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Colleagues, On yesterday’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast, Steve Bollar (aka Stand Tall Steve) and I discussed core values. Steve shared a simple, speedy process for developing a set of core values for your school. Essentially, collect the values everyone suggests and then whittle them down to 12, then 6, have some discussion, then pick the final 3. There’s a lot more about core values on the show, so I hope you listen. I’m happy to acknowledge Kaleidoscope Adventures as a sponsor of yesterday’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast! I appreciate their support and encourage you to connect with them if you are thinking about planning a school trip!  Cheers!
Frederick
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Colleagues, MVP: “Climate is the emotional state felt within the physical space” If culture is the inner force resulting from the degree of alignment between people, purpose, structures, and resources, what is climate? “Climate is the emotional state felt within the physical space” so asserts today’s podcast guest Stand Tall Steve. You can hear both of our takes on culture, climate, purpose, and other topics on today’s show. Thanks again to IXL for sponsoring today’s episode.  Cheers!
Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: The pyramid has 8 sides 7. The pyramid has 8 sides Most of us have grown up believing that the great pyramid has four sides because that is what we see. The truth however, is that it has eight sides and they are in plain view. How does that happen? It’s right in front of us and we don’t see it. The eight sides weren’t (re)discovered until 1940 when an airplane took a picture from above the pyramid, and this is the critical lesson. When we examine old places from new perspectives, we can see things that have been in front of us the whole time, but that we never saw before. Imagine what this could mean for your leadership. Intention: If you have embraced the idea that organizational culture is a reflection of the degree of alignment (or misalignment) between people, purpose, structures, and resources, then you understand what I’m saying about looking at old things through a new perspective. If this isn’t making sense, email us and we will send you some more info. The Assistant Principal Podcast is continuing to grow, and we want to take the show to the next level of quality. If you are a regular listener, please use this link to reply with what you like best about the podcast (so we keep it in) and what ways we could improve the podcast (so we can fix it). Thanks! Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
6. Striving for perfection is a sign of arrogance Yes, admit it, this one probably gets your hackles up. Part of leadership is holding yourself (and others) to high standards. It is good to know what the perfect version of something should look like, but it is not worth investing in it. To think you could do something perfectly is itself an arrogant notion. You are only mortal. In the striving for perfection, what are you leaving undone? I used to only be willing to send out “perfect” emails. So, if I didn’t have time to do more than dash off a quick response, or if I didn’t have the schedule, the worksheet, the letter, whatever it was, in “perfect” shape, I would hold it until I could get it “perfect.” The result was that I never finished them and instead of having something good enough from me, people got nothing. Perfectly nothing. The perfect is the enemy of the good (paraphrase from Voltaire), so get over it and cut yourself some slack. You aren’t perfect. Intention: Process the emotions you had while reading this message. If you felt resistance, interrogate why. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
5. True caring is about you, not me I used to try and help people by getting them to think like me. Why? I guess I thought I had all the answers. The problem with this form of “caring” is that my agenda drove the interactions and I only created space for people to grow in the direction I wanted them to grow. In the spring of 2004, I read Milton Mayeroff’s short book On Caring and it changed my leadership forever. Mayeroff stated that if I really cared about someone, then I would take the time to know and understand them and support them in the direction they determined they needed to go. This was a profound shift. My actions became more about the other person, and less about me. Leading is not taking people in a direction, it is providing the support to help them grow in the direction that they need. Intention: Think about your own growth. Do you know the direction in which you need to grow? Is there any reason to think other people can’t figure out how they need to grow? Cheers! Frederick |
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