Principals need to learn brand management

After spending years in consulting and helping big-name corporations turnaround under performing brands, I came to realize that principals need to think more like brand managers. While there has been a ton of focus on turnaround management in schools, the emphasis has historically been on replacing people to fix the problem. As any good brand manager know, people come and go but a brand image can sustain.

Therefore, I propose that principals take a brand management class and learn how to proactively manage their brands to (1) compete for talent and (2) increase parent engagement. For example, principals can leverage an online teacher community like Applebatch.com to build an online presence and promote the new happenings in the school. Principals need to promote and communicate changes to the old brand, and repeat those communications across channels. It takes time for change to occur and replace old images in our minds.

In addition, principals must broaden their teacher network to attract and find talent in various sources. Principals in new schools must use innovation to compete initially for talent. Principals cannot show up at a job fair or expect top talent to come into their schools while they are in turnaround mode. They must use sites like Applebatch.com to build a professional network of top performers and find talent in unconventional places.

As the school image improves, the turnover will decrease and less teacher jobs will be available in that school each year. Which, will give the principal an added benefit of being more selective and spending less time to find talent. School performance will increase and student outcomes will soar. Therefore, you can see that it all boils down to (1) great leadership and (2) great brand management.

To learn more, contact us at Applebatch or go to www.applebatch.com.