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A Quick Note to Listeners:
Before each week’s interview, Jen Schwanke and I take some time to answer a listener question. This week’s question is:
How do I know if corrective feedback to my AP’s is more helpful than discouraging?
Listen in to hear our response!
Meet Casey Watts:
Casey Watts has spent 20 years in education, as a teacher, coach, and consultant, watching talented educators become stuck in silos, overwhelmed by initiatives, and frustrated by collaboration that felt more like chaos than progress. She knows the real problem isn’t a lack of effort or expertise. It’s a lack of clarity.
Through her Clarity Cycle Framework, Casey helps instructional leaders cut through the noise, align their teams, and turn collaboration into something that actually works. Because without clarity, even the best teams stay stuck.
Now, as the founder of Casey Watts Coaching & Consulting, and host of The Catching Up with Casey Podcast, she’s on a mission to help school leaders stop spinning their wheels and start leading with purpose. Whether speaking, coaching, or leading workshops, Casey equips leaders with the tools to create the kind of teams that don’t just function but thrive.
Why Clarity Matters:
In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk to Casey about one of the most important and often overlooked leadership skills in schools: clarity. Casey’s journey from classroom teacher to district instructional specialist to full-time consultant has been shaped by one central question: Why do so many well-intentioned teams struggle to collaborate effectively? Her answer, over time, has become clear: most teams aren’t lacking effort or expertise; they’re lacking clarity.
Casey shared the story that led to the development of her Clarity Cycle Framework. While facilitating a day of curriculum work with teachers, she discovered that what administrators believed had been communicated clearly and what teachers believed they were there to do were completely different. That moment revealed a painful but common reality in schools: leaders often assume clarity has been established simply because something has been said. But as Casey reminded us, communication and clarity are not the same thing.
Who Needs to Be at This Table?:
One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation was Casey’s reminder that school leaders cannot do this work alone. When the pressure mounts, the temptation is to carry everything yourself. But Casey encouraged leaders to stop asking “How do I do all this?” and start asking “Who needs to be at this table?”. Building an instructional leadership team that includes not only administrators but also instructional coaches, counselors, and teacher leaders creates the shared ownership necessary for sustainable improvement.
Narrowing the Focus:
We also talked about the power of narrowing the focus. In a school environment filled with competing priorities, Casey challenged leaders to identify the one thing that matters most right now: the area of focus that, if improved, would have a ripple effect on everything else. Clarity begins with prioritization. And once that focus is identified, leaders must slow down enough to analyze it, unpack the language around it, and ensure everyone shares the same understanding of what success looks like.
Listening Tours:
One of my favorite parts of our conversation was Casey’s explanation of how leaders can bridge the gap between expectations and ownership through listening tours. Instead of assuming teachers understand the vision, leaders need to create space to ask questions, listen carefully, and gather insight. Those conversations not only reveal where the confusion lies, but they also help leaders adjust their plans and bring people into the process. That’s where ownership begins.
Painting the Picture:
I shared a story from my own classroom days about teaching research papers and realizing that my students needed a visible roadmap of the entire process before they could successfully complete it. That lesson reinforced what Casey teaches so well: clarity isn’t just about saying the right thing; it’s about painting the picture, mapping the journey, and helping people see where they are and where they’re headed. That’s true for students, and it’s just as true for adults.
Let’s Wrap This Up:
As we wrapped up, Casey offered a timely reminder for leaders entering the busy stretch of the school year: slow down. Protect time. Close the door. Gather your team. Clarify what matters most. In a season when everything can feel urgent, clarity gives us permission to focus on what is essential.
If you’re a school leader feeling overwhelmed, stretched thin, or uncertain about how to bring alignment to your team, this conversation will encourage you and give you practical next steps. I know it did for me.
You can connect with Casey through her website, Catching Up with Casey, or find her book The Craft of Clarity on Amazon. And as always, thanks for listening, and thank you for doing what matters!
