Page 36 - The EDGE Fall 2025

What I Wish I Knew My First Year As A Director
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 34
the answers, I needed to teach them how to
find them. I brought things back to basics and
changed how I approached training which
was guiding instead of rescuing. Now, when
mistakes happen (and they do), they often lead
to “aha” moments about interpreting policy and
making confident decisions. For all you servant
leaders out there, this might be some food for
thought: sometimes the best way to serve your
team is to help them grow beyond needing you. 4. When I first became a director, anyone who
3. Mistakes Happen - What Matters Is How You
Handle Them. I’ve had my share of mistakes,
and I’ll share one that stands out. Early on,
a specialist approved a requisition over
$100,000 using written quotes — I know. The
moment I caught it, I reached out to our CFO
to let him know it was a procurement violation
and that the requisition couldn’t be used.
When asked why it was approved, I simply
said, “It’s our fault. It shouldn’t have been
approved.” Notice I said “our” and not “my
specialist’s.” That distinction matters. While
everyone knew I wasn’t approving requisitions
day to day, I still believe leadership means
owning the outcomes of your team, good
or bad. Throughout my career, whenever an
award was given for results, I was called up
to accept it, not my entire team. And when
mistakes happened, I was called up again
36
(not the person who made the error.) That
experience shaped my perspective on shared
accountability. In my department, we win
together and we lose together — there is no
“I.” Taking ownership as a leader not only
protects your team but also builds trust. And
that trust is what allows you to move forward,
fix the problem, and grow stronger as a unit.
called my office expected me to know every
answer — from the first day. It didn’t take
long to realize I needed to get comfortable
saying, “I’m new to the district, so I’m not
quite sure how it was done before. But if you
tell me what you need and how you’ve handled
it in the past, we can figure it out together.”
That phrase changed everything. It slowed
conversations down to a manageable pace
and turned them into collaborations instead
of interrogations. More often than not, people
responded with relief: “Thank you for walking
me through it. I wasn’t sure how to explain what
I needed.” My team was in the same position I
was: new, learning, and facing questions they
couldn’t always answer. Letting them know it
was okay not to have all the answers created
a major shift in our department’s culture.
"Admitting when you don’t know
something doesn’t weaken your
credibility; it strengthens it. "
Transparency built more trust in those
early months than pretending to know
everything ever could. It reminded all of
us that honesty and curiosity go hand in
|
THE EDGE FALL 2025