Matt’s blog about people, culture, & impact.
Do You Really Want To Be Sent Away?
You’re in a place in your job where you need help. But then, you’re sent away. “Check out this website. Read this book. Go to this conference.” Do you really want to be sent away? Sent away to stumble through your own answers. Do you really want to do the same for your staff? Wouldn’t…
Why Do We Do This To People?
Educators are some of the busiest people in the world. If it’s not district mandates, or community needs, or regional mandate, it’s school leaders, it’s instructional coaches, or even Pinterest – everyone is telling the teacher and principal what to do and how to do it. Why do we do this to people? What’s worse,…
A Quick Thought on Transitions
You’ve seen the videos. He’s standing with one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock. The boat starts rocking and drifting from the dock. Inevitably, we all know what happens next. We laugh and give the video a thumbs up. Transitions are just like this. Moving from one career to the next.…
Enroll In The 3 in 3
Consider enrolling in the Principals’ Seminar 3 in 3. It’s designed three years of experience in three weeks’ of learning. View the full curriculum and details here.
Future Cues
In yesterday’s post, I alluded to cueing systems. One aspect of a cueing system is a set of future cues. Think of it as a script. It tells the actors what’s coming and what role they’ll play. When planning large scale changes, or when navigating unplanned changes, create a series of future cues by scripting…
The Problem With Pointing To Heroes
When changing school culture, we’re often told to point to the heroes. Create examples of people who are doing what you wished “everyone” else would do. There’s a major problem here that’s not often cautioned about. Point to heores without first creating a cueing system will create divides – them vs us. It’s exclusionary by…
When You Didn’t Know How To Act
Think about when you showed up for your first day of graduate school. Maybe you weren’t exactly sure what to expect. What did you do first? Without even thinking about it, you looked around. You do it at conferences. It happens at meetings. Our brains are wired to look for cues on how to behave…
Show, Not Tell
You can tell people what to do. Or you can use cues to show them. Ever wonder why baseball players are always spitting? Ever wonder why viral videos lead to strange dance crazes? People mimmick what they see. No one told them what to do. They see enough others doing it, and they assume it’s…
Canned Laughter and Other Cues
Television productions understood a simple truth when creating sitcoms – the need to use canned laughter to seed the humor. If you’ve watched Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert lately, you’ve noticed the lack of audience laughter makes their jokes a bit less funny. The reason herds work, is because animals look for cues on how…
What Makes Us Happy And Why That Matters To Curriculum
Let’s contemplate what makes us happy. In this peer-reviewed article, happiness is distinct from sustainable happiness. Happiness Happiness can be bought, for the moment. It can be achieved and repeated with effort and accolades. But these materialistic and task-oriented experiences of happiness are short-lived and require continual repeating and “upping the ante.” In a materialistic…
Infinite Pie
There are those who see competition. Then there are those who see collaboration. The first believe that there’s a pie, and it’s a race to grab one’s own share of it before it’s all gone. The latter believe that when we work together, we create more pie. Which are you? The takers of a finite…
When Things Are Tough, Just Know
When things are tough, just know you’re able to read this blog post, which means it’s not over yet. Hang in there. You’ll do great. Everything’s going to work out. ____________ And if you feel like it’s beyond tough, like it’s the end of the road, it’s okay to step back and dream again.
Don’t Just Get Through This Challenging Time
You and I both know that lasting change happens when two factors are adjusted: Environment Habits In our current educational dilemma, the environment has changed, but many schools are seeking temporary habit changes. Instead of building temporary plans during the COVID challenges, think about leading the way into lasting change. Create organizational habits that outlast…
3 Simple Questions For Returning Staff
Yes, there are unprecedented changes that your school may not be ready for. However, there are also simple leadership moves you can take to lead during these times of change. One of these leadership moves involves leading with questions. Here are three simple questions to ask your teachers as they return to school this year.…
How Cognitive Dissonance Helps and Hurts Your Change Efforts
Change is tough. We know that. Personal change, professional change, and organizational change can each be overwhelming. Especially when change is led by someone who doesn’t understand the five stages of change. In times like we’re experiencing now in Fall 2020, educational change includes all three areas of change (personal, professional, organizational). Here’s a quick…
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