The Busy Administrator Syndrome.

A friend of mine was appointed to his first principalship in 1979. As an experienced principal, I felt it was my duty to provide advice for his new assignment.

What I offered him then and have shared periodically with others during my 16 years in the superintendency are a series of homegrown rules that all but guarantee someone will become a successful school administrator. During the last several years, I have passed these along to my graduate students who are preparing for careers in school leadership as a humorous counterpart to the administrative competencies they must demonstrate for entry-level administrative licensure in our state.

* Walk fast.

Hurry everywhere you go, whether there is any need for speed. Pass everyone by in the hallways; this gives the impression you have emergencies to tend to and little time to handle them.

* Always come a little late to meetings.

This is a fairly obvious ploy for helping people sense your importance. When you slip in late after the meeting has started, mumble an apology and refer vaguely to someone overstaying his or her allotted time and you just couldn't get away.

* Leave meetings early.

Leaving meetings before they are over essentially has the same effect as arriving late, but it requires a slightly different technique. As the time to exit approaches, start looking at the clock or your watch and begin to gather your papers and push your seat back. Do this inconspicuously but not so much that your meeting mates aren't aware that you must have another date in your busy schedule and must go.

* Do your paperwork during meetings.

One of the most effective ways to keep people mindful of how busy you are is to take a briefcase full of paperwork to a meeting and work through it during the meeting.

* Have someone call you out of meetings.

Probably no ruse is quite so public and quite so dramatic as to be called out of a meeting. Truly busy, important administrators are being called out of meetings all of the time. It really doesn't have to be a trumped-up call. Just let your secretary know where you are, and tell him or her that as soon as someone tries to reach you by phone to call you from the meeting place. The effect on everyone present is golden. This is even more effective if your call comes in on your cellular phone.

* Dress (or undress) for work in meetings.

When you come to a meeting, take off your coat, roll up your sleeves and loosen your collar on your shirt or blouse. This gives the unmistakable impression that you're a workhorse ready to plow into the business of the meeting.

* Send someone else to meetings.

With your authority as an administrator, send a subordinate to a meeting. This gives everyone the impression that you are just too busy to make all these meetings. Be sure your emissary announces at the outset that he or she is representing you, that you were unavoidably detained, had another meeting or were out of town.

* Keep a cluttered desk and a full in-basket.

Keep the reading material stacked year-round. It wouldn't hurt to have the stack grow a little each week. Always leave several papers and a writing pad prominently displayed on your desk.

* Display your "While you were out" notes prominently.

You've all seen them. They are on every administrator's desk--those oversized paper clips, mousetraps or clothespins mounted on walnut stands. Well-organized administrators have such a place for secretaries to put calls to be returned, important messages and reminders of meetings.

* Keep your callers waiting for a few minutes.

Busy people have trouble keeping on schedule, so it will be no surprise if your appointments are running just a few minutes late. Have your secretary call you on the intercom to tell you that your next appointment is waiting.

* Delegate everything.

The more you delegate to secretaries and subordinates, the clearer the impression that you are efficient and well-organized and are doing your best to manage the responsibility that is yours.

* Have your secretary place your calls.

If you really want to give people a taste of how it is to be really busy and oh-so-important, have your secretary place all your calls, even those within your building.

* Be mysteriously absent much of the time.

An administrator who is always available really can't be very busy with important schoolwide responsibilities. A better impression to give is an empty office with your desk cluttered with unfinished work.

* Always carry a full briefcase.

Nothing is quite so impressive as seeing an administrator leave every evening with a briefcase chock-full of papers, professional journals, pamphlets and reports.

* Talk about how busy you are.

Nothing communicates this better than your own words. At every opportunity let people know how full your schedule is, how many meetings you have to attend, how many reports are waiting to be completed and how often you have to work on evenings and weekends.

Eric Bartleson is a professor of educational leadership at Minnesota State University-Mankato, 115 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, Minn. 56001.