a) When should you delegate?

Always be thinking of the jobs that need to be done in terms of the expertise that exists among the staff. A school is staffed with highly educated, academically-oriented, well-read professionals who have a wide range of areas of expertise and interest both inside and outside the school. You want to tap this amazing resource whenever you can. As you get to know staff, you will find the talents, expertise, and interests that can be used to move the school forward.

For example, student behaviors are diverting teacher energy from focusing on instruction. Who on staff has talent and interest in working on developing ideas on student problem solving, community building, progressive discipline, student peer mediation training, etc? Or for example, student writing scores indicate the need to improve and coordinate writing instruction. Who on staff has expertise and interest in working with others to develop ways to address this issue?

Depending on the size of your school, you might have a group of 3 to 7 people working on a proposal to present to staff on any important topic at any given time. Whenever there is a job to do, take a minute to review the human resources available in the school. Who has specialized expertise? Who is interested in this issue? Who would thrive from being given this responsibility? When you have staff who would benefit from taking on the responsibility, then delegate.