When I became Head, I did what most new leaders do: I focused on relationships.
I met with every staff member. I had coffee with parents. I attended every event. I was visible, available, and present.
By month three, I was drowning.
Not because relationships don't matter — they do. But because I had no systems to manage the operational load. Every decision came to me. Every question required my input. Every problem landed on my desk.
I was working 70-hour weeks and falling further behind.
What saved me wasn't working harder. It was building systems — specifically, five systems that every new Head needs but nobody tells you about.
System 1: The Weekly Operating Rhythm
Most schools run on an annual calendar: start of year, end of semester, graduation. But a year is too long for operational management. Things slip through cracks. Priorities drift. Accountability fades.
You need a weekly rhythm.
Here's what mine looks like:
Monday: Leadership Alignment
- 60-minute leadership team meeting
- Review key metrics (attendance, incidents, concerns)
- Surface blockers and make decisions
- Align on priorities for the week
Tuesday-Thursday: Execution
- Scheduled time for deep work
- One-on-ones with direct reports
- Classroom visits and community presence
Friday: Reflection and Prep
- Review what got done vs. planned
- Clear inbox and close loops
- Prep for next week
The specific days don't matter. What matters is having a predictable rhythm that everyone knows. When your team knows that decisions happen on Monday, they stop interrupting you with decisions on Wednesday.
I wrote more about meeting discipline in Stop Scheduling Meetings to Decide What to Meet About.
How to set it up: Block your calendar for the next 12 weeks with your rhythm. Protect those blocks. Tell your team when things happen. Stick to it for at least a month before adjusting.
System 2: The Decision Filter
New Heads get pulled into every decision because no one knows what decisions you want to see.
A decision filter fixes this by creating clear criteria for what comes to you vs. what gets handled elsewhere.
My filter:
| Decision Type | Who Decides | I See It When... | |---------------|-------------|------------------| | Curriculum and instruction | Principals | Policy change or significant resource need | | Student discipline | Principals | Suspension 3+ days or expulsion | | Staff performance | Direct supervisor | PIP or termination | | Budget under $1000 | Department head | Never (unless pattern) | | Budget $1000-$5000 | Principal | Approval needed | | Budget over $5000 | Me | Always | | Parent complaints | First responder | Escalation or legal concern | | Facilities | Ops manager | Safety or major repair |
I shared this filter with my leadership team on day one. When someone brought me a decision that wasn't mine, I pointed to the filter: "This is yours. What do you think we should do?"
How to set it up: List the 20 most common decisions that come to you. For each, ask: does this actually need me, or am I just used to being involved? Assign clear owners. Share the filter widely.
System 3: The Stakeholder Map
As Head, you have dozens of stakeholders: board members, parents, teachers, staff, students, vendors, community partners. Each has different needs, expectations, and influence.
If you treat them all the same, you'll waste time on low-priority relationships and neglect high-priority ones.
A stakeholder map helps you prioritize.
I create a simple 2x2:
| | Low Influence | High Influence | |---|---------------|----------------| | High Interest | Keep Informed | Manage Closely | | Low Interest | Monitor | Keep Satisfied |
Manage Closely: Board chair, key parent leaders, leadership team. These people need regular, proactive communication. I schedule recurring check-ins.
Keep Satisfied: Major donors, board members, influential parents. They don't need frequent contact, but when they do engage, it needs to go well. I respond quickly and personally.
Keep Informed: General parent body, most staff, community. Regular updates through normal channels (newsletters, all-hands). They don't need individual attention unless they ask for it.
Monitor: Vendors, occasional volunteers, peripheral community members. Touch base occasionally. Don't invest heavily unless something changes.
How to set it up: List your top 30 stakeholders by name. Place each on the 2x2. Adjust your communication and meeting cadence accordingly.
System 4: The Documentation Habit
In my first month, I made promises I forgot. I had conversations I couldn't recall. I agreed to things I didn't track.
This is normal for a new Head — you're meeting hundreds of people and processing massive amounts of information. But it erodes trust quickly. When you forget what you said to someone, they notice.
The solution is a documentation habit: a simple system for capturing what matters.
My system:
- Daily log: At the end of each day, I spend 10 minutes writing down key conversations, decisions, and commitments. Just bullet points.
- Meeting notes: For any meeting with more than two people, someone takes notes and shares them within 24 hours.
- Commitment tracker: Any promise I make goes into a running list with a deadline. I review this weekly.
This sounds bureaucratic. It's not. It's 15-20 minutes per day that saves hours of confusion, missed commitments, and relationship damage.
This documentation habit is a core part of what I'm building in the No-Admin Second Brain Guide — the complete toolkit for school leaders who want to stay on top of everything without burning out.
How to set it up: Create a simple document or note for your daily log. Start today. Build the habit before you need the records.
System 5: The Feedback Loop
New Heads often operate blind. You don't know what people think because they don't tell you — at least not directly. Power creates distance. People filter what they say to the boss.
You need to build explicit feedback loops to surface what you're missing.
My feedback loops:
Weekly skip-levels: Every week, I have coffee with 2-3 people who don't report to me directly. No agenda. Just: "What should I know that I probably don't?"
Monthly pulse surveys: A simple 3-question survey to all staff: What's working well? What's frustrating you? What should leadership know?
Quarterly parent forums: Small-group conversations with parents. Not town halls (which attract the loudest voices) but small, facilitated discussions.
Board feedback: After each board meeting, I ask the chair: "What feedback do you have for me? What could I have done better?"
The key is making feedback safe and regular. One-off feedback requests don't work because people don't trust that it's safe. Regular loops build trust over time.
How to set it up: Schedule your first skip-level for next week. Create a simple pulse survey and send it this month. Start building the habit.
The First 100 Days Sequence
Here's how I'd sequence building these systems:
Days 1-30: Observe and Document
- Start your daily documentation habit immediately
- Create your stakeholder map
- Observe the current operating rhythm (or lack thereof)
- Don't change too much yet — you're gathering information
Days 31-60: Establish Your Rhythm
- Implement your weekly operating rhythm
- Share your decision filter with leadership team
- Start skip-level conversations
- Begin shifting decisions to appropriate owners
Days 61-90: Solidify and Adjust
- Launch your first pulse survey
- Adjust systems based on what you've learned
- Document processes that are working
- Identify gaps that need attention next
Days 91-100: Review and Plan
- What's working? What's not?
- What systems need refinement?
- What's the next phase of your entry plan?
The Mistake I Made
My biggest mistake in year one: I thought systems were bureaucracy.
I wanted to be a relationship leader, not a process leader. I thought systems would make me seem cold or corporate.
The opposite happened.
Without systems, I was drowning. I forgot things. I was inconsistent. I couldn't give people real attention because I was constantly reacting.
With systems, I had capacity. I remembered commitments. I was reliable. I could be fully present in conversations because I trusted my systems to catch everything else.
Systems don't replace relationships. They create the capacity for relationships.
I wrote more about this shift in What I Wish I Knew Before My First Year as Head.
What Success Looks Like
By the end of my first year, these systems were humming:
- Leadership team knew exactly when decisions happened and who made them
- My calendar had predictable blocks for deep work and reflection
- I could pull up any conversation or commitment from the past year
- I heard about problems early instead of when they exploded
- I worked 50 hours instead of 70
I wasn't perfect. But I was sustainable. And that made everything else possible.
If you're a new Head and want help building these systems before you burn out, let's talk. The first 100 days are the best time to establish how you'll operate — before bad habits become permanent.
And if you want templates and frameworks to build these systems faster, the No-Admin Second Brain Guide will include everything I wish I'd had on day one.