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The following is a letter that LYS Coach, Lesa Cain,
recently shared with the Principals she works with.
As you go about your summer activities, hopefully resting,
traveling and generally rejuvenating yourself after the year, I challenge you
to think about the year ahead and to be prepared to communicate the following
with anyone who will listen, especially your staff.
1. Simon Sinek says that the cost of leadership is
self-interest. He explains that as
a leader there are certain perks that everyone accepts: salary, parking place,
how people treat you in the position.
Those and many other “perks” come at a price – that you will absolutely
without hesitation put yourself in the face of any issue FIRST – that you will
never throw your people under the bus and that your needs come LAST after
everyone else’s.
With this in mind –
how are you demonstrating and modeling this on a daily basis? At a staff luncheon, will you serve
everyone the food and you eat last?
Are you making eye contact with every staff member every day?
2. We all know that
having a system in place is critical to the success of an organization. It is easy to communicate what we will
do and how we will do it – that is very appealing to the conscious part of the brain. The harder and even more critical piece
is the WHY – why are we doing what we do?
That appeals to our limbic system – the emotional, gut level part of our
brain and there will be NO positive change until emotions are activated. People
buy the why, not the what.
Can you verbalize why
you make the decisions you make?
Work on that this summer and TELL your staff the why at the very first
staff meeting in August and then repeat it over and over and over and over and
over...
3. Patience as a
leader is under-valued. I’m not
talking about moving slowly – rather your “patience” when the following happens
(borrowed from Amber Teamann’s blog - Technically Yours, Teamann):
...When you
think everyone understood what you said, but find out some didn’t.
...When you figure out
people can’t read your intentions, just your actions
...When THAT student
is sent to you again.
...When you wish “So
& So” would have handled that differently.
...When you wish YOU
had handled that differently.
...When you see things
moving slower than you think they should be going.
...When you realize
that you can’t MAKE people change, but only inspire them to want too.
Patience can be the
difference between being respected and being ignored. Impatient leaders lose
the ability to bring people on board. Patience makes you pause, makes you
reflect, makes you not so quick to jump. Change requires patience.
Communication requires patience. Collaboration requires patience. Patience
allows others to share, others to be heard, and you to think.
4.
Each of you ran a marathon last year and all of you finished! As you prepare to run again, what is on
your NOT To-do list? What did you
spend time and precious energy doing last year that DID NOT result in what you
intended. Identify at least 3 of
those things and STOP doing them!
There is no reason to continue to add and add without subtracting.
Especially when you know the results will not be you want.
5.
Stress occurs when human beings are isolated and lonely. Schools can be very isolating – people
surround us, but we come to work and close the door, and now we e-mail more
than we talk. The more isolated a
person becomes, the more stress they feel. What can you do to create a community on your campus? I’m not talking about a friendly
lounge, but a real community where all members know WHY they do what they do
and a common belief in the WHY.
I’ll give you a hint on where to start. Who are you as a leader and what
can your staff expect from you?
Identify 3 things and TELL them.
The caveat here is that you must be honest – if you say one thing and do
another, you might lead, but no one will follow.
Have a great summer and work to prepare for
an even greater year! I would love
to hear what you want to work on and am here to help in any way!
L.C.
Think. Work. Achieve.
Your turn...
- Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/Fundamental5
- Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
- Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
- Upcoming Presentations: Kentucky Association of School Administrators Leadership Institute; The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Keynote Presentation)
- Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation and like Lead Your School on Facebook
