Leading Staff Learning that Transforms Culture | Transformational Educators Ep. 13

What happens when a young, first-time principal steps into a school reeling from a leadership change? In this powerful episode of Transformational Educators, Amber Shields, now Managing Director with the Commit Partnership and founder of PM Consulting, shares how she built trust from scratch, reconnected fractured staff, and turned reflective adult learning into a foundation for sustainable culture change.

Listeners will learn how small daily actions and intentional relationship-building helped transform staff mindsets, rebuild community, and center professional growth on ownership and reflection. Whether you’re leading through transition or building a new foundation, Amber’s story offers both encouragement and practical strategies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Building trust starts with small, consistent daily actions
• Coffee chats and hallway check-ins can drive real connection
• Arrival and dismissal are overlooked opportunities for visibility
• Reflection must be embedded into daily school culture
• Teachers thrive when they can name one area they want to grow in
• Safe spaces for adult learning foster vulnerability and growth
• Peer observations increase self-awareness and instructional insight
• Individual growth plans should align with broader school goals
• Psychological safety is essential for sustainable culture shifts
• Leadership requires self-awareness, consistency, and alignment

BEST MOMENTS

00:01:52. “Every time we’re together, you are so full of joy and optimism and practical wisdom.”
00:04:02. “I had to do some mindset work of my own to separate what is not mine to carry.”
00:05:15. “Coffee was on me... I wanted to get them off campus.”
00:07:00. “Those small acts can really be impactful in terms of building connection.”
00:07:51. “Hey guys, this didn’t work. That has so much trust building in that simple act alone.”
00:10:12. “Name one thing they wanted to own improving.”
00:13:00. “When teachers began to do that informally... it’s beautiful because it impacts the students.”
00:14:12. “When people feel safe to be vulnerable... there has to be a sense of safety.”
00:15:32. “Gratitude was something that I tried to use to center me in those difficult moments.”

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Transcript

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I knew that connecting and building relationships with people would be largely important, so they needed to know who I was beyond. Oh, this is the new principal that is Amber Shields, managing director with the Commit Partnership and founder of PM Consulting. In her first principle ship, she learned that real school transformation starts with how adults connect, learn together and see one another. It's sometimes an opportunity to just catch up with the staff member that you're working the arrival door with. Like how was your weekend? How was your evening, What's going on with your kids? Those small acts can really be impactful in terms of building connection or leadership model is built on consistent, everyday actions that build trust. Through these, she created the conditions for staff to learn together, reflect honestly, and begin building a culture of high expectations. We try to embed reflection in multiple areas or in multiple structures of the school. It'll also travel over to how we reflect on our instructional practice. Today. She breaks down how reflection becomes the engine of adult learning and why a culture begins to shift when every staff member can name one thing they want to own. Improving. By the end of this conversation, you will learn how intentional relationships, consistent connections and structured reflection create the kind of staff learning that transforms an entire school culture. I'm Dr. Matthew Flippen, and this is Transformational Educators. Today we are talking about renewing the mind, leading staff and learning that transforms culture and yields. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. Dr. Flippin I'm excited to be here with you today. Oh, yeah, This is such a great time for me as well. You know, every time we're together, you are so full of joy and optimism and practical wisdom. So I'm really looking forward to to learning from you today. And, you know, in this conversation, we're going to talk about how you've helped a staff shift their mindsets, how you built staff through shared learning and created systems for sustained growth. So I'm really excited about about that. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here and talk about one of my favorite topics. I do have a lot of favorite topics, but this is absolutely one of them. What was it like when you first arrived? So prior to me arriving, the campus had an interim principal from March until the end of that school year. So if you've been in any situation where there's an interim involved and it actually was a not an internal interim, but someone came from outside of the school to serve as interim, So it was a bit of instability. So when I was hired late that spring, I already kind of had an understanding that one, I was coming behind an interim principal and then the leader prior to that was a beloved leader. And this is hard not just in education, but in any industry. The previous leader was the one who had hired most of the staff, who had helped co-create and design the systems. And the staff was a staff who really loved their community. They loved each other, they loved the kids, and they were really proud of the work that they had done and the leader that they had done the work with. And so me coming in as the the new person kind of was an outsider. Yeah. And I remember when we've talked about this before, you shared that they were the staff was not happy that the previous beloved leader had left. And so they had some feelings about that. That probably got transferred to you a little bit when you first arrived. I experienced a lot of tough conversations within those first few weeks of me being there around, you know, just the hurt that they were experiencing because of the transition. I think another thing that became quickly apparent to me, like even if it's spoken or unspoken, there are these feelings. So some people are going to tell you directly, other people are going to just talk about it in the break room. And I had to kind of do some mindset work of my own to separate what is not mine to carry. Like this is a really hard moment and I can empathize, but at the end of the day, I still have a responsibility here as the new leader of the campus. I can imagine, you know, that this is a probably a pretty frequent occurrence, right? A principal transitions out who's loved. A new person comes in. And even though they are a wonderful person as well, they're kind of prejudged in a in a way. And so and you were young and it was your first principal ship. So you had I'm sure there were lots of kind of maybe false beliefs. What what were some of the things that you did to help shift those And that first, I don't know, 90 days that you were there. To your point about we don't really talk about this a lot in leadership and what that transition can be like, especially when you're coming behind someone who is beloved. So knowing that I knew that connecting and building relationships with people would be largely important. So they needed to know who I was beyond, Oh, this is the new principal. So one of the a very practical thing that I did was hold coffee chats at a local coffee shop. I wanted to get them off campus, so I sent out the sign up genius or some sign up online tool and had them sign up for 30 minute coffee conversations. Coffee was on me and we I tried to make sure that my questions were focused not only on the state of the school, but also on getting to know them as a person. Because I do think that education is hard work and it's also hard work. And the more that we can have those interpersonal connections and just understand what each of us are bringing into the work, it does allow it to be a little bit easier. So in addition to doing those coffee check ins, I just planned a regular cadence of how I could connect with the staff to build those relationships. So talk to me about like the cadence, the ongoing work that you did to keep those relationships healthy. For sure. I think that some of it we don't talk often about how even the small moments like arrival and dismissal are being in the hallways and in the campus is an opportunity to connect with the staff. So being very strategic around those like high visibility points was something that I prioritize. So I'm always going to be an arrival. I'm always going to be at dismissal because not only is it a time to greet the students and greet the families, it's sometimes an opportunity to just catch up with the staff member that you're working the arrival door with. Like, how was your weekend, How was your evening, What's going on with your kids? Those small acts can really do a big I think that they can really be impactful in terms of building connection and those little moments they build up and then eventually you might have a stronger relationship with one. I have talked to teachers and leaders, assistant principals, and they'll tell me, Oh, the principal just goes in their office and stays there all day and I don't have that same relationship or I don't have that connection. So for me, I wanted to make sure that I was taking those small steps that would do the opposite of that. So, yeah, no, it's so true. I mean, relationship building trust, it takes time and it does happen in small increments. Everybody's going to make mistakes. We're all human. It happens. And I think it demonstrates a level over on ability and transparency when leaders are able to name, Hey guys, this didn't work. I put this system in place and I see that it failed. That has so much trust building in that simple act alone. Is there one that you put in that didn't work like you wanted? I think the first day of school was a bit chaotic and I was like, you know, thinking about reflecting on what I could have done differently. And that was one of the first examples of me just leaning into that and asking them for feedback and ensuring that we were like co-creating the things together because they had been at the school longer than me. Sure, sure about what? But how great, you know, the first day of school you come back and say, you know, that could have gone better. And what? What can we learn? Help help us do better, you know, going forward? Yeah. Was there anything about the culture when you first arrived that was affecting how how the children were performing? I think that because so many of the staff members had been at the campus for a while, there was a reluctance to change. There were some opportunities, I think, for continuous improvement. Our growth that weren't necessarily always leaned into. And I think when we do that as adults, it does also impede opportunities for students to improve in their learning as well. And so one of the things that we talked a lot about within that first year is we have to have this growth mindset. We have to see that there are areas, even if we've been doing it for three years, we've been doing this for five years, we have to be continuous learners as well. So that was something that I think did impact the students. Was there a professional learning path or strategy that you saw and implemented that first year? There definitely was, but I think even before we put the professional learning pathway in place, we we tried to embed reflection in multiple areas or in multiple structures of the school because when we can reflect individually, it'll also trickle over to how we reflect on our instructional practice. And so one of the ways that we did that, of course, starting the year with reflecting on our why, but also in individual feedback conversations, having staff members reflect on places in their practice that they wanted to grow so we can all lean into this element of, okay, there is something I can think of. One thing that I can do differently tomorrow, or one thing that I would do want to improve and grow in. And as we built out the professional learning pathway that was largely connected to some of the reflective conversations we had had with individuals as well as with our guiding coalition. I love that. Amber, You know, because I mean, what you just described as you started with built in relationships, right? And then you and then you went through a reflection process, right? You really implemented that as a practice. Would you even did on the first day of school, Right? I mean, you reflected on like how did that how did that go? And then it makes total sense to build a learning pathway, professional development pathway off of those reflections because you those are people's individual needs that they've said, hey, I want to grow in this area. And so it naturally produces buy in to the, you know, the learning that's going to that's going to take place. Did it happen just perfectly like that? Oh, no. It was a lot of refinement along the way, because sometimes there's a little bit of misalignment between what people identify as the area of opportunity and then the area of opportunity. When you look at the the more broader trends across the campus. And so trying to figure out how to honor both of those things. So one of the ways that that looked like if I knew that there was a specific area of opportunity that a teacher had identified for themselves that we weren't going to necessarily focus on as a entire campus with our professional learning. Maybe there's an opportunity for peer observation. And so that's something that I believe deeply in, that teachers and all of us improve in our practice when we have an opportunity to observe others. So creating opportunities not only for a group professional learning, but individual professional learning, which is something that the teachers did grow to appreciate because not only within our campus, I would create opportunities for them to go to other key business to observe, because that was a practice that was really beneficial to me as a teacher. Absolutely. I think about, you know, if my self-awareness is low, right, and I'm trying to reflect, but I really don't have a benchmark or something to evaluate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that and that becomes a challenge. But when I go sit in another classroom and I see how they're doing it, assuming that pairing was probably a little bit intentional in the way that you went about that, then yeah, now it's like, Oh, my self-awareness is up because I've seen someone else practice their their craft of teaching. So as you started to implement these things, did you see in that first year the team started to come back together with you? Part of the team? Yes, I did. And not only did I see them to come together within our formal settings that I was creating, I began to see it happen informally, and that was what was probably just a beautiful thing to see for me because I had created spaces for collaboration to occur. But when teachers began to do that informally across great levels, across content areas, it is very it's just it's beautiful because it impacts the students. And so when we think about student success and if I have this as a strength and you have this as a strength and now we're coming together and now I'm able to build a strength in the area that was previously a area of opportunity. It's a win win for everyone. Basically, you modeled a practice that you wanted to see happen and then because you made it safe to do it right, people experienced growth, right. That spilled over to kids that then the staff took hold of it and are like, Hey, let's keep doing more of this. That's great. That makes you feel good as a leader, for sure. It really does. And it also you said the word safety. I think that we don't talk about psychological safety enough in adult learning spaces. And just when you're working with adults in general, when people feel safe to be vulnerable and say, Oh, well, you're doing this really well, like I want to be able to do that, there has to be a sense of safety for someone to kind of let their guard down and even acknowledge that a specific practice is an area of opportunity for them. And so that was the other thing that I saw when we reached that point, that people were beginning to feel safe. It is critical. Is there a specific maybe a team member or a teacher that was real resistant to you, that really you want them over while you were there? Yeah, I mean, I think I can think of quite a few, and so I'll never forget probably by year it was either year two or three. This one particular teacher, she said, I now see everything that you did and I appreciate it. And I am like totally on board. And she became one of my biggest advocates when other people would make potentially like criticized like a change and just encouraging other staff members to be open minded. And I don't think through conversation alone, like she would have been a person that I could really choose their mindset. But it did take time. And her just seeing that this is who Amber is as a leader. Well, it's really true, right? I mean, we do need to to walk out our talk. Right. And and that's another way that we build trust, right? It's action. It is action based as much as as much as words. I mean, we definitely need to be careful with our words that we're encouraging and, you know, still having accountability and still having hard conversations at times, but still doing that in a way that's dignifying to the you know, to the people and saying, hey, you, I'm for you less. We've got some areas to grow it. Was there any practice that you did just to renew your mind, you know, to go back in each day during that that that hard season? I think that gratitude was something that I tried to use to center me in those difficult moments being grateful just for the opportunity. And sometimes I would just have. I remember before who opened the doors to students just taking that moment to what am I thankful for? What do I get the opportunity to do? Because a lot of it was reframing. And so when we fall into that, even as leaders, I have to do this. I have to have this conversation. And when I would take that time in the morning to kind of reshift my focus. So I get to do this, I get to do that, I get to serve students who serve the staff and the community. That reframing and quick gratitude was a way for me to kind of just reset each day. I assume you practice that with your own children too, right? How can we reframe this? Right? How can we reframe it? Because we're going to go through hard things. And so the other thing that I really tried to lean into during this season of my life was like, what is this preparing me for? And what is it teaching me? And I think when we're appreciative of the lessons, even in the hard points of our life, it it can make it a little bit more manageable because you can own that This season won't last forever. And there's something that I'm going to get out of it. And honestly, it made me a better leader. Yeah, it's so true, right? If everything was easy, how much would we really learn? Ride with me. But we need to have some struggle. Like, just like working out, right? When you strengthen those muscles that don't feel good. But what makes you stronger? You can't get there any other way. And I think I think for leaders it's that it's the same. You know, we might try to avoid painful, hard conversations at times, but ultimately those do build relationships and character and help move us towards the towards the goal. So thinking about those that are going to step into a similar situation, what guidance would you give them on just helping shift mindset to bring that team alongside you? I think that one of the first things that I would tell them is identifying like what their values are as a leader because there's a lot of self work that has to be done in leadership in order for you to truly show up as the leader that your team needs. And so it's important that that leader has done that work and is very self aware. We use that word earlier, but self aware of their areas of strengths in their areas of opportunity. And what I've noticed with the schools that really embed lasting culture change, those are the leaders who value consistency and alignment. So there's alignment in their values and then the things that they do and they don't chase every new initiative. So they choose a few priorities and they build structures for adult learning that are predictable and supportive. And that would really be my advice. So start with the self work and then that intentionality in alignment as you're building those systems to support the adults within your school. Is there a specific resource that you think is great at just helping on the self work part? So I'm a big Brené Brown fan and I think that Her Dare to Lead was a book I read with them in my first year as a principal, and just even the concept of clear being kind and having that as a bar for myself was something that supported me. And it really applies across all things instructional systems, cultural system, operational systems for the school. When people have that level of clarity, it also creates that psychological space safety and create spaces where adults can truly thrive. And through the adults in our campuses thriving, we then allow them to be their best selves for the students, which then impacts student culture and student achievement as well. Now, I don't think you've written a book yet, have you? Not yet. Yeah. Okay. But. But you thinking about one? Yes, that would be great. Amber, where can our listeners connect with you? I think you're on LinkedIn. Yeah, they could connect with me on LinkedIn. Amber Field is my name, and then they could also connect with me via email. Amber at PM leadership dot org. Okay. That's right. And they can learn more about your work with Premium Consulting and the commit partnership as well. I know you wear multiple hats, but yeah, it's really, really great. Well, if today's episode was helpful, please share it with a colleague or an educator that would benefit. I know many would. And if you haven't already, please follow transformational educators so you never miss an episode until next time. Keep leading with purpose and transforming schools into places where everyone thrives. If today's conversation gave you fresh insight or inspired you to lead with purpose, please follow the show and tell a friend It helps us reach more educators who want to make a difference for more stories. Resources and tools to support your leadership journey, visit Graceland. Edu. Until next time, Keep leading with courage and care.