What Principals Wish Their Teachers Knew About These 3 C's

If you’ve ever been in school leadership, you know the weight of it. You can walk into the building with a vision in your heart, energy in your stride, and strategy in your hand, but before you even make it to your office, ten different fires are already waiting for you.

A district email with a new directive.A parent in the lobby demanding answers.A teacher needing coverage because a substitute didn’t show.A fight in the hallway.The HVAC system making a noise you hope isn’t as bad as it sounds.

And here’s the reality: 85% of what happens in a school isn’t the principal’s “fault”—but it is our responsibility to fix. That means every broken copier, every parent concern, every missing bus, every student meltdown somehow lands on our plate. We may not have caused it, but we are expected to resolve it. That’s the job.

The hard part is, most teachers never see the forces at play behind the scenes. You don’t see the district leader saying “no” to your principal’s requests. You don’t sit in the state compliance meetings where mandates are handed down with no wiggle room. You don’t always hear the difficult phone calls with parents, lawyers, or board members. What you see is your principal—our face, our voice, our leadership. Which means when unpopular news is delivered, we’re the messenger who gets blamed.

And yet, we don’t sign up for this work to be messengers or middlemen. We do it for the same reason you do—we love children, and we want to create a place where they can thrive.

But here’s the truth nobody talks about enough: principals burn out too. And when they do, schools lose something rare. Teachers often say how hard it is to find a good leader, and when one leaves, the grief is real. People cry. They talk about what they lost. They know it will be hard to replace.

What pushes good leaders away, more often than not, comes down to three things—three C’s that either sustain leadership or crush it: communication, consistency, and competence.

1. Communication: The Two-Way Street

Communication is one of the greatest balancing acts for a principal. Share too much, and people feel micromanaged. Share too little, and people feel confused or ignored. Principals walk that tightrope every single day.

We push out newsletters, send reminder emails, drop updates in meetings—but here’s what often happens: they go unread. The information is there, but it gets lost in the shuffle. Then, the frustration comes back on leadership: “Why didn’t you tell us?”

The other side of communication is this: teachers talk—but not always to us. Problems often get vented in the lounge, whispered in the hallway, or blasted on group texts long before they’re brought to the office. By the time it reaches us, it’s grown into gossip, mistrust, and culture issues that now require hours of repair.

Here’s the distinction principals wish teachers understood:

• If it’s about school culture, conflict, or a decision that only leadership can make—come to us first. Protect the school by letting leadership address it before it spreads. Example: If there’s a toxic conflict between staff members, if a parent is stirring up division, or if something is breaking down the climate of the school—bring it to your principal.

• If it’s a routine, day-to-day solvable issue—check your email, handbook, or colleague first. Not every small bump needs to land on the principal’s plate. Example: If you missed a deadline because you didn’t read the Friday update, that’s not a leadership gap, that’s a communication gap on your end.

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This balance is what keeps communication healthy. Leaders value being brought into the right conversations early, while also trusting teachers to handle what they can without fueling negativity.

The bottom line? 

Communication is a two-way street. Principals are committed to being as clear and transparent as possible, but teachers have a responsibility to engage directly, avoid gossip, and use the information that’s already provided. That’s how trust and culture are protected.

2. Consistency: The Quiet Foundation of Trust

If communication sets the tone, consistency builds the foundation.

Here’s the hard truth: a teacher who knows what to do but refuses to do it is harder to manage than a new teacher still figuring things out. Skills without follow-through create more stress than gaps that can be trained.

Consistency is about the small, everyday commitments that create stability for students, staff, and leadership.

• Time and Attendance: Being on time matters. Students notice. Colleagues notice. Leaders notice. When you’re late, someone else has to cover, and that creates unnecessary stress and resentment.

• Duties and Responsibilities: Hall duty, cafeteria duty, bus duty—these are non-negotiables for student safety. Missing them doesn’t just inconvenience the principal; it puts kids at risk.

• Following Through on Initiatives: District initiatives aren’t optional for principals. When teachers brag about ignoring them, it creates unnecessary tension. Leaders don’t enjoy enforcing compliance, but often we have no choice.

• Consistency with Students: Kids thrive on predictable routines. When teachers set expectations one day and ignore them the next, it creates confusion—and who ends up dealing with the fallout? Leadership.

  
  

The truth is, principals don’t have the luxury of inconsistency. If we miss a deadline, the district calls us on it. If we miss a meeting, it impacts compliance. If we fail to follow through, it becomes a black mark on the school. We live in a constant accountability system.

What we wish teachers knew: your consistency either supports or undermines the entire school. When you’re dependable, it reduces stress for everyone. When you’re not, it creates another fire your leader has to put out.

3. Competence: Do Your Job, and Do It Well

The third C is competence, and it might be the one that wears leaders out the fastest.

I’m walking from the office to the cafeteria—a short walk, maybe three minutes. In that span, I get stopped ten times.

Do we have extra copies of this test?How do I upload grades again?Did you see my lesson plans?Can you fix the copy machine?

None of these are emergencies. All of them are things teachers could have solved themselves, asked a mentor, or figured out with a few clicks. But instead, they land on the principal’s shoulders, stacked on top of everything else already there.

Or here’s another one: sometimes, I’m finally sitting in my office, sneaking in a rare chance to eat lunch. I see the same teachers walk past, peeking in to see if I’m there. Eventually, one of them musters the courage to step inside: “Are you busy?”

Let me save you the suspense—yes, your principal is always busy. We are never not juggling something.

And yet, teachers still ask questions that could have been answered by:

• Checking the handbook.

• Reading the email that went out earlier in the week.

• Asking a colleague down the hall.

  
  

Here’s the key difference:

• If it’s culture-breaking, urgent, or something only the principal can fix—please interrupt. We want to know about those things.

• If it’s a routine matter you could solve with resources already provided—respect the leader’s time and handle it. Especially when you see your principal trying to eat lunch or handling a student situation.

  
  

And here’s the research side: A study from the Wallace Foundation found that principals make between 300 to 500 decisions in a single day. Think about that—hundreds of judgment calls, big and small, stacked back-to-back, every single day. No wonder so many leaders are exhausted by 4 p.m. (or earlier).

Competence isn’t about perfection. It’s about initiative. It’s about solving what you can before escalating. It’s about recognizing that every time you stop a principal for something you could fix yourself, it pulls focus away from the bigger picture.

Why This Matters

At the end of the day, principals aren’t superheroes. We’re human. We feel stress. We feel the sting of criticism. We feel the exhaustion of being pulled in a hundred directions.

What principals wish teachers knew is this: if you want your leader to stay, protect the three C’s.

• Communicate clearly, and bring the right issues to the right place.

• Show up consistently so the foundation of the school stays strong.

• Do your job with competence so leadership can focus on leading.

  
  

Because when these three things break down, leaders burn out. And when leaders burn out, schools suffer. Teachers lose the stability of strong leadership. Students lose the anchor of a steady school.

But when teachers uphold the three C’s, something powerful happens. Leaders can lead. Teachers can teach. Kids can learn. And schools can thrive.

So the next time you wonder what your principal wishes you knew, remember this: we’re in it for the kids, just like you. And we need you just as much as you need us.