Transformative Principal

Welcome to Transformative Principle, where I help you stop putting out fires and start leading.

I'm your host, Jethro Jones.

You can follow me on Twitter at Jethro Jones.

Okay.

All right.

Welcome to Transformative Principle.

I am Jethro Jones, your host.

I'm so excited to be here.

Transformative Principle is a proud member of the BE Podcast Network and we have got some amazing shows.

And today I am excited to chat with Kristian Gollick, who's the founder of Edu Creative.

Uh, they help schools stop sounding like everyone else.

And if you've been listening to my show for any amount of time, you know, this is right up my alley.

Most schools talk about programs and preparation, but parents don't choose schools based on that.

They choose based on connection.

So at Educ Creative, they uncover the emotional truth behind what makes your school different, and turn that into a strategic.

Story-driven video that resonates with the right families because when your message is clear and your story connects, enrollment follows.

Uh, Kristian, welcome to Transformative Principal.

Thanks so much for being here.

I.

course.

Thank you for having me.

So you and I met in a mastermind group, uh, for business owners, and you shared what you were doing and I was like, oh my gosh, we need to connect.

And, and you were saying this stuff and everybody else in the group who's not education related was like.

Okay, interesting.

And, uh, my eyes were huge and I was like, we gotta connect at some point because you are, you're speaking my language right at my alley.

And I was so excited that we could finally connect and, and have this conversation because it's so important.

I.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And likewise, when I was like, okay, there's another fellow education space member in this group, like, you know, and we have a variety of different industries, a lot of construction and whatnot, which, you know, not exactly the same, same ballpark.

So yeah,

Yeah.

I was like, yes, this is my guy.

Yes, for sure.

And it just goes to show the value of being in masterminds.

I run masterminds and any principals out there who are listening, you definitely gotta join one.

I'd love it if you join mine, but just go find a group, because that peer support that that network of support is so, so valuable.

So we're gonna dive into this topic today of how to make your school stand out and the thing that, um.

That I always say for people is if you sound like just every other school, then it doesn't really matter what you do because you're just it like every other school, and so you really need to be.

Clear about who you are and what matters so that people can make a good decision about whether or not they want to be part of it.

And this is not just for fam for families wanting to send their kids there, it's also for recruiting the right teachers.

Uh, so let's start with the, the family part, and we'll get into the teachers in a minute, but why is this so important and how do you differentiate yourself?

'cause schools really are just the same.

You, you educate kids.

And so how do you make your message stand out?

Yeah.

I mean they, they are the same in that sense, but.

Uh, beyond that, schools are so different.

Truly.

I mean, there, there are schools that really, every school has their own culture, right?

And it's hard to kind of distill that.

It's hard to articulate that.

But every school does have its own culture.

And culture is also just another word for reputation, right?

So really it comes down to.

Understanding that one key differentiator of your school that makes it unique, that defines its culture, right?

Um, and amplifying that versus, oh, well we prep for college and we have an amazing music program and oh, our STEM lab is top tier.

Everyone else, every other school is saying that, and they're not.

Kind of leaning in on that one key differentiator that makes their school unique.

Yeah.

So how do you find that one key differentiator?

How, no, uh, hold on, let me, let me take that back.

How do you as the.

Person who's creating this story driven strategic video, how do you find that at a school that's like, Hey, we gotta do something.

How do you, how do you do that with a school?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that comes down to the, you know, initial conversation I, I go in with the principal, with the communications director with, with any, uh, staff involved in the project.

And I just say, Hey, tell me a time that you were so proud to work at your school.

I just open up the conversation because somewhere along the line they're gonna be like, oh my gosh, I have this one story That is incredible.

That's not a, well, tell me about your science program.

me, tell me about your, your sports athletic, uh, program.

Because then they go into bullet points.

Then they go into kind of like, well, we wanna emphasize this.

No, no, no.

Tell me a time that you were proud to work at your school.

Hmm.

then you pull out those bits of like, oh, that's interesting.

Let's lean into that more.

And

Yeah.

that's the first step.

So, uh, so let's, let's just role play this a little bit and we can do my, my previous school, um, because the thing that I was most proud of was that I had.

Uh, three or four different times within a week or two that parents came up to me and said something along the lines of this, my kid has never talked about school before, but they have been talking about school nonstop.

It is crazy.

My kid has never talked about this.

What are you guys doing?

That's, that's what the parents said to me.

And when that happened, I was like, this is the jackpot we have won.

I'm middle school students, not just saying, fine, nothing happened at school.

They're actually like going home and talking to their parents.

And so I asked like, what do you mean, what are they saying?

And they're like, well, they're talking about this project they're working on.

They're talking about this and this teacher who's helping them.

And I didn't even know that this is.

This, that they were doing this and now they're trying to do this stuff at home and I don't know how to help 'em.

And I was like, okay, we are, we are winning.

That is winning the game of school.

In my mind as a principal, we, we totally nailed it.

Yeah.

I mean, if, if, if I heard that story, my first response would be, can, can I talk to that teacher?

who did that program?

'cause like, I wanna, I want to kind of dissect that a little bit and just understand like, what are they doing that's making such an impact on their students that make them want to talk about it, uh, to their parents after school?

Because like there's something, there's something going on, there's a secret sauce there.

I need to talk to that teacher.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, and in that case, it was actually our whole school that was doing it because we're doing this program called Synergy.

So every teacher was involved just in a different way, in a different project with their students.

So we had, I think.

50 or so projects that students were working on in groups of two to 10 kids and, and they were spreading out all over the school and everybody was involved.

I had a group, every teacher had a group.

Um, we got our class sizes down to 13 kids per teacher, um, which was incredible since our.

Our typical class size was 26, but because there was no prep periods at that time and I was working with kids and so was everybody else, it, it became a really powerful time for kids to be able to do that.

And um, and I like where you said, I wanna talk to that teacher who's doing that and creating that because you're not, the principal has one perspective.

But it's those little things that individuals are doing where they can give a different insight into it and, and really share what is great about the school.

Um, so when that happens, how do you, how do you suss out the, the things that are really important and, and what kinds of things are like the alarm bells that are like, okay, this is something we really need to pay attention to?

Yeah, I, I think, um, in, in your case, instead of just talking to the one teacher, I would want to talk to a variety of

Mm-hmm.

and see if I can hear the similarities.

If there are common threads between all of their different, uh, stories of, or you know, what they're doing in the programs, if there's similarities, ding, ding, ding.

I pull those and then it, depending on what those similarities are, I can typically find, you know, a couple emotions, one, one key idea and of distill that.

And then I, I take that idea I think up of some, you know, initial concepts around that idea.

And then I pitch it back to the principal, or, you know, whoever's in charge of the project.

Um, in terms of the creative and the marketing.

I, I, I pitch that idea and say, Hey, this is a common theme that I've found by talking with, you know, a variety of teachers.

Uh, this is a, this is a core emotion.

Does this resonate?

Like, do, do you feel that your school has this quality?

Let's just, let's just call it, um, you know, honor, right?

Like you work with a lot of, like private schools, all, all, all boys, uh, private schools.

Like honor is, is a big theme, right?

Um, a, as an example.

Like, does this resonate?

And depending on their reaction of like, oh my gosh, yes.

Or, yeah.

I mean, yeah.

Yeah.

that, that's a kind of indicator for me of.

I hit the nail on the head, or let's keep digging.

Yeah.

Well, and I, I like that idea of you, uh.

Talking about emotions and key ideas, because those emotions, I mean what, what I understand you're really trying to do is make people have a visceral response to the video so that they want to be part of that school

Mm-hmm.

and is that accurate?

Absolutely.

That's, that's brand building.

Yeah.

there's one key idea with a brand, or in this case, a school, right?

Like to kind of zooming out, uh, outside of the education space, Disney sells magic.

Mm-hmm.

Coca-Cola sells nostalgia.

Uh, Volvo sells safety, right?

So schools can be associated with a certain emotion or an idea.

And that's what we want to convey as kind of the, the introduction to the school.

Yeah, so in my school it sounds kind of like the, the emotion that we're going for.

I don't, I don't know the right way to say this, so correct me if, where I'm, where I'm going wrong is that your kids are gonna love school and they're gonna talk about it.

And like if that were, if that were the thing we were selling, then that would be pretty stinking awesome, I would think, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think, I think there's a layer of, uh, digging we can do with that of like, kids love school.

Okay, well one that's pretty not typical, right?

Uh huh.

loving school.

Um, so I'd want to dig into that a little bit more of like.

What's, what's happening that makes kids love school?

Because there might be a, a another kind of key theme of, you know, and just for an example, you know, kids, they love school.

That's the result, that's the outcome.

But maybe it's that the kids actually feel like they have a seat at the table

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

of just being talked at by the teacher, which, you know, so many kids feel that way.

Maybe they feel like they have a seat at the table and it's actually, know, a, a two-way conversation rather than just teaching.

Mm-hmm.

Maybe they feel that way because kids, especially the, you know, the, the middle school age, high school age, want to feel like an adult.

They want to, you know, they're, they're, they're maturing.

So if they feel like they have a voice, then they feel engaged.

Maybe.

Maybe it's that.

'cause if

Yeah.

and they feel they have a voice, then yeah, they're gonna love school.

'cause it's like, oh, I have a place I can contribute to.

Yeah.

I like that.

Well, and that, that you did actually nail my school pretty well, just for,

Perfect.

Yeah.

Um, and, and that's the thing that it's, it's not that hard.

Actually like it is, it's difficult to do the creative work to make it look beautiful and, and communicate that all well, but it's not that hard to see what your school is doing.

Great.

And if your school is not doing something that it makes it stand out, then you gotta figure that out.

You know, you gotta, you gotta have a belief system that gets you to that point.

Because if your school is just like every other school, then it doesn't matter what school kids go to.

And so why would anybody choose to come to your school and, and with the way that the world is going right now?

I, and I've been talking about this for years, so it's a repeat to people who've been listening, but school is becoming more and more hyper-local to a specific group.

And, and so every.

Every school is in competition with another school.

And that doesn't have to mean cutthroat or it's awful or terrible, but you have to be able to describe why your school is so much better for the people that you're trying to attract.

And this works like a magnet to pull people to you where they feel connected and they want to have their kids at your school.

And then that unlocks all kinds of other things because.

They're not complaining about it, they're now excited about it, telling their friends, saying, this is why my kid goes there and your kid should go there too, and this is why it's so great.

And then when you want to participate and do fundraising, all that kind of stuff.

This all feeds into that.

Talk about the follow on effects of, of that piece.

When you're clear about who you are, what else happens.

Oh, when you find your fit,

Mm-hmm.

magic, right?

Because you're creating belonging.

Your school is creating a sense of belonging.

In your students.

So they feel that the school is a place of community, right?

is like the arcade.

Granted, you know, this is 2025 when we're recording, so arcades aren't really a thing, but this is, this is the place where.

You know, kids want to congregate instead of have to congregate eight hours a day, right?

Or however long school is.

Um, so instantly it's a place where they want to be and they are going to be much more engaged.

That includes extracurriculars, that includes in the classroom, that includes bragging about it, say they, you know, have friends outside of the district or a different school that.

know, don't go to their school.

They're gonna talk about it and sing the school's places because it's their place.

It's not just the school, it's also the student's place to be.

Yeah.

Oh, it, it, it's so true.

And, and when kids feel that, then they become committed to it.

And, uh, it, the other thing that I've seen is that when kids love school, they take better care of the school also.

They, they don't destroy or vandalize or things like that.

And, and those, those things are so disruptive and so challenging for the school that just.

It's, it's very difficult, you know, to, to deal with that stuff.

So, so it's really powerful when it, when it works out well and, and people love the school,

Well, and, and I'll, I'll kind of tell my story a little bit here.

So, I, I, I went to a

I.

school in Pennsylvania and.

I, I was a very typical B student, right.

My, my mom was very on me.

Like CS were rarely allowed, you know?

Okay.

Once in a while, but rarely, you know, so I was a very solid B student.

I kind of cared, but really it was like pulling teeth, you know, getting to study for tests and all that.

Um, and it was my senior year of high school where I joined the only, uh.

Only class, uh, TV production.

Hmm.

that was my first introduction into video, which is, you know, my career and what I love.

And that introduction what made me just light up inside.

I was excited to work on projects.

I was excited to go to that class.

I was excited to do work outside of that class.

It just brought so much fulfillment to me, and that was amazing.

The byproduct of that was my other classes that had nothing to do with video production, but were in that semester.

I did well in because I cared.

Yeah.

then, you know, fast forward to college, I, I did a video program, um, at, at a university and I. Truly excelled all throughout college.

Like because I was, I was in it, I was happy.

It lit me up.

It wasn't a have to do, it was a, I'm excited to do this.

Yeah.

Well, and, and that's what, um, that's what my whole career as a principal was like, that once we found what the kid.

Really engaged in and cared about it.

It brought up their scores in every other arena.

And, um, they, they were more committed and they were engaged in the learning.

They were participatory.

And, um, you know, I had, we had a student who was.

Who was really struggling and youngest of four or five kids and his older siblings had been through and they were like the perfect students and he was trying to find his own way and just, he was screwing around all the time.

And, um, and we got him to, to a place where he was doing something.

He was interested in total night and day difference, uh, because he saw what was possible and he's like, oh, I'm not dumb.

I was just bored and there's a difference.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Very good.

Alright, let's shift gears a little bit.

When we're, we've been talking about, you know, getting families to come, but how does this work with getting staff to come?

What's your perspective on that?

Honestly, this the exact same.

Because it's not, it's not about, I mean, and if you wanna talk marketing strategy Sure.

There's some tweaks and shifts, of course.

Um, like deployment of content, where to put it, where yes you can, you know, there's different channels and all that.

But in terms of the message, because your school.

Still is your school, whether you're a student or a, a potential new staff member, your stu, your school still has that one thing that makes it
different and that is going to attract a potential teacher who shares those values versus all the other teachers who are like, I don't really care.

I just need a job.

Mm-hmm.

'cause we've seen, we've seen that effect of teachers who just are kind of going through the motions, oh, I just need a job.

I'll take a, you know?

Yep.

Sure.

I'll, I'll do

I, I just need my foot in the door.

Yep.

right.

Which, like, I get it, you know, you gotta get your career started.

But

I.

if you can truly attract at the, the most ideal fit for teachers, that's gonna just help snowball your entire school's brand and help.

um, you know, increase learning for the students help increase, um, the engagement because they get it.

If you get a, if you get a, a staff member who doesn't get it now, uh, it just, it, it's a, it's a nightmare.

Yeah, it really is.

And, and so I have, I've had many experiences with this, and one of the things that I. Tell principals all the time is you've gotta be so clear and so dialed in on what your
school is about, that you can tell very quickly in an interview if somebody is, is the right fit that you can tell before you get to the interview if they're a right fit or not.

Because that fit matters so much because it, it's a exponential growth from there that if you have five teachers who totally get it and are working together.

Like what they can do is so far beyond five teachers, they can do the work of 20 teachers, and that's not an exaggeration, and it's also not extra work for them because they understand what they're doing and how to do it.

In such a way that they can, they can do it and make it seem like it's very simple.

And, and that's the reality.

And that's what I've seen time and time again.

And so when you have someone come in and you're like, Hey, this is what we're trying to do, um, it's also generous to those people who are interviewing that.

If this is not the right fit, then it's very clear.

But, but if you don't know that yourself and if you, if you had a video that you create that, that tells the story, then they're like, okay, I belong here.

This is where I need to be.

Then people will want to come to that school, which totally changes the paradigm also, because instead of wondering if you're gonna be able to hire enough teachers, you have to turn people away.

And people will be like, Hey, I'll teach anything in your school, just so that I can get in there.

Yeah.

actually happen.

And that's a really powerful position to be in as a school.

And I don't think that there's any school out there that couldn't do this

Mm-hmm.

'cause they could.

Right?

Right.

Now I, I actually, you, you made a comment about it's not that hard to kind of identify what makes the school different, and that is and isn't true.

Um, it is easy, like you and I were talking about it, right?

It's, it's easy for us.

It's not so easy for the principal.

It's not so easy for the staff who they are in that school every day.

They live in that school, so they see everything and it's, you know, when you're in it every day, it's, it is hard to kind of step out.

Uh, zoom out perspective wise and see the school from the eyes of a parent who just heard of your school, knows nothing about your school or the, uh, a potential teacher, like, it's, it's very hard to step out into that perspective.

So my advice to all schools, um, is higher external, external counsel.

know, like get, get external help that doesn't know your school as well as you do, because their perspective is going to be so valuable that you just physically can't have because you're in it every day.

Yeah.

Uh, people say the, the phrase, you can't read the label from the inside of the bottle, you know?

'cause you're, you're in there and you can't see what's good.

But, but here's the other thing that is really beneficial is when, when you're clear about what you do and, and what your purpose is and your vision and all that, then having that.

That piece of content that says, this is what we're great at, makes it easy for you to see that again and identify every place that it happens, and then makes it easier for you to then perpetuate that and keep it going.

And so this like, it's a virtuous cycle that's so amazing that having it and then talking about it and then sharing it and watching it again is, is powerful.

And I would say once this is made.

Uh, the, the team at the school should, should watch it on a regular basis themselves to remind themselves and to help them know what they're really there for.

What do you think about that?

Oh, 1000000%.

It's, it's your mission statement.

Mm-hmm.

You.

You need to be fully aligned on your mission statement.

You need to live it.

You need to talk about it.

You need to breathe it because that is what creates a cohesive message for the students currently in the school.

the parents who are thinking about enrolling their student in your school, for the staff who are looking at your school potential staff, one unified message is going to bring clarity, and clarity brings confidence.

Mm-hmm.

The opposite.

Confusion indecision and mismatch fits easily.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's so good.

So, so how does someone get started, uh, with working with you, with having you give them a consult and see what, what happens?

What does that look like?

Yeah, absolutely.

You can definitely reach out@educreative.com and schedule a consult with me.

And you know, like I said, the first step is having that meeting.

I. And I just wanna, I just wanna absorb, I wanna, I wanna take it all in.

What makes your school, uh, special to you?

What makes you proud to work at your school?

And then we take it from there.

We distill down that key idea.

We talk about marketing strategy, um, and, you know, our conversation, jet Row, we've really talked high level on, um, you know, distilling down a single idea.

And that is extremely important.

There's more to the conversation.

There's more to, um, you know, what types of videos do we make?

Where do we post them, how do we get them, because there's a whole strategy involved.

So that's, that's kind of the next step, uh, that I walk schools through.

Uh, evaluate their marketing channels, if they use email lists, social media ads, all that.

so, so there's a whole, whole whole laundry list.

Uh,

Yeah.

I walk schools through it step by step, and we figure out what makes most sense for them.

Yeah, I, I, I love it.

And again, there's so much more that we can talk about.

Um, but I do wanna share something with you that, uh, that I created several years ago because I knew there was such a need for it and it failed.

And, and I want to share this because, um.

Because I think there's lessons in these types of experiences.

So I, I create a website called creatives for education.com, and I'm pretty sure that I don't have the URL anymore, so that site is probably gone, uh, but I'll double check.

Um, and I also had creatives the number four edu.

Uh, but I'm pretty sure those are gone now.

Anyway, what I, what I created was this way for schools to say.

Well, let me back up a little bit.

Uh, schools are good at teaching kids, but they suck at making beautiful things.

And so that was my main problem as a teacher.

I would do these worksheets or, or directions or whatever, and they just look like trash.

I mean, I, standard Word document, you type it up and put it out there, and it was just ugly.

I mean, that's all there was to it.

not an engaging experience.

Yes.

Not at all.

And so I created this, this website, creatives for Education so that people could.

Get creatives to volunteer their time to, to redo a, a piece of paper or a poster or something so that, so that it was more a aesthetically a plea pleasing to the people who were looking at it.

And it, like a, a lot of educators have tried to do this video stuff.

Have tried to make a video about their school and even I have, and I'm just not very good at it.

And you can tell when it's someone who is really great at doing it and can tell a good story and make it look beautiful and all that kind of stuff.

And someone who's just like, you know, doing, you know, trying to do it myself in iMovie.

Right?

There's just a difference and, and so I created this thing and it was.

It was such a good idea and so valuable, but I just couldn't figure out how to like make it work and make it happen, you know?

And so what's so cool about us meeting is that I was like, I need someone to make, take these videos that we make and then make 'em better.

And this was me thinking 15 years ago.

I think that's when I did it was in 2010.

And um, and, and here you are, like this is your thing.

And I just think.

Schools really need this kind of stuff because we do amazing things and we're, we're in the thick of it with kids every single day, and we don't have the time and energy and expertise to make what you do actually happen.

And so all those things about how the next steps that you had just talked about, how you go.

Like what, what ways they communicate, what social media channels they use, whether they use email list, stuff like that.

So many schools are not even thinking about that and not even touching it.

So I feel like we need to come back and have a second discussion later and talk about some of those things more in depth and, and, and see what that looks like.

And, um, does that, does that sound good to you?

'cause

I am in.

Okay.

Yeah.

And, and, and, right.

And here.

Here's the way I always, uh, approach, approach it is a video, a piece of creative, anything that is seen in the outside world.

even, even inside, you know,

Mm-hmm.

and all that.

Any piece of creative a representation.

Of your school's experience.

So if your school truly does have a wonderful experience, like you're extremely proud of the school that you've built, but the creative is just an iPad video, right?

There's a disconnect there and it doesn't really do your school justice.

and, and so that's where I come in and, you know, I properly represent your school.

I properly show through the creative, through, you know, my, my skillset, of course.

Uh, what makes your school special.

Yeah.

Oh, I love it.

So good.

Alright, we're, we're gonna have another, another chat.

Um, if, if you want to get in touch with Kristian edu creative.com edu creative.com.

Um, and so my last question for you Kristian is.

We've talked about a lot of stuff and a principal could walk away from this conversation feeling a bit overwhelmed, let's say.

So what is the one thing that a principal can do this week to be a Transformative Principal?

I would say

Um.

of their capacity, out to their staff and just ask, Hey, what's an amazing moment that you saw this week?

I.

Just ask open-ended, because is that gonna give them the answer of what makes our school different?

No, it's not the full answer, but it's a start.

Yeah.

That's that.

I'd say that's, that's the first start.

Yeah.

Good.

That that's your action step folks.

F talk to your teachers.

What's an amazing thing that happened this week?

And, and start collecting those stories and start seeing what is resonating, what's happening more and more.

I think that's brilliant advice.

Uh, very good.

Kristian, this was awesome.

Thank you so much.

I look forward to chatting with you more and, um, and continuing to help schools with all the things that you're doing.

So thank you.