Getting a “Yes” from your school administrator (with Marva Mount)

On episode 97 of the “De Facto Leaders” podcast, I had the opportunity to interview SLP and Related Services Director, Marva Mount. Marva is a nationally recognized speaker on issues regarding public school speech and language services. She is a published chapter author, and has been awarded the Hall of Fame Award for outstanding contributions to the field of speech pathology by her state organization. In addition, Marva is a distinguished fellow in the National Academies of Practice, and has served school-aged populations from ages 3 to 22 for almost 40 years. She currently works for Imagine Learning. Marva has made a career out of going the extra mile, never afraid to ask for things and share her ideas; which eventually led to an official leadership position. However, she was acting like a leader even before it was officially in her job title, which is why I thought she’d be a great guest to share her experiences advocating for the profession and her caseload. In this conversation, we discussed: ✅Common mistakes clinicians make when starting conversations with leadership or asking for what they need.  ✅Tips for learning the habits, tendencies of preferences of building leaders and other team members so you can build trust and get your ideas heard. ✅Why administrators frequently say “No” to requests from their staff, and how to increase the chances that you’ll get a “Yes”. You can connect with Marva on her Instagram account @marvajomount or on LinkedIN here. You can also see her Collaborate with Confidence presentation on speechpathology.com here (you need a subscription to access this presentation). We also mentioned the DISC profile in this conversation, which you can learn more about here.  In this episode, I mentioned my Executive Functions Implementation guide that shares how school therapists can lead their IEP teams in providing mental health, behavioral, and social skills support for K-12 kids . You can download this free resource here.