense of even playing field, if you will. If it is okay for staff members to leave a little early for appointments, the expectation for the administrator should be the same. Yet, at my school, I hear people complaining when our principal is out of the building early, and it doesn't happen much, and they are the ones that are late every morning or the ones that leave early all the time. Frustrating!