Running Head: FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

Field Based Learning Project:

An Interview Paper
Jillian Duffy Schulte
Drake University

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

Similarities:
Anna, a volunteer coordinator and PTA secretary, believes that building strong
relationships with volunteers is important. Volunteers in her school logged approximately 10,000
hours last year. Anna displays appreciations from students and staff and provides candy and
snacks for volunteers in the workroom where they check in and log their hours. She stated, Its
important that I greet volunteers and make sure their needs are being met because they are doing
such an invaluable service to us. Anna also believes that transparency is essential in building
and maintaining relationships. She models this by doing what she says she is going to do. She
adds, I walk the walk. Honesty, follow up and follow through, and open lines of communication
are extremely important in my job."
Caden, an elementary school principal of eight years, also expressed his passion for
building relationships. He said strengthening relationships with staff and parents is his favorite
and most rewarding part of his job. Caden strives to build relationships by doing what he says
hes going to do. He said, Walk the walk. Show through your actions because you are under a
microscope. It is important to build trust and prove that you are going to be fair. When it comes
to personnel issues, one way Caden demonstrates integrity and fairness is by getting to know the
whole truth. People come to me and tell me stories. I want to listen to them, but I also want to
know the history as my own history.
Jack, senior vice president of a bank, believes that relationships with clients and staff are
extremely important in the success of banking. He says, You have to show them that you care.
You show them your time. Your time is your most important asset. The last time he had
individual performance reviews, he took his staff out to lunch to get them out of the building and
connect on a more personal level. People underneath Jack in other departments view him as

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

management, even though he isnt their boss. As a result, he believes it is always important to
represent himself positively. Similar to the other leaders, Jack also believes in walking the
walk to foster a climate of integrity, ethics and fairness. He said, I will lose credibility if I ask
people to do something and Im doing something else. At our bank, we pride ourselves in the
consistency factor. I am consistent with my employees and clients.
Each leader felt strongly that they would rather work with constituents that are less
effective, but highly trusted and ethical than less ethical and trustworthy, but highly effective.
Anna, the volunteer coordinator, said, I have to have people that I can trust volunteer. Our
situation at school is too high stakes to have volunteers who cant be trusted. Background
checks and disclosure cards are a non-negotiable with volunteers. If volunteers dont turn in their
paperwork, pass a background check and follow the procedures, they simply arent allowed to
volunteer in the school. Anna follows this rule very carefully. There have been situations in
which volunteers werent meeting the needs of the building with integrity and fairness. In
instances like this, Anna said, I stop seeking them out, or politely give them other ways to
volunteer, like doing things at home.
Caden would also rather work with teachers that are high in integrity, but less effective.
He posed the question, How can you be effective if you dont have integrity? One of Cadens
responsibilities is to evaluate teachers during their evaluation year. However, even if it is not a
teachers evaluation year, Caden creates opportunities to address any teacher performance or
personnel issues. He said, I have a responsibility for student learning. Ethically, I need to step in
and support someone if it is what is best for the kids. Caden feels more urgency now that he is
in his eighth year as a principal. While he wants to get better faster, he also wants to maintain
positive relationships with his staff. When asked about how he navigates through this type of

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

dilemma he said, Its hard to be patient because it feels like were losing time. On the flip side,
taking the time, supporting teachers and building stronger relationships sometimes gets there
faster rather than having them shut down right away.
Similarly, in regards to integrity, Jack said, I need integrity. In anything, but especially in
banking. Jack considers himself lucky that he hasnt had to deal with any sort of fraud issues in
his career as senior vice president. He has had clients go into foreclosure, resulting in signing the
house back over to the bank. He found out the owners brother was homeless and still living in
the house. In attempt to maintain a positive relationship and react in a fair, humanistic way, he
gave the man a week to get out of the property. In addition to having clients that he holds in high
regard, Jack has never had to terminate an employee. He is passionate about using his
relationship and coaching skills when having performance conversations. He said, If someone
misses their loan goal, I step up my coaching. I enjoy helping lenders reflect about their process.
Busy doesnt equate to equal and I try to provide guidance for that.
Differences:
Throughout my conversations with the three leaders, I found that there were far more
similarities than there were differences. The main difference was there seems to be more grey
area in education, while banking tends to be more black and white. When it comes to
personnel issues regarding leave time, Caden, the principal, has more flexibility with his teachers
and staff. He tries to follow all of the contractual rules set by the district and the union while
keeping in mind that we all have lives outside of school. Some of the grey areas include use
of personal, emergency and bereavement leave. Caden explained, If someone tells me that their
best friends mom died, I want to be humanistic, and let them use bereavement time. This is an

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

example of leave time granted at an individual principals discretion because the death was not a
family member.
Caden also tries to provide coverage for teachers and staff that need to be gone from the
building for a short time (about an hour or less). What he does for one, he does for all, unless an
individual abuses the flexibility. In that situation, Caden has a conversation with the individual
instead of taking privileges away from the entire group. In regard to having tough conversations
Caden said, I continue to work on being direct. Its hard when I really like someone, but I need
to be direct. Its my job to say it.
Jack also tries to be flexible with his salaried employees by granting them permission to
leave for a short period of time for an occasional appointment without using PTO hours. His
lenders are also in and out of the bank all of the time meeting with clients, so their schedules lend
themselves better to that flexibility. Jack is not concerned about abuse of time because, they are
seasoned professionals. You know when they arent getting their job done, because the numbers
dont come in. He differs from Caden in that his flexibility is limited by the time clock with
hourly employees. He said, The time clock forces me to play within strict rules. I need to be
more conscious about the flexibility that I am providing them.
Banking is highly regulated and Jack has to follow strict rules which makes his decisions
more black and white than the leaders in education. Regulators look at how his bank handles
clients and they dont want to see that they are biased. Most importantly, when making credit
decisions, financial institutions have to work within specific parameters, leaving very little
grey area. Jack said, Sometimes peoples financial situations allow us to be creative. Like if
they have certain assets or collateral.

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

The PTA has much more flexibility than the highly regulated banking world. Anna,
volunteer coordinator and PTA secretary, explained that the PTA has tight and loose bylaws
and standing rules that come from the Iowa PTA. Each year, the PTA sets a line item budget,
giving a set amount of money for each project. The PTA is at liberty to spend their money on
what they deem appropriate. One of the goals of the PTA is to meet the needs of teachers while
being fiscally responsible. There are times when Annas dual role as an employee of the school
and a parent PTA member makes it more difficult for her to navigate through decisions. Anna
says, I want to advocate for my child in a way that wont offend my employer or disappoint
teachers. Its hard to turn down field trips or purchase requests, but sometimes its just not
possible. The PTA uses the connection to the curriculum to help them navigate through the
process of approving purchases. In most cases, the PTA asks that teachers try to apply for grants
before coming to them for funding.
Surprises:
Jack, senior vice president, has always been personally driven to serve in a leadership
capacity. The importance of relationships between Jack and his employees was a surprise to me.
He enjoys getting to know his employees and believes that it makes him more effective in his
leadership role. He said, I really like the interpersonal relationships that have nothing to do with
rules and regulations. Ive learned a lot about my coaching style. I was also surprised by how
much of Jacks job is coaching. When he was promoted to senior vice president, he went from
having 70 clients down to 10. A large amount of his time is spent on coaching others and
growing leaders. He said, You dont have to have a special title to be a leader. Foster more
leaders.

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

I was surprised that Anna, PTA treasurer and volunteer coordinator, sometimes struggles
with her dual role as a parent and a school employee. She has worked under two principals with
very different leadership styles. One would make her feel very uncomfortable and unable to
speak on the behalf of her parent role because she was a school employee. She said, I felt like I
was walking on eggshells and I didnt want that to hurt me in a professional sense. Her new
principal makes it much easier for her.
Caden made a statement that surprised me regarding a teacher talking behind his back.
This caught me by surprise because I cant imagine plotting against someone in my personal life,
let alone my professional life. He said, The thing you have to get over as an administrator is that
you could tick someone off and they could try to get a witch hunt against you. Caden has been
in that situation before and wanted so badly to tell everyone that comments an individual was
making about him were not true. Instead of defending himself, he lived through his actions. He
said, I will build my reputation by what I do and she will build her reputation on what she
does.
Big Ideas/Take-Aways:
There were two big ideas that I will take with me when I assume a leadership role. These
ideas are: build strong relationships, and walk the walk. There were more similarities than
differences between the leaders. Each leader held relationship building in high regard. It will be
important for me to show people my time, listen, and get to know teachers and staff on a
personal level that is comfortable for them. Building relationships seems especially important for
first year leaders, or leaders in a new building or environment. People have to first know that I
care before they will care about what I have to say.
Walk the walk was a phrase I heard each person use when discussing how to lead with

FBLA INTERVIEW PAPER

ethics and integrity. When I assume a leadership role, there will be many eyes on me. The phrase,
under a microscope was used by Caden to describe what it was like in the first year. I will need
to build my reputation through my actions. Modeling the types of behaviors and actions that I
want to see will be an important skill for me to exercise. Another phrase that resonated with me
was, You dont have to have a title to be a leader. Foster other leaders. Jack spoke about
building relationships and coaching to build more leaders. I believe in teachers as leaders and I
think I could build capacity through modeling, walking the walk, and creating strong
relationships.