Being Seen Versus Behind-The-Scenes

Hello,

In one of the quarterly surveys I recently sent to both my Board of Education and my staff, a piece of feedback caught my attention. Both a board member and several staff members shared a similar thought: they would like to see me more. Not that they never see me, but that they would like to see more of me in schools and around the district.

I did not take that as criticism. In many ways, it felt like a compliment. If people did not want to see their superintendent at all, that would be a problem. Wanting to see me even more suggests that they value the time we already spend together and would welcome more of it.

At the same time, the feedback highlights a real leadership tension. Much of leadership involves work that people see, but just as much of it involves work that happens entirely behind the scenes. Both are necessary, and they often compete for the same limited time.

Why I Ask for Feedback

One reason I take feedback seriously is that I have learned the value of asking for it along the way rather than waiting until the end. Early in my career, I received feedback in a role where there was no longer any opportunity to act on it. Since then, I have tried to be intentional about asking for feedback regularly so that I can reflect and adjust as I go.

That is one reason I choose to send quarterly surveys to both our Board of Education and our staff. The goal is simple: understand what is going well and where I can improve. The recent feedback about visibility is one example of why those conversations matter.

The Importance of Being Seen

When staff say they would like to see me more, they are often thinking about things like classroom visits or school events. Those moments matter, and they are an important part of leadership.

The truth is that I genuinely want to be visible. Being present in schools puts me in the rooms where things happen. I try to swing by each building at least once a week, usually first thing in the morning, just to say hello and be present. I schedule those visits early because I know how easily the day can fill with unexpected issues. If I do not prioritize those visits at the start of the day, something else will almost certainly take their place. Even that can be complicated. Before and after school are also the times when people want to schedule meetings, so protecting that time requires being proactive.

In previous leadership roles, I intentionally created structures that made those connections easier. Each month, I scheduled time for teachers to invite me into their classrooms. I would send out a message letting them know they could sign up if they wanted me to work with students, volunteer in another way, cover their class so they could connect with a colleague, call a parent, or simply meet with me one-on-one. I loved those visits. Being in classrooms with students and teachers is energizing. It not only deepens my understanding of what the world looks like for them, but also builds relationships with them and communicates that they matter.

The Personal Side of Presence

Clearly, work is a really important part of my life. I love my job and the opportunity to serve in this role, but being a superintendent is not my only role. I am also a wife and a mother, and, appropriately, those roles matter even more to me.

I recognize the importance of the superintendent’s work and the level of commitment the role requires. Earlier in my career, I served as a superintendent for about two years. At the time, my children were very young (seven, five, and three when I began, and nine, seven, and five when I stepped away). I chose to step back from the role for a time because no job, even one as meaningful as this, should come at the expense of my personal life. My children were too young to have a mom whose attention was not focused on them the way it needed to be, for them, for my husband, and for me.

I intentionally chose not to pursue another superintendency for nearly a decade. My children were growing up quickly, and I wanted to be present for them during those years. That decision still shapes how I think about my time today. My family matters deeply, and being present for them is just as important to me as being present in schools.

This year, my daughter is a senior. Her graduation ceremony is scheduled to take place outdoors the day before my district’s indoor graduation ceremony. However, if the weather is bad and my daughter's ceremony must be postponed, her graduation will take place on the same day as the district’s graduation. If that happens, I will have to choose which ceremony to attend, which is not a choice. I will attend my daughter's graduation. That is an awful position to be in, and it is one more reminder that time and presence are not unlimited resources.

The Work That Happens Behind the Scenes

Nevertheless, even when I am not visible in schools or at events, the work continues. Much of the work of leadership happens out of sight. People do not see the hours spent sitting at a desk after others have gone home, leaving the office at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 in the evening (or later), or the additional work that often continues later at home. That work is still necessary, even if it happens behind the scenes.

According to the Time Insights feature in my Google Calendar, I spend an average of more than five hours a day in meetings. In an eight-hour day, that leaves roughly two and a half hours for everything else, assuming about thirty minutes total for lunch and basic breaks.

The meetings themselves are the work, and they create more work. After each meeting, there are follow-up emails to send, decisions to document, problems to solve, and next steps to coordinate. 

Then there are the emails that arrive throughout the day. A friend of mine who started a new leadership role in another district last year described it well. She said that every email containing a question feels like a research project because you do not always have the answer readily available.

When the Unexpected Takes Over

Even when I set time aside to get work done, the unexpected can quickly reshape the entire plan.

Recently, I planned to spend a morning at my desk catching up on work. Instead, a Pre-K student accidentally pressed the lockdown button. There was no malice involved, but the system worked exactly as it was designed to do. Buildings went into lockdown.

What followed was a series of necessary steps: releasing buildings from lockdown, communicating with staff and families, notifying the Board of Education, and then holding a debrief meeting to discuss what happened and what we could learn from it. The morning I expected to spend quietly catching up disappeared.

On another day, I attended an off-campus meeting that ended earlier than expected. I thought I might have a little time to clear my inbox before my next meeting at 5:00. Instead, I received a message about a time-sensitive personnel issue. That hour quickly turned into a series of calls with our public relations team, our attorney, and the Board of Education. My next meeting that day ran until 7:30 in the evening. When it ended, the follow-up work still had to happen, so I continued working until nearly 10 pm.

While this second example day was an extreme example, it is not unusual for me to come home and spend another hour or two working because there simply was not enough time during the day to complete everything.

This is also why I try to keep Fridays reserved for desk work. If the average day includes more than five hours of meetings and I attempt to keep Fridays relatively meeting-free, that means the meetings from Monday through Thursday become even more concentrated. Some weeks, that approach works. Other weeks, something urgent inevitably finds its way onto Friday as well.

Returning to the Feedback

All of this brings me back to the feedback about visibility.

I ask for feedback proactively because I believe feedback is a gift. It helps illuminate things we may not see on our own. At the same time, even the best gifts are not always understood in exactly the same way by the giver and the receiver.

In this case, the message was clear: people would like to see me more. The truth is that I agree. I would like that too. I want to use the hours I have more effectively so that I can be present in the ways people value while still doing the behind-the-scenes work the role requires. I am still figuring out how to do that well, and I am not sure that work is ever truly finished.

The Leadership Tension

Leadership requires visibility. People want to know their leaders are present, engaged, and aware of what’s happening in their schools. They also want to feel seen. At the same time, leadership depends on extensive behind-the-scenes work. Planning, coordination, communication, and problem-solving make everything else possible, even if that effort isn’t always visible.

Both forms of work are essential, and they compete for the same limited time. The challenge of leadership is learning how to balance being present with doing the unseen work that keeps everything running.

~Heather

P.S. Money advice often comes in extremes. Save everything. Spend freely. Plan for the future. Live for today.

And that is why my Catch of the Week this week is the balance between two books: The Psychology of Money and Die with Zero.

The Psychology of Money is a thoughtful, accessible read that emphasizes the power of saving, patience, and long term thinking. It reframes wealth not as what you show, but as what you keep. It is a strong reminder that financial security is built quietly over time.

On the other hand, Die with Zero pushes in the opposite direction. It challenges the idea of accumulating endlessly and instead focuses on spending with intention. The goal is not just to have money, but to use it at the right time to create meaningful life experiences.

The catch is not choosing one over the other. It is understanding the impact of both.

Saving gives you freedom. Spending gives you memories. The real work is knowing when to do each.

P.P.S. Please remember to...

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