There's a saying in sports that "There's no 'I' in 'Team.'"
Coming from an athletic background to lead facilities for a 36,000-student district, Adam Larsen, Executive Director of Facilities and Planning at Peoria USD -- Arizona's 3rd largest district -- faced a familiar leadership challenge: transforming 42 "independent states" into one unified team.
At the K12 Facilities Forum, Larsen shared practical leadership lessons from his journey that every facilities director can apply.
The Leadership Mindset Shift
Larsen boldly challenged conventional wisdom. Rather than seeing leadership and management as complementary skills to balance, he argued they represent fundamentally different mindsets:
"You either are a leader or you are a manager," Larsen said. "Do you show up to work every day to manage what's going on? Or are you there to lift the people around you?"
This distinction isn't about job titles but about how you view people. While managers focus on checking boxes and following protocols, leaders prioritize understanding individuals and adapting to their needs – a critical difference when leading facilities teams with diverse expertise and decades of experience.
Three Leadership Principles for Facilities Leaders
1. Maintain Consistency, Embrace Flexibility
Create a clear plan and stick with it despite inevitable resistance, Larsen said. For his team, this consistency provided much-needed stability where schools had previously operated with conflicting priorities.
While holding firm to the overall direction, listen to and incorporate feedback from team members. "We may adjust a little bit if needed," Larsen said, which has proven crucial in aligning the district's more than 40 campuses.
2. Lead with Humility
"The most important part of leadership is humility," Larsen emphasized.
As a newcomer to facilities management, he acknowledged that even though he may not know every technical aspect of his employees' jobs, he's there to support them.
"I have people who know what a chiller does, but I don't. My job is to make sure they have everything they need.''
3. Show Courage and Take Ownership
Implementing meaningful change requires courage to stand firm despite pushback. This means having difficult -- but necessary -- conversations with both principals and veteran staff.
"If you're gonna back down at the first resistance to an idea, then you're not a leader," Larsen said.
When mistakes happen, accountability is essential, he said. After all, some of the best lessons come as a result of falling short: "You have to be willing to take ownership and be responsible for it," he said.
Measurable Results
In less than a year, Larsen's approach transformed Peoria USD's facilities department into a universally lauded district component, from the community to the school board. He pointed to some concrete improvements:
- Established the district's first comprehensive capital plan
- Created unified facility standards across all schools
- Improved basic maintenance operations
His challenge to fellow facilities leaders was straightforward, just like him:
"Be a leader. Don't manage. Look at other people and lift them." The reward is a level of team loyalty and commitment that can transform entire district cultures.
Watch Adams' full talk here...
Comments