Colleagues,
Last weekend, Pam and I went to an herb and flower event and came home with a “few” plants. Most of what we purchased was on the list but one of our impulse buys was two California poppies. Growing up in San Francisco, these flowers have a high sentimental value for me. I chose one plant that didn’t look as healthy as the rest but which that had a bud. Why? Poppies can be prolific, but I really don’t expect these ones to do well in our climate. What I really want to see is one of the flowers, so I intentionally traded future viability for the joy of seeing one beautiful bloom to remind me of home. We make tradeoffs all the time, but we aren’t always as intentional about it as we should be. Time spent on one thing prevents it from being invested in something else. Working towards a “big” change prevents us from making immediate small improvements. Reflect:
If you have any “ahas” consider sharing them with me here. Have a great weekend. Do good and be well, Frederick
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Colleagues,
Last week I was wrapping up a strategic action cycle (SAC) with a group of amazing early childhood educators. We were trying to decide on the next steps for engaging their parents more deeply. Here were some of the options:
A SAC emphasizes applying the four principles of leverage:
So, what option should the teachers go with? It depends on the criteria and what that root problem is. That ties closely into the question of which parents we are trying to reach, as different strategies will work for different groups of parents. There may or may not be a “best” option, but if we don’t know our criteria for success, we can’t be confident in our choices. Do good and be well, Frederick Colleagues,
It is early may and the lettuce in the garden is popping! Unfortunately, it is supposed to rain all day. It was pouring a few minutes ago, but now it has stopped, at least for a few minutes. So, now is the time to harvest. Sometimes as leaders it feels like it is raining all the time. When the rain stops, we may want to stop too, but harvesting (or planting) is easier to do when it isn’t raining. So, in the midst of your frenetic days, when you find a calm moment – harvest something. Your most prolific crop might be your own self-reflection, but you will never benefit from it if you don’t find those few minutes of calm to reflect and grow. Do good and be well, Frederick Colleagues,
On Saturday, we went to see Ranford Almond in concert. One of the things that made it a great show was how Ranford and the crowd played off of each other. We typically think of concerts as events in which the crowd gets something from the musician, but it is definitely a two-way street as the musician also draws energy from the crowd. Of course, there is a leadership lesson here. As a leader, you should be a lighthouse, and we’ve talked about that before (here). We haven’t really talked about the dynamic that can occur between you and the people you serve when you do a great job being that lighthouse. This week try focusing on those light house concepts and then monitor your own emotions and mental outlook. Are you also feeding off of those lighthouse interactions? I hope so. In case you forgot, here is how you become a lighthouse:
Do good and be well, Frederick |
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