my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

Hiring an assistant principal? Reading suggestions for new leaders! #cpchat **UPDATED with book links

by 10 Comments

My amazing assistant principal was named principal of another school here in our district this past week. (!!!) We are SO excited for her, but that means I’ve got an incredible opportunity to bring on a new partner in crime. A new leader is bright…shiny…full of energy, ideas, and motivated to do their best.

A new leader means I also now have the INCREDIBLE RESPONSIBILITY of having a new partner in crime!

I remember the exact moment I realized as the new principal that the growing, molding, and motivating of my assistant principal (and actually, my whole office staff!) was my responsibility. While she herself, obviously, played a large role in her own development, it was me who would help guide and direct her as the leader of the campus. It was a weight I’d never contemplated so seriously before..but one I won’t take for granted.

You manage things; you lead people. —Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

Click To Tweet

My new AP is fresh from the classroom, and I know she is excited and bringing incredible strengths to the table. When we meet for the first time, I have this tool that another principal in our district shared (Thanks, Dr. Helm!!) to go over.

 

 

Here’s a PDF version!

What could I add? Any experienced admin have any suggestions?

I have several books to hand her as well.

I’ve also already got an order placed for several books that I feel are vital to the well-rounded, multi faceted leadership approach that we embody here at our campus. These are books that I either read and reread regularly or feel have led to the kind of leader I want to be, the perspective I want to share with my teachers. I can’t wait to share copies with her!

 

Leverage Leadership

Innovators Mindset

What Great Principals Do Differently

The Principled Principal

Start. Right. Now.

Unshakeable

The Happiness Advantage

 

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

Click To Tweet

Team buildN &

 

Leadership team…how do you grow your teacher leaders? Three easy things to try!

by 2 Comments

One of my greatest focuses as a leader is to empower other leaders. From growing independence to fostering a culture of YES…I want our to have ownership of our school is run, to truly understand WHY we do what we do, and to genuinely think about what is best for our Wolves. That comes from LOTS and LOTS of conversations. It comes from giving situational autonomy to decision-making, and sometimes…hard questions when we reflect.

We have a separate leadership meeting before school starts each year. I have team leaders, who are typically handling things like field trip planning, important dates, team schematics, etc. We also have PLC leaders…these are my academic leaders who plan our PLCs and take the lead on data conversations during our formal PLC meetings each week. This meeting is where we come together as a leadership team. It is casual, but also a time where we establish our campus focus, drill down to our team focus, and even touch on each leader’s “leader” focus. Here are three things that we are going to do this year to help build our teacher leaders!

 

  1. We’re going to create educational “TMYK” documents. These ” The More You Know” documents will be a tremendous resource for our new teachers.  We take a concept, term or literacy initiative and create a short click sheet/how-to for our team. Writing this forces us to do more research and understand it enough to explain it well to our teams.
  2. Monday “Gaming Growth” sessions! I’m going to divide up all the weeks of the school year and have a leader share leadership strategies, TED talks, blog posts, tweets…anything that they feel would be of benefit to their team or our campus., It can even be an inspirational blurb! Because it’s not just me or our assistant principal, but our teachers of varying grades and experiences, too, we hope these shares are more engaging and impactful than if only led by “the” boss.
  3. Personal Coaching– Hall-of-fame basketball coach Phil Jackson used to give his players books to read that were appropriate to them and their personality. He famously gave Kobe Bryant, “The Art of War.” You can do the same with your leaders. When you come across great content via book, blog, podcast, etc. relating to instructional strategies and leadership, send it their way and add it to your leadership agenda.

 

Here’s the agenda we’ll be using in August…to be finalized and determined closer to the date!

Leadership growN &

 

The importance of planning as a leader… & tips to do it well! #erincondren

by 13 Comments

Confession:

My husband doesn’t buy me flowers. He buys me stationary supplies.

As techy as I try to be, I can’t not have a paper/pencil planner. I have tried a variety of digital tools (google calendar, todoist, evernote). I have tried to quit cold turkey and only use my Outlook calendar so I can use my phone.

It never sticks.

Consider this. 

You are 42% more likely to achieve your goals by writing them down.

Click To Tweet

Forbes reports a pretty incredible +study about goal-setting carried out in the Harvard MBA Program. Harvard’s graduate students were asked if they have set clear, written goals for their futures, as well as if they have made specific plans to transform their fantasies into realities. The result of the study was only 3% of the students had written goals and plans to accomplish them, 13% had goals in their minds but haven’t written them anywhere, and 84% had no goals at all.

Where would you fall?

So then after 10 years, the same group of students were interviewed again and the conclusion of the study will blow your mind as an educator. The 13 percent of the class who had goals, but did not write them down, earned twice the amount of the 84 percent who had no goals. The 3 percent who had written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined. People who don’t write down their goals tend to fail easier than the ones who have plans. Oh my lizard!

 

I use my planner for more than just tracking my days. I reference and compare the previous year to my current year, regularly. I add a lined sticky post it each month, where I record thoughts and notes about the events that had occurred each month. For example, we had a “chalk the walk” event last year. We invited our Wolves to join us for an hour the day before school started to write positive, encouraging messages on the sidewalks to welcome our staff and students back the next day. While I had remembered plenty of chalk, it would have been really nice to have water on that hot August afternoon. Now…while I would like to think I would have naturally remembered that this year, I wrote down LAST year to remind myself we should provide water. When I was filling out events in the current calendar, that note on last years August page served as a great reminder for me to make sure it was on this years to do list. Simplistic? possible. Effective? Definitely.

Goals are recorded on my monthly pages. They carry over until they are done. I am determined to be in that percentage that ACHIEVES their

 personal/professional goals. 

This year I cheated on my favorite paper planner. I have an entire shelf dedicated to my Erin Condren planners. They’re not cheap. It’d be much simpler just to run down to the Target and grab one. So I thought….why not? How different could a planer be?  Shoot, this year I went to Michael’s and bought one that I could “construct” myself. It was half the price even!

It lasted two weeks.

I couldn’t handle it and had to order another Life Planner from Erin Condren. <<head smack>>

What’s the difference?

  • Quality thinker paper, tighter coils, firmer cover that doesn’t get scratched/faded
  • Large monthly spreads with a place to record “to do’s” or reminders
  • POSITIVE happy quotes spread throughout- I’m a firm believer in think happy, be happy. These bright encouraging quotes make me look forward to opening my planner each day.
  • Hourly day spread- With two girls and a fireman to keep up with, I need as many details to keep me straight as possible
  • Seach #erincondren on Instagram for fun ideas for planning. My partner in principal crime, Melinda Miller, loves starting her week with an incredible layout! I’m going to start posting my weekly spread as well to share a glimpse of what my #fabulousyearfour looks like!

 

If you’re a NEW customer (or have a NEW email address!) you can use this link to get $10 off!!

 

Stationarily excited &

 

 

 

The Power of Positive Leadership

by 1 Comment

I posted something on Instagram this week about choosing happiness. So much of our attitude and mentality is within our control…but it’s up to us to harness it! As I sit, awaiting our state STAAR scores…I thought it would be a powerful reminder that my happiness is my choice. 😉
( I love Twitter. @8amber8)
  • 1. Positive People Live Longer – In a study of nuns, those that regularly expressed positive emotions lived on average 10 years longer. (The Nun Study)
  • 2. Positive work environments outperform negative work environments. (Daniel Goleman)
  • 3. Positive, optimistic salespeople sell more than pessimistic salespeople. (Martin Seligman)
  • 4. Positive leaders are able to make better decisions under pressure. (Heartmath.org)
  • 5. Marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions whereas when the ratio approaches 1 to 1, marriages are more likely to end in divorce. (John Gottman)
  • 6. Positive people who regularly express positive emotions are more resilient when facing stress, challenges and adversity. (several studies)
  • 7. Positive people are able to maintain a broader perspective and see the big picture which helps them identify solutions whereas negative people maintain a narrower perspective and tend to focus on problems. (Barbara Fredrickson)
  • 8. Positive thoughts and emotions counter the negative effects of stress. For example, you can’t be thankful and stressed at the same time. (several studies)
  • 9. Positive emotions such as gratitude and appreciation help athletes perform at a higher level. (Heartmath.org)
  • 10. Positive people have more friends which is a key factor of happiness and longevity. (Robert D. Putnam)
  • 11. Positive and popular leaders are more likely to garner the support of others and receive pay raises and promotions and achieve greater success in the workplace. (Tim Sanders)
I’m ok with ALL of these things!!
(I’m pretty sure Troy Aikman agrees with #9. IJS.)
Add being positive to your 2018 summer to do list…let’s see if our positivity buckets can all overflow!
Sunshine SpreadN &,

Are you intentional with your praise?

by 1 Comment

Gallup is very clear in its research how powerful praise and recognition can be in the workplace. With the gamut of to do’s on an educators plate, it can be easy for that to slip right off the prioritized list of things to get done.

I read in a recent Gallup’s study that individuals who receive regular recognition and praise:

  • increase their productivity
  • are more engaged with their colleagues
  • less likely to LEAVE their current role
  • have higher rated feedback from their clientele/customers

 

How does that translate to education? You’ve heard that someone who feels appreciated will always do more than expected. I’ve mentioned before that I keep track of when/how I share praise on my team. (just a checklist, where I add checks by a name each time I write a note….) In the same manner that I keep track of who I send Christmas cards to, I keep a list of who I’ve celebrated or recognized. I actually got a comment this year that suggested my praise was disingenuine, because of the fact that I track it. If what Gallup is telling me is correct, the majority of us don’t give or receive anywhere near the amount of praise that we should. As a result, we’re much less productive, and in many cases, completely disengaged in our jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number one reason people leave their jobs is because they “do not feel appreciated.” 

Ensuring that our team feels appreciated is a priority, and as the leader, it’s my number one priority.

Click To Tweet

That to me makes it important enough to keep track of because I don’t want any of my people going anywhere!!

I created these happy notes several years ago in an attempt to make sharing a “happy note” with my team easier. These small interactions can make a big difference in the day to day stressors of your team…whether they be big or small. Hopefully, these templates will make it easier to make it happen for you!

Also, I’ve freshened them up, so you have all new sets to use as well!

Happy note shareN &