
← SEL in EDU15. Sept. · 34 Min.
104: From Role Blur to Role Clarity with Courtney Joly-Lowdermilk
<p>Senior leaders often arrive ambitious and passionate, then quietly slide into what Courtney Joly-Lowdermilk calls "role blur," where the all-hands-on-deck approach erases job boundaries, and burnout sets in. As CEO of REACH Leadership, Courtney helps educational and nonprofit leaders bring clarity back to their roles and organizations.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, she walks Krista through the REACH method: Recognizing the ambiguity, Evening the power differentials, Acknowledging expertise, Collaborating, and Healing, and explains why she treats "values in action" as concrete, observable verbs rather than posters on a wall. They dig into the healing step (owning your part in a rupture and inviting, not forcing, repair), why the physical environment either echoes or contradicts a school's values, and why the real decision makers in student-facing work should include students themselves.</p><p></p><p>A grounding conversation for any leader who senses something is choppier than it needs to be.</p><p></p><p>Connect with Courtney via her <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://reachleadership.today/our-story" target="_blank">website</a> and <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-joly-lowdermilk/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.</p>