Why Adding More Initiatives Burns Out Your Staff Before Culture Forms ft. Bethany Rees | Transformational Educators Ep. 34

School leaders who keep adding initiatives without removing anything will burn out their staff before culture ever takes hold. Bethany Rees, principal and founder of Leadership on the Rocks, scaled a brand-new Texas 6A high school from 1,200 to 4,000 students while hiring 213 staff in one semester, and she learned fast that the "magic program" fallacy destroys the very capacity leaders need. Her "who before do" framework shows how anchoring every decision in shared identity, not the next initiative, is the only way to build a culture that holds when the storms hit.

Bethany opened her 6A campus in 2018, anchoring the school's identity in the "Grizzly Growl," a five-pillar framework covering growth mindset, respect, ownership, work ethic, and leadership. Every decision, whether it involved a student, teacher, parent, or community member, was checked against those pillars. To build the feedback loop that kept the framework alive, she ran small-group teacher town halls where she positioned herself as secretary, letting staff name every gap and every solution. Rather than chasing external ratings, the internal check of those town halls drove continuous improvement and became, in her words, the system that made every other system better.

Listeners leave with a clear build order: lock shared identity before purchasing any program, then establish communication, safety, logistics, classroom environment, and teaching and learning as load-bearing systems. Bethany names three mistakes that collapse that sequence: deciding without teacher input, buying a magic-bullet program and sprinting to implement it, and adding to the plate without ever removing anything. COVID stress-tested her work-ethic pillar hardest, proving that culture cracks where the foundation was skipped. Practically, that means running town halls where the leader takes notes rather than talks, replacing twenty-email threads with a two-minute conversation, and auditing the plate before every new initiative by naming what gets cut first.

Connect with Bethany Rees:
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Leadership On The Rocks
Book (Amazon – Hardcover)
Podcast (Apple Podcasts)
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Transcript

Coming up...

Bethany Rees 0:32

Being in education 20 years, I saw the pendulum swing so many times. And it's hard to get good at something when every two to three years you're changing.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 0:39

That's Bethany Reese, leadership coach, author, and podcast host for Leadership on the Rocks. She opened a Texas 6A high school and hired 213 staff in one semester. Constant change without a shared identity burns capacity before culture ever takes hold.

Bethany Rees 0:57

Always adding to the plate and never taking off the plate. You have to recognize the boundaries that we operate within, and that's time, attention, skill set, all the things. But let's just start with time. There's only so much time within the day, within the class period, within the school day. You can't push, push, push, and add, add, add and not remove. You've got to remove.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 1:15

In this episode, you'll learn why chasing the next magic program destroys staff capacity. How removing things from the plate is just as important as deciding what to add, and why anchoring every decision in shared identity matters most. I'm Dr. Matthew Flippin, and this is Transformational Educators.

From small town Arkansas to opening a Texas high school

Dr. Matthew Flippen 1:37

Bethany, it is so great to have you on our show today. Thank you for being here.

Bethany Rees 1:41

Oh, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 1:44

Yes, your leadership journey is really inspiring. I mean, I love how you've brought practical wisdom from your time in education into other spheres and uh love to get to talk about that some today. I know that we will focus a little bit on your experience as a high school uh principal and opening a new campus, but I understand that you've also got experience with little kids all the way to big kids. Tell us a little bit about that journey.

Bethany Rees 2:10

I'll give you the 30-second TikTok version. I started teaching in Arkansas, small town Arkansas. I have a history degree. I'm gonna teach and light the world on fire for history. I get my master's of gifted and talented, immediately go from high school down to K2. And I'm like, oh my gosh, they're little kids. What can they do? Uh fast forward, my husband is transferred to Houston. So I go from small town school system to this massive school district in Houston and have taught literally K-12. I've literally been there, done that, got the t-shirt, and then became an instructional coach, instructional technology as well, and then became an administrator that opened a brand new 6A high school north of Houston in an absolute fast-growing district and community. I mean, houses and businesses were popping up everywhere, and the expectations for that new school that was bigger than the college I went to was really high.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 2:57

Yes. I was gonna say for our listeners that don't know six what six A means in Texas, how many students were in the high school?

Bethany Rees 3:03

Uh they're now around 4,000. So we started because we combined with another high school. So we started with like 1200 and then boom just grew to 4,000.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 3:11

I was gonna say you should add college president to your uh to your titles because that's a that's a large uh that's not a small college, that's a significant I didn't even graduate with a hundred kids.

Bethany Rees 3:21

I'm like, this is a massive school system.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 3:22

This is this is

The real challenge of building a school from scratch

Dr. Matthew Flippen 3:23

massive. So so one of the things we're gonna talk about today is uh just the implementation of uh of efforts, right, to bring about change. And when you're when you're starting a new campus, um you're implementing loads and loads of new efforts. You've got a new staff, new team, uh, et cetera, et cetera. So uh as we start um you know walking through that that journey, um, talk to us a little bit about just some of the challenges that you saw early on and uh and how you know how you approached you know some that were that were um most concerning, I guess is the way I'd say it.

Bethany Rees 3:58

Absolutely. You know, you would think opening a brand new school, you're like, I get to build this thing from scratch. Finally, I get to do what I've always wanted to do. And that sounds amazing, but there is so much work. There is a phrase, you only ever want to open a school once in your life because of the amount of work that it takes to build from scratch. And that being said, you're really not building from scratch because every person that you hire, the community, they have experiences in education systems elsewhere. And they bring all of those beliefs about the education system, all the expectations of the education system to that new campus. So really you're having this mass, huge group of diverse people with diverse expectations. And then how do you come together to build that identity of this is who we are as a school, as a group, and this is how we're gonna educate the children so that, and you got to remember the so that part, so that when they leave us, they are productive member of society and they uh have the skill set to go and have gainful employment so that they can become that product productive system of society. And so, you know, putting all that together was a lot of work. So you got to ask yourself, where the heck do I start? And you gotta start with the people. It's the people that make the school system.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:04

Yeah, and uh and your staff was uh at what size at that time?

Bethany Rees 5:08

Uh we the first year we hired 213.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:11

Okay.

Bethany Rees 5:11

Yeah, that I know that's pretty exact, but that's just a number I'll never forget.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:16

It was a lot to do.

Bethany Rees 5:17

Yeah, I spent an entire semester interviewing.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:20

213 people with different backgrounds, expectations, and understandings about how to do the work. So alignment in that early phase, I'm sure, was incredibly you know, important. I imagine you couldn't communicate enough uh to get alignment because people are, you know, teaching as you're trying to get alignment. I mean, you couldn't, it's not like you took a year to just get everybody on the same page with no children in the building.

Bethany Rees 5:42

Oh, yeah. It's like plan time, right? Teachers say, we don't get plan time. It's already, it's always taken from us. We know with meetings and things like that, it's the same. Building to school, you don't really get plan time.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:51

Yes.

Where misalignment shows up first in a new school

Dr. Matthew Flippen 5:51

Now, what was there, was there a specific area where you saw the the greatest amount of, I would call it misalignment?

Bethany Rees 5:57

I would say um the expectations of what quality teaching look like in the classroom. So many people had so many different visions of it. And it's not that any of them were wrong or bad, but how can we come together where we're all taking, you know, a step in the same direction versus different directions? And so I think just an alignment of really of beliefs. I'm gonna call it beliefs, a belief that can a child make progress in anything versus, and now this is a high school, so you also have the belief of some, well, I taught it, you should have caught it. And well, that's not really gonna fly here at this school. So, how do we bring those belief systems about education and about children in general and learning? How can we align those so that we're all going in

How the Grizzly Growl became the anchor for every decision

Bethany Rees 6:37

the same direction?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 6:38

Yeah. Were there any specific structures you tried to put in place to help help get that? Because obviously you've got a pretty decent sized staff of assistant principals. So they're helping you with that. But what did that look like from a process standpoint?

Bethany Rees 6:51

I leaned heavily on I I read ferociously leadership books, right? Because you only get the opportunity to build something from scratch once. And so uh I read this book by Pastor Craig Grochel, who has also has a leadership podcast, and he essentially said, Who before do? And I'm like, yes, we have to decide who we are as a uh school, as a culture of education and what we're gonna do. So who before do? So we had this amazing anchor foundation that we were building on. It was the grizzly growl, and it's who we are as everybody. It's not just for students, it's not just for teachers, it's it's for everybody, the entire community. And with that growl, it was we're gonna have a growth mindset. We're gonna make a lot of mistakes along the way. How are we gonna learn from that and continue to make progress? How are we gonna respect ourselves and respect other people, especially when it comes to differences of opinion or work ethic or anything? And then you have ownership. As I make those mistakes and as I'm learning, how can I own that mistake or own the situation and continue to work to make it better? And then you have work ethic. You gotta actually do something. So we gotta have a work ethic where we show up and we do what we need to professionally and as a student. And then the last one is leadership. Everybody has influence over somebody. So how are we stepping into the leadership? And that was the anchor that led every conversation we had, whether it was with a student, a parent, a teacher, a para, a community member. How are we checking ourselves against that grisly growl of who we are and how we operate as a school?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 8:21

I love it. So was there uh was there a breakdown in that that you can think of that was that was challenging?

Bethany Rees 8:27

Ooh, I think all of them, just like just like anything in life, you're gonna have situations pop up that's gonna test an area. And I think the biggest thing as a leader, and again, whenever I say leader, I don't just mean admin. I mean teacher leader, I mean student leader of saying, what is actually the issue? What's the root cause that's happening right here now? Am I, is my body language showing a sign of disrespect to you? And that's escalating the situation? Well, then how can I, you know, tone that back down so that I'm showing respect? And so work ethic was a huge one. Can I just say COVID and work ethic? That was a huge, huge battle of getting people to do students to do their work, right? Because you have all of your students scattered. We were doing virtual, we were doing in person. It was just, it felt chaotic. And that really tested the work ethic of how can we make sure that they are learning and growing and doing the work.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 9:18

Yeah, I didn't ask what year did you open the school. So that's important for context.

Bethany Rees 9:22

Pre-COVID to 2018.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 9:25

Okay. So you had a couple of years in there before COVID hit. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. Because I think about, you know, you know, again, getting this off the ground is such a massive undertaking. And the expectations were, I would assume, that as soon as the ratings would come out the first time, you'd be A plus. Right. Because this is a community with high expectations.

Bethany Rees 9:44

Yes. And, you know, they always, whenever they do ratings, always compare you to schools that are like you. And so we knew every year we were changing our school groups, if that makes sense. And so as your community, as your community grows, yeah. And so um it was a constant of they may give us an A, but what does that really mean? Because it was more of an internal check. We don't necessarily need the external label. Yes, that's important. Yes, we use it. Yes, it helps us as far as the community drawing new families in, drawing businesses in. But internally, we know where our gaps are, and that's what we're gonna work on.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 10:14

Hey, thanks for joining us today. One of the things I love about these conversations is how they remind us your work in education matters, and your commitment to growth can ripple out to change entire communities. At Graceland University, we support educators on that journey through degree programs and partnerships rooted in purpose, not just credentials. For more information, see the QR code on screen or follow the link in the show notes. Now back to the

Three things leaders do that frustrate teachers without realising it

Dr. Matthew Flippen 10:43

episode. You know, when I think about leaders that are in similar situations, you know, taking over a new campus, whether it's they it's new created or it's new to them. Um, you know, are there things when you're trying to get alignment that that leaders do that unintentionally, hopefully, or intentionally, um creates frustration for teachers?

Bethany Rees 11:04

Oh man, I can immediately off the top of my head think of probably three. And the first one, I know everyone who's listening to this is gonna feel this at some point in their career, is when a leader, uh the person in charge, the big boss, whatever, makes a decision and absolutely does not consult the people that actually have to implement it, because they they go from that pref that preface of, well, I know what it's like. I used to do that, and therefore this is what we need. I know what we need. And when you're not actually in the classroom anymore. So I think that's that's the unintentional creative frustration. Number one is the assumption of, I know what it's like in that classroom today. We have a picture, but we don't really know what it's like to be a teacher today. So I'm making decisions without their input. The second one is buying the magic program, the magic bullet, the magic peel, the magic osimpic shot, right? It's gonna fix all our problems if we just implement this. And then we just go, go, go, go, go really fast with this implementation with a promise of it's gonna fix everything. And that is never ever true. And that is a huge frustration of well, last year we were doing this thing. Let's just drop it, and now we're gonna try something new. So this pendulum swing is very frustrating. You know, being in education 20 years, I saw the pendulum swing so many times. And it's hard to get good at something when every two to three years you're changing. It's really difficult. And then I think the third thing is always adding to the plate and never taking off the plate. You have to recognize the boundaries that we operate within, and that's time, attention, skill set, all the things. But let's just start with time. There's only so much time within the day, within the class period, within the school day. You can't push, push, push and add, add, add and not remove. You've got to remove.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 12:47

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I've I've talked to several leaders who are very intentional about uh about removing and identifying, like you said, you know, the uh A-rated school, but there was that may have meant that 50% of the children were still behind on reading. And so to help them, the teachers that were helping working with those children, they took something off their plate so they could give more reading instruction. And and that provided the balance and support so that you know those numbers changed pretty pretty dramatically. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting you mentioned the program issue. I hear, I hear that often, right? You know, the new solution, especially right now when we've got ed tech tools that are coming out left and right, and every one of them has a promise. Uh yeah,

What systems must be in place before you add any program

Dr. Matthew Flippen 13:29

when you think about you know the systems a leader needs to have in place before they start, you know, implementing programs, what what's that look like? What's the system you need ahead of a program?

Bethany Rees 13:42

I love visuals and I love thinking about visuals. So forgive me for using the you know metaphors and all those things. But if you're gonna build a house, you've got to have a really strong foundation to hold up the rest of it. The rest of it doesn't really matter. And as you think about a schoolhouse, you know, the tools that we use might be a saw, a drill, those can interchange, those can come and go, different kinds of things. But what does that foundation look like that's gonna hold everything up? And what are those braces, those systems that's going to hold the house together, right? It's gonna be your studs. You have got to absolutely have a foundation of communication. How are we gonna communicate in different situations? How am I gonna tell whenever I need to have a staff meeting, I need to have a conversation, or you know what? No, this can be an email. So deciding when and how to communicate and making sure that you have quality communication so that everybody is actually in the same book. I'm not even gonna say on the same page, just in the book.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 14:40

That would be helpful.

Bethany Rees 14:41

Yeah. It would be helpful. Um, so I would say a foundational system is communication. Another one is gonna be safety. How are we gonna ensure the safety of our kids? And that is becoming more and more a huge thing that we have to be proactive in thinking about. And then in order for schools to operate, you have to have logistics. So many things can go wrong. A teacher knows this. If you don't have a structure for transitioning kids from one room to the next, chaos can ensue, right? So you have to really look at logistics, schedules, things like that. And then the next one is, and everybody knows this phrase and probably rolls their eyes, but it doesn't really matter what you teach if you don't have an environment that's conducive to learning. So your classroom environment is a huge system. And whenever I say systems, I know we talk about systems. I really want you to think about I love, let me, I visited tons of classrooms, right? Even outside of my certification areas like being in biology, you learn about biology systems. They are there to ensure the survival and the thriving of the human body. But when one system is off, the whole body can suffer. And so as you think about educational systems, you've got to think about this of how can I take the chaos of the environment and create a system that will help me survive it first and then thrive in it next. And so classroom environment is huge for that. And then the next one, and these are all foundational, is teaching and learning. Now, that has a ton of studs in it.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 16:08

Sure. Sure.

Bethany Rees 16:09

But that's gonna be like a cornerstone wall.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 16:11

Yes, yeah, yeah. No, I think I think that's great. I mean, these are definitely all part of the foundation. I love the systems compared to the biology model because I think about, and you mentioned safety, I think about like psychological safety in the classroom as part as such a critical component of the environment. Because you're using the word environment, but it's a it's an environment that encourages, it's engaging, it encourages risk taking, uh, which is just raising your hand and trying to answer a question, right? And uh, and you also have need to feel connected because we know there's plenty of research that talks about you know relational connectedness uh with that one critical adult is the predictor of um of preventing you know bad choices early in life. And um so I think that's super, super important. Yeah, communication, I think also I was gonna say, Bethany, too. You know, when you mentioned communication, I think about the need for just really good self-awareness or openness to feedback for the leader. Because like if you don't have that, you could be communicating outwardly and still be missing the boat, correct?

Bethany Rees 17:18

Absolutely. Um, so uh the way that I operate is there's really four parts of communication you have to go through. And the first one is check your ego. It's not about you, it's not about me proving I'm right, me being the smartest in the room. It's not about me winning or whatever that is. So, number one is just check your ego. Uh, the next one is just clarity. How can I ask questions and stay curious where I'm learning more information and I'm also going to be able to see the information that you need? Maybe you're going off of an assumption. Uh, maybe I wasn't clear in this thing. You know, so often we think people can read our minds and they cannot. People cannot read your mind. So, how can I be clear and like the birthday party invitation? Who won when, where, why, how? So important. And the next one that makes communication go south is the channel. You've got to stop and ask what channel do I need? Think of the old walkie-talkies. If you're on the wrong channel, people are not gonna pick up the message that you have, they're not gonna receive it. Do I need to sit? Do I need to sit shoulder to shoulder? Do I need to sit in the, you know, in your classroom? Do I need to be across the desk? Is this a more formal conversation with uh, you know, some feedback leading towards something else? So pick the right channel for that. And I will tell you huge lesson learned. So many problems can be solved with a two-minute conversation versus 20 emails going back and forth. So frustrating. Email culture today is so frustrating.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 18:42

Well, and yeah, it text text culture is even worse. So yeah, I oh yeah, no, I 100% agree. Yeah, you know, communicating care and concern when you're trying to have a hard conversation, it can only be done um face, face or it by voice. Um, yeah, for sure. So I totally, totally get that. Yeah, those are those are really

How to track progress and build feedback loops in year one

Dr. Matthew Flippen 19:01

those are really great. So as you were aligning uh your staff and you were working on these communication pieces, I mean, that's um, yeah, and you moved to that that first year. Um Yeah, what what was the what were the systems that you put in place from an evidence standpoint, just tracking like, hey, how are we doing in the in the metrics that you wanted to track?

Bethany Rees 19:24

That's a loaded question that could be its own podcast episode. So number one, let me say I didn't get everything right. And I think that's huge to understand as a leader, is as you go and you navigate the wilderness that is leadership, situations change, Jumanji level five is gonna pop up. You didn't see that one coming. Like you're gonna make mistakes, but all of it, I want to start with a personal system for me is getting my head and my heart right of how I engage. And so that had nothing to do with anybody else. Whenever I stepped into that schoolhouse, do I have the right mind to step into situations without fear, without judgment, without assumptions, the heart right of do I truly want the best for this person? And kind of dying to that ego. And then how can I work on communication to understand first, right? Seek to understand first before being understood. And so that set everything else on its path. So looking now at the systems of I had a phrase that I say, I use mantras all the time to help anchor my thoughts because we know that the world of education is so chaotic. So a mantra just takes all the thoughts that you're having and simplifies it. And so one of the things I said all the time is at the end of the day, what do we want to accomplish? We know we have a lot to accomplish over the school year, but at the end of the day, what do we want to accomplish? I want them to be safe and to know they're loved. I want them to learn a little something, and I want them to go and be a productive member of society when they leave us. Everything has to be anchored in that. And so going back to that first year, it was those systems that I already shared. How are we going to communicate? Who, well, who are we as a school? How do we operate? That's the grisly growl. And then safety, logistics. And with safety, I want to reach in and say informational safety. I learned that one. We had some students go through some hard situations. Teachers don't always get to know the behind of those situations. You have to respect the family's wishes. So informational safety is also huge. But um, you know, teaching and learning, asking, asking the teachers was such a joy. Those those years that I was there, I loved having town halls. That we kept them small, small groups. Tell me anything and everything. You're not gonna offend me, you're not gonna hurt my feelings. Like this is your school, and you have the answer to help make it better. Tell me every gap that we have, tell me everything that's going wrong, but also tell me all the ideas you have to fix it. And I'm just taking notes. I am your secretary in this meeting. That was probably one of the best systems, and that's a feedback loop that we had that really made huge impact and change for every other system, if that makes sense.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 21:58

Yes, no, totally. Sitting and listening, asking for feedback, yeah, come yeah, it's so important. It's such a necessary piece of early systems for

When you know your staff has truly started to trust you

Dr. Matthew Flippen 22:06

sure. Yeah. And was there a point in there where um you saw that the staff really came together and felt supported? I mean, they made a shift because you know, we we always say that a new member of our team has to go through some form of culture detox, right? They've been in an environment, and it's probably not the kind of environment that most of them want. I mean, it's rare actually for people to come out of an environment where they felt loved, known, inspired. And so we've got to give them space, but we also have to get work done during that time. Where is there what did that look like when you were like, okay, people are really starting to trust, I care about them. I did check my ego. Uh, you know, they felt genuinely supported.

Bethany Rees 22:47

I would say think of a ripple effect. You as the leader go first in vulnerability and sharing anything and everything of expectation and how you're gonna meet that expectation. Not just expectations for them, but for you too. And so you're the rock that's gonna be thrown. And then you're gonna start seeing those ripple effects. The the sidebar conversations I had in the hallway or in the cafeteria of, you know, this one kid, oh, he was testing me, but you know what? I wasn't gonna put that label on him. And so I asked him this question. I was like, you know, that for me is like we don't label kids. That was a huge belief that we had. And whenever you start having people come up and tell you the conversations they're now having that reflect those beliefs and those behaviors, that's how you know impact. That ripple effect is really growing and being made. I had so many teachers, small little things that would make those comments about their interactions with students or with parents or with other teachers in a meeting. And they said, Bethany, I had to slow my roll. That tells me they're they're not jumping to assumptions and judgment. Like those are the wins. Do not overlook those wins because when you culture each strategy, right? We've all heard that. Whenever you start seeing those wins, those ripple effects, then you're gonna start seeing the tangible, okay, scores are improving because I got the culture right. I got the engagement piece right. And then now I'm gonna start seeing all the numbers.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 24:13

Yeah, just the fact that they were coming up to you and having those conversations shows that you had convinced them that you were uh trustworthy, right? That they didn't have fear of sharing those things with you. I think, you know, I would encourage leaders to just like, you know, assess that, right? Are my are my team sharing with me their wins on their own? Uh are they comfortable sharing with me their challenges and their failures and really asking for coaching? Or are they are they still fearful to do that? Because that, you know, you're sharing communication that was going two-way at that, at that point. You started with really in-depth listening, the town hall concept and all of that, building this. I really want to hear and I value what you say, and I'm gonna do something with it that's positive. Um, and then later, as they start to get it, right? Now they're coming back and celebrating that, that with you. So I can tell you are a cheerleader for not just children, but your staff as well.

Bethany Rees 25:06

Well, I hope so. And and I also want to go back to that town hall. We had that a couple of times, but that is like think about a marriage where you can't put all of your relationship on the anniversary dinner. Like once a year, we did this one thing and we're gonna have a great relationship. No, it's the day-to-day interactions. You have to, and this goes back to how you serve your staff, always check your ego, but you have to be present. You cannot get behind your desk and check those emails and be in meetings all the time where they never see you and they don't have any engagements with you. You have to be present, be in the hallways, be in those classrooms, and not always in the classrooms where I'm evaluating you. Make it non-judgmental. Go in and just give a compliment. Man, this looks fun. I was walking by and I couldn't help notice the laughter in this room. Awesome. You know, all of those little touch points, that's what actually builds the relationship. So be present. And next, I cannot help but think of Chick-fil-A. They are like the creme de la creme of fast food service, right? And they are so quick. Their lines are so quick. They see, they respond, they have these systems that make everything streamlined and smooth. Like we got to start being Chick-fil-A with the service that we provide. And then I think about anticipation. If we took a hot second and get off of our own calendars, I'm so busy, I'm so stressed, I have to deal with I, I, I, I, I, and say, what's coming up that they are gonna engage with, that they have to deal with? How can I anticipate what they need? Like Chick-fil-A is gonna refill my drink before I even need a refill. They anticipate my need, right? Like a good, like fancy restaurant is gonna refill my bread basket before I'm done. So, how can we do that as leaders? And then just be super organized and then set the tone. How I engage, it's my pleasure. How's my body language? How's my tone? How's all these things? Like they are watching you. Are you reacting with big emotion or are you responding? So all of that has to do with service.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 26:58

Totally agree. Yeah. If we could have that level of service in anything, but in education, wow, that would be amazing.

The daily habits that keep a leader grounded and present

Dr. Matthew Flippen 27:03

But is there a is there a personal habit, a daily habit that you do to really get you in this in the right mindset? I mean, you've mentioned loving your people, loving children. I'd love to know what what are you doing that if there is something.

Bethany Rees 27:18

Thank you for asking this question. And I'm I'm so glad you did because this is the the truth of the truth of the truth is I have to start every day with God. There is no way I can go deal with and break up fights and deal with conflict and you know, look at a child who is at a third grade reading level who's trying to graduate. Like these are heartbreaking things. I in my own power cannot do anything with any of that. I don't have the wisdom, I don't have the insight, I don't have the strategy. I have to start every day. God, empty me of self. I'm reading scripture, I'm praying. Give me what I need for today. Give me your strategy, give me your wisdom, your insight. Open my eyes to notice the energy in the room and when it shifts so that I can step in to keep it from escalating. And so that is how I start my absolute day. That in worship music. And this is so important for leaders to know. After you have been in the trenches all day long, I have an end-of-the-day routine. I dump everything on my brain, this kid situation, call this parent, you know, have this art or have this data, whatever, put it on paper, worship music on the way home. I change my clothes. I got to get out of the work attire and be like, now I'm Bethany, who is wife, mom, cook, you know, chauffeur, whatever it is.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 28:36

I love it. I love it. I that is that is brilliant. And having an end-of-day routine is is important. I probably need to do better about that myself sometimes. Now that I don't have children at home, my end of day stretches later and later. So uh that's that's wonderful. Thanks so much, Bethany, for for sharing this. Is there anything else you'd like to share with emerging leaders before we wrap up for today?

Bethany Rees 28:57

I would. And this is my biggest thing of learning. And I didn't reveal this, but I actually got a skip level promotion. So I was never an assistant principal. And you know, the stigma is assistant principals do all the discipline and things like that. So I went from instructional coach to, you know, the associate principal curriculum instruction. And something that I learned is every day you're going to show up and you're navigating whatever that day brings. You're navigating what I call the wilderness. How do you navigate that successfully? And what I learned, and this is really through prayer and God's wisdom, is you've got to build who you are and how you engage on a solid rock, right? Because storms are coming. And for me, it's based on Matthew chapter 7, 24 through 27. The foolish man built his house in the sand. And as the storms came, it collapsed. I don't want a sandcastle life or a sandcastle leadership. I want to build on the rock. So how do I do that? And so for me, it's like, how can I run every situation I go through in that wilderness leadership through the body of leadership, my head of leadership, my mindset? How am I thinking about things? How can I capture my thoughts to Christ so I don't show up with judgment or ego and all those things? And that's where a lot of mantras come in. But then I have the heart of leadership. How can I truly communicate and connect and build this relationship with whoever it is in front of me and collaborate with them? And then I have the hands of leadership looking at every situation. I actually have to get something done. I have to take action. How can I do that in a way that's streamlined and simple versus complex? We make everything complex. How can I make it simple and get some work done? And then this was the hardest for me because I'm a natural people pleaser, is the guts of leadership. How can I really have that accountability for myself, but am for others, stepping into those hard conversations, taking ownership of what I need to take ownership for, but being a good steward of what I'm in charge of? Because at the end of the day, you're gonna leave the job, you're gonna retire, something's gonna happen. You have to pass that on to other people to lead. And I want to leave it better than I found it. So stewardship. So that helped me. Every situation I went through, head, heart, hands, guts. How am I navigating this?

Dr. Matthew Flippen 30:59

Beautiful. That's really beautiful. Well, um, yeah, Bethany, just so many great insights here. So I'm excited for our audience to hear, hear everything that you've shared today. How can our listeners connect with you and continue to learn more about leadership on the rocks?

Bethany Rees 31:14

Uh, thank you for asking. You know, I just talked about leadership on the rocks. Well, that's kind of who I am in my website, leadershipontherocks.com. I have a podcast, Leadership on the Rocks. Uh, we talk about family and professional uh leading in those areas. But that's how you can find me on social media, website, podcast. I have a book, Leadership on the Rocks. It's all at Leadership on the Rocks. The only other thing is on LinkedIn, I'm also at Bethany Reese, which is just my name.

Dr. Matthew Flippen 31:37

Fantastic, Bethany. Well, if you found today's episode valuable, as I did, uh please share it with a colleague or an educator who'd benefit. And if you haven't already, please follow Transformational Educators so you never miss an episode. And 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. If you want to keep learning about transformational strategies in education, click the next video.