Principal Impact Collaborative Case Study reveals personal wellbeing as an essential driver of leadership effectiveness.
As U.S. education leaders have been on the pandemic front lines dealing with mounting mental and physical health issues, significant equity gaps, and the lowest morale on record, a group of principals from North Texas showed that it is possible to boost leadership impact during this challenging time.
Discover how these leaders achieved beneficial outcomes for their principals and school campuses in the Be Well Lead Well® case study, Improving Education by Developing Thriving Leaders: Lessons from The Principal Impact Collaborative.
The Principal Impact Collaborative (PIC) provides learning and growth opportunities for leaders in North Texas public school districts through training in design thinking, adaptive leadership, wellbeing, and resilience, along with peer networking and collaboration. Believing that the school principal is, according to PIC’s Empowering School Leaders to Thrive report, “the most important linchpin to creating a dynamic equilibrium between student and adult needs in schools,” PIC has intentionally focused on increasing the ability of these leaders to thrive as a core part of their leadership development.
Using the Be Well Lead Well Pulse®, a framework of thriving and science-based assessment system pioneered by Wisdom Works Group, PIC provides their principals with a unique instrument to holistically measure their wellbeing and effectiveness and develop their skills for role modeling, communicating, and building a culture of wellbeing.
PIC Founder Alejandra Barbosa says, “We know an investment in leader wellbeing is a compounding investment in the social-emotional health of teachers and students. This is particularly true today, as pandemic-era stress, burnout, and depressive symptoms among teachers are significantly more likely to occur when they do not feel their wellbeing is supported by their administration.”
By addressing leader wellbeing and stress resilience, PIC leaders showed high-impact results, for example:
- 75% lessened their work-related stress during the pandemic, while stress and burnout climbed for education leaders in the U.S.
- 81% reported likely to remain in their roles, at a time when high turnover among principals (every 2.5 years on average) is eroding campus morale and student outcomes across the nation.
- 71% of staff on PIC-led campuses said their principal demonstrated the importance of wellbeing for staff and 66% said their leaders fostered a campus culture of positivity and resilience.
PIC collaborated with Be Well Lead Well Pulse® Certified Guide and Founder of Rise Leaders, LeeAnn Mallory who reflected, “This work with PIC using Be Well Lead Well Pulse® has been magical. The results are a combination of an integrated, whole-life approach to wellbeing, curious and committed principals, and the supportive structure created by PIC leadership. I am proud to be a part of the ongoing work to promote the flourishing of our education leaders. And my own sense of thriving continues to expand as well!”
