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Colleagues,
MVP: We can align structures and resources to help people do their work more easily or effectively. Happy Thanksgiving! In my second year teaching 8th grade history, I wanted to use a more collaborative teaching style and have my students working together consistently. I arranged the desks into groups of four, but it was very clunky. Thankfully, my principal supported me by investing money in large tables, which made it much easier for students to collaborate. Organizational friction can occur not only with purpose, but also with structures and resources. In my example, the physical layout of the room, and the tangible resources I has (desks) were misaligned to the way I wanted my teaching to support our purpose. My principal used financial resources to help me change the structure of the room. In other words, my principal made it easier for me to do my work by aligning resources and structures. His actions made me feel supported. When leaders seek to align the organization and decrease friction, it becomes easier for people to do meaningful work. Today’s intention: Reflect on what leaders have done to make it easier for you to do meaningful work. Then, reflect on what you have done to make it easier for others to do meaningful work! Cheers! Frederick
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Colleagues,
MVP: What you do is aligned with some purpose, but that purpose is not always clear and it may not be the official stated purpose of the organization. Why do you do the work you do? What are you trying to achieve? If you do a great job, what is the impact? The answers to these questions “should” be aligned to the purpose of your organization. If you work in a school, then the work you do each day should contribute to the purpose of helping young people grow into healthy adults who have agency over their lives. If you don’t feel your work is contributing to the purpose, what is it contributing to? What is the purpose of your work? People want their days to be meaningful. In general people want to contribute to and be a part of something meaningful. When they don’t have those feelings, it means there is a disconnect with the organizational purpose. How does this happen? The challenging truth is that most organizations have multiple purposes:
So, which, or whose, purpose is your work aligned with? Today’s intention: Look more deeply at the connection between your work and your purpose. All the pieces of your work. Why is each piece there? What purpose does it serve? Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: The feeling of “fighting the system” is the result of misalignment within the organization. Yesterday I wrote about feeling like I was swimming against the current as a middle school teacher. My team and I were trying to do things that the school wasn’t really set up to do, which made our audacious plans much more difficult to carry out. Throughout my career, there have been many times I experienced this feeling of swimming upstream, and I have heard countless colleagues and friends describe the same feeling. What’s happening? Essentially, it’s all about alignment. When you are trying to do your job, and it feels like you are “fighting the system”, that’s a sign that you and your organization are out of alignment. There are four elements in every organization which need to be in alignment”
Mis-alignment creates friction, and that friction creates the feeling of swimming upstream. If you are intrigued by today’s message, you should listen to this morning’s episode of The Assistant Principal Podcast in which I dive more deeply into the issue of alignment. Today’s intention: Think about these four elements and where friction might be occurring. Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Ever feel like you are swimming upstream? When I was a middle school teacher, our team of 8th grade teachers developed complex integrated thematic units through which we addressed timeless issues such as scapegoating and propaganda, and how our individual choices impact not only our lives, but the lives of those around us. It took time time to coordinate and plan how these big ideas would fit within the curricula of our different subjects. The whole process was messy, especially given that our school’s schedule and other structures were still rooted in the junior high school model, not the middle school one. Sometimes it felt we were spending as much time trying to work the system as we were trying to do the work of creating and teaching these incredible units. Have you ever felt like that? Like you spent way too much time and attention fighting against things when you were just trying to do your job? Today’s intention: Think about how you felt (or feel) swimming against the current. What specifically is happening that makes it feel like that? What explains it? Cheers! Frederick Colleagues,
MVP: Memorize a couple reflective questions for ease of use (list is below). I’ve portrayed asking questions as being simple and easy, and it is, but… There is some knowledge in having a small repertoire of reflective questions you can draw on. Good reflective questions are:
Here are some of my favorites:
You don’t need to memorize all of them, just keep one or two in your pocket. My favorite is “Can you tell me more?” I love to watch people pause and think. It really is fun. Today’s intention: Ask one person one question! You got this! Bonus: email me about your experience here. I “might” have a special treat for you Cheers! Frederick |
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