After nearly a 35 year career in education, I retired as the Superintendent of Schools in January 2020. While in the role as superintendent, I sat on two national committees, ERDI and C21 and also was an adjunct professor for Gonzaga University. I now work as a leadership consultant supporting the work of school boards, system and school leaders.
Chris Smeaton
Author's posts
Jan 13
Always be a learner!
I started my administration career back in 1991. I was 29 years old, had just completed my master’s degree and I was brash as hell. I moved from a strictly high school setting to a K-12 environment and from a middle to upper class socially economic school to a community facing significant poverty issues. Success …
Jan 06
You can’t be a jerk!
The other day in an interview I was giving, I was asked to give someone just going into leadership a piece of wisdom. While effective leadership can never be boiled down to one or two traits, there are certainly some non-negotiables. Fostering effective relationships with your staff is one of those non-negotiables. A person may …
Jan 01
Some hopes for 2024!
It is interesting that once you get out of a habit, it is hard to get back into it. Such is with my writing! When I was a superintendent, Sunday was an essential workday for me and that was when I typically wrote my blog posts. Now retired, or semi retired as some would say, …
Jul 30
And/Both not Either/Or
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve written a couple of blog posts that to many may sound contradictory: Kindness in Leadership and Fearless Leadership. The fact is great leaders should be both kind and fearless. They are not opposites and realistically compliment each other well. Empathy is a trait of the kind and fearless …
Jul 23
Fearless Leadership
Canada has one of the best education systems in the world. This is especially true when you consider that the majority of students are educated in public schools, the vast diversity within our classrooms and the highly inclusive environment we continually cultivate. Most countries marvel at the results we consistently get year in and year …
Jul 17
Kindness in leadership
Earlier this year, I attended the Central Alberta Teachers’ Convention on behalf of Nelson. I was pleasantly surprised when one of my former teachers, Laurie McIntosh (@lauriesmcintosh) stopped by the booth to say hello. I was then humbled when I dropped by her sessions, and she kindly recognized and affirmed me in for my actions …
Feb 01
Accountability and leadership
I came across the image below on Twitter and it resonated with me from a leadership perspective. Leaders need to be accountable but too often it is about to who rather than simply being accountable through all of one’s actions. There is a doing part of accountability but in true accountable leadership it is far …
Jan 08
What zone are you in?
Below is a great visual provided by Dr. Amy Edmondson that links psychological safety to performance standards. In the visual, she identifies four zones that people within organizations reside based on the relationship between psychological safety and performance. Great leaders understand the importance of psychological safety in the workplace. There is no doubt that it …
Jan 03
Looking back to 2020
This week marks the third-year anniversary of my retirement as Superintendent of Schools. In some ways it seems like only yesterday that I called it quits, while at other times it seems like a lifetime ago. So, what have I done or better yet, what are some things I’ve learned in these past three years? …
Jan 01
What if…
It has been quite some time since I last posted, but I’ve made it a priority to write more often and share my thoughts. To begin this new year I want to start with a simple “What if…” post! We’ve come through a couple of difficult years and to say that our communities are divided …