The Catholic School Leaders Podcast

Welcome to the Catholic
School Leaders Podcast.

My name is John Mahalio,
the president and founder of

Elementary Advancement Solutions.

The goal of this podcast is to connect
Catholic school leaders from across

the world to grow Catholic education.

Visit us at elementaryadvancement.

com to see how we can help
you make advancement seem

elementary at your school.

Well, how are you doing today?

Uh, how's things going at your school?

It's always great to be able to check in
with people and hear from people all over

the world and hear, things that they're
doing and things that they're taking on.

Um, hearing just from different people
about challenges they're facing or, you

know, things that they're looking for,
especially here over the summer months.

And so today I want to, wanted to
jump into a topic that He is so

important as a Catholic school leader.

I don't care what role you play, whether
you're a principal, assistant principal,

advancement director, recruitment
director, athletic director, dean, any

position that you have as a Catholic
school leader, Um, the difference

between talking and communicating in
the role that you play is so critical.

And I think communicating with your
faculty, your students, your parents,

your community members, your donors,
your parish communities, it's so crucial,

it's so critical to the success of the
role that you're going to play in your

school and in your school community.

And you know, I think about the game
of telephone that we've all seen.

When the message starts out as one
thing, but by the time it goes through

a whole bunch of other people, it's
It's a completely different thing than

it started with, and that's why the
information that you're conveying needs

to come through, needs to come from you.

It needs to be consistent, it needs to
be thorough, and it needs to be accurate.

So we're gonna get into
some of those things today.

Before we get into that, if I
could just take a quick second

here to ask you for a huge favor.

If you're enjoying this podcast, if it's
something that you're finding beneficial,

if it's something that you're finding
is meeting that goal of giving you some

new tools as a Catholic school leader,
if I could just ask you to like the

podcast, subscribe to it, leave a quick
review if you have the chance, give

it five stars, it would be amazing.

and share it with others.

Share it with other leaders, and, and
by doing that, it's just going to help

reach other Catholic school leaders
just like you, which in the end is going

to help us grow Catholic education.

So, appreciate seeing everything,
and appreciate, uh, hearing

from everybody out there.

So let's get into, to talking versus
communication, and because we all

know that there are, people out there
who talk a whole, whole lot, and they

don't really actually say anything.

So, And so when we're going to be
talking to people and when we're going

to be communicating to people, we want
to make sure that what it is that we're

trying to convey is coming through.

So these are some strategies that I've
found to be helpful for me, in terms of,

of communicating with the, the respective
audiences that we were trying to reach,

and I hope they'll help you in your job.

First off and foremost is let your
families, let your teachers, let your

faculty know, How you're going to be
communicating with them, and when you're

going to be communicating with them.

Uh, I'm going way, way back to my
days at Broadview Elementary School,

which doesn't even exist anymore.

and, and the newsletter would come home
on a yellow piece of paper each week.

Uh, you know, it's a one page document
that told everybody everything.

It was probably run through
the Xerox machine, uh, you

know, a couple hundred times.

Uh, it would have everything in there
from, you know, the calendar of the week,

when report cards were coming out, and
and even the scores of like the The PE

events that had taken place that week, if
it was a hockey week or things like that.

it would tell everything in
there and it was a really big

deal for the kids to see this.

the school would let the parents know
when it was coming out and how they were

going to get the information to them.

And sure enough, every Friday
this yellow newsletter went out

from Broadview Elementary School.

We were the roadrunners, uh, and
so it went out each and every week.

Now, I recognize times have changed.

Schools have so many different
options for what they're going to

use in terms of communication now.

You have, Thursday folders or things
that actually go home in paper format.

You have, um, online
services that you can use.

There's a lot of different services out
there that Schools can, can use to deliver

their, their information each week.

And social media is also a game changer.

It allows you to get something
out quickly, uh, and to a

lot of people all at once.

you know, I guarantee you, you put out
there that uh, if you wanna see the

power of social media and actually.

Put out there that on social media that
it's, it's snowed and that you're going to

close and see how many likes and reposts
you get in about, I don't know, 15 minutes

and then you're going to understand just
how powerful, uh, social media can be.

First and foremost, you've got to let
families know how you're going to be

communicating with them and when you're
going to be communicating with them.

And whatever you choose, it's up to you.

Whatever fits your school community.

Let them know how this is going to
happen when they tour your school,

when they enroll in your school.

Let them know at the beginning of
the school year, because this allows

you to get their contact information.

Maybe somebody's email address has
changed, or they've added a different

email address, or they want Add their
work email to the, to their home email,

whatever the case might be, you know,
even if the family is in the stages

of, of thinking about enrolling in
your school, you want to capture that

information so that you can add them
to your communication list, because

this is really a way for you to
continue marketing yourself to these

new families, um, showing them what's
happening at their school to let them

get excited about what's happening
so that it makes them want to be a

bigger part of your school and make
that decision to enroll in your school.

So.

First and foremost, you've got to
let people know how you're going to

be communicating with them, and then
you've got to let them know when

that's actually going to be happening.

I guess the next thing to do with that
is, then you've actually got to do it.

You've got to do what you say.

if you say that you're going to
do something, if you say, Hey.

We're going to put out our newsletter
at Thursday at three o'clock every

day or whatever the case might be.

Whenever your school has decided
that's the best time for you to send

out a communication to your families,
that's what you've got to hold to, and

that's what you've got to adhere to.

If you tell everybody that your
newsletter is coming out Friday at

noon, and instead of Friday at noon,
it gets there on Sunday morning at

nine o'clock in the morning, families
are gonna get frustrated with that.

it's inconsistent.

They're gonna get frustrated.

They're gonna stop reading it.

They're gonna stop looking for it.

If you say the newsletter's
gonna be there at a certain

time, publish it at that time.

It just speaks to your
integrity as a leader speaks

to your integrity as a school.

Uh, when it says that it's gonna release
something that, that it actually happens.

Now I get it.

We've all been there where you're
trying to log on to whatever, format you

use with constant contact, MailChimp.

There's, hundreds of them out there that
you can use in terms of communication.

And the system is down.

Uh, and you can't get on.

It's crashed.

It's not letting you log in.

There's a problem with something.

There's a glitch.

that happens sometimes.

I get it.

You want to make sure that's
the exception and not the norm.

And when that happens, I
tend to just put something on

social media just to say, hey.

We're having problems with our system.

Our newsletter is going to
be a little delayed today.

we apologize.

And people understand that.

People will give you the
benefit of the doubt once.

But if it's happening every single week,
then it kind of says that, hey, The

problem might not be the problem here.

So, do what you say you're going to do.

Publish whatever communication you're
going to put out in a timely manner.

Make it a consistent manner.

so that's something that your
parents and your community members

are going to be looking forward to
and know when they can expect that.

When you do put out that communication,
whatever method you choose, whether

it's a paper method, whether it's a
digital method, whatever the case might

be, we need to be clear in what it
is that we're trying to communicate.

you know, I talk a lot about rambling
on and on and on and on, and who knows,

maybe I'm rambling on and on right now.

But, the same can be said when we're
talking in our newsletters, that we

try to make them way too long, and
communicate way too much information.

And we're never really getting to
the point of what it is that we're

trying to say to the audience.

I see a lot of schools that face
challenges with this, especially

when they have to convey something
that might not be popular news.

maybe it's a tuition matter.

Hey, we've got to increase our tuition
and, uh, it's, it's, it's a little

higher than we had hoped it to be.

when you're going to create things,
when you're going to convey things

like that, Uh, I get tuition increase.

You want to talk about why it is that
the, the tuition needs to be increased.

I think if you share with people the
reason behind, matters like a tuition

increase or, or things like that, the
more information you can provide, the

more straightforward you can be, and
the more that you can give people in

terms of understanding your reason for
the information that you're conveying,

the It's easier for them to swallow.

I think one of the things, I did a podcast
a few weeks ago about communicating

and conveying how funds were used.

if you're communicating things like how
your funds were used, for a particular

fundraising event or for an annual fund
or things like that, the more information

you can provide, the more straightforward
that you can be with people in terms of

what it is that you're trying to convey.

It's gonna lead to making sure there's no
questions and confusion in the information

that you're trying to present to them.

Now, last thing I'm gonna say about
this is when you're putting out

information, you gotta make sure
you, you, we all have those one

or two people on our, on our team.

who are just, you can call them
the grammar police, you can

call them, but they see things.

They see things that we, we can
look at them a hundred times

and we would never see it.

And they read it one time and they go,
hey, there's a spelling error there.

Hey, there's a punctuation error there.

Hey, there's whatever.

As you're communicating things, and
you're communicating a newsletter, for

example, out to your community, you
need to make sure that your grammar's

on point, your spelling's on point, just
the, the, the presentation of whatever it

is that you're putting out is on point.

we're educators, and so if we're
putting out things that are spelling

errors, or look sloppy, or things
like that, it's just not good.

not good at all.

And so, the principle for the principal
is to make sure that things are

looking good and that they are free
of any grammar errors or anything

like that, to make sure that you're
putting out a great product when

you're communicating things to people.

Now, families are going to look forward to
your communication when the information in

these communications is relevant to them.

And so if you're just putting a lot of
fluff and stuff in there, that people

are, have no interest in whatsoever,
it's really going to make it so that your

reader rate goes down a whole, whole lot.

it's a great way for people
to skim over something.

even worse, it's a great way
for them not to even open what

it is that you're sending.

So you want to make sure that whatever
you're communicating, whatever method that

you're putting out there for people, make
sure your content in there is relevant.

I recognize that there's some maintenance
things that you have to include in

communications, but the more you
can spend your time on mission over

maintenance, uh, it's a powerful thing,
and people will start to get excited

about things that are happening.

A lot of the programs used out
there now can track things like what

people clicked on, how many people
opened them, what links they were

interested in, things like that.

If you pay attention to that, that's
going to give you a lot of information,

a lot of information about what types
of things interest your community,

and what kind of things that maybe
say, hey, We put this out there.

We did not have a very big
click rate on this particular

item, and this is important.

So let's make sure we revisit that again.

Putting that out there together, exploring
those options to see what type of

information is relevant and what type of
information that you want to put together

is so important for your newsletters.

Pull a group, a great way to do it is pull
a group of parents and teachers together.

And do a communications
audit over the summer.

Uh, maybe I'll do a podcast on that
just alone, but if you review the

communication methods and what you're
hoping to obtain for them and you're

not meeting what those expectations are,
then you gotta ask yourself, why are

we doing this, or are we really working
harder instead of smarter as it pertains

to this particular communication method.

So, Think about the feedback that you get.

Look at the data that you're getting.

Um, so many things anymore can provide
you with so much instant feedback,

in terms of, of what an open rate is.

I send a newsletter out
each, Tuesday and Thursday.

If you're not on that, newsletter list,
you can, you can get on that, by visiting

the website elementaryadvancement.

com.

I'll be happy to add
you to the newsletter.

Send it a lot of helpful information
and, you know, I can see, uh,

how many people opened it.

If this is something that people want
to know more about, then okay, let's

put something else out about that.

It's just about telling people
what it is that, that you're

wanting to convey to them.

And so it's a powerful tool.

You have a lot of data that's,
that's at your fingertips.

Make sure you use it.

Work smarter and not harder.

One thing that I'm going to
recommend to you in terms of

communication is thinking ahead.

Thinking ahead and sometimes there's
slower weeks for information that, that

You know, we're just having those weeks,
especially sometimes in the summer

months where slower weeks for information
that has to be conveyed or taken place.

Okay, and I know it doesn't
happen often during your school

year, but it does happen.

So this is where thinking ahead
can be tremendous for you.

one of the things I had is a, is a, is
a leadership team and a leadership role

that would come together every week, once
a week for 30 minutes to just discuss

what's coming up over the next four weeks.

Okay.

What type of information are we
going to be conveying to this week

as week one, next week as week two,
next week as week three and four?

Let's look four weeks out.

What information are we looking to
convey to people on social media?

What are we looking to put in newsletters?

What are we looking to put
in teacher communications?

What are we looking to put
in our church bulletins?

Whatever the case might be, what
information is necessary to go out in

that particular form of communication
and that avenue of communication?

If there was something that we felt
carried extra importance, it might

be something that I would highlight
in my own section of the newsletter.

I would always tend at the beginning
of the newsletter to write a quick

blurb that was maybe a paragraph or two
just for our community to know about.

Might be something that I
highlight in that section.

It might be something that
we highlight multiple times.

This was really a great opportunity
for us to come together.

We focused on this, nailed
it out in 30 40 minutes.

But it also kept us always looking
ahead of what was coming down the road.

Because the last thing in the
world you want to do is to go, Oh

my goodness, we forgot all about
this, or we didn't communicate this

out, or whatever the case might be.

And then you're playing on
defense and not offense.

So it's a great investment of time.

I know all of our time is valuable.

But investing that 30 minutes of time
each week And honestly, when you get

to week two, the things from week
two move to week one, the things from

week three move to week two things,
half of it is already done for you.

So it's just, okay, what,
what do we need to add?

What are some other things
that are coming up to this?

Whatever the case might be, you've
already got it there and it's all

front and center in terms of what's
being communicated, by whom is it being

communicated to, and what methods are you
going to use to communicate those things.

Now, two mistakes I see schools make all
the time is they try to be too many places

and they try to be not enough places.

So the thing I always advise to
people is you can't be everywhere.

But you gotta be somewhere, okay?

Uh, social media is part of our lives now.

And whether you decide to be on
Facebook or LinkedIn or X or Instagram

or whatever, insert whatever site you
wanna be at, you gotta pick where you're

gonna be and you gotta go with it.

If you try to be everywhere on
social media, number one, it's

hard to keep up with all of it.

but number two, it can lead
to inconsistencies in your

messaging and information.

If your Facebook page says X, but
your Instagram page says Y, that's

a problem and that's going to lead
to inconsistencies and people having

problems or leading to more questions.

So it's, it's a way to look at
what is it that we're going to do?

I know there's a high school in our area.

They say, listen, everything
we're doing is going to be on X.

It's going to be on Twitter.

every club, every organization
has a Twitter account.

And if you want to know what's
happening in our school, you

better have a Twitter account too.

And that's what they go with.

And it works for them because everybody
understands what they're using.

They're not trying to be everywhere.

But they've told everybody exactly
what it is that they're gonna be.

You gotta pick and choose what
your spots are, and focus on those.

Uh, Andrew Carnegie once said,
Put all your eggs in one basket,

and then watch the basket.

And as it comes to social media, trying
to be everywhere just doesn't work.

Now, here's the flip side of that.

You gotta be somewhere.

Uh, if the only social media
platform that you're using right

now is Myspace, with the utmost
of respect to Justin Timberlake,

We need to have a conversation.

You should reach out to me
at elementaryadvancement.

com so that we can talk about a
communications audit for your school.

Hopefully that's not the case, but,
uh, if you're using a MySpace or

that's the only social media you've
got, let's press pause for a minute.

You have to be somewhere online.

One of the best ways to do this
is, is look at what audience

you're trying to reach through
each avenue of communication.

if you use your website as your only means
of communication, you're probably going

to be missing a large portion of your
community from getting that information.

Your websites tend to be something
that New families are going to look

at to learn more about your school.

Your current families may only go there
if they need a calendar or if they need

to, do a payment or if they need to, get
a physical form or something like that.

Know what the purpose of
each communication is.

method that you're using is.

Now, something to look at when
it comes time for your website,

and this is something that I
see way too much, especially

with our Catholic schools, okay?

If you're going to have your website, and
that's going to be the first thing that

people who are considering your school
look at, please make sure it's up to date.

if you're talking about something on
your front page in your banner section

that is from 2020 21 school year, you
need to take a look at that right away,

because that's the first thing and maybe
in some instances the only thing people

are going to see about your school.

It says that this is not
something that's a care for you.

It also says that you're not real
keen on paying attention to details,

and so there are things that are very
useful to be on your, your webpage

and your, your landing site for that.

But I think the things that people
really are going to look for that are

your current families are things like
I said about the school calendar, your

handbooks is another great one to have on
there, physical forms, things like that.

If you're relying on parents to just
visit your school website to see a

newsletter, I think you're probably
going to be missing out on a lot of

your audience that you're intending to.

So.

Pick what it is.

It may cost you a couple of dollars,
uh, but it's well worth it at the end of

the day to, to communicate and, and also
it looks a whole lot better from your

school, presents very professionally.

Now, something I say often, work smarter
and not harder, we could spend probably

20 hours of our week trying to keep up
with newsletters and social media accounts

and websites and just go on and so forth.

Uh, you would chase your tail
all the way and, and it's in,

it's just not possible to do.

So when we talk about working smarter,
not harder, there's ways you can do this.

I mentioned to you about the
communications team that we brought

together each week, and, and that
was so helpful for us to know

what our main focus was that we
were going to be communicating.

But maybe pick a time, if you're
the person at your school who

is responsible for a particular
communications outlet, Pick a time

each week where you're going to put out
things on your social media outlets.

Maybe it's 10 o'clock to 11 o'clock on
Monday, and you're going to schedule

things out for the whole week ahead.

Things that you already know are coming,
because you've had that communications

meeting, you can put out there.

You probably already know what
your hot lunch menu is, if that's

something you want to convey.

If there's a faculty member that you're
going to recognize for that week.

Well, you probably already know it.

You probably have their picture and
their bio or whatever information it

is that you're going to recognize.

I understand that when the basketball team
plays on Tuesday night, that on Monday,

unless you're in the movie Back to the
Future, you probably don't know what the

score is going to be the following night.

So when those things happen, yeah, then
you have to go on and do a quick addition.

Hey, the basketball team won by
this score over such and such team.

Great job to our team.

And maybe put a picture.

Absolutely.

But that should be the exception.

A lot of the information that you
want to put out there and you're

going to communicate to people is
can probably be done in advance.

You can schedule when a
post goes live in advance.

I'm using, for example, Facebook Twitter.

You can set up when that thing is, when
the particular, uh, post is gonna go live.

there's tools out there that
you, that are free or you can

purchase for a very low cost.

And you have to just ask yourself,
if I spend ten to twenty dollars a

month and it saves you five to ten
hours a month, is that worth it?

That's a phenomenal investment.

Uh, your time is worth more than that.

So think about ways
that you can work smart.

Don't be afraid to invest a couple of
dollars To make your life easier, but

also to make your school communication
look sharper and more effective.

So, as I talked to you
about, communication, it's a

great asset to your school.

And unfortunately, you know, when
we see it, and it's done well, it

stands out more than the opposite.

So, if you're there, and you're doing
it well, it's a great asset to you.

If you're not doing it well, It's
really a big liability for your school.

So, be consistent, be clear, and if
you do this, you're going to keep

your community not only informed but
engaged, which is only going to help

you move forward for years to come.

So, if we can help you at Elementary
Advancement Solutions with your

school's communication plan or
other strategic goals that you might

have, let's set up a time to talk.

Let's set up a virtual cup of
coffee to discuss your goals.

There's no contract, no fee, no
obligation, anything like that.

pick a time on the website,
elementaryadvancement.

com, uh, let's set up a time to talk
and see how we can help your school

grow and how we can move Catholic
education forward at your school.

And as I said before, if you enjoyed
this podcast, if you think you know

somebody who could benefit from this
podcast, Please feel free to share it

with them, like this podcast, uh, give
it a rating, give it a, a, a good review.

It just helps us reach more Catholic
school leaders, not only in the

United States, but across the world.

And that helps us grow Catholic education.

So, hope this is helpful to you.

I hope you find this helpful in terms
of your communication at your school.

Maybe introduces some new ways
that you can be more effective and

efficient in your communication with
your community in this coming year.