Building Talent Pipelines: The Scrappy Superintendent's Guide - Engaging Leadership

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Building Talent Pipelines: The Scrappy Superintendent's Guide

Episode 307 • 6th November 2024 • Engaging Leadership • CT Leong, Dr. Jim Kanichirayil

Dr. Jim: Thanks for joining us today. This is your friendly neighborhood talent strategy, nerd, Dr. Jim. Everyone talks about growing your own talent and how that can be a massive benefit to your talent attraction and retention strategy. Typically these programs require some level of foundational infrastructure to work well, and you need to have a decent funding base to do it.

What if you didn't have massive funds to have a formalized grow your own program? What are some of the scrappy ways that you can grow your own talent as well as talent for the surrounding community? That's the story that we're going to tell today in our conversation with Mary Morim, who is the superintendent of the Houston public school district 294 in Minnesota.

So what's Mary's story? She has over 30 years of experience in education, and she's taught all grade levels and served as a principal at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Mary has dedicated her entire career to working in Minnesota, demonstrating her commitment to the state's educational system.

and she's proud of her long [: 00:01:00

Mary. Welcome to the show

[00:01:14] Dr. Jim: I'm i'm looking forward to this conversation And I think it's going to be a pretty interesting one given The context that we're going to be talking about. I think a big area of focus for a lot of folks is how can they? Diversify and create more talent pipelines coming into their organization.

Before we dive into that conversation, I think it's going to be important for you to share with the listeners a little bit more about some of your foundational experiences that shaped your leadership philosophy.

[00:02:00] Our teams within our students, and then how do we best serve them? And then really when I became a principal, the shortage that we have faced in teaching how do we recruit and sustain staff and look outside of our walls and within our walls too, who are leaders already in our building and how do we promote them?

And then also looking outside of our building and how do we promote teachers within our area and within our collegiate realm right around us. Very passionate about. Finding good people and building that correct team.

So when you look at that drastic shift in candidate volume and applicant volume, what were some of the things that you did right off the bat to maximize your opportunity at finding [00:03:00] the right candidate for the roles that you had open?

So it's not just about education, but building that partnership with the colleges. We also stepped up and we took initiative to be. They're supervisors. My fellow co principal and I at the time said we will supervise the students so that they didn't have to pay someone to come to our district.

So we would supervise them ourselves. So we took on an extra role. But from that we were able to recruit and sustain. And this is eight or nine years that I've been doing this working with the colleges and we are able to then keep those if you get them hooked in your district, then you're able to keep them working for you.

strict or the state at large [: 00:04:00

And so when they have things where they want to be out of state or different areas that they want to be I help them support that too. So it's about, Showing that you I think you teach what you want everybody to realize, and that's that if you are a good educator, you're going to continue to educate and have those educators come back to you or give back to society at large.

Those are some immediate things that we did right away.

[00:04:43] Mary Morem: I think the biggest thing is always power in numbers, right? You always say to yourself, if only that kid, Had just a teacher or one caring adult right that would help that one student So it really started with our special education and our general education So we wrote a grant that they [00:05:00] would team teach and we would really just work on the standards and assessing the standards and then those kids were able to Be supported by student teachers.

So for every general education teacher, we had to have a special education teacher to support that. And then really just looking at the data. I'm going to tell you, at the beginning of writing this grant and having our teachers, they weren't 100 percent on board. They're like, oh, that's a lot of adults in a room, and that's going to be, a lot to organize, and they were a little bit at the end of the year.

They saw the data, they saw the improvements in their students, and they are still doing it nine years later when we originally started the grant. So we are funded for the first two years with the grant but then we saw the the benefits of it and the students, and so we continue to use that.

I'm no longer in that district that we did that at, but I still partner, and we still do that same philosophy, even though I'm in a different district,

[00:05:59] Mary Morem: I would say [00:06:00] a lot of times, if you have somebody that's already within our master agreement, I think you and I talked about this, but being creative within our master agreement, we have it written that if you write a grant, even as a teacher you can get 5 percent back in your salary of that grant that you write so that incentivizes teachers to then help support that because you can't do all the work yourself, so how do you support that?

So that's a creative way that we do with our master agreement within our teachers union, but you can also just I subscribe. I would highly recommend subscribing to a grant where it tells you federal and state grants that are available and you get a monthly update and you decide which ones you're available to apply for and then you go ahead and apply.

more apt to say, oh, we can [: 00:07:00

We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there that we're able to do that. Just being on those publications, I think is huge.

How else there? What are some of the other ways that they can? They can still tap into a grow your own strategy without access to a university system.

I had a community, one of my greatest teachers that I have was a community member that's a retired engineer that just came and just said, Hey, I'm like how [00:08:00] would you like to teach? He's I could do that. I'm like, yeah, you could do that. Just knowing what the capabilities are within your state or your area.

So even if you don't have the university, There's definitely an online component. We personally at Minnesota Virtual Academy, which is one of our schools, we offer pre education courses to start that. And so if, even if you don't have a university, there are online schools that would offer it and partner with you as well to get you started.

Education pathway up and started within your area. So yes, I'm blessed to have that, but a lot of colleges, even if they're remote, I've also written a grant for like remote like this situation where you're saying, and that they'll even pay for housing for teachers to come to your area as well.

So there are opportunities for that too. So sometimes it is there's no place to live. And we've written like for those math sciences, special education, and there's grants out there to write. For that funding and partnership as well.

[00:09:13] Mary Morem: My unique capability is that we are two parts. We are a brick and mortar school, and then we're also the largest online academy in the state of Minnesota. We have been, this is, we're starting our 22nd year as Minnesota Virtual Academy. Which is, allows us, when you talked about earlier, you talked about, When some people only have one applicant and two, we have had multiple applicants for all of our roles.

We are totally licensed within our area of license because people do want the flexibility to work at home. This also allows us that ability to grow your own. As well around the whole state, and we have teachers that work in other states as well. So that allows that flexibility and brings that perspective to that.

other states [: 00:10:00

There's challenges with it, but there's also the ability to help serve the state at large. And so my meeting right before this meeting was about how can we work together to provide opportunities for students throughout the state. And we just wanna continue to do that. And whether it's a solution with us or a solution with someone else, just finding that pathway for a student to get.

What they're passionate about done?

[00:10:53] Mary Morem: Some of the challenges may be just that we're part of 32 other states. And so as we very well [00:11:00] know, Minnesota curriculum and different things is what our state legislation is requiring us to do is different than others. And so just to stay up and on the forefront of what the state of Minnesota is requiring of all schools in the state to get done and completed.

I'm just trying to stay on top of that, and then also move that needle, not only of your own state, but of a person's. Of the other 31 states that we're partners with as well. I think that's a big challenge. Also, engagement in the online world is difficult, right? I, my first meeting this morning was about how do we continue to have kids engaged in an online platform?

And that becomes something that we're always trying to strategize on and Think differently. When you're in a classroom, you can use proximity and come close to a kid and tap them on the shoulder when you're in a virtual setting. That is always a challenge that we face. So that engagement piece. So those are the two that just happened today that I've had discussions on.

t curriculum and programming [: 00:12:00

[00:12:02] Dr. Jim: You mentioned engagement on the student side is challenging from an online. Delivery perspective how do you maintain engagement at the educator level or at the leadership level and make sure that everyone is on the same page?

So I think that's a huge component of continuing that with our students, but also with our faculty. Families and community members and also with our teachers so we have back to school and part of their requirement is that they come to our physical location and we do our back to school training just like any other teacher this year is going to be a little bit different with our trainings that we have.

t Making sure that we're all [: 00:13:00

So just really making sure that we have a effort to do that. We also do Roadmaps of where we want to go and we're revisiting them monthly because as we know, things can shift when you're midway in a path and we continue to come back to that. And then my school board is also part of that too.

We map out where we want to go. And sometimes we have to, Change that path, but we continue to do that.

[00:14:01] Mary Morem: I think it starts with continuing to listen to your staff and where they're passionate. So you have those systems in place where they start where you want to be, but you're continuing to look at the needs of. Of not only your teachers, but the state at large and the different things that come our way.

And so you continue to push those leaders within your your staff to take that next step and then also be very visible with that, right? So that's all on a map that's shared with our staff that shared with the community and making sure that we are aligning with where the district is headed and where, Society and large is headed, right?

So it does change. And that's why we call it a map. We don't call it because just like a road, like you might hit a detour, something might roadblock you and you have to change and pivot. And instead of that strategic plan, we call it a map. And so we're always looking at our map of where we want to go.

Tell us a little bit more about what goes into that map and how that ties into your talent development strategy.

So it's multiple pieces, and in each one of those pieces of the map, it's the year, but it's also those pillars of what is our foundational skills, and how does that align, and how does that align with what the school board and the community at large, and then the state, too. How do they all align, and then how can we [00:16:00] reach that, and then who do we need to have help?

So if you open it up, It's going to look like, if you open up our map, it's going to be mapped out by year, but it's also going to be mapped out by individual, and that individual can also say, now who is we have checks, and who is doing, and red is, Red is we're going good yellow and green, green is we're still working on it and we can color code it and go forward.

But we've laid it out for the next six years and the first few years are heavy. And as the years go by, we just continue to revisit it and then modify it. And the school board is part of this as well. As a superintendent, make sure that your board is behind this as well.

It's not just about the leadership within your building because the leaders can have great ideas, but if that's not what the board supports, then. They need to align so that those maps need to correlate.

Superintendents tend to be three year. How did you marry that six year plan to what potentially could be a shorter contract stint for your educator staff and even at the superintendency level?

We can't get anything done one to two years. It's no different than a small business, right? When did they say a small business is successful after that seventh year? So when you look at a plan. To me, it needs to be that I've been blessed and I negotiated two, three year contracts back to back, knowing that we had to do this work and that my board is [00:18:00] behind that and knowing that there's potential and opportunity for great growth and to serve the state of Minnesota at large.

So I would say you need to convince in order for change to happen is I would number one, tell any superintendent listening out there. Negotiate at least a three year, right? Because you need that time to lay it out. And if you want, negotiate even more after that. But if you really want to make change, it can't be done that fast.

We know that's not how the world works. So don't be afraid to ask those hard questions and don't be afraid to. Look outside the box of how we can get that done but it has to be aligned with your board.

[00:19:06] Mary Morem: The big picture was the six year, then year to year, and then we meet monthly, and I also have someone help facilitate that as well so that you can be, as a superintendent, you can be at the table. Even when I work with the school board, I have someone help facilitate that. You really need to be present and at the table in order for you to take full, because when you're leading something You tend to then not think about it and reflect on it yourself as well and be part of that team.

And so I would highly suggest that having someone help facilitate that it is vital in that process. So that's what we've done. And then we just continue to have those checks, right? That's important. Just like anything, the years will get away from you if you don't, and you have to also hold each other accountable, or you might have to ask for help or resources outside of your district.

To facilitate and help get those things done if they're on your map,

Describing it from a [00:20:00] superintendent's point of view, where you're looking at the entire enterprise, but you can't carry this all by yourself. So what role do your principles play in making sure that the broader team at the building level or within the on within the online community are progressing at an appropriate pace?

So that they help facilitate that. I think that you have to divide the workload and that's having these hard conversations and it is getting down to the nitty gritty of who will take care of what, right? So this person is going to take care of this and we have those discussions and I also think those regular we weekly one of my directors is new this year and we check in twice a week, right?

e right track? What have you [: 00:21:00

Districts to help them and support them as well. So yeah, you can't do it yourself, but I told them my favorite part is I'm seeing, after we've developed this plan, I'm seeing them just go to work and they're meeting on their own without me facilitating that as well. I'll come into a room like, oh, you guys are meeting, or like even this morning, my special ed director said, hey, I'm meeting with that other director from another school district.

She goes, I can stop on my way through and get that. That's what you want to see. A good, it's no different than a good teacher in a classroom when you see all the kids then they're actively engaged in your classroom and they're all doing and they all know what they're doing. That's what a superintendent role is too.

k in on them and they're all [: 00:22:00

[00:22:08] Dr. Jim: I have a pretty good handle in terms of line of sight on the principal's role internal to the organization. Tell me a little bit more about what they're doing outside the organization and what key stakeholders within the community that they're regularly engaging with.

My high school principal was active at the college level, the work that I started that we talked about earlier. She continued to be at that board and help, help the student teachers that are entering into the workforce and helping them prepare for their [00:23:00] interviews showing that we're out there giving back to education at large.

I think is really important. We're also we speak at different conventions. We are going to be speaking at the superintendents convention. We're going to be speaking at the Minnesota Rural Education Association and just continuing not just me, but the principals and the directors also at large will be speaking And then we also have within the state of Minnesota, we have regional meetings and going to those regional meetings and meeting with different partners around the state as well to share the work.

I don't see how that connects to your internal talent funnel. So what I'd like you to do is tell us a little bit more about how their engagement activity feeds not only your talent funnel, but maybe has some broader impact as well.

Students are able to take. Pre education courses, and they can still do their internship hours within their home district because we don't just want to grow our own, we want to help you and other districts grow theirs. I would love for this to be a nationwide, I know that every state has a different Licensing for teachers, but if we could in the state of Minnesota, get it so that when a student graduated from high school, if they had their two years of undergrad for pre education and we are looking at that two plus two program where they could go [00:25:00] on, we would love this model to be implemented.

Not only in the state of Minnesota but nationwide so that we continue to grow educators within our states.

So really great stuff. For those of you who've been listening to this conversation, if you like the discussion, make sure you leave a podcast player, and If you haven't already done so, make sure you join our community.

And then tune in next time where we will have another great leader hanging out with us and sharing with us the great game changing insights that helped them build a high performing team