Gains subject area / domain expertise and knowledge
Over the past four years, I have been gaining subject area expertise and knowledge in a variety of domains related to my role at EPS. As a professional working on a small team, sometimes my work can feel like a random assortment of tasks and I can struggle to find where they fit into the big picture of the organization. However, when I take time to reflect, I have been able to start seeing how my daily tasks fit into the grand scheme of the EPS. In order to situate my professional tasks within the ecosystem of EPS, I found it helpful to categorize my daily work into four sub-domains:
Administrative Assistant for Advancement Domains
- Fundraising
- Events
- Communications
- Community Relations
Before moving into descriptions of these subject areas of expertise, I think it’s important to note that these four domains overlap and connect with one another. They do not exist in a vacuum, rather, they are parts of a greater whole. The resulting combination of these domains is the essence of my current role at EPS.
Fundraising
At most independent schools, tuition does not fully cover the cost of the educational experience that the school provides to their students. Fundraising is a tool used to cover this financial gap and is one of my areas of domain expertise. At EPS, the main way we conduct fundraising and ask donors to give is through Head’s Table meetings. When I first started working at EPS, Vickie and I worked closely together to plan and execute each Head’s Table meeting. Now, I have gained expertise in this subject area to manage the prep and post work for Head’s Table on my own, including meeting preparation, email communications, and execution on the day of each in-person and online gathering.
Until 2022, EPS only had one General Fund (Annual Fund) for all fundraising efforts on an annual basis. However, EPS has also had a variety of capital campaigns for buildings and campus improvement projects. The capital campaigns have been shorter in duration whereas the Annual Fund continues every year for the full school year. In spring 2023, we added a new fund: The Macaluso Endowment for Professional Development. This endowment fund provides donors with an opportunity to designate their gifts to be restricted to use for faculty/staff professional development. In addition, another important difference between the Annual Fund and the Endowment is that Annual Fund gifts are available for immediate use by EPS. In contrast, Endowment gifts are held to accrue funds until there are sufficient funds to be withdrawn and used for the designated purpose. By adding this additional fund, EPS has diversified our fundraising approach. We continue to host Head’s Table meetings to support the Annual Fund, while also reaching out to individual donors and small groups to make gifts in support of the Endowment.
With EPS’s first senior class graduating in 2009, our alumni are just beginning their post-graduation lives and careers. In spring 2023, we not only launched our Endowment Fund, but we also sent out our first appeal to alumni asking for their support of the Endowment. This was a new fundraising appeal that I proposed and managed in collaboration with Vickie and our Alumni Team (Bart & Katie). Since our alumni are young and digital natives, I thought the most effective approach would be to run a fully digital appeal (no letters or in-person gatherings). We sent emails featuring alumni video clips and made social media posts asking for support of the Endowment for faculty professional development. All emails and social media posts included a link to make a gift. In response to the request to our appeal, many of our alumni responded by making gifts in support of the faculty who made such a significant impact in their lives.
In the future, a goal of the Advancement Team is to continue developing a culture of philanthropy among EPS alumni. A culture of philanthropy means that giving back (including time, talents, and donations) becomes natural and expected among a specific group of people. This type of culture is created through genuine connections, relationships, creating new memories, communicating and experiencing the value of an institution in a way that people desire to give back to their community.
Fundraising Domain Expertise: Main Projects
Annual Fund
Endowment
Head’s Table
Gift Processing
Alumni Appeals
Strategy meetings with Advancement Team
Strategy meetings with Alumni Team
Events
At EPS, the events we host for parents and guardians are an essential element of how we build community with our families. In the early years of the school, we heard feedback from parents that their child didn’t feel connected to the school. What they were really feeling but not saying was that they (the parents) were the family members feeling disconnected from the school, not necessarily the students. To help build bridges between parents/guardians and the school, EPS created a series of parent events and celebrations that we have continued to update and refine to this day.
The EPS school year opens with a celebration of the First Day of School and Convocation Assembly. I make sure we have a photographer onsite to document the day and take photos of students and faculty in their first day of classes. There are detailed logistics that go into the Convocation assembly, specifically getting all students entered into the space and seated by grade to allow the gathering to start and end on time. We also coordinate with the Fine & Performing Arts team to have our drone ready to take the All School Photo on the sport court. In late September, we host Fall Harvest, which is our largest current parent/guardian gathering of the school year. The purpose of the event is to welcome new families, build connections, and kick off the school year for the entire community.
After Fall Harvest, the Senior Parent / Guardian Reception serves as an opportunity for parents of seniors to gather and reflect on all that their students have accomplished in their time at EPS. Each December, we coordinate with an offsite venue to host an Employee Holiday Party. Returning this year, the All School BBQ event is a school year-end celebration for the entire EPS community, including current families, trustees, alumni, and alumni parents. The Senior Reception is an event that kicks off Graduation week, inviting seniors and their parents to celebrate all of their accomplishments along with EPS faculty members. The Senior Reception is followed by the Senior Lunch & Graduation Rehearsal, Graduation, and the Post-Graduation Celebration for faculty and staff. The final event of the school year is the Year End Lunch, a relaxed gathering where we have the opportunity to acknowledge, appreciate, and celebrate all EPS faculty and staff.
Events Domain Expertise: Main Projects
School Picture Day
Convocation / All School Photo / First Day of School
Fall Harvest
Employee Holiday Party
Senior Parent / Guardian Reception
All School BBQ
Senior Reception
Senior Lunch / Graduation Rehearsal
Graduation
Post-Graduation Celebration
Employee Year End Lunch
Communications
The main way that all of these areas of domain expertise are connected is through communications. In my introduction, I reflected on the elements of my personal and professional journey that led me to my position at EPS. When I thought about my personal journey, I discovered that at my core I am a reader and a writer. My passion in life is to discover stories and share them with others. I am inspired by the power of words and how language allows us to connect with one another to communicate ideas. In my role, I have gained expertise in creating and sharing communications to support fundraising, events, and community relations.
In my role, there are many ways I communicate on a daily basis. Every afternoon, I update the slideshow that appears on the screens on campus. The images tell stories of what students are doing inside and outside of their classrooms. The daily class schedule and upcoming events communicate to students and faculty about the school day, future events, and days when campus is closed. I manage the main EPS social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X) and share stories about student groups, activities, and updates from the school. I also post on our alumni social media accounts, when we share content that would resonate with alumni.
Another group I communicate with regularly is EPS parents, who I correspond with via email and phone. Each grade has volunteer parent Class Representatives and each month I prepare and send email communications to each grade level on their behalf. Every Monday, I archive the content from the weekly Friday email on the school website where parents can reference important information, read Insight articles, and more. I’ve created a series of communications in MailChimp that I send to seniors and their parents, which I manage from October through June each year. Finally, I collect and write content for our semi-annual issues of Inspire magazine, including student feature stories and Eagle Achievements in most issues.
Communications Domain Expertise: Main Projects
Daily Slides
Social Media
Emails with parents
APG – Monthly Grade Level Emails
Website – Weekly Email Archive
Graduation Communications
Inspire magazine
Community Relations
At EPS, we believe that embracing the power of partnership with parents will lead to the best educational outcomes for every student. Rather than holding parents at a distance or seeing them as antagonists, EPS makes concerted efforts to partner with parents who are seeking to create a generation of healthy, happy, well-educated young people. Another important element of my role is providing support and communicating with our Association of Parents and Guardians and grade level Class Representatives, which are groups that represent the parent community at EPS. These key partnerships are integral to what we do at EPS every day and enable us to achieve our goals as an educational institution.
There are a wide variety of tasks that I do to support the Association of Parents and Guardians (APG), APG Executive Team, and Class Representatives. I prepare for and manage logistics for all meetings on campus, including APG General Meetings, APG Executive Team Meetings, and APG Class Representative Team Meetings. These preparations include room reservations, parking, coffee, food, nametags, and updating the Guest Management system for security. The APG Hospitality and Faculty/Staff Appreciation Teams have additional projects throughout the school year, so I support their work by setting up meetings, ordering supplies, reserving workspaces, organizing storage, and managing logistics. To support the APG in creating custom gift baskets, I manage mountains of Amazon packages, moving them into and out of storage multiple times, reserving workspaces, and support with taking out recycle and trash. Through these partnerships with the APG and Class Reps, we hope to build a strong and connected parent community, building a bridge between families and the school.
Community Relations Domain Expertise: Main Projects
APG General Meetings
APG Executive Team Meetings
APG Class Representative Meetings
APG Hospitality Team Meetings
APG Faculty Staff Appreciation Team Meetings
Support with all APG meetings, events, and projects
Manages and prioritizes professional tasks and responsibilities
In this section, I will be exploring ways I manage and prioritize professional tasks and responsibilities. My tasks are organized seasonally and there are projects and events that happen at specific times in the school year. I also have daily and weekly tasks that happen throughout the school year, such as data entry into Generations, gift reconciliation with Finance, daily slide show, weekly email archive, and social media posts.
Managing and Prioritizing Tasks
When I think back to when I first started working at EPS, I remember having a hard time managing all of my tasks. I relied on Vickie more in those times and we worked together on most of those projects. Over time, I have grown used to the annual rhythms of the school and have become more aware of what to expect in my role at each season. I have learned how to effectively use OneNote to manage my daily tasks and keep notes from team meetings. I’ve helped initiate a regular cadence of pre-event and post-event meetings to make sure our team (and all other teams working an event) are working together and on the same page. After an event happens, we debrief and I record notes to help us improve our approach. I have grown in my ability to anticipate issues that may arise in my own projects, as well as requests from Vickie for support in her tasks. I also keep task lists for individual events and projects saved in my One Drive folders, where I can quickly reference and update them each year. I use those detailed notes to prepare for meetings with our Dining Services, Facilities, and Audio Visual Teams, create floorplans, approve menus, and coordinate with external vendors for our events.
Behind the Scenes to Onstage for Head’s Table
In fall 2023, I was asked to step in and join a few Head’s Table meetings when Vickie was out of office. This experience stretched me out of my comfort zone, since I needed to talk to the parents and be more front-facing than my usual role. In the meeting, I gave information about the Annual Fund and reminded the guests about matching donations. When I first started working at EPS, engaging people in conversation was an area where I needed to grow. Now, I can see how much I have grown in this area, developing the soft skills and confidence to engage with parents and build connections. I am now confident that I could effectively engage in the front-facing aspects of a Head’s Table meeting, or any other kind of meeting, in addition to managing the behind-the-scenes details and preparation tasks that are essential to making every gathering a success.
Overview of Tasks – Administrative Assistant for Institutional Advancement
Below is a detailed overview of all the professional tasks and responsibilities that I manage in my role as an Administrative Assistant for Institutional Advancement at EPS:
Fundraising
- Annual Fund & Endowment
- Achieve fundraising goals for Annual Fund
- Started an Endowment Fund for faculty professional development
- Alumni Appeals
- Building a culture of philanthropy among alumni
- Initiated the first alumni appeal in the history of EPS (2023)
- Head’s Table
- Create spreadsheet with all meetings and tasks listed
- Enter room reservation, dining request, facilities request into FMX
- Create meeting invitations using Google forms
- Send out RSVP links to grade levels using MailChimp
- Monitor RSVPs
- Low RSVPs = Send RSVP links again to increase responses
- High RSVPs = Close RSVP links due to space constraints
- New families = Track RSVPs and send follow up messages to reach 100%
- Monitor emails from guests – Asking questions, switching dates, cancellations
- Meeting Preparation (Day before Head’s Table tasks)
- Close RSVP link and download guest list
- Create attendance sheet for Sam and Vickie (include details about each guest)
- Add attending trustees to final guest list
- Update headcount in FMX for Dining Services
- Send reminder emails to guests with parking information
- Create nametags for guests using Generations
- Set up placemats, napkins, and cutlery in TALI 405
- Meeting Execution (Day of Head’s Table tasks)
- Greet guests as they arrive
- Offer stairs or elevator to navigate to TALI 405
- Use attendance sheet to track who has arrived
- Once all guests have arrived or time has elapsed, move upstairs
- Enter attendance notes into Generations
- Start preparing for next Head’s Table meetings
- Database Management & Gift Processing
- Manage Generations database – Parent / student contact information, giving records, family relationships, alumni information
- Summer Tasks – Generations Updates:
- Seniors become alumni, graduation year is added
- Current parents become alumni parents
- New parents and students are added to Generations
- Confirm with Admissions that all records are accurate
- Once Generations has been updated, fiscal year for giving starts on July 1. For each gift we receive, there is a specific process to record the gift and thank the donor:
- Create a new pledge (if needed) and enter the gift
- Generate an acknowledgement letter (also serves as the giving receipt)
- Print the letter, backup document, envelope
- Copy the thank you letter
- Scan thank you letter and backup document
- File paper copy
- Save scanned copy
- Put physical letter into the envelope, add postage, and mail to the donor
Head’s Table Prep – Task List
Events
- School Picture Day (August)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Create and upload floorplan for LPC into FMX
- Book photographers
- Coordinate with APG to secure parent volunteers
- Provide volunteers with clipboards and QR codes for photo process
- Manage School Picture Day communications plan to achieve maximum attendance
- Convocation / All School Photo / First Day of School (September)
- Enter room reservation and facilities request into FMX
- Create floorplan for Theatre and upload into FMX for Facilities
- Confirm with F&PA that drone is set up for picture
- Book professional photographer and provide with notes
- Tape number signs onto seats
- Communicate plan to staff volunteers, help students get seated quickly
- Fall Harvest (September)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Create and upload floorplans into FMX
- Place Grand Event Rental for tables, linens, cutlery
- Coordinate with APG Hospitality Team to determine theme, menu, décor
- Make décor purchases as needed
- Meet with Dining Services, Facilities, and AV team to go over event details
- Coordinate with APG Hospitality Team to secure volunteers
- Finalize menu and headcount with Dining Services
- Print nametags for all parents (Purchase, print, and sort)
- Pull in house décor items out of storage
- Manage volunteers and tasks on the day of event (set up and tear down)
- Senior Parent / Guardian Reception (January)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Create and upload floorplans into FMX
- Place Grand Event Rental for tables, linens, cutlery
- Collect photos of seniors, print and prep for table décor
- Finish and share Senior Reception video from faculty
- All School BBQ (May)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Book vendors – Photographer, yard games, face painters, balloon twister
- Coordinate with APG Hospitality Team to determine theme, menu, décor
- Coordinate with APG Hospitality Team to secure volunteers
- Meet with Dining Services, Facilities, and AV to go over event details
- Make décor purchases as needed
- Pull in house décor items out of storage
- Manage volunteers and tasks on the day of the event (set up and tear down)
- Senior Reception (June)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Place Grand Event Rental for tables, linens, cutlery
- Meet with Dining Services, Facilities, and AV to go over event details
- Coordinate parent volunteers to assemble Senior Gifts
- Finalize Senior Slideshow and Senior Reception Video:
- Senior Slideshow
- Collect photos of seniors from all of their years at EPS
- Senior Reception Video
- Create sign-up sheet for faculty
- Manage faculty registrations
- Manage faculty filming process
- Review and approve all videos
- Select 2-3 photos of each senior
- Submit all content to Playfish to create final video
- Senior Slideshow
- Senior Lunch / Graduation Rehearsal (June)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Meet with Facilities to go over room set up (Chairs)
- Graduation (June)
- Book Graduation venue
- Book Post-Graduation Celebration venue
- Place order with Jostens (Cap & gowns, faculty robes, honor cords, diploma covers)
- Distribute caps and gowns to students and faculty
- Distribute Graduation tickets to seniors
- Send final reminder communications to seniors and families
- Day of Graduation:
- Confirm all packing list items get taken to venue
- Arrive early to set up venue
- Facilitate group photos, manage staff volunteers and seniors
- Clean up venue
- Ship robes back to Jostens
- Organize and store supplies
- Employee Year End Lunch (June)
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Book food trucks
Event & Meetings – Task List
Communications
- APG Monthly Grade Level emails
- Receive email draft from grade level Class Reps
- Copy email content into MailChimp, send test email to Class Reps
- Send Class Reps and email letting them know the test has been sent and ask for a review
- Make any edits that are requested by Class Reps
- Once approved, send final email out to all parents in the grade
- Graduation Communications
- Identify which messages need to go out based on Graduation Communication Plan
- Create email messages in MailChimp, including details and links
- Send a test email to Vickie for approval
- Send the final email out to all seniors and senior parents
- Respond to questions as they come up
- Send reminder communications as deadlines approach
- Social Media
- Identify stories and topics that are relevant to the EPS community to share on social media
- Collect images and captions
- Add the content into Hootsuite social media tool
- Decide if the post is being scheduled for the future or posted right away
- Website – Email Archive
- Collect images and text from weekly Friday email
- Save content into a folder, labeled for each week
- Log into WordPress
- Create posts for each email topic
- Confirm if the post should be Public or Private
- Review the final post on the website
- Yearbook
- Share Senior Submission form with senior class
- Follow up with seniors to collect senior pictures, collages, and quotes
- Approve all collages and quotes are school appropriate
- Upload senior pictures, collages, and quotes into Pictavo (Yearbook web platform)
- Inspire Magazine
- Contact faculty and staff for leads on students
- Identify students for achievements or features
- Feature Stories
- Write interview questions
- Set up and conduct student interview
- Type up notes and write feature article
- Take a photo of the student or ask them to provide photos
- Eagle Achievements
- Ask students to provide description of achievement and photo
- Edit feature stories and submit all content before the deadline
- Daily Slides
- Friday – Look at schedule and update slides for following week
- Add info to PowerPoint and hide the slides
- Update the weekly overview and upcoming events slides
- Update the photos 2-3 times per month for relevance
- Update slides each afternoon with daily schedule for the next day
Website – Email Archive
Daily Slides
Community Relations
- APG General Meetings
- APG Executive Team Meetings
- APG Class Representative Meetings
- APG Hospitality Team Meetings
- APG Faculty Staff Appreciation Team Meetings
- Enter room reservation, dining request, and facilities request into FMX
- Reserve parking
- Create Outlook meeting invite, share internally as needed
- Enter guests into Guest Management, print nametags
- Attend meetings and take notes
- Complete tasks from meetings
- Support with events and projects
- Hospitality Team:
- Team provides ideas for themes, décor, and menus or events
- Team provides volunteer support with event prep, set up, and clean up
- Support event with vendor coordination, purchasing, day of event support
- FSA Team:
- Team provides gift and appreciation ideas for faculty / staff
- Support projects with purchasing, storage of gift items, gift assembly, and gift distribution
- Hospitality Team:
Reflection: Areas of Awareness and Growth
In my PDP introduction, I referenced two different kinds of “gaps”. One gap I have identified is between no longer being new in my role, but also being uncertain as to what the next step is for me in my career. Another gap is between having a formal director / leadership role and leading through projects, influence, and relationships. I have continued to reflect on this concept of “gaps” and the anxiety that can arise between a stimulus and a response or between knowing and not knowing. In Managing Leadership Anxiety, Steve Cuss writes, “The gap is one of the most uncomfortable places to live because a leader feels immense internal and external pressure to do something. In that gap all kinds of interesting things emerge. As a leader lives in the gap, she is faced with three options: 1) Run from it and give up leading because it is too uncomfortable 2) Fake it and pretend she knows what she is doing and thus build a chasm of hypocrisy, or 3) Develop a capacity to “mind the gap”. (p. 5)
The value of these leadership gaps is that they are uncomfortable for me, which means it is a space where growth will occur, should I choose to develop a capacity to “mind the gap”. Through this process, I have been shifting my mindset, developing a capacity to be aware of the gap, and embracing areas where I may feel anxiety or uncertainty. “Minding the gap, as you might imagine, takes some sweat and tears, but the result can be a deeper level of freedom,” Cuss writes (p. 5). In the long run, it’s worth it for me to learn to mind the gap, to learn from my anxiety, and to lean into growth.
One of the greatest sources of anxiety for me in my role is effectively managing my workload. As you can see in this section, my role consists of managing details for numerous projects, meetings, communications, and events. When I first started working at EPS, I felt anxiety because I knew there were things that needed to be done, but I wasn’t sure what to do. Now, I have a better sense of what I need to do but feel anxiety when there is so much going on at once and there are times when I don’t know what to focus on. I get worried that other things are falling through the cracks while I am working on another project. By identifying these feelings of anxiety, I recognized that I needed to grow in my task management skills. I developed a system for short term, medium term, and long term task lists that have been helping me stay organized. I use a paper task tracker for quick notes / immediate tasks, OneNote for weekly task planning, and an annual document that shows my tasks for the entire school year. Using these tools, I have found ways to be more effective in my task management and reduce my anxiety, especially during the busiest seasons of the school year.
Communicates and responds to internal and external constituent groups in a timely and constructive manner
In this section, I will be exploring the ways that I communicate and respond to internal and external constituent groups. My personal policy is to respond to emails within 24-48 hours. Overtime, I have developed the ability to determine which email messages are most urgent and which ones I can respond to at a later time. My communication domain includes both internal and external communications, which are characterized by a variety of communication modes and projects.
Internal Communications
On a daily basis, the internal group that I communicate with the most is my own team. Usually, I am checking in with Vickie multiple times a day to collaborate on our projects or just to give a quick status update. I work closely with the Business Office, specifically Lani Bowker in Accounts Receivable, to manage gift entry and make sure our records match. We communicate even more frequently near the end of each month, when we are double-checking our reports to make sure everything looks correct. Once our records balance, we are ready to move on to gift entry for the next month.
When we are approaching an event, my communication with Facilities, Dining Services, and AV becomes more frequent. My communication with these teams starts with detailed FMX entries, followed by an in-person meeting where event details are discussed and questions are answered. In the weeks approaching the event, final details are confirmed via email and short in-person conversations. With all of my internal communications, I have set a personal goal to respond in a timely and constructive manner.
FMX Request For Facilities
Year End Events – Notes for Facilities & Dining Services
External Communications
For communicating with external constituent groups, there are a number of groups that I communicate with on a regular basis. My most frequent external communications happen with our grade level Class Representatives, who I coordinate with to send out emails on their behalf each month. First, they send me their email content and I put it into MailChimp. If they want to link to any documents in their message, I create web links for those files. Next, I send them a test email, ask for a review, confirm that the email has been approved, then send the final email out to the grade. I also communicate with our APG Executive Team, Class Representative Coordinators, Faculty/Staff Appreciation Team, Hospitality Team, and APG President. When we are in Head’s Table meeting season, I communicate with guests by sending them links to RSVP and reminders about upcoming meetings. I also manage email requests such as switching to a different Head’s Table meeting, confirming their RSVP, or cancelling and rescheduling when necessary.
Another way I manage external communication is through my Graduation communication plan, which involves sending out specific messages to seniors and their parents at predetermined times during the school year. I make an effort to make these communications as clear and streamlined as possible, since the seniors have a lot to manage during their final year at EPS. I include links to external information and sort the reminders into chronological order to make these communications clear, concise, and effective. I also respond to questions and additional requests from senior parents via email and by phone throughout the year. I manage a webpage for Graduation information with important reminders, links, dates, and deadlines, which is another form of external communication to EPS families of seniors. Over the years, I have improved the Graduation webpage and email templates that I was given when I started at EPS. I have edited them to better serve the needs of EPS seniors and their families, communicating important information and details of the senior celebrations.
“Katie managed all the monthly emails from the EPS Class reps. Theoretically, the mails should come from the class reps “ready to send as is”, but often the mails needed some sort of editing. Katie caught countless items that needed to be corrected whether it was a small spelling error, an incorrect day/date for a class coffee or a conflict with school policy. Katie was always tactful and prompt in her replies to the class reps, and ensured I was in the loop when needed.” -Katharine Pike, Former APG President
Graduation / Senior Year Communication Plan
Reflection: Areas of Awareness and Growth
When I think about communicating with and responding to external constituent groups, I’ve been reflecting on how my relationships with other people impact my communications. In his book, Steve Cuss emphasizes the emotional context inherent in leading and communicating with others, “Equally interesting is the emotional context of every leadership situation. Because leadership involves at least one other person, it involves at least one other boiling collective. So, leadership becomes about the emotional context: yours and theirs. Managing anxiety under the surface: yours and theirs.” (p. 5) We all have emotions, all people that are communicating with one another, in any given context. Sometimes they boil under the surface and sometimes they come out in our conversations, emotions, reactions, and responses. Every communication, relationship, or leadership situation has an emotional context.
In my role, I have frequent communication with internal constituent groups and teams I work with on a regular basis. I also communicate with and send communications on behalf of our Association of Parents and Guardians. I have become the key communicator for Graduation, working with parents and seniors to answer their questions throughout the school year and as we approach the event. This section from Cuss’ book helped me reframe my communications with these external groups and remind me that everyone has an emotional context. It reminds me to be more cognizant of what others may be feeling and also to be intentional about checking in with myself: what emotions am I bringing to the table in this exchange of communication?
Develops from problem solving to proactive problem anticipating
In this section, I will be exploring the ways I have developed from problem solving to proactive problem anticipating. Two main examples of problem anticipating in my role include School Picture Day and Graduation.
School Picture Day
EPS hosts School Picture Day during conferences in August, which are optional for EPS families. When I first started at EPS, our team noticed that many students did not get their picture taken during conferences. This meant our team had to spend a lot of extra time looking up student schedules, connecting with students, taking the photo, sharing their photo with the Tech Team to photoshop the background, and uploading the photo into the yearbook. We also upload the new photos into Four11, which is our online student database that all faculty and coaches use for reference.
To prevent these delays, I thought we should approach the problem at the source. To me, it seemed like the disconnect was in getting the word out to families, so I suggested we create an intentional communication strategy leading up to the event. We started by asking Class Representatives to put messages into their WhatsApp chats, which reaches majority of parents in their grade. We had them do this a couple of weeks before and then the day before the conferences as a reminder to get pictures taken. We included the School Picture Day information in each grade’s Back to School emails, which they send out in August. As a result, we had improved attendance for School Picture Day and more students came to get their photos. By taking a proactive approach and anticipating this problem, I was able to save extra work time for my team and for other teams that work on building the photo library.
“This is an example of a process that Katie has tightened up that has a very positive ripple impact. Having as many photos as possible for the initial school year upload makes it easier for everyone on campus to get to know the kids quickly. For Athletics, this allows us to print a photo directory of all the kids for our coaches that are outside hires and don’t know the students yet. We have noticed that there are now way more photos available at the start of the year than in past years.” – Angie Sharp, Athletics
School Picture Day Communication Plan
Graduation
In my experience, Graduation is a large-scale event with lots of moving parts. Over my years at EPS, I have had the opportunity to grow in anticipating some of the problems that can come up, specifically at Graduation. Before the event, I go through our supply bins with things the students might need such as band aids, tissues, hand sanitizer, hairspray, bobby pins, mini sewing kit, etc. and we bring those supply kits with us to the venue. Last year, we had a couple students missing their caps and tassels, so I always pack extra of those items as well. In the past, we have also had students arrive late for Graduation, which is why I always pack a list of student and parent phone numbers to contact them before the event if needed.
Two years ago, we had issues with the timing of the event and ended up running about an hour over our allotted time. After discussing these issues with Vickie, we determined that the students were walking too slowly and the names were being read too slowly, which caused the ceremony to run overtime. Last year, I worked hard to make sure the students stayed in line and were walking continuously toward the stage. We changed their walking pattern and had their names read more quickly. As a result, the ceremony actually ended a little bit early, allowing the graduates and their families a more time to celebrate together. We were able to clean up and leave the venue on time, showing respect for the next group renting our space and preventing additional fees from going overtime on our rental.
Reflection: Areas of Awareness and Growth
It can be tempting for me to think that I know what I am walking into when I enter a meeting, communication, or event, especially if it’s something that I’ve done before. More often than not, the situations in my role are complex, dynamic, and fluid. I’ve learned that it will be more effective for me to expect the unexpected rather than assuming all events, projects, and communications will unfold the exact same way every time.
Steve Cuss touches on this subject when he writes, “Leadership is almost always intuitive because leadership situations are fluid and dynamic. Most of the time we don’t exactly know what to do. We end up with a gap between not knowing what to do and needing to do something.” (p.5) According to this perspective, leadership skills can be developed but the essence of leadership itself is flexible and responsive to the situations that are unfolding in real time. As a leader, there have been many times where I don’t know what to do. I have felt that discomfort of anxiety from not knowing what to do but needing to know that something needed to be done. I think an area of growth for me is learning to make backup plans and thinking of how I would respond to various scenarios. While I strive to be prepared for every situation, I think there is wisdom in realizing that is an impossible goal. In reality, fluid and dynamic leadership situations call for knowledge of resources, communicating with others, and seeking support from my team in order to respond in a way that brings resolution to the situation quickly and effectively.
An example of this type of growth would be Graduation, an event where I have developed from problem solving to proactive problem anticipating. Despite my best efforts, every year there are challenges and anxiety-inducing situations that can make me feel like I am scrambling. I want to grow in my ability to name that feeling of anxiety, perhaps taking a quick pause to regulate, then embracing the dynamic nature of the situation to find an effective solution. As I grow in awareness, I have started to understand that I can only prepare to a certain extent. At work, there will always be situations and circumstances that are unexpected and dynamic. I have been learning to embrace that inherent fluidity and “mind the gap” as I grow in leadership.
Progresses from a project participant to a project manager
In this section, I will be exploring ways I have progressed from a project participant to a project manager. When I first started working at EPS, I had little prior experience with managing events. Now, I have the ability to independently manage most aspects of an event including coordinating with vendors, creating floorplans, creating timelines, managing volunteers, working with internal teams, running event prep meetings, managing event day tasks, running event debrief meetings, and organizing and storing event décor items. During my time at EPS, I’ve gained experience in managing events, which has helped me transition from a project participant to a project manager. I’ve moved beyond executing into higher-level thinking, initiating event debriefs and evaluations to determine how we can continue to improve our events. Now, I also have the skills to evaluate our events and determine how they are contributing to the institutional goals of EPS. I have developed the ability to independently manage the administrative details of that event on a macro level in our organization.
Graduation
One example of my progression from participant to manager is Graduation, which includes preparation, execution, and post-event tasks. Graduation is one of the largest scale projects in my role, spanning the months of October to June each school year. Over my years at EPS, I have learned to manage tasks that go into creating a successful Graduation (listed below). I have learned to work more effectively with my team (Vickie) and Facilities to communicate event expectations, finalize details, and navigate emergent issues. I have the ability to manage meetings with Staff, Dining Services, and Facilities independently, even when Vickie has been unable to attend. I have grown in my ability to communicate with Staff, providing them with an overview of their volunteer roles and expectations for the day of the event.
Here are descriptions of the tasks I have learned to manage for this event:
- Communicate with Jostens to set up webpage for cap & gown and graduation package orders
- Update existing Faculty/Staff and Trustee robe order spreadsheet
- Send information out to seniors and their parents to order cap & gown
- Review and submit final robe order to Jostens by early December
- Order honor cords for EPS Lifers and diploma covers for all graduates
- When robes arrive, open each box in the shipment and double check we received everything we ordered. Make sure all robes are counted and labeled with names
- Communicate with Jostens about any missing or damaged items
- Book photographer for Graduation (All end of year events)
- Order balloons and flower arrangements for ceremony
- Confirm all students have submitted their names to be printed on diplomas
- Send list of student names to Tina to be printed on diplomas
- Meet with Vickie to finalize the flow of event day (Detailed timestamps)
- Assign staff to volunteer roles on event day. Prep notes for staff meeting to explain event day expectations.
- Organize transportation with EPS vehicles and Lyft (campus to venue to Post-Graduation Celebration to campus or home)
- Send Outlook calendar invites to faculty/staff
- Survey to seniors / senior families to determine how many tickets they will need for Graduation
- Distribute cap & gown and Graduation tickets to seniors. Distribute gowns to Faculty/Staff and Trustees.
- Send final reminder emails to seniors / senior families
- Finalize packing list and event plans with Facilities and Dining Services
- Day of event – Load in packing list items, manage event day details, manage faculty and seniors
- Unpack, organize and store packing list items
- Count and ship robes back to Jostens
Graduation – Staff Help Overview
Graduation – Event Week Overview
Graduation – Detailed Event Overview
Fall Harvest
Another event where I have progressed from a project participant to a project manager is Fall Harvest. I have learned to manage tasks that go into a successful Fall Harvest event (listed below). I participate in meetings with the APG Hospitality Team to discuss ideas for themes, décor, menu, and drinks. I delegate event prep tasks to the Hospitality Team and continue to offer communication and support as the event approaches. The event set up and clean up are also delegated to the Hospitality Team, who are responsible for coordinating parent volunteers for the event. Over the years, I have grown as a communicator and delegator with Facilities, Dining Services, and the APG Hospitality Team rather than trying to complete all the event tasks myself. I can confidently manage event prep meetings and walk through questions with the Dining Services and Facilities Teams on my own. For any details or questions that remained outstanding after the meeting, I would find answers and send updates via email and FMX notes. At EPS, I have learned that planning, communication, confidence, and delegating are the main elements for creating successful events.
Here are descriptions of the tasks I have learned to manage for this event:
- Enter reservations for room, dining services and facilities into FMX
- Place rental request with Grand Event Rentals (tables, linens, plates, cutlery)
- Contact and book bartender, review event contract and conduct planning meetings with bartender to review event details
- Support APG Hospitality Team in choosing a theme, menu, and décor
- Order décor items and pull items out of storage
- Prepare notes and floorplans for pre-event meetings with Facilities, Dining Services, and AV Team
- Print nametags for parents from Generations database
- Day of event
- Load in décor items, manage day of event details, coordinate with bartenders
- Post event
- Organize and store décor items
- Plan and hold debrief meeting with Facilities and Dining Services
Fall Harvest – Detailed Event Overview
Annual Fund Video
Another example of an event where I have progressed from a project participant to a manager is our Annual Fund Video. The Annual Fund Video is a communication we use in Head’s Table meetings. The video gives families insight into who we are as a school and how passionate the faculty are about their work and investing in students. The video often includes alumni and alumni parents who illustrate the impact that the EPS experience has for students even after they have graduated.
Here are descriptions of the tasks I have learned to manage for this project:
- FMX reservation for filming space
- Guest Management entry for Playfish Video Team
- Get list of people we would like to invite for the video from Vickie
- Includes: Parents, students, faculty, alumni, alumni parents
- Send invite emails to video participants
- Manage video scheduling, offer additional options as spaces start to fill up
- Send reminder emails and calendar invites to people who have agreed to be filmed
- Manage any additional questions and reschedule as needed
August Video – Filming Schedule
Event Evaluation Documents
A final example of my progression from a project participant to a manager is my growing ability to engage in more strategic, high-level conversations about our events. As I have continued my journey at EPS, I’ve observed that my team meetings with Vickie have shifted focus. We spend less time discussing tasks and execution and more time thinking about trends at the school, team goals, and ways to improve our projects in the future. To make these conversations more effective, I created a document that would help us review our events for parents / guardians. It’s important for a team to step back and ask themselves, “What is the purpose of this event? Does the event continue to serve that purpose or should we try something new? Is there another approach that would be more effective?” This evaluation document is a tool that our team can use in that process. I made a chart of all parent events that our department manages for the entire school year. I added in sections for descriptions for the purpose of each event, budget, notes, and evaluation. I made my own notes and shared those with Vickie in our meeting. As a result, we made changes to our 2024-2025 parent event calendar that will help us conserve resources, stick to our budget, and continue making meaningful connections with parents throughout the school year.
Event Evaluation – December 2023
Reflection: Areas of Awareness and Growth
When I reflect on this section, there are a number of examples of areas where I have progressed from a project participant to a project manager. At times, those increased responsibilities bring increased emotions and anxiety, since I have more to manage and feel more internal pressure to succeed in those tasks. This is an area where I want to grow and remember that my worth and value are not affected by perfect performance in my work tasks. Increasing responsibility in my role is not a linear process; my hope is that I can learn to embrace the challenges that come along with new stages of my professional development.
As I think back over all the events I have done at EPS, I came into this role with no experience with events at all. I have developed a wealth of event management skills over the years. Thinking about the 2024-2025 school year specifically, I have started to shift from exclusively task-orientated thinking to increased goal-oriented thinking. This professional development led me to create the Event Evaluation document, a tool that we use in our team to determine which events we should keep and which we should change in order to pursue our organizational goals. Another area of growth for me is task delegation. I am not very good at delegating tasks to others. However, Vickie and I have been working on delegating tasks to one another within our team. It might be interesting for me to increase my collaborations with other teams to see if that would help me grow in teaching, training, and delegating tasks to others in the future.
Receives feedback effectively, approaching recommendations for improvement receptively and positively
In this section, I will be exploring ways I have received feedback effectively, approaching recommendations for improvement receptively and positively. In my experience, many of these opportunities have come about organically. With EPS being such a collaborative place, I can think of many times when colleagues have given me suggestions for different ways to approach a task. I often hear from the other administrators in similar roles about the ways they have approached challenges, which shows me ways I can improve my approach to tasks in my role.
Event Debriefs
After our events of all sizes – from big community events to small group gatherings – Vickie and I will have a debrief meeting to go over what went well and what we can work on. Our meetings also include feedback on my approach to the event and how I can improve in my role as an event manager. For example with Head’s Table meetings, I learned the importance of making parking reservations in FMX in advance and communicating with the Facilities team on the day of the event. We had run into issues when multiple groups were gathering on campus at the same time as Head’s Table, which meant there were not enough parking spots available for everyone who was arriving on campus. This was a problem that I ran into, took feedback, and learned how to take proactive steps to prevent in the future.
After our big events like Fall Harvest, Vickie and I have a debrief meeting with the Dining Services team. I take notes on their feedback to help improve our approach for future events. One example is the bartenders we hire to work for the events. There was a recent year where the bartenders showed up late, presented themselves unprofessionally, and made some other mistakes. I took that feedback from the Dining Services team and made a plan to work with them to book bartenders with more experience in the future. I also get feedback about food quantities, buffet lines, flow of the event, and other items that I note and update for future events.
“While leading our recent event planning meetings, Katie asked thoughtful questions, took feedback receptively, and listened well while proactively providing solutions to avoid challenges.” -Jordan Lettau
Managing Stress / Anxiety
An area where I have received feedback and mentoring from Vickie is with managing multiple projects and deadlines, as well as the stress / anxiety that goes along with those responsibilities. At this point in my EPS career, I have steadily been taking on greater responsibility and developed the ability to manage details of multiple events, meetings, and projects simultaneously. When I have so many plates spinning at once, it can feel like an important detail could fall through the cracks. If and when that happens, how should I respond? I care about producing the highest quality work possible and that can lead to putting unnecessary pressure on myself. By working with Vickie, she gave me some suggestions to reframe my work mindset. For me, this looks like reminding myself that I am enough, regardless of what I produce or how the project turns out. I was reminded that I have a team (Vickie) to collaborate with and tackle challenges together. Finally, I was reminded that mistakes are acceptable. It’s not really about making the mistake itself, but more about what I learn through that experience and how I choose to allow those challenges to help me grow.
As I learn about different ways to manage stress and anxiety, feedback from others has reminded me to rely on my team. Sometimes, I can get so focused on taking on more projects independently that I forget I have my team as well as EPS staff for support. Even our Senior Leadership Team relies on one another to effectively achieve their goals; Head of School Sam Uzwack relies on Tina Hadden and the Board of Trustees to help him achieve the goals of the entire school. The faculty are supported by one another and their division heads during their most busy times of the school year. I’ve learned that being an effective leader doesn’t mean going it alone; it means knowing when to partner with others who have different strengths than you do that help fill your gaps. No one knows everything about everything; when you try to do it all yourself that’s where anxiety starts to take over. When people with different strengths collaborate, they can achieve even more than they could on their own. Now, I am focusing on knowing my skill gaps and recognizing the strength of those around me, a process that is helping me develop the skills to effectively navigate and manage my anxiety.
Reflection: Areas of Awareness and Growth
When I reflect on this section, I am thinking about ways I can grow in receiving feedback and managing anxiety. I am still working on asking for and applying feedback from my colleagues and supervisors, but this PDP experience has been a good start. As I mentioned in an earlier reflection, I have grown in my role at EPS which means I have developed skills to independently manage projects. This growth has led me to experience more leadership anxiety and at times, even feel burned out. In his book, Steve Cuss writes, “Burnout has less to do with workload and more to do with internal and external leadership anxiety. (p. 6)” This was a new perspective on burnout for me. I had always thought the feeling of burnout was from having too much work to do, but this perspective suggests that the root of that burned out feeling is the anxiety of pressure, expectations, and feeling the need to perform at a certain level.
In the feedback I received from my PDP team, I was asked about how I manage my most stressful times and reset/reframe. In regular times, I really enjoy my lunch walks with Lani. I can be tempted to skip those on my most busy days, and sometimes I just don’t have the time. I think making an effort to get outdoors clears my head and helps me reset in order to more effectively manage anxiety, even just going outside for a couple minutes to get fresh air. Talking to Vickie about what I am working on and ways we can work together also helps reduce my stress levels. Vickie is always able to help me break my projects down into manageable tasks. Finally, my PDP team reminded me that growth and leadership doesn’t mean doing everything on my own. Even the Senior Leadership Team works together and relies on one another to complete their projects. They each have department teams they work with to achieve departmental goals. These insights helped me see leadership as a collaborative effort, rather than trying to achieve everything on my own.
Identifies and pursues professional development opportunities appropriate to enhancing effectiveness and knowledge (professional certifications, conferences, visiting peer schools, classes, networking with professional peers)
In this section, I will be exploring ways I am pursuing professional development opportunities appropriate to enhancing effectiveness and knowledge in my role. My professional development pursuits from this year included meeting with groups of Advancement / Alumni Directors from peer schools, NAIS webinars, and the NWAIS Administrative Support Conference.
PNW School Advancement & Alumni Directors Groups
About six years ago, I was invited to join an informal group of Advancement directors from local independent schools. The purpose of that first gathering was to connect, build community, and discuss the most effective strategies for Advancement among independent schools in our area. As I observed this group, it was clear that they needed someone to take the lead on communications and planning quarterly meetings. I took on the administrative role for the Advancement directors group and started another group for Alumni directors (also from local independent schools) using the same quarterly meeting format. Most of the independent schools in our area have small staff teams, so it is not uncommon for the same person or team to be managing both Advancement and Alumni at their school. At most local independent schools, Advancement and Alumni relations are closely interrelated departments.
Here are the ways I provide administrative support and help lead the PNW School Advancement and Alumni Directors groups:
- Maintain updated contact sheets (Name, School, Role, Email)
- Add and remove people as needed, keep contact info updated
- Create a survey with date options for quarterly meeting
- Include space to share discussion topics in the survey
- Send survey to group
- Choose meeting date that majority can attend
- Send calendar invite for meeting to the group
- Send reminder email to the group prior to meeting
- Meeting Tasks:
- Greet guests and manage group discussion
- Facilitate opener / ice breaker question
- Share requested topics
- Invite meeting to share additional questions / topics
- Take notes during meeting
- Share notes with the group after the meeting
I have appreciated the opportunity to provide administrative support to these groups over the years. These peer groups provide space for us to collaborate, share ideas, and build relationships across independent schools. In a world of increasing isolation and competition, I am grateful for the opportunity to help facilitate these meaningful connections among schools.
“This year, Katie has taken on a leadership role in our advancement and alumni directors groups. We have always had one member of the group take the lead on sending out scheduling surveys and sifting through responses to find and schedule the best meeting date. Katie assumed this role and leveled it up. Not only does Katie manage our surveys and meeting schedule, but she takes excellent meeting minutes and shares them out with our group very quickly after each meeting. I’ve really appreciated her organization and attention to detail.” –Claire Fallat, Associate Director of Development, UPrep
NAIS Executive Assistant and Support Staff Webinar: Event Planning (Nov 13, 2024)
This year, I was able to attend a National Association of Indepdendent Schools webinar on Event Planning. Here are some tips and lessons I learned from this webinar:
- Scope Creep – when the scope of an event becomes bigger than you had originally planned
- Planning Phases – it’s important to have contingency plans for your events and be able to manage unexpected situations
- One area I can improve on my preparation for our events is having contingency plans and being prepared to manage unexpected situations when they arise
- Know the goals of your event
- Have a detailed event planning checklist
- I have created these and have been refining them over the years
- Staying on budget
- I have become more aware of our budgets this year and have learned to focus more on keeping us at or below our budget
NAIS Trends in Action Webinar Series: Fundraising Trends and Strategies (Nov 16, 2024)
This year, I was able to attend a National Association of Independent Schools webinar on Fundraising Trends and Strategies. Here are some tips and lessons I learned from this webinar:
- According to NAIS giving data, giving to independent schools went up by 4.2% in 2024. It’s predicted to go up by 3.9% in 2025.
- More families are choosing independent schools than ever before (Seattle area has some of the highest independent school enrollment in the nation)
- Relationships – invest in your people and the aspects of your fundraising approach that help build relationships the best
- The unique thing that sets an independent school apart from a college is that we have the ability to be more personal, tailored, and specific to individual alumni
NWAIS Administrative Support Conference (March 6-7, 2025)
This year, I was able to attend the Northwest Association of Independent Schools Administrative Support Conference, which was specifically designed for people in similar administrative roles at independent schools. Below, I have included some tips and lessons I learned from this conference. Out of the four keynote presentations, I feel that the three sessions that are most applicable to my PDP were “Five Strategies for Navigating Tricky Workplace Dynamics”, “AI Productivity Tools to Support Administrative Efficiency” and “Leadership Styles: Recognizing and Adapting Your Approach”. In addition, the conference organizers invited us to read “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins and bring our thoughts to the conference for a book discussion.
List of keynote presentations:
- Five Strategies for Navigating Tricky Workplace Dynamics
- AI Productivity Tools to Support Administrative Efficiency
- Leadership Styles: Recognizing and Adapting Your Approach
- The Power of Feedback: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
- Book Talk: “The Let Them Theory” Mel Robbins
Key Lessons:
- Five Strategies for Navigating Tricky Workplace Dynamics
- PDP Connection: This session tied into my work on developing greater awareness of my anxiety and emotions at work. We discussed the “gap” between a stimulus and a response and our power to choose our response (the same concept that came up in “Managing Leadership Anxiety”). The speaker emphasized the importance of being able to name our emotions and having healthy coping mechanisms, even ones that can be employed before or during a difficult conversation. As she encouraged us to move from awareness into growth, the speaker provided us with five strategies for navigating tricky workplace dynamics.
- “Between a stimulus and response there is a space. In the space there is the power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor Frankl
- Respond rather than react
- STOP – Stop / Take a Breath / Observe and Label Your Emotions / Proceed
- Listen with intention
- Three levels of listening – Internal, Focused, Global
- Focus on your sphere of control
- Plan for what you want to see
- Repair and reset
- AI Productivity Tools to Support Administrative Efficiency
- PDP Connection: This session helped me learn innovative ways to leverage the capabilities of AI and discuss some of the pros and cons of the emergent technology. This discussion and workshop session helped me start thinking of some of my menial or time-consuming tasks and how they could be made easier using AI.
- Reflection: Here are examples of ways I have been starting to think about using AI:
- Uploading a spreadsheet and getting a summary of which Head’s Table meetings still have space
- Uploading the Annual Fund video sign up sheet and asking which spots are still open
- Uploading the Senior Video sign up sheet and asking which seniors still need a speaker
- Getting AI help with the tone of email responses to parents
- Other admins said they have used AI to help them say “no” politely, which is a tool they use to help them set workplace boundaries, when people assume they can drop everything else and help them with a task immediately
- Leadership Styles: Recognizing and Adapting Your Approach
- PDP Connection: A key area of growth in my PDP has been learning to see myself as a leader. Even though the word “Director” isn’t in my title, I have learned through my colleagues’ feedback that I have taken the lead on many projects at EPS. A leader isn’t just someone who knows what to do, it’s someone who know how to use their resources and how to collaborate. A leader is someone who is a model and has an impact.
- The speaker in this session defined a leader and someone who seeks to build up and empower every person on their team to develop their skills and continue to grow professionally. She talked about four main leadership styles in her session:
- Transactional Leadership
- Transformational Leadership
- Servant Leadership
- Authentic Leadership
- This session included a leadership style assessment, which I took and my results were Transactional Leadership as my leadership style.
- Transactional Leadership – Efficient, structured, results-driven, thrives on clear expectations and policies
- Reflection: The kind of leader I hope to be is one who builds up others to grow into the best version of themselves. I hope to be a leader who empowers and encourages my team and colleagues in a path of continuous growth. I hope to be a leader who understands that effective team leadership starts with self-leadership, which means building healthy habits and identifying core values in my life as a firm foundation from which I can lead effectively.
- The Power of Feedback: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
- PDP Connection: This session emphasized the value of feedback for employees in a growth-oriented work culture. For leaders who seek to help their teams grow as individuals and in their teamwork, a culture of healthy and consistent feedback is essential. The speaker shared that employees are three times more engaged when they receive feedback daily rather than saving the feedback for an annual performance review.
- Reflection: I feel that consistent and valuable feedback is integrated into the workplace culture of EPS. It is clear to me that giving and receiving feedback is an institutional value at EPS. I have always appreciated the employee inventory surveys and opportunities to meet with the Head of School for feedback. My team (Advancement) has a culture of consistent feedback as well. The PDP itself exemplifies the high value EPS places on feedback by selecting teams of employees to work with a colleague for a year to provide feedback on their work and identify areas for growth.
- “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins
- PDP Connection: The main idea of this book is that we do not have control over the actions, emotions, opinions, or choices of others. Many of us exert unnecessary energy each day worrying about or trying to control the actions, emotions, opinions, or choices of others. The author suggests that we will be happier, more focused, effective, and successful if we learn to say “Let Them” (letting the person have their emotions, opinions, choices) and “Let Me” (remembering what you can control and focusing on those things instead.)
- This book had some similar concepts to “Managing Leadership Anxiety” such as recognizing what is within your control and what is outside of your control. The overarching theme of both books was that we exert so much energy each day on worry and anxiety, often about things that are not ours to control. When we let go of what was never ours to control and shift our focus to what we know and what we can control, we can use our time, focus, and energy more effectively.
- Reflection: “The Let Them Theory” was a great read and I was able to apply it to challenges in my role at EPS right away. As a team, Vickie and I have faced challenges with the APG when there can be personalities that don’t mesh, toes that get stepped on, and miscommunications among the volunteer team. There can be a lot of anxiety and emotions in these situations, but we can learn to say “Let Them.” it doesn’t mean that we don’t care – in fact, letting them feel what they need to feel while kindly and firmly holding school policies (such as two year term limits for APG volunteers). We can “Let Them” feel what they need to feel and talk things out, and “Let Me” focus on creating and maintaining a healthy volunteer culture that supports the mission of the school.
- Working with the seniors on their yearbook collages, sometimes they include photos that are not appropriate for school. As someone who has a hard time with an interaction that can feel like conflict, I can get anxious when asking the students to make changes to their collages. This year I have been getting pushback from a couple of students, so it has been helpful for me to learn to say “Let Them”. I can “Let Them” be upset with me if they need to be, but I know they have other photos they can use and their own personal platforms to share pictures with their friends. I can “Let Them” feel what they need to feel and “Let Me” focus on making the yearbook appropriate for all students and reflecting the mission and vision of the school.