Category: People
Changing Teachers vs Changing Leaders
If you Google the phrase “changing teachers,” it will return 472,000,000 results. If you Google “changing school leaders,” it will return 658,000,000 results. Most of the web content related to the search for “changing teachers” deals with ways to make teachers change. Most of the web content related to the search for “changing school leaders”…
Increasing Empathy Skills in Conversation
Ever had that conversation that didn’t go as planned? Okay. That’s an easy question. Ever had that conversation where there was an underlying tension? The words were nice and correct, but the tension was present and unspoken. That is when empathy skills are needed. Empathy skills are techniques that pull out the underlying tension, and…
What is the Planning Fallacy?
The theory was first proposed in the late 1970s to explain our human tendency to overestimate our abilities in completing a task. We tend to estimate less time than is actually needed for us to complete tasks. It’s our optimistic bias toward our own effort and skill. Why is the planning fallacy counterproductive? The planning…
Why Do We Struggle With Time Management?
One psychological explanation for why we struggle with time management is the planning fallacy. The planning fallacy causes us to feel out of control with our time. The more we feel out of control, the less motivated we can be to try to gain control. It’s a vicious cycle. But what is the planning fallacy?…
If there is no struggle…
Long-term investors know the return on investment is an aggregate. It’s the combination of wins and losses that create a portfolio. Cut the losses. Maximize the wins. Then the portfolio wins. It’s not the day to day trades that long-term investors care about. Frederick Douglass said it best, “If there is no struggle, there is…
Building Walls For What?
Groups tend to grow into organizations. Organizations tend to grow into bureaucracies. Bureaucracies tend to lose their innovative edge. But why? Because of walls. For some reason, maybe it’s in the DNA of our species when we find a bit of success, we tend to wall it off. It’s likely a protection instinct, but it…
Communicating with Empathy: 3 Phrases to Use When Someone is Irritated
You could just pull rank. But that may not move you toward your vision. Instead, here are 3 things to say when someone is irritated. And yes, you should say something. Avoiding problems is a good way to create fester transfer, and that’s not good for culture. Instead, communicate with empathy using these 3 phrases.…
Confrontation and Candor
A confrontation is a clashing of forces or ideas. It’s not pleasant, and generally, we don’t like confrontation. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s just not healthy. However, avoiding confrontation is not the same as avoiding candor. Candor is open communication. It’s honest and frank. Candor can also be scary, but it is…
How to Feed Fear
Not because you want to do it, but because you need to avoid inadvertently doing so. Look, every monster needs to eat. Just don’t be the one who feeds it. Fear is no different. Fear can be fed. It can also be starved. But what feeds fear? It’s not facts. It’s certainly not self-doubt. And…
10 Obstacles Teachers Face
There are many obstacles and challenges to overcome. Here are 10 obstacles your teachers face. More importantly, these are 10 obstacles you can have a direct impact on. Lack of Coaching Mismanagement Trust Workload Clarity Upward Mobility Perceived Disconnect Support Sabotage Cynicism Tomorrow, I’ll share 10 leadership traits that address these obstacles. Listen to the…
End of My Rope
A second grade teacher shared the story about her first year teaching. She was exploring tone and mood in a text, and she mentioned how authors come up with ideas. She made her second-grade class cry. In her words, “I didn’t mean to make them cry. I was sharing one of Tomie DePaola’s simple books…” >> Listen…
Team Entropy
Apart from physics, entropy is defined as a lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder. Entropy is a natural part of working as a team. Teams entropy occurs when work outpaces productivity. Team entropy occurs when teams move between the phases of problem-solving. The more movement, the more entropy. Movement doesn’t always equal…
Back to School Letter 2.0
It’s almost time…you’ll be in the office soon getting ready to welcome your team back. You might even draft a back to school letter. Let’s think about the traditional back to school welcome letter. How can we use it to touch people, shape culture, and impact learning? Here’s one idea…The Welcome Back to School Letter…
Capacity
The dictionary defines it: The maximum amount that something can obtain. The amount that something can produce. Both leadership and management have one thing in common. Their chief aim is to increase capacity. They go about in different ways, but the goal is the same. This is the topic of today’s podcast episode: Dam Capacity.
Involvement and Engagement
There are many tactics that increase involvement. Likewise, there are many strategies that increase engagement. Knowing the differences between tactics and strategies will also shed light on the differences between involvement and engagement. One shows people doing things. The other shows people connecting. _____ Here are three principals who share complaints about lack of engagement…