There was a teacher early in my administrative career who didn’t want to be in my building.
He had been forced to transfer to the high school, and he made it clear—often—that he preferred where he came from. He spoke highly of his previous principal, and whether he intended it or not, it came across as a critique of the work we were doing.
It would have been easy to label him as negative. Resistant. Not a fit.
Instead, I made a point to spend time in his classroom. I showed up. I even guest taught a lesson in his room on a topic I had taught as a teacher. I wanted him to know he was seen—and that he mattered.
But the real shift didn’t happen until his second year.
At the time, we were building out our career academies, and I needed the right person to lead our Health academy. One morning, I stopped by his room with a simple idea: what if this is the opportunity he needs to reconnect to the work?
I invited him to a meeting.
That was it.
He showed up—and something clicked.
He didn’t just participate. He took ownership. He led. He became one of the driving forces behind that academy. Over time, he became one of the most respected teachers in our building—one my own daughter would later say was her favorite.
And the same teacher who once compared me to his former principal?
He became one of my biggest champions.
To this day, he tells people I’m the best administrator he ever worked with. More importantly, he’s a great friend.
That experience taught me something I’ve never forgotten:
People don’t always start as believers.
But with the right opportunity, the right connection, and the right level of trust… they can become your strongest advocates.
Too often, leaders look at situations like this and draw the wrong conclusion.
They think:
But most of the time, that’s not the real issue.
The real issue isn’t resistance—it’s disconnection.
And when leaders misdiagnose disconnection as defiance, they respond in ways that actually push people further away.
Not everyone who isn’t fully bought in is a critic.
Some people are simply compliant. They do the work. They check the boxes. They meet expectations. But they don’t own it.
Critics, on the other hand, have already disconnected. They’ve lost belief in the direction, the leadership, or the work itself.
And then there are superfans.
Superfans believe in what you’re building. They advocate for it. They push it forward—even when things get hard.
Here’s the key:
Superfans are not created through pressure.
They are created through Clarity, connection, and consistency.
When I think about the schools and teams I’ve worked with, the pattern is clear.
Critics are often the result of leadership environments that feel chaotic, unclear, or misaligned.
This is where I see the Cycle of CHAOS show up:
When people don’t know what matters most—or don’t feel connected to it—they don’t lean in.
They pull back. And over time, that pullback looks like criticism, disengagement, or indifference.
Which brings us to a truth I come back to again and again:
Most leadership teams don’t have an effort problem. They have an alignment problem.
If you want to move people from compliance—or even criticism—into commitment, it requires a shift in how you lead.
Here are four moves that make the difference.
If everything is a priority, nothing is.
Leaders often overwhelm their teams with too many initiatives, too many goals, and too many “important” tasks. The result isn’t better performance—it’s confusion.
Superfans aren’t built around scattered efforts.
They’re built around a clear, compelling focus.
People don’t buy into tasks. They buy into meaning.
If your team doesn’t understand why the work matters—who it impacts, and what it leads to—they won’t invest in it the way you hope they will.
Clarity creates direction. Purpose creates energy.
You need both.
The turning point in my story wasn’t a directive. It was an invitation.
When I asked that teacher to step into the work of building the health academy, I wasn’t assigning him a task—I was offering him ownership.
And ownership changes everything. When people help build something, they believe in it.
Culture isn’t created by what you say. It’s created by what you consistently recognize and reinforce.
If you want more ownership, recognize ownership.
If you want more collaboration, highlight collaboration.
If you want more belief, celebrate belief.
What you reinforce is what gets repeated.
That teacher didn’t change because I corrected him. He changed because he felt seen, valued, and connected to meaningful work.
That’s the shift.
And it’s one that plays out across leadership teams every single day. When leaders move from managing behavior to building belief, everything changes.
You don’t build superfans by asking people to do more.
You build them by giving them something worth believing in.
If this idea resonates with you, I unpack concepts like this every week in my newsletter, From the Balcony—where we step back from the day-to-day chaos and focus on what actually moves leadership forward. You can sign up HERE.
And if your team is stuck in compliance instead of commitment, this is exactly the work I do with leadership teams—helping them align around what matters most, build clarity, and create real buy-in.
Because when your team is aligned and committed, you don’t just get better results.
You build something people believe in.
As you think about building belief and alignment within your team, it’s also worth considering how your systems support students who need more.
One of the areas where I see teams struggle is academic intervention. The desire to help is there—but the time, staffing, and structure often aren’t.
That’s where partners like HeyTutor can make a real difference.
HeyTutor provides high-dosage tutoring in Math and ELA, both in-person and online, with trained tutors who integrate directly into your school systems. Their model is built around consistency, small-group support, and real-time data tracking—so your team can see Growth and adjust instruction along the way.
If you’re looking for ways to better support students without overwhelming your staff, it’s worth exploring what they offer HERE.
I partnered with HeyTutor to get this in front of you—working with brands I believe in is how I keep this content coming. #paidpartnership
If you’re ready to move your team from compliance to commitment, here are a few ways I can support you:
