Leadership Letter

Wednesday, June 1, 2026

Happy Summertime Facility Leaders!

Forgive me for not recognizing in a timelier manner Elizabeth Barnes at Good Council, who was kind enough to host at her school the winter meeting, following a rather tumultuous snowstorm. The insights shared by our vendor partner, Garland, were most valuable to those in attendance, who also were beneficiaries of a dynamite catered barbeque lunch. Thank you, Elizabeth and Mark Bova, the director of facilities, and other GC staff who made the event a success. Appreciation to our friends at Garland, too.

In other campus news, one of our cornerstone members, Glen Pederson, director of facilities, at The McLean School will retire later this month after thirty-five years of dedicated service. Glen said he has worked on campus for half of his life. Like so many of others, Glen’s dedication to students, faculty, staff — and the space that helped define the culture on campus — was purposeful, strategic, while deeply appreciated by the McLean family. Thank you, Glen, and thanks to all of you, too, for your servant leadership. The campus remains in good hands; Danilo Espinzo worked alongside Glen for more than thirty years. So, welcome, Danilo, and congratulations.

Perhaps this is a suitable time to share notes from one of our first meetings nearly ten years ago hosted at the Maderia School. The roundtable discussion focused on leadership & development, which remains a worthy discussion in any season.

Implement daily leadership practices. Always re‐enforce leadership during staff
meetings, personal reviews — and the direction for the team – Old Miss Capital Planning Directive, 2017 

What is the extent to which employees commit both rationally and emotionally to
something or someone in their organization, how hard they work, and how long they stay as a
result of that commitment – Stanford University School of Leadership Seminar, 2015

Culture – Align facilities and school cultures. Foster ethnic diversity. Always be on the lock out to enhance your culture.
Who is your market, who is your client, who is applying for positions
Refine expansive views. For instance, facilities teams are most often response focused & task orientated missions. It’s often more difficult to create and implement an enduring strategic plan. Perhaps it
would prove helpful to present strategy to school leadership and contemporaries. Implement
& reinforce elements of the strategy to staff. Create, publish and promote leadership &
development. Rather than showing someone how; explain the why.
Elements of Fairness – violating the norm of fairness creates dissention and unrest. Pay
people well and pay people fair ‐‐ Daniel Pink Research, 2017
Encourage continuing education & additional language skill, computer classes, various trade
seminars, staff leadership initiatives and re‐imbursement
Psychological Safety – is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up
with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes

An inclusive leader: be accessible and proactive
Invite input; acknowledge your own fallibility; by being inclusive, you lower the psychological
cost of speaking up, and raise the psychological cost of silence. ‐‐ Ed Hamer, Madeira SchoolDEVELOPMENT

Personal Engagement – Benefits of being bilingual. Honor staff culture, language, food, music, staff
cookouts, holiday party, up the number of good jobs, thank yous, perhaps a personal letter or hand-written note. What steps, activities, personal relations do you initiate to make staff a part of the facilities family & school culture. Work to enhance team culture – James McDowell, Langley SchoolMotivation ‐‐ management is compliance. It’s getting people to do what you want done. Staff,
however, has to feel engaged – not disengaged or actively disengaged. Create a culture that
is fair, safe, and affords staff control over core aspects of their work, sovereign to make
independent decisions that are in the best interest of the school. People do not engage by be
controlled; people want to exhibit front‐line self‐direction, which should be encouraged, to
create a sustained autonomous workforce — Andrew Harrington, Stone Ridge School

Pay for two or three members of staff to go to lunch off‐campus and table ideas to enhance
process & work flow. Refer to it as “Genius Hour.” Ideas matter. People matter. We are fixers,
let’s fix – not just things – but process. Behavioral studies reveal that practices like this
deepens the loyalty of good people, which engages staff and builds culture – Dennis Guiliani, Flint Hill SchoolEncourage feedback. Most companies –and, some schools, are feedback desserts.
And, yet, people receive instant feedback online, through facebook, text messaging, etc. It’s
the pace to which we are accustomed. Annual performance reviews have been abandoned
by leading companies, in large part, because engaging staff more frequently makes them feel
part of the process and that their voice matters. Perhaps is worthy to consider monthly one
on ones centered around the following topics, for instance, month one: how are you doing
and what do you need. Month two: what’s working and what’s not working. Month three:
what are some the obstacles that prevent us serving clients best. Month four: what should we
stop doing. Month five: what are your long-term plans. Month Six: what can I do better as a
boss — Ralph Mitchell, Saint Johns College High School

Coaching Talent – Teach. train & motivate. Lead by example. Every day is the first day on the
job. Every day is a job interview. It is sometimes helpful to abandon how and utilize why.
Rather than showing someone how; explain the why. For example there is no shortage of
tedious and repetitious jobs performed on campus. Perhaps, grass cutting sometimes falls
into this category. On why that job is important and the staffers efforts make a difference:
Thanks to your efforts, we are recognized as having one of the best independent school fields
and grounds. That enhances our school’s appearance and may, on occasion, influence a
parent’s decision to send their child here. You’re part of a larger puzzle, and your piece makes
a difference. Keeping folks engaged ‐‐ they are masters of their own autonomy, that they
have a choice or self‐direction, which means they are invested and are part of a high
performance team — Mark Emory, Gonzaga High School