SamTastic Weekly Tip: 7/20/26 - Advice from two Principal Supervisors

This week’s Tip: Advice from two Principal Supervisors

Joshua Depoe is a principal supervisor in a small Missouri district.  Ovett Wilson is a principal supervisor in large Florida district.  They both recently authored articles offering valuable advice for school and district leaders that align with your SAM process work.

Wilson emphasis on repurposing and redesigning time use is a central feature of every SAM Daily Meeting.

“The truth is that every calendar is a leadership document. It reveals what leaders value, what organizations prioritize, and what ultimately gets accomplished.

Exceptional leaders recognize that time must be intentionally aligned with purpose. They continually evaluate whether their schedules reflect their strategic goals, whether meetings generate meaningful outcomes, and whether systems create space for what matters most. They refuse to allow yesterday's priorities to consume today's opportunities.

“The challenge for leaders is not simply managing time, it is aligning time with mission and vision. Organizations drift when leaders allow their calendars to be driven by urgency rather than purpose. Over time, schedules become crowded with activities that may be good but are no longer essential. Meetings continue because they have always existed. Processes remain because no one has questioned them.

Valuable hours are consumed by habits and routines that no longer advance the organization's most important goals.

This reality presents leaders with two powerful options. They can repurpose time by changing how existing time is used, or they can redesign time by changing the structure of how time is allocated. Understanding the difference between these two strategies may be one of the most important leadership skills for maximizing organizational effectiveness. The leaders who create extraordinary results are not necessarily those who work longer hours. They are the leaders who consistently ensure that their time, their team's time, and their organization's time are aligned with what matters most. They understand a critical truth: when leaders change the way time is used, they change the results that time produces.”

Wilson’s complete article can be found at the end of today’s SamTastic Weekly Tip.

 Depoe writes about the value of one-on-one meetings with principals.  He structures these sessions with open ended questions.

“I’ve noticed that some of the best conversations don’t start with an agenda. They start with curiosity:

“Tell me what’s going well.”

“What is keeping you up at night?”

“Where can I help?”

Simple questions like these often lead to discussions that would never happen in a large leadership meeting.

Over time, these conversations build trust. Trust makes all the difference.

When principals know they have a safe space in which to speak honestly, they are more likely to raise challenges before the challenges become bigger problems. They feel comfortable asking for advice, sharing frustrations, and celebrating successes. District office leaders also get a clearer view of what’s really happening in each building, rather than relying solely on reports or quick hallway chats.  Trust doesn’t grow during evaluations. It grows through regular, honest conversations.”

To access the full article:  https://bit.ly/4wS5Pm6

Best for a SamTastic week,

Mark

Mark Shellinger, Director

National SAM Innovation Project

Repurpose vs Redesigning Time

By Ovett Wilson

One of the greatest challenges leaders face is not a lack of commitment, talent, or vision; it is a lack of time. Every leader has the same twenty-four hours in a day, yet some organizations consistently move forward while others struggle to gain traction. The difference is often found in how leaders think about time. When leaders feel overwhelmed, the natural response is to ask for more time. However, effective leaders understand a fundamental truth: you rarely get more time. Instead, you must learn to either repurpose the time you already have or redesign how time is structured. Yet the issue is rarely the amount of time available.

The difference between highly effective leaders and those who constantly feel overwhelmed is often not found in the quantity of time they possess but in the quality of their decisions about time. Leadership is fundamentally an exercise in prioritization. Every "yes" is a "no" to something else. Every meeting, initiative, email, and project competes for a limited resource that can never be replenished. As leadership expert Peter Drucker famously observed, “Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed." The challenge for leaders is not simply managing time, it is aligning time with mission and vision.

Organizations drift when leaders allow their calendars to be driven by urgency rather than purpose. Over time, schedules become crowded with activities that may be good but are no longer essential. Meetings continue because they have always existed. Processes remain because no one has questioned them. Valuable hours are consumed by habits and routines that no longer advance the organization's most important goals.

This reality presents leaders with two powerful options. They can repurpose time by changing how existing time is used, or they can redesign time by changing the structure of how time is allocated. Understanding the difference between these two strategies may be one of the most important leadership skills for maximizing organizational effectiveness. The leaders who create extraordinary results are not necessarily those who work longer hours. They are the leaders who consistently ensure that their time, their team's time, and their organization's time are aligned with what matters most. They understand a critical truth: when leaders change the way time is used, they change the results that time produces.

Repurposing Time: Changing the Purpose

Repurposing time means using existing time differently without changing the overall schedule. The amount of time remains the same, but the purpose of that time changes. Repurposing asks the question: "How can we get more value from the time we already have?"

Many organizations spend valuable hours engaged in activities that no longer support their most important goals. Effective leaders recognize these opportunities and redirect existing time toward higher-impact work. For example, a faculty meeting that was once used primarily for announcements can be repurposed into a professional learning session. A grade-level meeting can shift from discussing logistics to analyzing student work. A principal's walkthrough time can become an opportunity for coaching conversations rather than compliance checks. The schedule remains unchanged. The meeting still occurs at the same time.

The difference is that the time now serves a more strategic purpose. Repurposing time is often the quickest way to improve effectiveness because it requires little structural change. Leaders can generate significant gains simply by asking whether current activities align with current priorities.

Redesigning Time: Changing the Structure

While repurposing changes the purpose of time, redesigning changes the structure of time itself. Redesigning asks the question: "How should we organize our time differently?" Sometimes existing structures can no longer support organizational priorities. No matter how effectively leaders use the current schedule, there simply is not enough space for what matters most. This is when redesign becomes necessary.

Examples include creating a dedicated intervention block for students, restructuring professional development days, adjusting meeting schedules, implementing collaboration periods, or redesigning a master schedule to prioritize instructional support. Redesigning time often requires greater planning, communication, and change management. However, it also produces longer-lasting results because it aligns the organization's structures with its mission. Great leaders understand that systems drive behavior. When priorities change, schedules and structures often need to change as well.

The Leadership Decision

The key leadership question is not whether to repurpose time or redesign time. The question is which strategy is needed for the challenge at hand. If valuable time already exists but is being used inefficiently, repurposing may be the answer. If important priorities cannot fit within the current structure, redesigning may be required. Consider a school that wants teachers to collaborate more effectively.

A leader could repurpose existing PLC time by shifting the focus from announcements to instructional planning. This may create immediate improvement. However, if collaboration requires more time than currently exists, the leader may need to redesign the master schedule to create dedicated collaboration blocks. One approach changes the use of time. The other changes the design of time. Both are important.

A Leadership Reflection

Every calendar tells a story. The meetings we attend, the conversations we prioritize, and the activities we schedule reveal what we truly value. Leaders who want different results must periodically examine whether their use of time reflects their stated priorities. Ask yourself:

● What activities are consuming time but producing little impact?

● What existing time can be repurposed to support our most important goals?

● What structures need to be redesigned to create greater alignment?

● Does our calendar reflect our mission, vision, and priorities?

Bottom Line

Time is the one resource every leader receives in equal measure, yet it is often the greatest differentiator between thriving organizations and struggling ones. You cannot save time, manufacture more of it, or recover it once it has passed. You can only choose how it will be invested. The truth is that every calendar is a leadership document. It reveals what leaders value, what organizations prioritize, and what ultimately gets accomplished.

If you want to understand an organization's true priorities, don't look at its mission statement, look at how its leaders spend their time. Exceptional leaders recognize that time must be intentionally aligned with purpose. They continually evaluate whether their schedules reflect their strategic goals, whether meetings generate meaningful outcomes, and whether systems create space for what matters most. They refuse to allow yesterday's priorities to consume today's opportunities.

Repurpose time when your priorities have changed but your structures still work. Redesign time when your priorities have outgrown your current structures. One improves effectiveness, the other transforms capacity.

Ultimately, leadership is not measured by how busy you are but by how intentionally you invest your time. The leaders who create lasting impact are those who have the courage to eliminate what no longer serves the mission, the wisdom to focus on what matters most, and the discipline to ensure that every hour advances the vision.

At the end of the day, successful leadership is not about managing time, it is about aligning time with purpose, priorities, and people. When that alignment occurs, momentum follows, results improve, and organizations move from simply being busy to becoming truly effective.