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Yesterday I shared that The Assistant Principal Podcast will be coming out soon. Here is a teaser, the best quote of the episode (IMHO): “If we have different ideas about what leadership is, doesn’t that mean that we expect different things from our leaders? And, as a leader, how will you know who is expecting what from you?” Colleagues,
Pam and I returned from our great vacation across the country on July 23rd. The following week Pam noticed that the internet in her office, located downstairs at the far end of the house, was very sluggish. As she started doing more and more work for the new semester, the situation became intolerable, so we called our internet provider (45-minute wait!) and increased our service level. This did not help. I played around with the antennae on the router. Nope. Upon awaking Friday morning, I found my wife working on her computer in the dining room because she couldn’t get any service in her office. I decided to get online and do some searching, which I anticipated would be of little help, and then calling our provider and spending another 45-minutes on hold. However, as I walked to my office, I asked myself “what’s the problem?” The problem was not a bad internet signal – that was only the symptom. Pam had been getting good internet in her office before we left for our trip. So what had changed? It finally dawned on me that we had rearranged our living room as soon as we got home (that’s another story). We needed a small planter and grabbed the one that the router was sitting on, so the router wound up on the floor. Hmmmm… I shoved a crate under the router to get it off the floor and BOOM, high speed service was returned to Pam’s office. We’ve been struggling with this for a month, but we never stopped long enough to really dig down to figure out the root problem. Please, be more strategic than I am! Cheers! Frederick
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I’ve been wanting to do a podcast for a long time and last week I finally recorded the first episode. The target audience is very specific: assistant principals. They are the forgotten leaders, and I want to help them improve their lives and leadership. The show will be helpful to other school leaders, but it will always be focused on APs. I’ll let you know when the subscription link is available. Colleagues,
Yesterday, for the first time in nine months, I tasted my coffee! I had COVID back in November and lost all taste and smell. While most of my senses returned in time to taste Christmas morning breakfast (maple twist), coffee has continued to be bland. Some days it was just like drinking warm water. Here’s the thing: I never stopped drinking coffee! I couldn’t taste it, but I kept drinking. Why? The answer doesn’t really matter. What is important is that we understand why we do things. Knowing why allows us to be intentional, and that is a key to strategic leadership. So today, ask yourself why you drink that morning beverage. And maybe, think about why you do some of the other things you do each day. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Yesterday I encouraged you to use a three-item win list every day in place of your to-do list. You can read about the problem with to-do lists here and here. Those wins are tasks, but there are also essential behaviors that strategic leaders engage in. Back in June, I suggested four and I’m still advocating for those:
Friday reflection questions:
Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
Moving from urgent to strategic requires breaking the cycle of action. Yesterday I was bouncing all over working on:
It was non-stop action all day. However, action is different than progress. Strategic leaders focus on progress. Sure, many of these tasks needed to get done and it wasn’t wrong that I did them. The problem is that I did them instead of focusing on things that will help me make progress towards my goals. Did you make progress yesterday, or were you just busy? You may want to re-read my post on the win list, which is essentially a three-item to-do list. At least one item needs to be from quadrant 2 and completing the three items constitutes a win for the day. If you feel inspired, why not share today’s (or tomorrow’s) win list with me? I’d love to know what you are focused on and it will be good accountability for you! Colleagues,
Yesterday we spent an hour on the phone talking with the window people replacing the large bow window in our living room. Nobody asked why we wanted to change the window; the entire focus was on what the new window would look like. I don’t understand windows, but it seems like the discussion should have been about what our goals were, and then the expert window people could have designed the window that would meet our goals. Instead, the expert window people spent an hour trying to teach us about windows so we could tell them what window we wanted. I think we do this in our organizations as well. We get so focused on design and process that we lose track of the goal. This week, when you find yourself getting stuck on a project or task, try stopping and asking yourself:
Why before what. What before how. How before when. Cheers! Frederick |
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