Colleagues,

Next week I’m going to try something a bit different.
 
Each morning, I will present you with a task that will take about five minutes.
 
Each day will build on the previous day, so try and keep up.
 
When I have done similar work, it has been emotional and impactful. I can’t promise it will be the same for you, but what if…
 
… in five minutes, for five days, you could do something impactful to grow your own leadership?
 
Wouldn’t it be worth taking a chance?
 
Reflect:

• What is the story you tell yourself about who you are as a leader?
• How does that story help you…
• … and hurt you?
• If you could change or tweak one thing about your leadership, what would it be?

 
If you have a chance this weekend, try and find a favorite picture of yourself as a child. We will use it next Thursday.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Remember the six dimensions of organizations? 

In an ideal organization, the people, structures, and resources are all aligned to the purpose.
 
Because the perfect organization doesn’t exist, there is always misalignment.

​One primary responsibility of leadership is using change processes to increase alignment.
 
Here is part of the challenge:

• Organizations improvement is driven by the growth of the people within it.
• The structures of most organizations aren’t aligned to growing people.
• The structures of most organizations aren’t aligned to help leaders learn to grow people.

 
The first step to getting better at growing people is to grow leaders’ abilities to build the structures and apply the skills for supporting professional growth.
 
Addressing this core issue is one of the primary goals of the daily email. 
 
Be intentional today. Think about what you have learned about growing people. Focus on implementing one thing. Some possibilities (from April 6, 2022):

• Do 5-minute coaching
• Be fully present
• Provide quality feedback

 
If you want to think more about this and you are an educational leader, stay tuned for this afternoon’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast in which I dig deeper into these issues.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Sometimes it is helpful to compartmentalize tasks:

• I write the weekly emails on Fridays.
• I work on APEx on Mondays.
• I develop programming in June.

 
However, compartmentalizing can create a false sense that things are disconnected.
 
The reality is that everything touches everything else.
 
As you go about your tasks, be open to the idea that you will see or learn something that touches on a different part of your work. Plan your work and work your plan, but be open to surprises, opportunities, and serendipity.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

Yesterday I asked who you should focus on growing:

• The super 2%?
• The excellent 20%?
• Or everyone else?

 
A variant of the Pareto Principle is the 20-60-20 rule. Twenty percent will be on the positive side, 60% in the middle, and 20% on the negative side.
 
This ratio is used a lot in change management. The idea is that you begin a change process with the first 20% of people. Once you have momentum you begin to bring along the 60%. At the point that 80% of the people have made the change, the final 20% will either follow or leave.
 
Yesterday was “who should we work with?”
 
Today, I think that was the wrong question.
 
We have an ethical obligation to help everyone in our organization grow and get better. Allowing someone to languish and rot is not acceptable leadership behavior.
 
What’s the right question?
 
It isn’t who, but how.
 
How should we work with people in different performance levels?
 
If you feel good about how to answer that question – yay! Kudos for you.
 
If you aren’t sure, consider checking out the features section on my resources page to learn more about nine-box and the cube of development. It may not fully answer your question, but it will help you get started.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick

Colleagues,

 
The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of an effect is generated by 20% of the work, or by 20% of the people.
 
In working with a community of assistant principals (APEx), about 10% are highly engaged, 10% moderately engaged, and 80% are in the background. 
 
In your organization:

• Who should we focus on? 
• Do we fly high with Godin’s 2%?
• Do we maximize our efforts by focusing on the 20%?
• Do we try and move the entire organization by focusing on the 80%?

 
Please, pause and think about this.
 
…
 
 
The fourth principle of strategic leadership is focusing on people.
 
If you don’t have a clear answer to the questions above, how can you be strategically focused on developing your people?
 
Maybe you are just stumbling around?
 
I would love to get your reaction to this. Please consider clicking here to send me a brief reaction.
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick