Summary:

The engaging leadership show welcomes Dr. Linda Adamson, superintendent of the Pacific Grove Unified School District, a region known for exceptional educational outcomes. This episode provides an insider look into Dr. Adamson's leadership ethos, focusing on the contribution of community engagement, data-driven decision-making, and mentorship in bolstering the district's success.

In the bustling world of educational leadership, few figures are as pivotal as school superintendents. Dr. Linda Adamson, the superintendent of Pacific Grove Unified, embodies the drive and innovation needed to steer a top-performing district. With her emphasis on tight-knit community values, high educational standards, and a holistic approach to student development, Dr. Adamson paints a picture of educational excellence that resonates beyond classroom walls.

Key topics explored include the handling of leadership challenges, particularly during the unpredictable times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the vital role of technology and data in enhancing the learning experience. Dr. Adamson's commitment to maintaining strong lines of communication with her team of educators and her assertiveness in leveraging data for efficient student performance tracking, make for an enlightening discussion full of actionable insights.

Key Takeaways:

• Leadership in education extends beyond schools into engaging with the broader community to build a cohesive educational ecosystem.
• High standards, personalized attention, and focus on holistic development are cornerstones of success in educational institutions.
• Successful educational leadership involves developing trust, fostering strong relationships, being systems-minded, and using data effectively to drive instruction.
• The critical role of mentors and coaches in developing leadership qualities, and the value of seeking external perspectives for personal and organizational growth.
• The challenges of navigating education through the pandemic have led to long-lasting improvements in instructional approaches and technology integration.

Chapters:

0:00:00 Introduction to the interview with Dr. Linda Adamson, superintendent of Pacific Grove Unified School District

0:03:44 The role of the superintendent in engaging the community and parents

0:05:30 Balancing time between engaging with schools, community, and school board

0:09:01 Transition from teacher to superintendent and the desire to impact student lives and create a sense of belonging

0:13:46 The importance of coaching and mentoring for growth

0:18:25 The importance of vulnerability and constructive criticism in coaching

0:22:21 Utilizing the expertise of the team and regular communication during COVID-19

0:26:44 Linda discusses the importance of being systems-minded and adaptable as a leader.

0:30:16 Linda advises aspiring leaders to stay true to themselves and their passion for making a difference.

0:32:43 CT Leong concludes the interview and thanks Linda for sharing her leadership insights.

Connect with Dr. Jim: linkedin.com/in/drjimk

Connect with CT: linkedin.com/in/cheetung

Connect with Linda Adamson: linkedin.com/in/linda-adamson-522963116

Music Credit: Shake it Up - Fesliyanstudios.com - David Renda



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Dr. Adamson, welcome to the show.

It is, definitely often referred to as a destination district. And I think as I have taking the time particularly in my first three months, it continues right now as I do my listen and learn and meet with our community members, our staff, our students, our families to learn as much as I can about, what makes it a destination district, why does Pacific Grove and do Pacific Grove students really repeatedly and historically, do so well.

I think what I've been able to find out and learn through my interactions and engagements with our community there are a couple of things. I think the first one really has to do with Pacific Grove is a really small community. It's your 15, 000 residents. That really makes and allows for a very close knit and tight community.

So those high standards really ensure that they want to be able to give everything they possibly can to provide the best circumstances for our students. And then I just think a focus on holistic student development is another component that makes our district so special. We have a strong belief and a strong understanding that we want our students to feel a strong sense of belonging and connection at the schools.

I think it really comes down to providing as many opportunities as possible to hear from, to listen to our community and to hear from and listen to our staff. I think it's, one of the reasons it was such a priority for me coming in as a new superintendent to the district and also new to the community to really engage our community, engage our staff, engage our students and provide those opportunities for me to hear from them.

But more importantly, in moving forward to provide advisory councils, advisory committees, where we can bring staff and families together to hear their voices, to provide opportunities for them to give input, but also to really be able to listen and engage with one another. And I think the more that we can do that, if we want that collaboration, if we want that unity between the home and the school and that strong connection, we have to continue to allow for those opportunities for that to take place.

How do you think about spreading out your time between these constituents?

I want to be able to have that opportunity to understand what some of the challenges are that they're facing, but also really learn about, what are they excited about? What makes learning exciting for them? So I think that's where the start, the site piece of it comes, our staff and our students.

And so that I make a priority. If you look at my calendar, that is something I work with my assistant. into making that into the schedule that way I'm able to also talk firsthand to what I'm seeing in the classrooms, whether it's at a board meeting, whether it's engaging with a community member or, in a parent teacher meeting where, I'm addressing and answering questions about a concern a parent may have.

For families, What I have done in my first six months is be very intentional about scheduling one on one meetings with community members with parents but in addition to that I have also been able to work with our district site level staff to work on community input sessions as we're creating our LCAP right now.

Cause that's ultimately going to help us develop our goals for our LCAP. So having those opportunities where our community members, our parents can engage with one another, but also engage with our district and site level staff is important. As far as our board goes, definitely as a superintendent, a good 80 percent of your time needs to be spent in ensuring that yes, you're keeping them updated.

As the governance body that, ultimately sets the tone and help set direction and helps us, really drive and determine policy, but they need to be as informed and up to date as possible and a superintendent, that's one of my biggest roles.

And ultimately our board meetings, that happens twice a month. But It can't just be during those times that, they're being brought up to date. So that ongoing, interaction with them is a critical piece. So really when I look at it, all those different facets and components it's about bringing everyone together.

Yes. Having that balance, but building strong relationships with each member of our community regardless of what role they play because, that's ultimately what helps us stay successful.

That ability to be able to have an impact in the students lives that I was fortunate enough to be involved in. it was a little bit of a superpower. My younger sister still talks to me today about how she remembers me building my own little classroom in our living room and teaching her everything I knew. She says it to me today. I was able to explain things to her like none of her teachers could. So I think I knew from a young age that's what I was destined to do. I knew when I left the classroom and stepped into the principal role, even though I didn't think it was for me at the time, I was encouraged to do so by many of my own mentors and leaders who saw that in me.

That truly allowed me to really get a sense of what the role of superintendent involves. I love that role. I did that for three years and, knew that my next step was going to be superintendent. The ability that you have in this position to truly be able to impact culture and really be able to change and drive culture.

For me, everything I do, it comes down to creating that sense of belonging for every single student in the district that I serve, a sense of belonging that they feel that they know that they have adults at their school site who care about them, who they know they can turn to, who they know are going to be there for them no matter what happens in their lives.

Cause that's truly what it comes down to for many students. It's one adult in their life that they know truly believes in them that they can really excel and do great things. So I think that's the part that I just absolutely love the fact that I really be able to change the trajectory in one student's life, one student.

But ultimately you tend to do it, with more, that's the part I love about being a superintendent.

The way that you learn, the way that you get coached or mentored happens a lot better. If you have a strong relationship with who you're learning from and that's a small segue to thinking about your own journey as a leader, because you mentioned when you took on the principalship, you were a little bit reluctant. Over time you must have had some kind of support that helped you bloom as a leader. Along every step of that journey how did you learn to be a leader?

I needed to be in the classroom. And so that same coach, it really had to coax me further. To really be able to think about it. And when I did, I made the decision knowing if I hate it, I can always come back to teaching. And so that's really what allowed me to step into that realm.

I am a firm believer in coaching and mentoring. Every leader, every teacher really should have someone that they look up to, that they respect who is in a role that they ultimately could possibly see themselves in down the line, but who knows them, who can give you feedback, who can, allow you to grow.

Whether it's about just a challenging situation that they're dealing with in their current situation, or you're really thinking about what their long term career goals are? I think so much needed for someone who's out of your immediate situation, who can look at things objectively and to be able to give you some of that guidance and direction, that we all need in our lives.

I myself have, currently. from five to seven, former superintendents, two of them actually are still serving as superintendents who I consider, as individuals and leaders that I respect unbelievably, that I've worked with for many years in my life.

Not many people who work with you in your immediate team that you're able to really talk to about some of the challenging things you're going through. So it truly is so important to reach out to your outside networks or to that team of colleagues that you can truly rely on and trust.

I currently have an unbelievable coach who in fact, she just spent three days with me last week. She stayed up here in Pacific Grove and we got to, visit all of the schools. I've got to introduce her to my immediate cabinet team, and we did a little bit of a leadership afternoon on Friday afternoon, where we looked at different articles and really talked about what it means to be a leader.

And yes, I think, in nurturing that, in coaching those that I'm serving, I need a model for them, that I'm not just telling them the importance of having a coach. I'm showing how it's really helped me in my own. That's been people along the way who've helped me, move into those next positions.

And to share their advice and experiences. What have you found in terms of your journey to find these five to seven mentors and even a coach that you have. And how would you recommend maybe more junior leaders within education to seek these out?

Core values that you know that you want either be able to reach for or you believe are, what you want to be in a leader for yourself, but also what is the reason that you admire other leaders? I encourage leaders to really, step out of their comfort zone and reach out to those individuals. Number one, there's no more better compliment than having another leader reach out to you to say, look, you're the kind of leader they would want to be someday.

And would you be willing to serve as a coach for them? I think, that starts on a really positive note right there. But ultimately it's really showing incentive. It's showing, an interest from the individual, that they're out there seeking to surround themselves with others who number one, they want to aspire to be like but also others who they, respect and, ultimately want to follow in their footsteps.

And it's going to ultimately make you be a better leader yourself.

And also there's a greater degree of psychological safety, with someone who's not invested in any particular outcome within the organization.

So definitely important to be outside of the organization, in my opinion.

When we look back at what we were able to accomplish, it really opened our eyes, for educators on how to maybe go about doing things differently.

My hope is that we continue to take those lessons and apply them to our future years as we continue to try to be as creative and innovative as possible as we can.

How did you use your judgment to come up with a solution?

They actually took a good two weeks and designed a variety of different lessons and templates that they will be able to push out to all of our teachers that helped them, as they were needing to deliver their lesson plans in an online method. So I think just really leaning to the experts that we had at our disposal, obviously we had an unbelievable team who came together on a regular basis.

The communication was critical during that time but ultimately to make sure that our teachers knew that they were not alone that they had these experts available to them for whatever questions they had with whatever challenges they were facing our TOSAs and our directors were there to be very much hands on, to provide that information they needed.

We took the time that we could it was as intentional and deliberate as possible, before we put that material out to our teachers, we offered even, regular, weekly times for our teachers to come online, to come on zoom, to really allow chances for them to collaborate with one another, to ask questions.

Cause that is what was so needed. With so many of our teachers, especially in those first few months, still working from home before we came back into the classrooms. That ability for everyone to know they were not alone, to see faces, to be able to have conversations and ask questions and give support was so important.

That wasn't just at the district level. We were being sure that we are reaching out to other district leaders as well, to be sure we had that network of collaboration. That was a critical piece.

The only piece I would have wished that we'd had was more of a system in place where we were able to pivot quickly to some form of an online learning modem. We had to create that in a very short amount of time, and it wasn't ideal, right away, it took us, weeks and months to perfect it.

But once we had a system in place that now to this day, if we were to ever face something similar, it would be a simple pivot to, okay we're moving everything, back to online. And, we have those systems in place now.

And to invest in the preparation for every single contingency is also extremely resource intensive. I definitely wouldn't beat myself up over not having that system in place if I were you. I want to look now at overall leadership quality and in your experience when you've seen strong leaders and not so strong leaders, what kind of difference in impact does that have on student outcomes, on engagement outcomes with the homes and the parents and community.

Have you seen any kind of differences that is pinpointable?

You asked specifically, what are some of those traits, as far as, successful leaders, it really comes down in my belief and what I've observed myself is very systems minded, the ability to be able to identify and create systems to achieve the outcomes that you're looking for.

The mark of a good leader is being able to identify where the systems are working well, but more importantly, where there is change that's needed and to have a good sense of what those changes are to be able to identify them, pretty quickly and to be able to start moving forward with them.

Being able to be vulnerable, initially in the beginning as well, to really identify and show that, this is a commitment for you and you do that by starting to show the people that you're leading that you are here for the longterm, that you care that they trust is important to you.

Going to go out and start building those relationships early on, showing their commitment, showing the care that they have for the people within the organization as a superintendent. I think it's equally important that care is being extended to the students that you're serving and the families that you're serving.

This is one of the most important priorities for you, in your current position. When we can do that along with NES identifying, what the systems are that need to be put into place that'll allow us to go from, good to great.

Those are essentially the two critical elements of a successful superintendent.

We live in California and in a time where technology is racing so quickly. What role does technology, data, and AI play in your leadership?

When I met with my principals for the first time coming into this role, one of the first things I asked them was, what are the areas of strength for your areas for your curriculum and instruction, where are your students achieving?

It's critical from that first week that, teachers are coming together at their grade levels in their content areas, that they're looking at where their students are achieving, but most importantly, where there are areas needed for improvement so that we, as educators, our role is to be able to intervene early, provide the resources and intervention that our students need in order for them to make the growth, close the gaps to ultimately excel.

Our role as as educators, it's all about removing barriers for every one of our students to ensure they have, equitable access to the instruction that is there for them. And we do that through, the addition of interventions and supports and resources. The only way we can do that is by progress monitoring throughout the year.

If you have one piece of advice to anyone in education thinking about a leadership role and, or thinking about mentoring a leader, what would that be?

I think we can pull out and be a better version of who we are. But ultimately, we all went into education for the same reason you went in to make a difference and to make a difference in the lives of students. To keep that at the forefront, no matter what position you're seeking, no matter what role, whatever seat you're sitting in.

Whether you're in the classroom, whether you're a site leader, a district leader, be mindful of what originally brought you into this career and that is that you can and can continue to make a difference in no matter what role you are, as long as I think you're staying true to yourself, authentic and, really allowing yourself to, to share your gifts with others.

I hope everyone who's been listening has taken away a lot of little nuggets of leadership gems that you have dropped today.