Page 34 - The EDGE Fall 2025

LEADERSHIP
BY ANGELICA ORDAZ
What I Wish I Knew My First Year As A Director
Angelica Ordaz
When I stepped into the director role, I thought
I was ready. After all, I knew the work, the goal,
and the people skills - sort of but not really; I was
in the private sector. What I didn’t realize was
how much of the leadership aspects happen in the
spaces between: in the conversations, the pauses,
and the decisions you don’t see coming.
Looking back now, a year and a half later, there are
a few lessons I wish I’d known earlier — lessons with people who will help you grow."
that might help anyone new to a leadership role in
school business. These are in no particular order:
1. People will look to you to have all the right
answers and memorize federal, state, and
local policies in your first week — talk about
pressure, right? Coming from the private
sector, where I got to make procurement
decisions and my subject matter expertise
carried me a long way, I quickly learned
that wouldn’t get me far in my new role.
From my previous positions, I knew
networking would be a lifesaver, so I hit the
ground running. I completed over 120 training
hours through AASBO, VSMG, 1GPA, and The
Trust. Through AASBO, I met the incredible
Bill Munch, someone I had only heard of by
name and knew I had to connect with. We
were standing in line for dinner when my boss
pointed him out behind us. I took a deep breath
(I’m an introvert) and called out, “Bill, sit with
us!” That moment turned out to be one of the
best professional decisions I’ve made. Bill has
become an invaluable mentor and consultant
for my department and someone I can go to
34
with a question and then twenty follow-up
questions to make sure I truly understand the
policy. If there’s one thing I wish I’d known
sooner, it’s this:
"You don’t have to know everything,
but you do have to be willing to ask
questions and build relationships
2. Policy Is Important, But People Are
Everything. Policy is at the core of what we
do, it’s our north star. But learning it feels a
bit like reading War and Peace in Russian.
At some point, you just have to dive into the
weeds and start connecting the dots. Early
on, I was determined to learn every rule and
regulation. The great philosopher of our time
(also known as Bill Munch) once told me that
when he started at the SPO, he was buried in
policy manuals until someone handed him a
stack of requisitions and said, “If you really
want to help, do some of these.” That stuck
with me. I started focusing more on the day-
to-day work and being a servant leader to
my team: answering every question, finding
every policy reference, and making sure
things ran smoothly. But I realized that by
doing everything myself, I wasn’t helping my
team grow. They were relying on my answers
instead of building their own knowledge
base. Eventually, I understood that I needed
to shift from being a servant leader to a
transformational one. Instead of giving them
|
THE EDGE FALL 2025