12: Your Community Thinks You Have Too Many Leaders
Plus: A new 5-part series on making school structure navigable
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Where We Are
Welcome to 2026.
If the air feels a little thin right now, you aren’t imagining it. Between the political uncertainty keeping colleagues up at night and the sheer complexity of running a school, the load is heavy. (I’m writing this from my hometown in southern Brazil, where I’ve been caring for family—so I’m feeling the weight of complexity in my own way.)
That’s exactly why I’m not writing to you about politics today. I want to talk about the one thing you can actually get your hands around: clarity.
Specifically, whether your community actually understands what you do all day.
The Conversation I Can't Stop Thinking About
A few weeks ago, I sat down with friends who also happen to be parents at an international school. Smart people. Corporate backgrounds. Actively engaged in their school community.
They told me, bluntly, that they think assistant principals and curriculum coordinators are “wasteful middle management.”
Let that sink in.
They genuinely believe the principal should handle discipline, operations, and curriculum decisions, on top of strategic leadership. They can’t figure out who does what or why these roles exist.
They aren’t being malicious. They’re confused.
That conversation stayed with me, so I took it to LinkedIn. I asked:
“If schools made their organizational structure clearer, who would benefit MOST?”
86% said: “Everyone—it’s a systems problem.”
This isn’t a people problem. It’s, in fact, a systems design problem.
And unlike the geopolitical landscape, this is something we can actually fix.
The Invisible Architecture
You know why your structure looks the way it does. Your org chart is the result of years of careful thinking about cognitive load, safety, and pedagogical quality.
But you keep that logic inside your head.
You publish the boxes and lines, but not the why. Parents see titles, not functions. Teachers see their classroom, not the system connecting them to the office next door.
So people fill in the gaps with assumptions:
Corporate parents assume schools run like Fortune 500s. (They don’t.)
Teachers assume everyone knows what a coordinator does. (They don’t.)
Admin assumes the rationale is obvious. (It never is.)
The result? Your carefully designed system gets judged as bloated or inefficient. Not because it is, but because nobody designed the explanation.
Your Quick Win: The AI Role Clarity Audit
Before you try to fix the communication, you need to see where the cracks are.
You don’t need a committee for this. You need 10 minutes and this AI prompt. It acts as a mirror, showing you exactly what your job descriptions look like to an outsider.
Copy/paste this:
"I need help ensuring our school community understands why specific roles exist and what they do.
For each role listed below, generate:
• What this role does (2 sentences maximum, jargon-free)
• Why it matters to [choose: students/parents/teachers]
• One concrete example of what would break if this role didn't exist
Make the language accessible to someone with no education background. Avoid phrases like 'pedagogical leadership' or 'instructional coaching.' Use plain language that explains the actual impact.
Roles to clarify:
[List 5-8 key roles that your community finds confusing]
Context about our school:
[2-3 sentences: school type, size, location, any unique features]"What you’ll find:
Some roles are genuinely hard to explain (that’s a structural issue).
Some explanations are drowning in jargon.
Some roles create massive value that’s totally invisible to parents.
But don’t publish the results yet. Just treat it as diagnostic data for the moment.
Over the next five weeks, I'll show you exactly how to turn these insights into action.
New Series: Beyond the Org Chart
You said organizational clarity benefits everyone. You’re right.
Starting next week: a 5-part series exploring what happens when school structure stays invisible, from vendors who can’t find decision-makers to board members making policy in a vacuum.
Each includes frameworks you can implement immediately.
First post: Next Wednesday.
Coming Soon: The Clarity Sprint
The year just started, but I know you don’t have time for a course. Honestly? You shouldn’t need one.
But you do need this fixed.
That's why I'm launching The Clarity Sprint—a 60-minute team workshop based on the last five editions of practice by design. No fluff. Pick your team type (Senior Admin, Comms, or Middle Leaders & Teachers), gather your group, and walk through a systematic process to audit and redesign one critical piece of your school's communication.
The promise:
One redesigned artifact (an email template, a clearer org chart, a policy doc—your call)
A reusable framework you can use forever
60 minutes of work. That’s it.
Watch the 90-second intro:
Coming soon. I’m finalizing details now.
Format: Self-paced, video-guided workshop
Investment: $67—your support helps me keep practice by design free while creating resources like this.
Get notified when it's ready ⤵️
Why This Matters Right Now
Semester start energy is high right now. But the honeymoon phase won't last long.
This is the moment where invisible complexity starts causing friction. The new family gets frustrated because they don’t know who to email. The teacher gets annoyed because they don’t know who makes curriculum decisions. Parents start whispering about “bloat.”
You can spend the next four months defending your structure. Or you can spend 60 minutes redesigning how you communicate it.
The world outside your gates is uncertain enough. Let’s make sure the world inside them makes sense.
Run the audit. See what you find. And come back next Wednesday, because we’re going deeper.
Systematically yours,
About the Author:
G (short for Gitane) is co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at EKG Collective, helping international schools turn communication complexity into systematic clarity. Learn more at ekgcollective.com.