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Central Office Leader of Leaders
See the role-specific behaviors for central office leaders.
What makes a great central office leader of leaders?
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 central office Leader of Leaders are outlined below.
Related job roles: Assistant Director, Assistant Superintendent, Director, Executive Director
Need a hard copy? See the Leader of Leaders: 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 culture where staff evaluate their practice and contribution towards goals
- Supports the development of measurable district goals that are aligned to 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 district success and student achievement
- 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 district
- Ensures that department teams and leaders are growing in their understanding and application of best practices for their function
- Models a growth mindset for 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 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 district
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 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 team’s and district’s mission and goals
- Fosters a culture where staff members are able express opinions contrary to those of authority
- Creates a risk free environment for productively, challenging the status quo in departments
- 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 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 goals
- Utilizes 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 campuses and departments
- Takes ownership of student results and creates a plan for improvement on campuses and within team
- Proactively and continuously improves performance by evaluating progress towards goals and identifying areas of improvement
- Collaborates with team and campus 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 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 team
- Builds team’s self-awareness by asking reflective questions and sharing candid feedback to help build understanding of how a team member’s actions are being experienced by others
- 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 department and team goals align to the 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"
- Consistently monitors teams goals and objectives to eliminate silos between campuses and teams across the district
- Delivers compelling and inspiring messages to internal and external audiences that demonstrates a shared understanding and connection to department 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 various 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 acknowledgment 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 department-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 all staff while maintaining professional standards
- Acknowledges significant events in the lives of colleagues with care, respect, and compassion
- Models empathy for leaders, teachers 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 (colleagues, community and families)