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Mid-Year Reset: Re-Introducing Yourself as a Coach with Chanavia Patterson, ep. 257

Woman standing and smiling while writing on a tablet. These words are on the image, "Mid-Year Reset: Re-Introducing Yourself as a Coach with Chanavia Patterson".

Ready for a mid-year coaching refresh?

Winter break will be here before we know it! Rather than racing through December and starting January on autopilot, now is your chance to pause, reflect, realign, and step into the next semester intentionally.

This is the first episode in our new series, Your Mid-Year Coaching Reset. In this conversation, principal and executive coach Chanavia Patterson joins me to talk about what a mid-year reset: reintroducing yourself as a coach really means, and how taking time to reflect now can set you up for a successful spring semester. She shares actionable tips for ending the fall semester purposefully and planning for the upcoming semester.

Together, we explore how school leaders and instructional coaches can use the RESET framework to reframe their mindset, equip their teams, structure their time, engage in feedback, and tackle challenges with the support of a coach. We discuss collecting data, conducting audits, gathering feedback, and culture-based leadership. Chanavia offers nine reflective questions leaders and instructional coaches can ask to stay focused heading into the spring semester.

This is a must-listen for anyone looking to hit reset mid-year!

Your Mid-Year Coaching Reset

Much of the conversation centers around Chanavia’s RESET framework, designed to help school leaders and instructional coaches clarify their purpose and boost their effectiveness. We explore each element in depth:

  • Reframe Your Leadership Mindset: Step back and rethink what your role really means. Focus on the process, not just outcomes.
  • Equip Your Team: We don’t do this work in isolation. Strategically delegate, empower teacher leaders, and build support systems so you’re not shouldering every responsibility alone.
  • Structure Your Time: Stop trying to do it all at the same time. Separate instructional leadership days and administrative days. The paperwork and documentation will still be there after you spend time in classrooms.
  • Engage in Feedback: Oftentimes, coaches and leaders are quick to get to planning. Instead of moving straight to planning, we need to ask and engage in feedback on our plan for next semester. We are not the only experts in the building, and there’s always room to grow. Take a pulse, pause, and then plan thoughtfully.
  • Tackle Challenges with a Coach: Every coach and school leader deserves a coach! Partner with a coach for accountability, brainstorming, and support. You don’t have to solve every problem solo!

The Audit Approach

I asked Chanavia how we can gather the data or perspective we need to point ourselves in the right direction when doing a mid-year coaching reset. Her answer: Audit, Audit, Audit!

She says we can’t just make decisions off our gut feelings or what we think. Audits provide the data we need to make decisions. The data can look different: leadership meetings, classroom visits, student and family feedback, and more. Chanavia recommends auditing what we’ve already done every 30, 60, or 90 days and using that information to guide our decisions for next semester.

Tips for Getting Through the Last Few Weeks Before Winter Break

Winter break is coming, and it’s easy to start counting down. So, how can instructional coaches make the most of that time?

Chanavia says micro moments for morale are very important! This means identifying and celebrating small wins. We’re looking for progress over perfection. Teachers may not have gotten the desired result, but they are taking the steps to get there. She says that looking for these moments changes everything as you’re preparing your leadership mindset for the next semester. You can ask parents for things to celebrate too!

Her second suggestion is preplanning. She says there’s nothing better than heading into winter break with a clear plan for the first 30 days of January. Chanavia explains that it’s so important to do that work on the front end.

9 Questions Every Principal and Instructional Coach Needs to Ask Themselves Before Winter Break

Reflection is central to effective leadership! Don’t walk into the next semester without a plan. Chanavia shares nine questions to help you reflect, regroup, and set new intentions.

  1. What is the one leadership lesson I learned this semester?
  2. Where did my team struggle the most and why?
  3. Which systems are working well, and which ones do I need to adjust?
  4. What is one boundary I need to reinforce?
  5. How did I spend most of my time, and was I intentional with my time?
  6. What is one challenge that I want to tackle head-on next semester?
  7. How engaged are my teachers, and how can I support them?
  8. What is one way I can be more present?
  9. What will success look like at the end of the school year?

Culture-Based Leadership

Culture-based leadership is rooted in changing the way your team thinks, acts, and interacts. Chanavia says that everything that happens in our schools is either created or allowed by leadership and that all aspects of school leadership are rooted in culture.

She goes on to explain the three pillars of culture-based leadership. School leaders should use these guiding questions to create positive changes on campus.

  1. How do I want people to think as a result of this interaction?
  2. How do I want them to act?
  3. How do I want them to interact with the material I shared?

Mid-Year Reset: Re-Introducing Yourself as a Coach

The end of the semester is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and realign your coaching practice. Use Chanavia’s REFLECT Framework and reflective questions to guide your plan for your first month back.

This episode is full of practical strategies and tips to help you wrap up this semester and get ready for January. Listen now to step into the new semester with clarity, confidence, and renewed energy.

Topics and Questions Discussed in Episode 257 – Mid-Year Reset: Re-Introducing Yourself as a Coach with Chanavia Patterson

  • Mid-year reset: Re-introducing yourself as a coach
  • Why you need a mid-year coaching reset
  • RESET framework for school leaders and instructional coaches: Reframe, Equip, Structure, Engage, Tackle
  • Using audits to gather the data and perspective you need to make decisions
  • Tips for getting through the last few weeks before winter break
  • Micro moments to boost morale
  • Your first 30 days of January: Preplanning for a successful new semester
  • 9 reflective questions every coach and school leader should ask before the next semester starts
  • Moving from endless to-do lists to intentional “Done” lists
  • Time blocking: Separating instructional and administrative priorities
  • Culture-based leadership: influencing how people think, act, and interact

Grab the Action Plan Toolkit

Want some help with your mid-year reset?

Grab the Action Plan Toolkit! It’s filled with practical resources that build on what we talked about in this episode. You’ll get tools to help you conduct a needs assessment, set clear priorities, and create a focused plan so you’re not spinning your wheels or just crossing things off an endless to-do list. Instead, you’ll make real progress at your school!

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Podcast produced by Fernie Ceniceros

Mid-Year Reset: Re-Introducing Yourself as a Coach with Chanavia Patterson, ep. 257, Instructional Coaching with Ms. B Podcast

00;00;01;27 – 00;00;21;05

Chrissy Beltran

Welcome to Instructional Coaching with Misty, where we believe that every teacher deserves a coach and every coach does too. I’m Chrissy Beltran Beltran, an elementary teacher who became a coach, and I had to create my own coaching program that worked. Now I teach coaches how to design their coaching programs, build a school wide action plan, and use differentiated strategies to support teachers.

00;00;21;11 – 00;00;28;23

Chrissy Beltran

Plus, I’ve got a special spot in my heart for literacy coaches. Now let’s dig into the episode.

00;00;28;25 – 00;00;47;07

Chrissy Beltran

Hey coach, and welcome to episode 257 of Instructional Coaching with McPhee. Today we are talking about your mid-year coaching reset. I have a really great guest lined up to talk to you today about what you can do to make sure you are set up for a great strength spring semester. After kind of going through a little thinking about this semester.

00;00;47;09 – 00;01;06;09

Chrissy Beltran

Before we get to that, I want to remind you I have a really great free mini course that comes right to your email. If you go to buzzing with must be.com/resistance, you will get the coaching resistant teachers mini course. I have heard so many great pieces of feedback about this, about how it has changed the relationship between coaches and teachers.

00;01;06;09 – 00;01;33;05

Chrissy Beltran

So if you are having a teacher that you are struggling to figure out how to work with, grab this free mini course. You’re going to love it. So we’re digging into our new, mini series, which is the mid-year coaching reset, and I like to do something like this around this time of year if I can, because I think it’s important not just to, like, cut off the end of the semester and jump into January like we learned nothing, right?

00;01;33;08 – 00;01;43;11

Chrissy Beltran

So I can’t wait to share my guest with you. So Navia Patterson is a principal who works with school leaders, and she’s going to talk us through this mid-year reset. So welcome to the podcast, Genovia. Thank you for being here.

00;01;43;13 – 00;01;45;27

Chanavia Patterson

Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

00;01;46;02 – 00;01;56;09

Chrissy Beltran

Well, I’m excited to have you here, and we’d love to get to know you a little bit better. So can you share a few things about yourself? What do you who do you help and how do you spend most of your time and energy at work?

00;01;56;12 – 00;02;31;29

Chanavia Patterson

Okay, who do I help? I help school and district leaders. I help them through executive coaching, consulting and, on site facilitation of workshops and professional development. And I spend my energy truly pouring into the leaders of our schools that are transforming their schools and sworn into students every single day. I see myself as that guide on the side for them, to to be that that point of contact when something is not going right and they need that middle ground or that thought partner that can help them make decisions pretty quickly.

00;02;32;01 – 00;02;36;25

Chrissy Beltran

Awesome. Thank you. And what is a hobby that you love to do?

00;02;36;28 – 00;02;51;12

Chanavia Patterson

I love to bow. Believe it or not, I love to bow. Yeah, I love to bow. I’m not. I’m a boy, mom. So I’m a love. Sports. All sports. But I don’t play any of those sports. But I personally love to bow.

00;02;51;15 – 00;02;59;20

Chrissy Beltran

That was my grandma’s for it. Yeah. Really? Okay. Yes, she is beloved. They would go with her church friends. They would go, like, once a week. They love.

00;02;59;23 – 00;03;02;03

Chanavia Patterson

Yes. I love to bow. That’s great.

00;03;02;06 – 00;03;22;28

Chrissy Beltran

Okay, so, we’re going to talk today about our mid-year reset for school leaders. And of course, my audience is mostly instructional coaches. I’m sure there are some assistant principals and other kinds of roles in there. But if you could walk us through this acronym that you shared on your Instagram account, it was this Reset acronym. I would love to hear about each piece.

00;03;23;01 – 00;03;30;01

Chrissy Beltran

And you know what it means for us as we are trying to reset ourselves in the new school year. Well, new semester that is.

00;03;30;04 – 00;03;54;09

Chanavia Patterson

Right for the new semester. So I think it’s so important that, instructional coaches and any anyone that’s in a, in the field of education that is leading, teachers or students to have a point of their day where they actually start their restart, reset process. So when I think about the reset framework, the first part is to just like reframe your leadership mindset.

00;03;54;11 – 00;04;11;02

Chanavia Patterson

And when you start thinking about like the next semester, it’s natural to almost anticipate all the things you have to do, right? It’s almost like this rush of, oh my God, we don’t have enough time. Like, that’s one of the things that a lot of leaders always say is like, this is just never enough time to get things done.

00;04;11;05 – 00;04;36;11

Chanavia Patterson

Well, I believe that there is enough time if you truly, properly prepare for your reset, which is why this time of year is a great time to start thinking about what do I want to do and how do I reset my leadership mindset. Right. And what that will look like is reframing how they see their role, and not, not seeing it as like always trying to get a specific result.

00;04;36;14 – 00;05;02;24

Chanavia Patterson

But what is happening in that process to get there. So that’s what I mean by like the reframe part, the framework, the next part is, the EA is equipping your team, and we know that we don’t do this work, you know, in isolation, we it is so important that coaches and leaders are equipping other people and, and delegating so that they can get to the end result that they’re looking for.

00;05;02;26 – 00;05;23;03

Chanavia Patterson

I call it delegating, but not dumping because, oftentimes when I say, you know, you have to equip your team, you have to delegate with strategy and not out of desperation. That way, you’re able to reset and get a lot of things done without feeling like all of the weight is falling on you. So that’s the second part.

00;05;23;06 – 00;05;26;00

Chanavia Patterson

And then do you want to go through all of them all the time?

00;05;26;02 – 00;05;38;15

Chrissy Beltran

Yeah, I’m just right. And I was just making a little note to myself, about how that’s like for a coach that might be like teacher facilitators or teacher. Yes. Right. Yes. Ordinate with them to maximize because the coach is one person.

00;05;38;18 – 00;06;07;13

Chanavia Patterson

Absolutely, absolutely. So then the next part is structuring your time. And, what I have found is that the reason a lot of leaders and coaches get burned out so fast in the work that they do is because they’re trying to do everything all at the same time. I believe we should separate our days from whether those are our instructional leadership days or our our administrative days, because there’s always going to be paperwork, there’s always going to be documentation that we have to do.

00;06;07;15 – 00;06;26;22

Chanavia Patterson

But there’s also days where we need to just fully be the instructional leader and be in the classroom and be hand in hand, arm in arm with our teachers. So I have found that when you part of your reset is structuring your time on when am I going to be that instructional partner and when am I going to actually do the work.

00;06;26;22 – 00;06;33;04

Chanavia Patterson

That’s that’s on the back in the operations that no one else sees. So being intentional about that part.

00;06;33;06 – 00;06;51;21

Chrissy Beltran

I love that, you know, I’m thinking about focusing on what matters. Whatever your goals are, if you’re not building and blocking out that time in your schedule, then you’re not doing the things that you need to do to get to the goals. And we have a way of setting goals and then never revisiting them. And then we don’t prioritize the time, you know?

00;06;51;23 – 00;07;10;09

Chanavia Patterson

Exactly. And I know it sounds easier than them, but it truly is it. If we sit down for just 20 minutes and say, okay, what do I need to get done and work backwards and like really separating all of the things like, okay. Yeah, that’s a nice too nice to have versus a must have thing that we need to do.

00;07;10;11 – 00;07;12;04

Chanavia Patterson

I have found that that’s been really helpful for a lot.

00;07;12;04 – 00;07;32;03

Chrissy Beltran

Of the leaders that make sense. And I think that’s hard to do sometimes as, as school leaders, because we want to do everything. But you can’t do everything well. And even if you think you’re putting everything out there, teachers are not picking it all up. It’s it’s way too much information. Their day to day is spent making so many decisions that the learning that they do, we have to really focus what we want them to get out of that.

00;07;32;06 – 00;07;34;00

Chanavia Patterson

Absolutely, I love that.

00;07;34;00 – 00;07;37;00

Chrissy Beltran

Thank you for sharing.

00;07;37;02 – 00;07;57;23

Chanavia Patterson

The last two parts of the reset framework is to engage in feedback, and that is just all about like taking time to, I call it you take a pause, then you pause, then you plan. And oftentimes coaches and leaders are so quick to just get to the planning, get to the planning where we haven’t taken a pause of what really needs to happen.

00;07;58;01 – 00;08;17;05

Chanavia Patterson

Have we asked and engaged in feedback on the plan that we’re going to make for next semester, instead of just doing like, what we know is best? Because a lot of times our expertise get in the way of, of us engaged in a feedback, it gets in the way because we know we’ve been doing this a long time.

00;08;17;12 – 00;08;46;29

Chanavia Patterson

Oh, I you know, I could do this with my eyes closed or, you know, and things like that, and that’s great. However, there’s always room to grow and elevate your expertise as well. So engaging the feedback will be the next one. And then lastly tackling challenges with a coach like, you know, even for myself, if I did not have a coach even in my role now of helping other leaders to have that thought partner, to actually brain dump on someone you know is so much that is goes on in our mind.

00;08;46;29 – 00;09;15;16

Chanavia Patterson

So many decisions. As you said, were making. When you’re able to tackle a lot of challenges with a coach that can actually help guide your decision making is part of like being a successful leader, it truly is to help you problem solve strategically. Hold you accountable for the things that you said you’re going to do. I think that’s just so important that you have someone to be your guide on the side that can say to our left, turn right, or what do you think about turning left?

00;09;15;17 – 00;09;21;29

Chanavia Patterson

You know, do you already, you know, and in doing those things. So that’s kind of like that reset framework that I use with a lot.

00;09;21;29 – 00;09;42;12

Chrissy Beltran

Of leaders in schools. I love that. And I like that idea about tackling challenges with a coach because, I believe we always say every teacher deserves a coach, but every coach also needs a coach. Absolutely. Somebody to work with on, you know, the hard work of coaching. Because oftentimes you’re isolated. You are maybe one of 1 or 2 coaches on a campus.

00;09;42;14 – 00;09;48;03

Chrissy Beltran

You don’t have that team that you had when you were a classroom teacher.

00;09;48;05 – 00;10;07;10

Chanavia Patterson

Good point. Yes. Because it’s like you have to have your own community. Like everyone has to find their, their community, their people, their circle of influence. And that’s why I call it like you’re, you know, it’s it may not even be a necessarily a team that’s within your building of coaches, but you should have a circle of influence that’s influencing the way you’re coaching others.

00;10;07;12 – 00;10;09;18

Chanavia Patterson

Yes. It’s so important.

00;10;09;21 – 00;10;21;03

Chrissy Beltran

So that you mentioned a little bit about feedback. And so I’m wondering about how you go about gathering the perspective and the data that you need to really point yourself in the right direction whenever you’re making a plan.

00;10;21;05 – 00;10;40;10

Chanavia Patterson

Audit, audit, audit, audit. I think if I, if the leaders that I support say anything else, they say you’re going to audit everything. And I think that’s because that gives us the data that we need to make decisions. We can’t just make decisions up to our gut feeling or what we think. You know, we have to truly audit every aspect.

00;10;40;10 – 00;11;01;03

Chanavia Patterson

And audits can look different ways. Rather is leadership team briefings. It could look like, when you’re meeting with teachers one on one, like that’s data that you can use to inform decisions that you’re going to make, student information, you know, family, parent information, walkthroughs, observation. Like there’s so many different forms of data that we could use.

00;11;01;03 – 00;11;10;15

Chanavia Patterson

But I believe that when we sit down and actually take the time to not just observe and give feedback, but actually audit what we’re already doing.

00;11;10;17 – 00;11;11;11

Chrissy Beltran

00;11;11;13 – 00;11;25;14

Chanavia Patterson

And I think everyone should do that at the end, you know, going into the next semester, like, hold on, let’s look back every 30, 60, 90 days. Let’s audit what we’ve already done to and let that guide us on the decisions that we’re going to make for the next semester.

00;11;25;17 – 00;11;36;21

Chrissy Beltran

I agree completely. We need feedback from teachers. We need data. We need to look. And you’re right, you I mean, there are so many different sources of data, but we can choose which ones are most supportive of what we’re trying to do as a school.

00;11;36;24 – 00;11;39;05

Chanavia Patterson

Yes, yes yes yes.

00;11;39;07 – 00;11;56;02

Chrissy Beltran

So what if, as you’re thinking about the last few weeks of the fall semester, moving into, you know, we have our winter break and then moving into spring semester, what tips do you have for getting through those last few weeks before winter break? Really purposely, because it’s easy to I mean, we do our little countdown. It’s easy to do.

00;11;56;05 – 00;12;08;07

Chrissy Beltran

People do little countdowns and things because they’re like, I cannot wait to see my family. I cannot wait to eat those cookies. I love it, but what do what can what? How can we make the most of that time? I believe that.

00;12;08;07 – 00;12;42;00

Chanavia Patterson

We should have micro moments for morale. Because I lead and coach from a culture based leadership standpoint, micro moments for morale is going to be very, very important. And what that means is that we are looking for the small wins and celebrations we are looking for, progress over the perfection. We’re looking for the people that are actually, that may not have even gotten to a certain result, but they are doing the steps that’s going to get us there.

00;12;42;02 – 00;12;57;09

Chanavia Patterson

And when you look for micro moments, for your morale, it just changes everything as you’re preparing to your leadership mindset for the next semester. So that’s one, I would definitely say pre-planning. Like nothing feels better than to.

00;12;57;09 – 00;12;58;04

Chrissy Beltran

Leave.

00;12;58;05 – 00;13;24;29

Chanavia Patterson

The the the preparing for your winter break, knowing what the first 30 days are going to look like in January of 2026. That is something that I am like, we have to do that and we start that process and and no, you know, November, like that’s the time frame to start working on thinking about what is the first 30 days of January of 2026 will look like the same way we do from the beginning of the school year.

00;13;24;29 – 00;13;47;08

Chanavia Patterson

We start that process in the summer, in July. Why we 30 days? What are the first 90 days, What is morning arrival gonna look like? And that’s not going to happen for another 3060 days. But we’re pre-planning. And I think that’s so important that leaders and coaches do that work. On the front end. But the micro moment is when morale is always a big game changer for a lot of people.

00;13;47;10 – 00;13;52;01

Chrissy Beltran

You share a little bit about a little bit more about those, like what that can look like or some examples.

00;13;52;04 – 00;14;18;02

Chanavia Patterson

Yeah. So micro moments. So like the celebration. So we have leaders that will do. They make it a thinking like okay, this micro moment micro moments week, but no one knows. But the cultures and the school leaders okay. No one else. So they are intentionally going in classrooms looking for something to celebrate. And then they make that a big deal at the end of every single week micro moment.

00;14;18;04 – 00;14;40;06

Chanavia Patterson

Or it could look like what parents where you you ask? Parents like parents could be in on it. We need you all to look, tell us what you’re noticing with your kids. Tell us. You know, those are magical moments that will boost the morale. Because when we get to the end of the semester and they’re dragging, you know, they’re drag it to the end or we’re pulling them to the end of the semester.

00;14;40;09 – 00;14;43;00

Chrissy Beltran

Actually, yeah.

00;14;43;02 – 00;14;50;17

Chanavia Patterson

So we do those little things that will help keep people, keep people engaged and excited. So yeah, those are just a couple of examples like that.

00;14;50;19 – 00;15;06;10

Chrissy Beltran

You know, my, my daughter’s teacher at school sends out, you know, weekly newsletter from the principal. And in it is a Google form where you can write something about your child’s teacher and just send like a little thank you. And what an easy way to get input. And I already went out when the first time I was like, sure.

00;15;06;10 – 00;15;10;06

Chrissy Beltran

Yeah, because I know how hard it is, I’m going to send something nice. Yeah.

00;15;10;11 – 00;15;33;11

Chanavia Patterson

And you know what message that sends it? Send a message to the parents that, you know, want. This leader is looking for a micro moment for morale. One, even though the parent may not use that language, but, you know, we know what that what they’re doing. But it also gives it takes the weight and the pressure off the leader to always have to look for the the stuff, you know, and it’s so heavy.

00;15;33;16 – 00;15;49;02

Chanavia Patterson

It’s like you gotta use your peers as back up sometimes. And I love that because now this principal could bake a lot of things and share them over time, you know, and things like that. But yeah, that’s a great that’s a, that’s a perfect example of a micro moment.

00;15;49;05 – 00;16;00;05

Chrissy Beltran

Yeah, I love that. I, I think it’s even it’s meaningful when it comes from your administrator or school leader. But whenever it’s from a child in your classroom and they went home to their parents something.

00;16;00;05 – 00;16;00;29

Chanavia Patterson

Oh my goodness.

00;16;01;00 – 00;16;29;14

Chrissy Beltran

Remember things that parents told me from ten, 15 years ago? Oh, my daughter said this, my son is really enjoying this. And I was like, wow, I didn’t even know that’d be something he would tell, you know, tell stories about at home. But I guess it was, you know, and it’s so meaningful. Yes, I love that. So you shared a post on Instagram about I thought you could see I follow your Instagram and I read on about nine questions every principal needs to ask themselves before the next semester.

00;16;29;16 – 00;16;42;06

Chrissy Beltran

And as I was reading through them, I was like, hey, these are relevant to instructional coaches and other school leaders as well. So could you share about those questions? Because I really think it’s good to take a minute and answer these questions before we head out into the break.

00;16;42;08 – 00;17;05;16

Chanavia Patterson

Yes. So, and I might have changed some questions since, since that post, because I’m constantly in reflective mode. But I’ll share what, you know, the nine questions that come, you know, top of mind for me. Before the went before the next semester, every school leaders should ask themselves, you know, what is the one leadership lesson I learned this semester?

00;17;05;18 – 00;17;11;16

Chanavia Patterson

Where did my team struggle the most and why?

00;17;11;19 – 00;17;43;07

Chanavia Patterson

Which systems are working well and which ones do I need to adjust? What is one boundary I need to reinforce? How did I spend most of my time and was I intentional with my time? What is one challenge that I want to tackle head on next semester? How engaged are my teachers and how can I support them? What is one way I can be more present?

00;17;43;09 – 00;17;57;03

Chanavia Patterson

Not necessarily be invisible, but being present? And then lastly, what will success look like at the end of the school year? Those are my those are my new nine.

00;17;57;06 – 00;18;17;04

Chrissy Beltran

Good question. I really like that. I like thinking about the, the time question I think is huge. All of them are important. But obviously but I you know that question I think it’s huge because kind of what we’re talking about earlier, it’s very easy to chug right along in your day and you’re just marking things off your list, but you’re not prioritizing what is important.

00;18;17;06 – 00;18;28;27

Chrissy Beltran

And that happens all the time that we get to the end of the week and we go, what did I accomplish this week? I put out 50 fires, but then actually do the things that I needed to do to move the needle on what we do here. Yeah, yeah.

00;18;28;29 – 00;18;54;20

Chanavia Patterson

And part of one of the things that, in my community, we don’t subscribe to a to do list, we subscribe to a done list. And that simple reframe helps leaders go into their week. What is it that I need to get done? Because when you do to do is I that list never it never goes away. So you’re telling your brain all the time that you always have work to do.

00;18;54;22 – 00;19;10;27

Chanavia Patterson

You always got something to do, and you never have a moment to reset, right? Versus saying, this is my done. These are the tech. This is my done list. These are the things that I am committing to getting done. And when you look at that list, it’s like is self accountability to say, oh, I said I was gonna get those things done.

00;19;10;27 – 00;19;24;22

Chanavia Patterson

Let me make sure I get it done. All the other 3000 things that were on the list kind of almost goes away, because now you’re reframing and teaching yourself how to get things done versus feeling overwhelmed with all the stuff to do.

00;19;24;24 – 00;19;43;09

Chrissy Beltran

Yes. Realistically, looking at the time frames that you have and saying, what can I really get done in this time? I like that I look at, the way I plan myself is I have the big three, so I have like three big goals, and then I break them down into quarters and two months and two weeks. And so like this week, what are the three things that I am going to get done this week?

00;19;43;09 – 00;19;58;11

Chrissy Beltran

And where am I going to plug them into my white space in my calendar? You know, because there’s lots of things that we don’t control in terms of time, but we do control some of that white space. And what do you do with that space on your calendar? That’s what you’ve got. That’s you’ve got to focus on the important things.

00;19;58;11 – 00;20;00;04

Chrissy Beltran

So it’s limited faith.

00;20;00;07 – 00;20;03;05

Chanavia Patterson

Right? Absolutely, absolutely.

00;20;03;08 – 00;20;11;20

Chrissy Beltran

I also really thought I liked the, you talked earlier about culture based model. Can you share a little bit more about the culture based model that you use? Yeah.

00;20;11;22 – 00;20;36;17

Chanavia Patterson

So I believe that everything that happens in our schools is leadership created or leadership allowed, and that all roles of how we lead our schools is rooted in culture. So when we focus on culture based strategies and is everything decision that we make is these are the three pillars of culture based leadership is how do you want people to think, act and interact in your school?

00;20;36;19 – 00;20;54;02

Chanavia Patterson

And so even when I’m coaching, I’m asking, what do I want when they walk away from this session? How do I want them to think? How do I want them to act as a as a result of this conversation? How do I want them to interact with the material that I share? And so that’s what culture based leadership is rooted in.

00;20;54;02 – 00;21;01;13

Chanavia Patterson

Is, is changing the way your, your team or the people that you’re supporting think, act and interact.

00;21;01;16 – 00;21;11;02

Chrissy Beltran

And whenever you’re thinking about these questions, what kinds of things are you doing to ensure that that people are thinking, acting and interacting in the ways that you want?

00;21;11;04 – 00;21;30;21

Chanavia Patterson

Yes, absolutely. Yep. And the question is, and this is perfect, I’m glad you asked that. I was working with someone yesterday and she was, working on she’s trying to she’s going through a huge change in our school or like, she’s making a big adjustment to some great level things. And and people are up in arms about it.

00;21;30;29 – 00;21;51;21

Chanavia Patterson

And I said, okay, let’s go back to our culture base, like leadership, like, what do you want them to think about this change? What I want them to think that is good for our school because blah, blah, blah, you know what I’m saying? Okay. Well, how do you want them to act? Well, I want them to act was, you know, towards each other and say kind things and not be so, you know, okay, well, how do you want them to interact?

00;21;51;23 – 00;22;03;03

Chanavia Patterson

And so just ask me yourself those questions. You’re going to give yourself the information that you’re looking for to make the decision or to to lead the change that you’re trying to lead for this particular example.

00;22;03;03 – 00;22;17;01

Chrissy Beltran

Yeah. To frame it in the right way so that it’s not so it doesn’t seem maybe punitive because it could very easily be presented as, look, we have to make some changes because this is not happening and this is not happening. So and that’s people do not they don’t want to hear that.

00;22;17;03 – 00;22;31;20

Chanavia Patterson

They don’t. And so when you say culture always kind of grounds people like, oh let’s go back to like what do we believe as a culture? What do we believe. Like, you know, what do we value here? And then how do we want to think about this? How do we want to act and how do we want to interact?

00;22;31;20 – 00;22;36;18

Chanavia Patterson

Okay, then that should guide us on how we’re going to respond to this change I love it.

00;22;36;24 – 00;22;46;08

Chrissy Beltran

Thank you so much for sharing all of this. So like really practical things that people can apply in their coaching work and in their leadership. So I really I’m really glad that you joined us today.

00;22;46;11 – 00;22;48;18

Chanavia Patterson

Thank you for having me I appreciate it.

00;22;48;20 – 00;22;50;24

Chrissy Beltran

Oh, where can people keep learning from you?

00;22;50;27 – 00;23;01;05

Chanavia Patterson

Oh, I spent a lot of time on Instagram at at Principal Patterson is my Instagram handle. And yeah, that’s where I hang up most of the time.

00;23;01;07 – 00;23;04;14

Chrissy Beltran

Awesome. All right. Well thank you. Well, people have to look you up.

00;23;04;17 – 00;23;08;12

Chanavia Patterson

Thank you so much for having me. I truly appreciate it.

00;23;08;15 – 00;23;26;07

Chrissy Beltran

I just love chatting with Genovia and I’m so glad that she was able to join us today. Before we head out, I want to remind you that you can grab my Action Plan toolkit. It has a lot of tools to do the things that we were talking about in terms of really helping you do a needs assessment, create a plan that’s going to help you focus your work so you’re not spinning your wheels.

00;23;26;07 – 00;23;48;21

Chrissy Beltran

You’re not just crossing things off an endless To-Do list and you’re actually making a difference at your school. So if you had two teachers pay teachers and search for my name inside my store, you will find the Action Plan bundle and includes resources for PD plc, coaching cycle forms and the Action Plan Guide that will set you up for success in terms of having a plan for your 30, 60, 90 days.

00;23;48;24 – 00;24;08;09

Chrissy Beltran

So check that out. Next week we are continuing our series about our Mid-Year coaching reset. We’re going to look at some time management for instructional coaching and how it starts with goal setting. So until then, happy coaching.

00;24;08;11 – 00;24;17;06

Chrissy Beltran

Now that you’ve got so much to think about. Head over to buzzing with Miss Beacom to grab some free downloads, become a vibe and check out the podcast show notes. Happy coaching!

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