Thursday, March 14, 2024

Just like a rainbow you know you set me free, and I just can't get enough (Depeche Mode)

Photo by Sierra Koder on Unsplash


James Whatley recently posited some interesting thoughts about leadership on his newsletter about trust and empowerment. He also discusses accountability and being vulnerable. 

These are important concepts and worthy of investigation, as he does in his newsletter.

I'm going to be quoting from his thoughts a lot in this post. 

The salient points:

TRUST & EMPOWERMENT
This is something that is important to helping people feel - to put it frankly - like adults. The opposite of command & control. The opposite of micromanagement.

Trust & empowerment is the demonstration of the vision and key values that you as a leader have laid out for everyone to work within. Trusting others to not simply get a job done but also do so with care and consideration of themselves and those around them. To me this is part of the overall job around motivation. You're saying: 'I trust you. I think you can do this. And I trust you to figure this out'.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY
HBR defines Psychological Safety as 'a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences'.

There's no point entrusting and empowering people if they then don't feel safe to put forward opinion, test new concepts and maybe even get things wrong.

VULNERABILITY
In BrenĂ© Brown's now legendary TED talk 'the power of vulnerability', Brown states 'Our job is to look and say, “You know what? You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.”'

ACCOUNTABILITY
 
 
Again, these things are linked. Taking ownership is a big deal. Being a leader that is able to say: 'Yes, that was my fault. I could've done that better. I wasn't clear in how I communicated that. How can I improve? How I can support you better?' - that's accountability.

A just culture means that when things go wrong you say 'What went wrong and how can we improve?' over and above 'Who did this?' which, in turn creates a culture of blame.

Blame cultures are well known for creating toxic working environments; they erode employee mental health, instill an underlying inertia in employees' ability to make decisions (due to a fear of getting the slightest thing wrong) and end up stifling, or all out killing, productivity.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

My weariness amazes me, I am branded on my feet (Bob Dylan)

Photo by Danny Lines on Unsplash


Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Big Magic) on the secret to time management:
“You should know by this point in your life what time of day you’re ‘good' — like what time of day is your brain at its best. Because the reality is we all get, maybe, two good hours a day where we actually feel awake and alert.

“And the big, important question is: Who currently gets that time from you. The best time from your brain every day—who or what currently gets that? And would you be willing to take it back so that it’s yours and then give the world the ‘second-rate' version of you (which is the other 22 hours of the day)…”
My two good hours usually come early. I'm an early riser, and by the time I get to school it's about 6.45am.

From then to 8.45am I'm at my two hour peak.

By 3.oopm I'm done. I certainly can't think too well after 4.00pm.

Unfortunately, this is the time when after school meetings are  scheduled. Mondays and Fridays are the worst.

Luckily, we finish earlier on a Wednesday afternoon to allow for some professional learning. This is doable, usually.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Connection, I just can't make no connection (The Rolling Stones)

Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash


On average, I would have a couple of on-line meetings each day Monday to Friday. 

Seth Godin makes an interesting point about the cons of on-line meetings.

  • Limits options for engagement
  • Engagement can be less meaningful 
  • More difficult to read body language and ensure participants are engaged
  • Technical difficulties can impact the quality  
His point is that it doesn't have to be this way.  As he says - If, even once, you’ve had a virtual meeting that engaged you and made you feel connected to someone else, then it’s clearly possible.

The challenge for whoever is running the meeting is to have it happen more often. Seth again - Lazy simulations of in-person meetings are not a worthy substitute.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

We have to try and get a little stronger, Lord knows we do, with each and every day (War)

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash


Recently, Thomas Oppong posted on the benefits of using to-do lists. In fact, he advocates two to-do lists - a daily list and a master list.
Thomas: Move at most 5 things you HAVE or NEED to get done in a single workday to the daily list and focus on checking those off for the day: nothing more.

You can always add more to the daily list once they’ve been done.

The tasks on your daily list are the only thing that deserves your focus for the day — they are your high-priority or daily highlights.
These high priority items sound like urgent important tasks (as Stephen Covey labels them).

I do this and pretty much spend every day dealing with urgent important items on my list. Lately, it seems that every time I open my emails there is at least one urgent important thing for me to action. These mount up quickly.

Therefore, I often have little time for the not urgent but important items and not many people ever think their task is not important, otherwise they wouldn't send them out.

It's a dilly of a pickle.

Monday, February 19, 2024

Success is not measured by wins and losses, but by the character and resilience of the team (Andy Reid)

Andy Reid

Time for some more of Marshall Manson's thoughts on leaders. 

"Good leaders listen. Good leaders create an environment / atmosphere where people can do their best work. Good leaders motivate.

Great leaders coach, encourage, develop, and motivate so that their people perform and achieve above their own potential."

Food for thought.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Hours are like diamonds, don't let them waste (The Rolling Stones)



70% of Americans said they “never had enough time,” in 2011. It rose to 80% in 2018.  It's probably 90% in 2024.

Wednesdays, especially, have turned into a manic day for me. No one wants or needs to know how busy I am, but Wednesday's become a full-on day. Chocka.

So, I turned to Dan Rockwell for advice.

Here he is on four ways to do less but get more done. I'm keen to see if any of these will work for me on Wednesdays.

#1 C
hoose one important thing to do today. 

I’m talking about choosing one or two places to invest your time, energy, and talent in order to make meaningful contribution.  

This one is impossible on a Wednesday


#2. Make your own decisions.

A person who lets others run their life does what matters to others.

Don’t live to only serve yourself, but don’t let others run your life either.

Realize you chose to work where you work. If the downside of your job is heavier than the upside seek a new job.

Not a practical solution for my Wednesdays.


3. Go to bed.

What fool believes tired people get more done? You get more done by getting enough rest. Too much rest is exhausting. Too little rest is debilitating.

I'm usually exhausted by 9.00pm and usually sleep until my 4.30am alarm.

#4. Put white space on your calendar.

Back-to-back meetings indicate poor management. Get more done by realizing schedule management is self-management.

Yes, I think I need to reorder a couple of things on my Wednesday schedule.