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

Are you thinking about your “next” big adventure?

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Our principal at Wylie High, Virdie Montgomery, is pretty great. He is someone who reflects regularly, praises often, and is always up for a good prank. One of my favorite things he shares is his thoughts on Facebook. This was a post of his from this past week that just made me stop and think. Mediums like this make me thankful so that we all can grow and learn from his voice and varied experiences. We should all have someone like that in our lives.

This semester, my superintendent has started an “Achieving Leaders” Facebook group. Its goal is to connect and grow leaders, both inside our district and out. I truly think its the casual conversations, the opportunities to share our stories, where growth can most easily occur. Principals of varying levels have joined us, sharing strategies that are both relational and transformational. It is practical and easy to apply, as a leader or even as a future leader.

If you’re interested in joining our group and learning alongside us, the link to join is here. We had an episode where we asked people to reflect and think about their stories. Virdie was a guest, as well as our Assistant Supt of HR, Mr. Winn.  We asked to reflect and share on their stories…and think towards their ending and what it looks like professionally speaking. Virdie’s answer was powerful…so powerful that I teared up. He then went on to share it on Facebook and with permission, I’ve shared it below.

Living the Dream! I don’t know what your dream is or when your dream formed. All I know is that we are all on the journey to get there. I live the dream each day, live in the present and am consumed by the present. The dream is not something that is always just over the horizon. It is right now. There are times when the journey is at the beginning but that journey is a part of the dream. There are challenges on this journey and there is a path to the dream we all must go down. Today is the most important part of the dream and it happens every single day. I have vivid memories of when I was in elementary school of wanting to be a teacher someday. Everyone who had ever mattered to me outside of family was a teacher. They had influence and power over me. They molded the very way I think and perceive things. I loved them in a way that was revered. They weren’t my friends….they were above that. They made me work.

They pushed me and they encouraged me without even knowing they were doing it. I could feel it. Even if they were disappointed in me I knew and felt that they knew I could do what they were asking. Disappointment is powerful. Truly, if someone is disappointed in you …that means they expected you to do better. If they were never disappointed in you that to me meant they did not think I could get there anyway. We are a product of our past. I never want to disappoint those that matter to me because that is one high expectation and it takes work. I wanted to teach and the journey there was long and it was not easy. I was living the dream even then because again…the journey is a part of the dream. I take pride in the journey that finally got me there and then I found that the dream was just a continuation of that journey began a long time ago.

Today, I ask if you are living the dream? Where are you in the journey and are you enjoying the journey and overcoming the obstacles that limit or hinder the overall dream? Sometimes the dream changes course but the journey continues. I choose to live this dream daily and I never want to disappoint so I give my best. Sometimes my best is not good enough and yet it somehow gives me a reward because as flawed as I am…it is the best I have to give. That is all we can do and for sure all we can expect of those around us …especially kids. If they are giving their best, how can I ask more of them than I can of myself? I want their best and I will love them regardless of the outcome because that is what I need in my own journey. In my mind, this all makes sense …written? I just don’t know…but I am giving my best every single day on this journey and I am blessed to be living the dream that began a long time ago.

 

Wherever your season of life finds you right now, I hope you’re living your best life.

I hope you’re excited about your present and see it as exciting as your future…that’s what I think Virdie was speaking to. I teared up when he said he couldn’t imagine his future being better than where he was right now. That’s how I want to live…knowing that where I am, personally and professionally, is fulfilling and makes me excited to wake up each day. Once you’ve joined the group, here’s the one I’m talking about, 🙂 

Join us over on “Achieving Leaders”. You’ll learn something each week…and we’ll all grow together!

Thoughtfully, thankfully &

 

 

 

 

 

PS: !!!

The Leadership Vault Reopens Dec. 1st!

Don’t miss your last chance this year to join over our inaugural 100 principals working together to level-up their leadership. We will reopen for a short period to welcome new members starting December 1st. Join the waitlist to get notified we are open before anyone!

 

October wearing you out? Here’s a fun freebie to encourage!

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Is it me, or is October 5,000 days long?

Feels like it, I’m telling ya!

 

Parent conferences, expectations setting in, data, assessments…feels like there is a little bit of everything we do, crammed into this month. There’s a reason we call this the first armpit of the school year. It’s when the honeymoon is over and our reality has set in. Thanksgiving seems really far away, and it’s all crashing down around us.

Just in case your team needs a boost like I feel like mine might, here’s an easy way to brighten a day. I’m throwing this into mailboxes as hopefully an acknowledgment that not only am I feeling it too but that there is an end in sight!

 

Attach it to a chapstick, and there ya go! Packs are cheap at the Walmart, or you can order from Amazon.

 

Download your copy here!

(Chapstick can be ordered from Amazon in bulk here!)

 

 

10 more days…we can do this!

 

Paddling &

How will you respond to a tough month?

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Dr. Maricela Helm is a principal peer of mine here in Wylie ISD. Each week we send each other our staff newsletters. It’s not for accountability purposes, or to show off, but because we each value the jump start we give each other. (We also try to meet once a month for lunch as a “mastermind” where we try to solve all the problems of the world.) I am super appreciative of her, her time, and her sharing!

I asked if I could share this months lesson blurb she sent to her staff because I thought it was so powerful.

It’s who we are.

Did you know the picture in the staff bathroom is of Prairie Chapel Ranch, the retreat home of President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush? I mean why put just any ol’ farmhouse picture in there?

Did you know the paper butterflies that adorn the front stairwell have the names of all 550 of our inaugural Eagles printed on their wings? Because when possible, we will work to make every action we take and decision we make just a little more special.

I do feel we are a special district and I know we are a special school. I have to be honest, In challenging situations I have thought to myself before – how might a typical or average school respond, now, how will we respond ?

In most cases we unite, we rise above, but sometimes in the most challenging situations even the best can slip. My friend Shari Halpin shared this as ‘admiring the problem’.

So, when we admire a problem, we give the problem itself time and attention: talking about it, sharing it, giving our time to looking at it like it as something we can only view from afar.

But cultivating a solution requires entering into the relationships and saying -“I have two choices: I can sit around talking about this problem, gossiping and complaining to others, making things even more difficult or I can engage in the relationships around me to create solutions.”

So the next time you hear the beginnings of a pot stirring… how did this get to be such a big problem?” or “Why do we always come back to this problem?” – – shake it up. Stop admiring the problem

Talking about problems like this in a team can be a way to bond — it’s you together identifying a common enemy. If you’re a team leader, it can be tempting when your teams have discussions like this, because uniting against a common problem is a quick way for a group of people to rally together.

However, a group of people discussing a problem does not make it any better. In fact, if nothing happens as a result of that discussion, all you’ve done is waste time. You’ve admired the problem.

What it takes to move past that is for someone to speak up and work to make it better.

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 That takes energy, courage commitment and follow through.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

Is this problem something that you’re going to work to resolve, or are you going on to focus on the things that you can improve?

Instead of spending time bonding around a problem that you’re not going to solve, it’s more productive to unite around a common purpose.

Uniting around a common purpose… THAT’S who we are. We lift each other up. We help each other. That’s why I love our school family.

October can be a tough month… will it be for us? How will we respond?

 

As we head into what traditionally can be a challenging month, I hope that you are able to take some deep breaths and remember that we’re all in this together!

 

Thinking’ly &

 

 

 

Easy appreciation…gamify your appreciation! #leadership

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One of my favorite things to do is to reward our staff. We’re going to give away birthday books this year, and thanks to our Staff Appreciation and Morale group on Facebook, there’s no end to the clever ideas shared. Leaders from all over share how they treat, appreciate, reward their teams throughout the year.

One popular way to show appreciation was the prize wheel, where the slots are filled with jeans passes, sonic drinks and early release passes. These are fun but I worry about trying to fill up the slots. That’s quite a few sonic drinks! I loved the idea of gamifying my gift giving. And then tada…I discovered this!

This year…drum roll please…we’re going to introduce STAFF PRIZE PLINKO! Look at the cuteness!!

That’s only 4 slots! I can easily think of four ways to reward/celebrate our people!

 

If you haven’t seen the wheel, it’s also fun. It’s just more than I can be creative for, ha!

Would love to see what you put on your wheel o’ appreciation!

 

Spinningly &

 

A simple strategy for extending learning!

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We are fortunate to have learning specialists who support our crew in Wylie ISD. This strategy came through and I thought it was a GREAT way to not only extend learning but to PUSH those high achievers!

Heather Buckley, our advanced academics learning specialist, shared that Chris White taught her about his “Math Masters”.  While the kids are practicing on some mixed practice they get to become a “Math Master” by showing work and strategies. Once you get crowned the math master, you get to walk around to look at each classmate’s work to find the new math master.

I love this because it doesn’t focus on only getting a problem correct or incorrect but the effort that is being put into getting the correct answer. The kids took such pride in being picked as a “Math Master” in his room. Regardless of what you have planned out for this week, this could be an easy thing to implement to motivate your students to show their thinking.

A great way to extend this as a closure to your class period or even a conversation to have while lining up to transition to lunch would be to have a few of the “Math Masters” share some of the strategies they saw being used. Let’s get the kids talking about the work they are doing!

 

I love easy, I love pushing, and I love it when people share! Do you have a strategy like this one that you use? Share with us! The smartest person in the room is the room!

 

 

Masteringly &