320. Why Hiring More Staff Won't Give You the Relief You Think It Will

You hired the director. You hired the admin. Maybe you even hired the regional. So why are you still the one lying awake thinking about the classroom that isn't staffed?

A lot of you are hiring right now. Teachers, admin, maybe a whole new layer of leadership. Before you make that next hire, I want to have a conversation with you about what you are actually handing off.

It started in my kitchen. My 11-year-old daughter asked to bake with her 8-year-old brother, and I said yes, as long as the whole kitchen got cleaned up afterward. Fifteen minutes later there were bowls everywhere and ingredients all over the counter. When I asked her about it, she told me, completely sincerely, "But Mommy, I already cleaned seven things." I didn't ask for seven things. I asked for a clean counter.

That moment has stuck with me, because it's how so many of our schools run. Everyone did something. Emails were sent, candidates were called, the spreadsheet got updated. And the counter is still dirty. The classroom still isn't staffed. The family who toured still didn't enroll. And somebody has to notice. If you own a school, you already know who that somebody is.

In this episode, I share a conversation with a school owner I was onboarding recently who wanted her school to stop depending on her without disappearing from it. We talk about the difference between task distribution and true ownership, why your team can't read the standards living in your head, and what to do the moment your director walks in and says, "We're short two teachers." Are you hiring helpers when what you really need is owners? Let's find out.

• Why hiring more people doesn't bring relief when you transfer labor but not ownership
• The difference between task distribution and real ownership (and why most of what we call delegation is the first one)
• Why "hiring" is a task and "an appropriately staffed building" is an outcome
• The invisible agreement you make when you hire a helper instead of an owner
• Why your team keeps missing a standard that only exists in your head
• What to say when a problem lands on your desk so ownership doesn't boomerang back to you
• The four-part ownership infrastructure: Standard, Ownership, Rhythm, Response
• The one question to ask before your next hire: What needs to become true in this school without me?

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Chanie's book, This Can't Be Normal: https://thiscantbenormal.com

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