What makes a great leader of leaders at the campus level?

There are actions and attitudes that indicate leadership behavior for a particular role. These role-specific behaviors can be used to coach and evaluate employees. The indicators can also be used to assess skills needed to advance to the next level of leadership.

The role-specific behaviors for campus Leader of Leaders are outlined below.

Related job roles: Assistant Principal, Associate Principal, Instructional Coach

Need a hard copy? See the Leader of Leaders: Campus Role-Specific Behaviors flyer (PDF).

We GROW Leaders

Foster Ownership

Takes responsibility for growth in self and others

  • Models holding self-accountable and contributes to a campus culture where staff evaluate their practice and contribution towards campus goals 
  • Supports the development of measurable campus-wide goals that are aligned to campus needs and the district's vision
  • Supports self and team members’ professional learning by identifying potential areas of growth and learning opportunities
  • Consistently exhibits pride in own work and has a belief that own work is a critical lever for student and district success 
  • Encourages team, leaders and self to operate with a sense of urgency, responsibility and purpose because of the significance of that impact and empower others

Pursue Continuous Growth

Seeks out and incorporates feedback into one’s practice; models being a learner and continuously seeks to grow & improve

  • Actively seeks and effectively applies feedback from all stakeholders; builds a culture of regularly seeking and providing productive feedback
  • Models continuous reflection on own actions and behaviors, accurately identifies areas of strength and growth, and works to improve 
  • Shares and applies new learning to improve staff and personal performance
  • Models a commitment to continuous learning and improvement through engagement in professional learning based on their needs 
  • Supports facilitation of high-quality professional development that is relevant to the needs of the campus
  • Models a growth mindset for students, staff, leaders and themselves 
  • Provides opportunities for coaching and development for a growth mindset within the team

Empower Others

Distributes leadership, giving people the opportunity to impact growth

  • Intentionally provides opportunities to rising leaders to lead critical tasks and decisions; supports and gives feedback through the progression of the work
  • Actively identifies future leaders and invests time and effort into supporting their growth and development
  • Identifies and mentors high potential future leaders with the goal of contributing to a strong school leadership pipeline 
  • Provides effective coaching to team members to support their growth, including providing candid feedback about both strengths and areas for growth
  • Conducts evaluation and continuous feedback cycles that are developmentally oriented and an effective tool to support the growth of staff throughout the campus

We INSPIRE Innovation

Take Initiative

Anticipates and solves problems proactively, with resilience

  • Models resilience through tenacity in difficult, high-pressure situations while keeping a professional composure
  • Sustains a school-wide culture in which staff take initiative to act and solve problems to ensure outcomes are achieved

Seek Innovation and Change

Actively embraces new ideas and creative solutions; leads others through change

  • Encourages the implementation of new initiatives that serve the campus’ mission and goals
  • Fosters a culture where staff members are able to express opinions contrary to those of authority 
  • Creates a risk free environment for productively challenging the status quo in departments and on campus
  • Builds a culture where change is met with optimism; models flexibility and adaptability to challenges and successes 
  • Actively supports and remains accessible to staff during times of change or stress 
  • Communicates changing dynamics to teams to develop a shared understanding

Celebrate Achievement

Recognizes and celebrates others for achievements; uses recognition to reinforce positive efforts

  • Systematically and fairly recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of students and staff
  • Inspires students and teams to accomplish their goals and provides guidance and support in doing so
  • Consistently celebrates and rewards individuals and teams who stand out with exceptional commitment and achievements through specific praise and special touches

We STRIVE for Excellence

Focus on Student Success

Takes personal accountability for student outcomes and advancing student success

  • Ensures cohesion across departmental/team goals 
  • Utilize district protocol to analyze various data sets
  • Demonstrates ability and capacity to collect, monitor, analyze and act on multiple forms of relevant data to track growth towards goals 
  • Analyzes and identifies patterns across different data sets and uses insight to solve complex problems impacting multiple parts of the campus/department
  • Proactively and continuously improves performance in school by evaluating progress towards goals and identifying areas of improvement
  • Collaborates with teachers and staff to develop a continuous improvement plan
  • Acts decisively; recognizes when a decision is required and either takes prompt action or elevates it as issues emerge 
  • Makes sound decisions when faced with differing stakeholder perspectives or ambiguous information, based on the campus’s needs and objectives

Project Positive Presence

Exhibits poise, confidence, loyalty and integrity in all interactions

  • Consistently exhibits professionalism, honesty, integrity, fairness, stewardship, trust, respect and confidentiality and maintains this expectation for staff 
  •  Models high standards of honesty, trust, respect and confidentiality for team members
  • Promotes a culture of cohesion and assuming the best in others; demonstrates a genuine interest in what may be learned from others 
  • Coaches team leaders on how to productively resolve conflict and directly intervenes as needed
  • Models positivity and optimism for students, families and staff
  • Highly-responsive, visible and accessible; contributes to a culture of accessibility and responsiveness to all stakeholders

Live the Vision

Understands that “We are all Garland ISD” – every individual’s actions contribute to reaching the future by driving excellence, one student at a time

  • Builds a shared vision of success for team, working in collaboration with team members so that the vision is understood and owned by all 
  • Ensures departmental/team goals align to school and district-wide vision and are cohesive with each other
  • Personally models and actively ensures adherence to Garland ISD's core values and promotion of the mission and vision of the district; decisions are rooted in "We are all Garland ISD"
  • Delivers compelling and inspiring messages to internal and external audiences that demonstrates a shared understanding and connection to campus and district vision

We DEVELOP Relationships

Embrace Diversity

Values and celebrates all cultures and communities; fosters an inclusive environment for all, honoring backgrounds and identities

  • Facilitates an inclusive environment for all backgrounds and advocates for their needs
  • Forms groups/teams to include variant perspectives and backgrounds
  • Nurtures a thriving culture of collaboration within the team and when working with other leaders
  • Speaks openly and publicly in celebration of diversity and regard for all members of the Garland community
  • Promotes equity and inclusion as top priorities for all; seeks to eliminate bias decisions and interaction with all stakeholders
  • Review policies and procedures that create and promote unintentional bias practices

Communicate Effectively

Communicates clearly, proactively, and transparently with all stakeholders

  • Actively listens to others and responds with an acknowledgement and respect of their perspective; models and encourages this skill in teams
  • Is consistently accessible and responsive to all stakeholders through different forms of verbal and written communication and enforces these expectations campus-wide
  • Works collaboratively to streamline information and messaging to ensure teams have the necessary notice to take action 
  • Adapts communication style across the needs of all stakeholders and is influential and inspiring to others

Act with Compassion

Shows empathy and care for all stakeholders, upholding high expectations for self, students, and staff

  • Aware and informed about the personal circumstances and needs of students and staff while maintaining professional standards
  • Acknowledges significant events in the lives of students and colleagues with care, respect and compassion
  • Models empathy for leaders, teachers, students and colleagues and drives to ensure achievement of Garland ISD values, goals and vision 
  • Facilitates opportunities for team leaders to build empathy and understand the perspectives of others (students, families, colleagues, team members)