Craig Verley

What do you mean you or your department are not represented in the Superintendent’s Cabinet?! You should, and you can tell your superintendent I said that!

The sad truth is, many school communications departments are not included in the superintendent’s cabinet. The question then becomes: what are you doing about it? Please tell me you are not waiting for the information to trickle down, or for you to be brought into the conversation at the point of action.

If you find yourself seated at the kid’s table instead of the adult’s table, try to put your social investigative skills into action. First, start by reaching out to your cabinet-level supervisor and meeting with them after each cabinet meeting for a debriefing. If that is not realistic, then it is time to walk the halls and take advantage of those moments when you bump into cabinet members during events or in the parking lot, etc. Let your conversation lead to insightful tidbits of things to come or things you need to keep on your radar. Just having friendly conversations with staff members of all walks of life will lead to some great information to keep you in the loop or to let you know something is about to come your way. Those relationships you build in the process will make your job easier down the road and make for a more enjoyable work environment in general.

I will admit, I used to get tired of always having to hunt down the information I needed to do my job during various times of my career. Don’t let that type of situation deter you. Being proactive and curious about what is going on will always help you. We all know that the sooner you know about things coming down the pike, the easier it is to develop a decent plan and work things into the dozen or so other projects you are already juggling.

A bonus of conducting your investigative work will also provide an opportunity to offer your professional vision on their implementation plans early on, thereby enhancing the overall impact and potentially leading to your early inclusion on future items. The more often you show your and your department’s credibility in the planning processes, they will want you “in the room” the next time.

Don’t be afraid to ask to be looped in on things early and to have that seat at the adult’s table. You may have to ask more than once, but if you are consistent with your efforts to drag the information out of people to allow you to have an early positive impact, cabinet members will be more willing to slide over and make room for another chair at the table.