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Colleagues,
The past two weeks have been the hardest of my life and I and the people I love will be picking up the pieces for a long time to come. Again, don’t feel sorry for us, this is life. We have all been there and likely will be again. Here are two critical things I am taking away from the last 14 days:
Frederick
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Colleagues,
Our family has been dealing with a crisis. It’s been a week as I write this, it will be another week by the time you read it. My wonderful New Year’s intentions feel like childhood dreams. We are just trying to survive and figure things out one day at a time. Tomorrow is too far away. Today demands all the attention. Please don’t feel sorry for us. You have probably already been through times like this and will probably see them again. That is life. We are going along okay, and then, boom, something happens. A couple things to think about:
The Assistant Principal Podcast episode will probably come out on Thursday this week. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
It’s been a tough week. More on that tomorrow. But today, let’s celebrate. Two weeks ago, we talked about one word and many of you graciously shared your one-word with me. Here are some of them (shared with permission):
If you haven’t already done your one word, I hope these inspire you. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
One other thought from Monday’s podcast: Make sure to clarify issues at the front end of a difficult conversation! Back when I taught 8th grade, I received an evening call from an angry parent. She laid out her grievances and expressed her frustrations about a recent test. She was angry! The thing is, I hadn’t given any tests that week. It took some effort, but I stayed calm and kept listening. Finally, I realized the parent was complaining about a test in English. I taught History. 🤣 🤣 🤣 The parent didn’t have the English teacher’s number, but she had mine so I got the call. It wasn’t about me. And probably, the parent’s anger wasn’t actually about the English teacher either. People mistarget their anger and frustration all the time. It’s not about you. Relax. Listen. See if you can help them. Collaboration beats conflict. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
I recently heard LaVonna Roth make an interesting point about rewards. When we validate and praise people, we are providing an extrinsic reward. Overuse of intrinsic rewards leads to dependency. If your people depend on you to tell them what they do well, they become more focused on pleasing you then on the positives they get from doing their work. Intrinsic reward is a better motivator as it focuses us on the process rather than the outcome and leads to increased independence. So instead of telling people what they did well, try asking them what they think they did well. It’s a small but potentially valuable switch. Of course, you can and should still praise people, but be aware of developing the intrinsic rewards of the work. Cheers! Frederick |
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