Frederick Buskey
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Are you a strategic leader?

4/23/2021

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Colleagues,

I’ve been using a lot of analogies lately, but today I just want to ask you to stop and reflect on your leadership in terms of being strategic. As you read the rest of this email, and for three minutes afterwards, just assess how well you are doing in each area.
 
The four pillars of strategic leadership are:
  1. Purpose: focusing on what is important instead of what is urgent. Important tasks move the organization closer to achieving the organization’s purpose.
  2. Problems: identifying and investing in solving root problems instead of spending time treating symptoms.
  3. Progress: implementing constant incremental change through strategic action cycles. Making things incrementally better each day is better than investing in big changes that take months to produce results.
  4. People: actively coaching and promoting the growth of people in the organization is the fastest way to real and lasting improvement. I heard one guru suggest that 90% of a leader’s time should be spent developing people. That is a lot, but really reflect on this: if all of your people were 20% better, what tasks would you no longer have to do, or would spend less time on?
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Please do reflect on these things and consider sharing your “ahas” with me.

Do good and be well,

​Frederick
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M=V/E

4/22/2021

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Colleagues,

In our APEx group coaching session last week, someone asked about keeping teachers motivated during the final weeks of school. This has been the hardest year ever to be a teacher, so it is an understandable question.
 
Remember that motivation equals value divided by effort: M=V/E
 
There are lots of things that have increased the effort needed for teaching and decreased the value, so motivation has decreased.
 
To increase motivation, we need to increase value, decrease effort, or both. The caveat is that mental, physical, and emotional fatigue are real factors which, essentially, increase the effort required to continue producing results.
 
One of the most critical things we can do is to continue to help people grow in incremental ways. What can we do to develop a teacher’s skill so that their teaching becomes easier (effort) and has a bigger impact on students (value)?
 
We tend to back off helping people grow while they are struggling with motivation, but very targeted development can actually increase motivation.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick
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Tomatoes anyone? They are free.

4/21/2021

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Colleagues,

I struggle to remove volunteer plants from my garden. There are tomatoes (literally hundreds!), green beans, lettuces, squash, and who-knows-what popping up everywhere.
 
This sounds great, right? Free plants!
 
Unfortunately, nothing is free. Those volunteer plants come at a cost:
  • Space that could be used for something else
  • Time to care for them
  • Nutrients from the soil
  • Extra nurturing if they are growing in a shaded spot
 
Undoubtedly, there will be a couple of these volunteers that come up in the right place at the right time. Perhaps one or two will be vigorous growers and be worth transplanting by the time I get around to dealing with them. But most of them will be in the way and will distract me from investing my time and energy into something that will be more productive.
 
Our organizations are like gardens in many ways, including the propensity for “things” to grow on their own. Sometimes these volunteer efforts are worth nurturing, but many times they aren’t.
 
Try looking at all the things happening around you and reflect on which things are really essential.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick
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When to be exacting

4/20/2021

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Colleagues,

I am installing a new door for our pantry. It is a narrow space and I couldn’t get a pre-hung door in the right size, so I need to hang the door myself. That means I need to cut out mortises – the spots where the hinges attach to the door and to the frame.
 
If the hinges don’t fit perfectly, the door will never work properly, so the mortices need to be perfect. I am taking my time and will hopefully have a successful door installed soon.
 
I’m also working on some trellises in my garden. In contrast to the door, there is no reason to be exacting and precise with the trellises. The only thing they need to do is to withstand the weight of the plants.
 
As a leader, you don’t have time to give your best effort to everything and many things don’t deserve your best effort. Knowing when to be exacting and when to do the minimum (think MVP) requires reflection and intention.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick
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Was the garden a success?

4/19/2021

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Colleagues,

Spring is here, and I’m thinking about all of the things I want to do in my garden. It is really tempting to just start planting things, but before I begin this season, I need to reflect on last season. This process of reflection is a form of evaluation.
 
In its simplest form, evaluation is determining if things went the way you had planned.
 
In order to evaluate, we need two things:
  1. Criteria to decide how things went
  2. Data (information) to determine if we met the criteria
 
When I’m thinking about last year’s garden, and whether or not it was a success, I need to first identify the criteria for success. What did I want from my garden?
  1. Spending time outdoors?
  2. Eating my own food?
  3. Saving money?
  4. Therapy?
 
Understanding my own expectations allows me to identify what data I need.
 
Do good and be well,
 
Frederick
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  • Resources
    • The Assistant Principal Podcast >
      • Frederick's Featured Podcasts
    • Daily Emails
    • Free Resources
  • reclaiming purpose
  • Support and Services
    • Testimonials
    • Strategic Leader Academy >
      • Building Classroom Culture
    • Coaching
    • Speaking