The reality is that none of the workforce numbers show any trends that look very promising. Too many people leaving. Not enough people entering the profession. I’m a pragmatic optimist and I have to accept that things are bleak.

Guess what? I’m still hopeful. Alarmed? Certainly. Anxious? A bit. But I’m also full of hope because for the past year all we’ve researched is… HOPE. We’ve learned that we can measure it, tend to it, strategically and organizationally design for it, learn it, pass it on, and use it as the primary driver to combat burnout.

I’m not talking theory here. We’ve researched and designed accurate measures of hope and burnout. We have strategies in place that can change the tides. We’re doing it. Already. With the schools we are fortunate enough to work with. What’s emerging is a bold and simple truth: HOPE IS A STRATEGY.

In the weeks and months ahead, we’ll be sharing more and more about what we’ve learned but more importantly what we’re doing. That’s what this post is actually about. It’s about doing something. “Sounding the alarm” is a start. We have to own that our cherished profession of teaching is in a collective bad place, but we cannot meet that challenge with superficial responses or even bold pronouncements. We must rise and meet these challenges with rigor, passion, and HOPE. I know this works at the individual school level. However, our attention is now squarely focused on how we design hope at a systems level. We can measure it and that means we can improve it.

I’m referring to the next four months as “The Great Re-Recruitment.” Schools have four months left this year not only to think about recruiting new staff but, WAY more importantly, how to retain the staff they have. This has gone far beyond thank you notes or Taco Tuesday. This blows “self care” out of the water. We need to act with intention to provide a future to teachers where they want to stay and thrive.

One upcoming opportunity to dig deeper on this is to attend a webinar I’m leading through my friends at Seesaw about growing hope and decreasing burnout. This hour long session will give an overview of our emergent research and resources to make schools hopeful and vital places to work.

Here is a link for you to use to sign up.

Let’s GO!!!!

Showing Authentic Gratitude

Gratitude:

the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness

This past year has been anything but usual, so I’m inviting you to think differently about how you approach gratitude as a leader.

Here are three things for you to consider:

1. A culture of gratitude creates the kind of workplace where people want to stay.

Everyone wants to be appreciated, listened to, and respected. Period. And they want to experience that gratitude consistently, not just during particular times of a year or special events. Gratitude should be baked into how you operate and treat each other. Shifting your focus away from “event planning” and toward “cultural norming of gratitude” creates a place where people want to come to work and don’t want to leave. Gratitude should be near the top of your retention strategies, especially because it can prevent burnout.

This can look like handwritten cards to your teachers with specific examples of something they’ve done that you’re grateful for. Or even better: one on one conversations with staff as they celebrate the past year and look forward to the year to come. If you’re coming together for a final staff meeting, give people the chance to thank one another, such as a gratitude circle where we speak aloud all that people are grateful for in the past year.

2. Honoring the experiences of others is an expression of respect and gratitude.

Listening and honoring the experiences of others is another way to express your gratitude. For example, as staff leave for the summer, gather specific input from them about what worked and didn’t work this year in teaching and learning. Use their first-hand insights as you plan for next year, and circle back on how you’ve used their input. Educators will feel heard and respected.

3. Showing gratitude to others is actually really good for YOU.

Research shows that expressing gratitude makes us happier and less depressed. Another study found that people who are grateful “feel less pain, less stress, suffer insomnia less, have stronger immune systems, experience healthier relationships, and do better academically and professionally. Overall it can boost both your mental and your physical health.” So what’s stopping you?

So what are you doing to show gratitude?

I’d love to hear what you and your organization do to show authentic gratitude towards people. What’s working for you to bind people to each other and the organization? Let’s crowdsource our own Gratitude Menu!

Another Teacher Appreciation Week is upon us. If ever there were a year to roll out the red carpet and show appreciation with vigor, this would be it. The phrase “I can’t imagine” is usually glib, but it’s quite literal as we reflect on what our teachers have gone through this year. Every ritual, pattern, and rhythm teachers have in their background were tossed out the window. Unabashed care and concern for students were heavy burdens for them. Mental health breaks as simple as eating a sandwich with colleagues was taken away. In some schools, even the most basic modicum of self-determination and efficacy were sorely missing.

Oftentimes our recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week can come off as platitudinous. While gift cards for coffee or thank you banners hung around school are certainly worthy recognitions of teachers’ efforts, they fall short if we collectively want to honor this most noble of professions. Teachers will receive gift cards and flowers and cards that let them know they are appreciated from administration and the PTO, but next week will have the same stressors and complications as they did last week. With that in mind, here is a short (and incomplete) list of ways we can deeply and truly honor educators.

If you’re a parent:

Think twice before sending that email

The client base for a single teacher is overwhelming. They have students, colleagues, administrators, and parents to whom they are accountable. They also have their own lives of friends, family, and their own children. Even if they worked 16 hours a day (which most do), they’d still struggle to be uniquely attentive to everyone’s needs. Before sending that email ask yourself, “Am I showing grace and understanding? Am I exhibiting maturity and patience? Am I phrasing this request fairly and with a kind tone?”

Teach your students to handle their own business

As you consider intervening on behalf of your student, pause and ask if this is a golden opportunity for your student to work directly with his or her teacher. You not only help build a positive relationship between your student and the teacher, you also help develop critical skills of communication for your child. You feed two birds with one biscuit!

If you’re an administrator:

Let teachers solve their own problems

I know you want to take care of your teachers and remove stress for them. I appreciate that. But all too often, your attempts to solve their problems for them can lead to misaligned practices and an unintended outcome of not letting the very people affected by decisions weigh in on them. While admirable that you’re tending to them, you very well might be marginalizing their professional experience.

Schedule your own sacred time

Happy admin, happy staff. Do you love visiting classrooms? Eating with students in the cafeteria? Going to games? How do YOU connect best with your educators and students? Having these important moments in your own professional life carved into your week allows you to connect with those you serve, build trusting relationships, and have a better shared lived experience with your educators. All of these additives only serve to reduce your stress and the stress of others.

If you’re a colleague:

Live by the “Oath of Collegiality”

At Eklund Consulting, we’ve used an “Oath of Collegiality” with many staffs during fall workshops. It is simply this: “I (insert name here) do solemnly swear that my presence in your work and life will not make your work or life more difficult.” This oath does not set a standard where everyone will be best friends. We might not go to each other’s kid’s birthdays. But we will live by an ethos where we own our impact on one another, are mindful of our behavior, and respect the base needs of our colleagues.

Appreciate each other

You already do this. You already watch your colleagues do what they’re best at. This is just an invitation and reminder to say aloud the great things you think about others. We all want to know we’re noticed. Drop a note. Pop your head in and share a kind word. Make this a habit. A whole culture of people appreciating each other no matter what week of the year is a place at which we all want to work.

Teachers, you’re the best. Thank you a million times over. My greatest hope for you is that you feel valued and appreciated every week of the year, not just this one.

Do good. Be well.

“I originally wrote this blog post at a very different space and time for all of us. A time when "crisis mode" likely seemed far more episodic and certainly far less universal. But times have made this old post more germane now than ever. As we navigate the comings and goings of every day, I hope these reflections offer you a chance to reframe how you approach managing uniquely challenging times as well as to seek new ways of approaching how you're able to lean on those around you for support and guidance knowing that the pressures you're feeling are very much real.”

“Sorry I didn’t return your call, but we’ve been in crisis mode.”

“We’d love to (fill in blank with something thoughtful and productive), but we’re in crisis mode over here.”

“I know we need to focus on (fill in the blank with an absolute necessity), but we can’t since we’re in crisis mode.”

We’ve all heard these sorts of comments. We maybe have even uttered them ourselves. The overall notion of “crisis mode” is simply part of our cultural vernacular. But the more I hear it, the less convinced I am that we’re generally using the term correctly. In fact, I think we’ve completely lost sight of the difference between “crisis mode” and “panic mode.”

“Crisis mode” should actually be a positive thing. An actual crisis should trigger a host of strategic, thoughtful, and immediate responses that are entirely focused on the crisis and our survival of it. When my house is on fire, I most definitely want the firefighters to be in crisis mode. If I’m having a heart attack, by all means – please go into crisis mode on my behalf.

But please: do NOT go into panic mode.

If a plane is crashing, the passengers are in panic mode. The pilots are in crisis mode. The difference between the two is astonishing. But for the most part, I think I see people using the term “crisis mode” to describe behavior that has much more to do with panic. In fact, the idea that we’re in a crisis too often gives us carte blanche to behave in a whole range of manners that are counter-productive, sometimes rude and boorish, and seldom beneficial to getting ourselves and others out of the crisis itself.

If you really are in crisis mode, then you should be responding like a pilot. Your heartbeat should actually be slowing down. Your breathing should be deeper. While the noise around you increases, you grow more focused. While everything around you seems to be losing control, you should be gaining it. And by all means, please don’t run out of the cockpit screaming, “WE’RE IN CRISIS MODE!”

If you’ve confused “crisis” for “panic,” it’s time to slow down and begin a series of purposeful interventions directed at ameliorating the stress. This is what mature people and organizations do. They calm down chaos. They swim against the tide of panicky shenanigans and act reasonably. And they by all means, know when it is the right time to be in crisis mode.

If you would like to join us for the next Lunch Break Session on December 11th, 2020 at 11am CST, please register here.

Imagine that each of us has an internal gauge that ranks our connection to people and places that is ranked 1 (unengaged) to 10 (hyper engaged). COVID in one fell swoop lopped off a full 3-5 points of engagement. Let’s accept that for the sake of argument.

That being the case, if you had an employee who came into this period with an engagement score of 9, they are now at around a 6. If you had someone working in your organization who was at a 6 pre-COVID, chances are they might be down to a 3. Finally, if someone was struggling personally and professionally and came in at a 4, she might now be in red figures.

The same holds true for you. If you were professionally unengaged prior to COVID, you might be running a deficit as well. Let’s just be honest here.

The real kicker in this model is that the things we’ve lost to the pandemic are likely the very things that most sustained us: personal interactions with our co-workers, daily comedy from our students, collaboration with teammates, etc. So this aggregate drop in our scores is especially difficult to combat as we face an uncertain future.

By the same token, accepting this algorithm allows us to re-think our work, our workplaces, and how we engage with others. For the foreseeable future, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to do anything to bring back pre-pandemic connections. While perhaps depressing, this can also be liberating. Instead of feeling pressures to re-create our experiences of old, we now can think on more basic terms of how to gain points back here and there as we can. The cumulative affects of small measures taken will outpace resignation to the current state.

What are the small ways we lead meetings that infuse engagement back to depleted staff? What do YOU do that adds energy and spirit to your work that you might be missing? How do you

If you’re fighting a war, you listen to experienced military professionals. 

Heck, if you’re fishing a new lake, you trust people who fish it. 

If you’re strategizing how to re-open schools, YOU ENLIST AND TRUST THE TEACHERS WHO HAVE TO ACTUALLY SHOW UP TO WORK EVERYDAY!

Across the country right now are politicians and school administrators making their re-opening plans while educators, not seated at the decision-making table, await like the rest of us to hear “The Plan.” This appears to be more widespread than you could imagine. 

Please note: there are many districts that ARE including teachers in their planning. There ARE districts doing this right.

What is utterly baffling is the notion that there are environments where teachers are NOT part of the planning. I get that administrators are under insane pressure. I get that decisions and plans need to be made. I get that administrators are getting bombarded with conflicting messages. I get that this is the suckiest period in our lifetimes to be an administrator. I get all of it. 

But what I don’t get is that ANY system would try to move forward without the voices of classroom educators not only contributing to the planning but leading it. Months ago we held up teachers as heroes for the rapid pivot they did when schools shut down. Now too often we’re locking them out of the room as we explore opening up. 

Please note: there are many districts that ARE including teachers in their planning. There ARE districts doing this right. 

Every district needs a team with teachers on it. Every building needs a team with teachers on it. Every. Damn. One. Without exception. Educators in this process should not be used as “reviewers” or some sort of filter after The Plan is made; rather, educators have to be at the table influencing The Plan, pushing and prodding on it together. This holds true at the national, state, and local level. This period of time will either honor educators as the professionals they are or will do irreparable harm to the state of the profession. There is more at stake than what this fall looks like. This period will long establish the dynamics of teaching in America.  

Teaching is already hemorrhaging educators at an unsustainable rate. We are losing teachers in America at a rate that shockingly outpaces the rate at which we’re bringing in new teachers. If we fail in this moment to let educators guide us through this period the long term risks to the state of teaching in America looks dire. We’re talking about the body, mind, and soul of the profession right now. 

Those of you who know me or have worked with me know that I am not prone to alarm. I am pragmatic and optimistic to a fault. But I’m really scratching my head right now trying to figure out how any of what I’ve written here even needed to be written. 

So now for the aforementioned pragmatic optimism: it’s not too late. If you are planning the re-opening without educators, change course and redesign your planning process. Today.

If you’re working in a district where your voice has been left out, demand to be heard. 

If you are a district which is already designing WITH educators, tell your story loudly and proudly. Challenge districts around you to learn from you. Don’t be shy. 

Our hope during these sessions were to connect leaders to one another to talk about how they were personally doing, share what we’re learning, NOT talk about COVID, and seek lessons that extend far deeper and longer than the immediacy of what is happening currently.

To that end, the sessions were a tremendous success. Each week we heard from leaders who were honestly and thoughtfully navigating not just the present circumstances but seeking to embrace the transformative nature of the present tense to alter their leadership and schools moving forward. Below is my recap of the big take-aways of each session.

Lunch Break #1 focused on two main themes:

What have you learned about your own leadership and are proud of during this experience?

What have you learned during this time about your leadership that you are eager to develop further?

The honest and collaborative discussions colleagues had around these questions was inspiring, and we’re excited to welcome others into the dialogue.

Here are a few big take-aways from our conversation:

While it has always been critical that leaders take care of themselves so that they are able to take care of others, this is acutely true now. The adrenaline/focus that washed over you initially isn’t sustainable. So now we’re heading into an extended period when your own health, clarity, and sanity are paramount.

Diversity of thinking and experiences is uniquely important right now. I know that I have benefited tremendously over the past month by learning from and talking to people outside my typical network and industry. One of the meta-level benefits of these events I hope was simply an opportunity to commune with others and share stories and ideas.

The idea of “right over rushed.” You have such a robust opportunity right now to make patient, deliberative decisions about your schools and how they operate. While the operational decisions had to be fast, the thinking around the core of what you do, how you do it, and ultimately what you care about now has time to breathe and expand. As I’ve been saying, “This is the most creative moment of any of our lifetimes.”

Lunch Break Session #2 focused on these questions:

What are you learning about your teams and what they’re asking of you?

How are your teams performing right now that gives you hope/confidence?

Here are a few big take-aways from our conversation:

“This work is mucky and it’s hard. But it gets us to where we need to be.” Truer words ne’er were spoke. In my book, I wrote about how we develop efficacy. Accomplishing simple tasks actually doesn’t grow it. It’s only through strain and rigor that we develop self-efficacy. Obviously, you presently have no shortage of opportunities in this regard!

“There’s no 9 week academic period that’s going to make or break someone’s life. But there is a 9 week break from SEL that could.” Preaching to the choir on this as I know you’re all actively building connections with students and families. But I know we’re also compelled to realize our teachers are hurting and in grief. The specific means by which we build connections and empower them right now is critical for their happiness and engagement.

“How often have we used the broken system we’re stuck in as an excuse to maintain the status quo?” Amen. This is the time to build something better than what crumbled. And to our theme of yesterday: this is the time to lean on our teams to help the rebuild. Give them problems to solve. Give them structures to build. While a month ago they wanted the pendulum to shift to you being in charge, it’s now time to re-invite them into how you’re going to move forward. Don’t lose this opportunity!

Lunch Break Session #3 focused on these questions:

What has permanently changed about your view of leadership?

To lead your schools forward, what will be asked differently of you now?

Here are few big take-aways from our conversation:

Don’t underestimate the toll this amount of change is having on people. Our brains are wired to operate largely by rote. Obliterating our normal patterns and routines is literally making our brains work harder. So while change is almost always difficult for people, it’s acutely so now. Extending yourself and others grace as we struggle with fatigue or frustration is essential.

If ever there were a time for humble leadership, now is it. We heard this quote from Adam Grant: “Ignorance + Conviction = Arrogance.” I love it. None of us has ever done anything like this before. We don’t know what’s going on. Period. If you haven’t said, “I don’t know. Let’s figure it out” everyday at least a few times, START!

Maybe the permanent change you experience is less about “leadership” and more about yourself. On the other side of this, you’re likely to emerge not only a better leader but also a better human. Patience, forgiveness, deep listening, graciousness, and empathy aren’t just the genetic traits of a good leader. They’re the traits of a good and decent person. Maybe that’s what we’re actually developing everyday. That’s pretty cool.

Final Thoughts:

This series was more fun and more enlightening than I could have imagined. Overwhelmingly, we heard this from participants: “I needed this more than I knew.” This meaning connection with others in the same situation, a time away from thinking only of operations, and finally time to think deeply about one’s one experience. It is too easy to make secondary your own needs and stress during times when your people and organizations need you most. Taking meaningful respites to pause, reflect, and discern is always critical, but especially now.

Because these conversations proved so valuable, we have decided to continue every-other-week Lunch Break Sessions. Even if you didn’t participate in the series itself, consider yourself invited! We’d love to have you join, share your own insights, and meet with other leaders who are engaged in this work together.

Click here to sign-up for future Lunch Break Check-Ins.

To be honest, I am not even sure how to start this blog. I think about writing blogs often. Topics come and go from my mind. Oftentimes, I see a similar thought process or idea on a Twitter feed from an “educelebrity” or an educational colleague and decide not to throw my voice into the void.

This feeling of not having the confidence to do something that I have done before has me thinking about our current educational situation for many that I work with and for. What have I done successfully before that just needs to be adapted to this situation? Although I currently feel as though I may have lost some of my “educational mojo” by being out of actual schools. I want to do what I do best. (I will know if this has caught on by the number of sessions at the next educational workshop are called “Educational Mojo: How to Nourish Yours.”)

Teachers, administrators, and district leaders that I am hearing from are in a similar place - second guessing themselves as they navigate new parameters. My advice to them would be to trust their well-formed instincts and do what they do so well. Therefore, I am going to take this advice to heart and write my hopefully coherent thoughts. Let’s see how it goes.

After school was closed for the year, I read about Illinois teachers and their feelings of grief. I remembered the stages of grief and how my acceptance of grief about my father’s death followed those stages. While I acknowledge that there are many appropriate and inappropriate comparisons between grief of a parent dying and the loss of a school year, the defining characteristics of the stages are similar, yet incomplete. Where stages of grief include: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing (not standardized), and acceptance, we should add the stages of reflection and improvement to the loss of a school year.

Was there reflection during the stages of grief of death? Whoa, man, so much! Every dog walk, many interactions with a student or my own children brought on moments of reflection. Was there improvement? I can only hope there was for me.

Reflection and improvement HAVE to be part of the stages of grief of the lost school year. Otherwise, we are simply not modeling what we tell kids to do in every setback or disappointment they encounter. We have, as we always have as educators, a chance to model for our students.

After going through the shock of the initial closings, there was likely some denial that schools would be closed long enough to have any more than just some time off. There was probably some anger that comes along with change and the unknown as the educational community was hit with the day-to-day process of recreating the “how” of their jobs in a limited amount of time. Some were better prepared than others. Some have situations away from teaching that have allowed more time to adjust, while others had different parameters put on them from within their districts and schools, but in the end, you are all educators.

With that name, educator, comes the traits you have built and used in your careers. The passion for the profession, the passion for the subjects, and the passion for the kids will always be there as will the other lessons learned. Simon Simek has been all over the internet talking about the “Why” of leadership. Educators’ “Why” has not changed. The “how” has, and no one is more prepared for that than teachers.

Educators are adaptive and flexible – states, districts, administration change mandates, policies, and procedures (as well as curriculums in some places) year by year. We are improvisors in every lesson we teach; every day we walk into school has hundreds of moments of improvisation. Every year brings a new set of kids and parents different from the year before. You’ve already done this; it’s just a different set of particulars this time.

Here are some suggestions I’ve picked up from listening to educators over the past month:

- Lean into reflection to de-stress your worries about your educational ability and performance. Reflect on what works for you in the classroom. Is it possible to recreate these strong experiences, in some fashion, in the current situation? Focus on this – this is your wheelhouse! This is what will maintain your best self and put you in place to be your best self for others. That is all that should be asked of you at this time. It will seem like more is constantly being asked of you, but this is what you have. You have always given your best. Just keep doing that. Let other people know that is all they should be doing as well.

- Know and accept the limitations of the current situation. Be creative in the recreating of what works, research and learn about the new parameters, and ask for help! At times, we have to be our best within the limitations given to us and that has to be okay. (It’s more than okay when we are giving our best!) Again, ask for help!!!

- Take care of yourself. I just read an edweek.org article about the amount of time some teachers are spending working right now. Educators feeling they have to be there for every student and parent 24 hours a day. Stop that. Before distance learning, you should have been comfortable giving yourself some space for work/life balance. Continue that practice. Carve out a space for you and your family and friends, let your parents and students know, and expect others to be doing the same.

- Be ready to acknowledge all the stages. It’s ok to be angry, to make bargains with ourselves, to be depressed about the loss of the end of the school year (the rituals, the celebrations, the little moments that seem to come only at the end of year). However, the acceptance of the end of the year does not have to be the acceptance that these moments have to go away. Be creative, acknowledge your limitations, lean into what you do best to close a school year, and figure out how to do it. You create meaningful experiences for students and staff every year, do it again.

- Be there for others. There is a question on our survey that asks if there is someone who checks in on you when you are having a bad day. Be that person for your colleagues. Zoom meetings don’t count. Check in individually, take an audible walk with someone, give a colleague an excuse to be in a different room of their home with the door closed, send a written note. We are missing those connections – build them if they were not there or continue to nurture them. If you are crushing it on something new or different (all right, even Zoom), ask around for those who are not.

Does this seem like more work? I hope not. Writing this was more work than not writing this, but writing this helped me. I hope it has helped you to read it. I know you have this because you’ve done it before.

Stay safe. Stay sane.

Be well. Do good.

I’ve been in a lot of conversations with educators this week alone, and I’ve come up with a couple of things that I hope might be of use to you. Please note: I am in NO way a specialist in distance learning. Not at all! Not even a bit. These are just things that I hope can be helpful as you continue in this herculean effort.

Tiers of Distance Learning Rollout

It would be impossible to imagine hitting the ground with world class distance learning strategies. Ain’t gonna happen and we shouldn’t expect it. So here’s how my brain would organize this effort:

Tier One: Just Get Content Out and Content Back In

First make sure you’re simply comfortable with the most mechanical and mundane aspects of this. Do you have a manageable way to get content to students and collect basic work back from them? Don’t feel guilty if this feels like worksheets and reading quizzes. It is. It’s okay. Let’s just make sure we can at least start there. 

Tier Two: Student-to-Student Collaboration

Can we get students to start working remotely with one another? If so, how can they really drive their own work?

Students could:

• Set their own timelines

• Figure out project leads and focus areas

• Collaborate about how they want to present their work

• Meet with their teacher via video chats to share updates and seek guidance

• Self-assess their own work throughout the process

• Go through multiple revisions and iterations of their work before turning it in

• Connect their projects across multiple disciplines/courses

This Tier is how they’ll operate as adults in the “real world” so let’s go! 

Tier Three: Independent, Multi-Discipline Deep Dive

Let’s say the Tier Two group project was studying a unique period of American history. From that, a student could extrapolate a narrow focus and go deep. How did the Pandemic of 1918 influence economics, arts, and sciences? How do we thematically connect social influences across all areas of civic life? Tier Three work would allow intense and self-directed learning, which is inherently cool. 

Note: I present these tiers as a liberating framework for educators. Maybe you are comfortable starting in Tier One and want to dip your toe into Tier Two. I’m not suggesting on day one you have your Tier Three all ready to go. These are things you and your students can move toward together.

Which gets me to my next point….

Are the Adults Ready for Their Online Lives Together?

Just because your official planning days are done doesn’t mean you have to be done collaborating with your colleagues. Have video conference department meetings. Co-design Tier Two work with a colleague from another department. As much as possible, use video conferencing instead of email. If that’s newish for you, you’ll get used to it. It’s much more personal and takes away the feelings of isolation that are sure to creep in. 

I just spoke with a principal today and suggested he meets via Zoom each week with each department. Check in. Say hello. Swap stories. Meet each other’s cats. 

If you’re comfortable with it, hold regular “office hours” online so your students can pop in and say hello and ask for help. 

Nothing is going to beat face-to-face interaction but we can still build culture, community, collaboration, and collegiality during these bizarre times. 

I love thinking through these things and want to help. If an extra brain can be of use to you, just reach out: nathan@eklundconsulting.com. I’m here for you!

This post is from 2013 and is something I still think about often. A couple of things to share before you read this:

- my pops six years later is still doing remarkably well. He exercises daily, travels, and remains a Super Human. This is due in large part to my mother’s continued strength, focus, and optimism. She too is a Super Human.

- this post has its foundation in a few survey questions in particular from School Workplace Satisfaction Survey. What would you and your colleagues say to questions such as these?

• I ask my colleagues for help when I need it.

• I avoid competing with others in unhealthy ways.

• I maintain a balance between work time and personal time without feeling guilty.

So thanks for reading, take good care of yourself, and be well.

- Nathan

The people I work for are passionate. They’re passionate about their jobs. They have a mission. They work long hours, sometimes under amazing stress, and do it year after year. They come in early to work and stay late. They volunteer for extra work almost constantly. They’re driven by purpose and a calling. “All hands on deck” is a daily reality. They’ll do just about whatever it takes to get the job done. You’d almost think they’re superhuman. Almost. But they’re not. Either are you. Superhuman only exists in comic books.

Let’s talk about this. We’ll use my remarkable mother as an example.

My parents have been through the gauntlet over the past few years. My dad was diagnosed with Parkinsons. Parkinsons is horrible. There’s nothing cool about it. My dad has handled the news amazingly and has tackled his treatment with astounding energy, grace, and focus. He’s rocking it. My mom and dad do daily exercises together. He works on physical and vocal therapy. He works out at the gym. He’s fit, strong, hilarious, and altogether impressive.

Recently, in order to maximize their time and energy together, my parents decided to sell the house where they raised me and brother and have lived for the past 33 years. Under any circumstance, this is a really difficult decision. Under these conditions, it’s acutely tough. They’re moving into a condo just a couple of blocks away from their house so they can retain their community while streamlining their lifestyle. They’re renovating the new place and after visiting yesterday to see the new construction, I’m sort of thinking we should sell our house and move into a condo. It’s going to be fly.

A few weeks ago, as they were selling their house, packing, cleaning, planning, and preparing for the next steps of life, the entirety of the situation hit my mom hard. Added all together, she was simply exhausted. Emotionally, physically, personally, and probably even spiritually. And for good reason. My mom is a resilient, strong, energetic, generous, and loving person. She has held everything together for years now and is tireless. Like many of the people I work around, she too has something that at times seems superhuman.

But no matter how resilient or how committed we are, we all have our limits. And she had reached hers.

Which got me to thinking: it is quite possible for us to be a “super human.” It’s entirely impossible to be “superhuman.” My mom is indeed a “super human.” Her capacity to help others in need is beyond compare. The world needs people like her. The world needs lots of people like her. But people like her (and likely like you) need to be careful.

Having immense compassion or purpose is a risky thing. A deep desire to work for the improvement of others, while commendable, is also something to be treated with caution. If we start to actually believe that we might be “superhuman,” it’s likely we’re going to miss or ignore sensible warning signs that we’ve reached our natural limits. Our ability to remain a “super human” is almost entirely contingent on our own mindfulness of our personal capacity. And by the way, I don’t care how awesome you think you are – we all can reach unsustainable levels of effort for others. It’s called being human.

I admit that I grow frustrated (and a bit cynical) when I see people responding to exactly this message with either delusional declarations of other-worldly stockpiles of energy or latent guilt from looking out for themselves. Stop it! Get over yourself! You’re awesome. But you’re not THAT awesome! You’re human. And humans are only pretty awesome. Since ancient times we’ve invented mythology to create real superhumans. I’ve never personally met a Thor, Athena, Super Man, or Wonder Woman. They’re the stuff of fiction.

If only I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that phrase or a near derivative. And frankly, I suppose it’s usually quite accurate. But as I’ve pondered this notion umpteen times in our work with schools, I’ve come to find that the phrase focuses on the tool and misplaces the actual fatigue.

I would propose that the phrase should really be this: “We’d love to survey but we already give so many surveys to our people. And then we get that data and the people never see it and we never gather with the people around the data to make things better so people now are just sick of taking surveys.”

Imagine you had a waiter who came to your table to take your order and then would disappear to the kitchen only to return a few minutes later to take your order and disappear into the kitchen only to return a few minutes later to take your order and then…

One would imagine you’d say, “I’m sick of waiters.” But really you’re sick of ordering food and not getting it. It’s not a “waiter” problem.

And much of the time, organizations don’t have a “survey” problem either. They have a “response to surveys” problem. At Eklund Consulting we don’t really have a “survey” - more holistically we have a long-term, data driven improvement process that improves the lives and work of educators that is triggered by a survey. We never “give a survey.” But we do use a survey to launch a robust dialogue that seeks to better understand, create connections, and promote shared responsibility.

So if you think your people are tired of surveys, make sure you’re doing the right analysis of their fatigue. Erring in your interpretation of this is is a potentially damaging element to creating a great place to work.

Eklund Consultant, Todd Battaglia, looks forward to a new school year, full of questions.

This time of year is so exciting and full of hope.  If it is not, please contact us ASAP! 

Many school districts start the year with a message of hope and excitement about the days ahead.  Parents and students are picking out the right outfit for the first day of school and the right items to hang in their lockers.  One must have the right pencils and pens or this year could be a disaster!

In all the preparation for the new year, staff members might be focused on a new classroom, new roster of students, new school, new grade, new curriculum…I’m going to stop this here, because at the beginning of the school year, each staff member has at least one new something, probably more.  This is part of the excitement and the stress.

The start of a school year is also a great time to set some goals and norms about how we will continue to build our school culture.  Here are some questions based around school culture that are worth attention as we begin the year.  

Teacher/Paraprofessional

• What are my biggest goals for my students this year?  Have I set up check ins specific to these goals throughout the year?
• In what ways will I affect my colleagues and students with my own personal behaviors this year?
• What do I need to be the “best possible me” at school this year? (i.e. rest, family time, exercise…)  Have I blocked my schedule for this time?
• How will I approach the difficult times this school year?  With students? With parents? With co-workers? With Administration? With District?
• In what ways am I personally modeling the culture we wish to create in our building?

Building Administrator

• How are we welcoming new staff not just to the building, but to our culture?
• Which staff members might need a little more support going into this new year than in the past?
• Have we set up our building leadership team to be successful in the meeting room and throughout the building?
• What are our biggest goals for the school year and do we have opt-in for these goals or are we asking for buy-in?
• Have we set up check ins on our biggest goals throughout the school year?
• How will we continue to grow our culture throughout the year?
• How was our communication last year?  Does it need some tweaking?
• In what ways am I personally modeling the culture we wish to create in our school? 

Central Office

• Have we designed our PD time to be beneficial to all staff? 
• Have we heard from all necessary stakeholders before making changes/bringing new initiatives?
• What are our biggest goals for the school year and do we have opt-in for these goals or are we asking for buy-in?
• Have we set up check ins on our biggest goals throughout the school year?
• How open, effective, and reciprocal are our opportunities for communication with building leaders and all staff?
• In what ways am I personally modeling the culture we wish to create in our district?

Schools begin the year with culture in mind, time together as a staff and catered lunches, but building a school culture is a daily part of the job.  Now is the time to prepare and give thought to how we, personally, affect and can help build positive school culture.

Have a great school year and have fun!

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]]>Nate EklundFri, 22 Jun 2018 19:49:06 +0000http://www.eklundconsulting.com/blog/2018/6/22/follow-the-leader5571e578e4b0c7ac29054f38:5571eaa5e4b0156262ab7eea:5b2d504703ce640f4e4108a5

This week, Eklund Consultant Lesley Fisher shares how leading children can help us remember the importance of leading adults.

Every May, the elementary school our kids formerly attended holds a University Day for its students. The idea is to expose youngsters to a variety of careers and interests, and the presenters are community members, many of whom are parents.

Several years ago, when I was serving on the local school board, I was kindly invited to speak to the kids about leadership. I love this school. All three of our kids love this school. While I was grateful to be included and happy to fill a need for the fantastic teachers who organize the day, I was leery at best. I couldn’t shake the idea of subjecting this exuberant audience to 40 minutes of lecturing about best practices. With options of presentations including scientists, detectives, athletes, and seeing eye dog trainers just doors away, I feared I would walk into three sessions of small groups, consisting of those who didn’t get their first (or fourth) choices, and ended up in my room by default.

It was time to pivot.

I decided to entitle my presentation ‘Follow the Leader’. Surely, many kids would be interested in playing games. Brilliant. Large numbers signed up and arrived at the session quite eager.

While we do play games for a small portion of our time together (Simon Says is a fan favorite), we primarily discuss what makes a person a great leader.

Simon says great leaders are just born that way…Put your hands in the air if this is correct.

Simon says great leaders are tall…are short…have brown eyes.

Year after year, these 6-10 year-olds NEVER fall for it.

They know. They have already witnessed great leadership. They see it in their parents, their siblings, their coaches, grandmas, babysitters, teachers, and principals.

They teach me about it:

They listen to me.

They tell the truth.

They speak loudly and slowly so I can hear the instructions.

They are nice and encourage me to do my best.

They are proud of me.

They may be young, but they are wise. In my work within schools, the attributes and skills that effective, great leaders possess are no different. Your staff wants you to engage with them, to be clear, supportive, and appreciative.

You have worked hard and well this year. You know your audience and thoughtfully consider what they need and want.

Reflect this summer: Are you a great leader?

If yes, you weren’t born that way. It has taken deliberate planning and consistent practice.

If no, it is time to pivot.

A few weeks back, in Minneapolis, I attended a goat rodeo.  No, that’s not right.  I attended The Goat Rodeo.  What is a goat rodeo, you ask?  Well, a goat rodeo has the general definition of a chaotic situation that needs many aspects of the situation to go right for anything to work.  Sounds like many of our workplaces. The Goat Rodeo is a series of leadership events put on by Employee Strategies, Inc. and Eklund Consulting in Minneapolis.  The events have a leader in their field come in and discuss the reality of leading people and organizations with hosts Nathan Eklund and J. Forrest.  Past guests have included Omar Ansari of Surly Brewery, Pahoua Hoffman from The Citizen’s League, and Maureen Bausch, the CEO of the MN Super Bowl Host Committee.

The Icehouse in Minneapolis is a wonderful venue that allowed a close proximity to both the speakers and the bar.  Thad Levine, the General Manager of the Minnesota Twins was the main attraction for this event, and with the help of J. Forrest and Nathan Eklund, he held the audience of current and future leaders in a state of interest and wonder.  Thad’s discussion of his life experiences, both personal and in baseball, were as much lessons in leadership as his direct commentary on subject. 

Obviously, I do not work in the world of baseball, inability to recognize a curveball stopped me cold in high school.  However, Thad spoke about leadership in any walk of life, “Listen to hear, not respond,” “Appreciate everyone’s success.”  At one point, Thad told a story about an interaction with a player on his team when he was a front office role.  As he told the story, he mentioned that the player was his “co-worker.”  As someone who has an understanding of team hierarchy in sports, I found this phrasing as significant.  First, the fact that to Thad every person on all levels of the organization were coworkers, no leveling of front office and player, showed the culture that was being established.  Also significant to me was how Thad casually used the word “co-worker.”  It came out in the telling of the story so easily that this belief is obviously entrenched in his thoughts and leadership style.

As the event went on, there were many laughs and questions from both the hosts and audience.  (One yahoo from Chicago may have asked a White Sox question that was handled so adeptly by Levine that the questioner might root for the Twins when they are not playing the Sox. Yeah, it was me.)  Levine continued to impart leadership strategies through his answers about handling setting stars with dignity and pairing staff to gain wisdom and experience.  However, the night did not play out like a leadership seminar.  The stories about what is important about leadership to Thad stood out. “Do you want to sit on the porch with a box and four rings or 6 to 8 people whose lives you’ve been involved in?”

After hearing Thad and learning from him, I can imagine that he might have both the rings and the people on his porch, or hanging out at The Icehouse with him, in the future.

This event ended the first “season” of The Goat Rodeo.  Look for more events to be announced in the future.

Check out www.goatroadeoleader.com

Drop the mic, Nate!

If you work in the fields of organization development or leadership development or strategic planning, you often find yourself in discussions about the “role clarity.” And often that “role clarity” leads to an “org chart.” The longer I work in the field, the more I realize that there’s something glaringly missing from these conversations, usually at great peril to leaders.

Typically, a leader can answer, often both with clarity and even loftiness, what their “role” is. Perhaps it will be expressed via comments like, “I’m in charge of the strategic vision and long term sustainability of the organization.” PHEW! That’s a huge and important-sounding job!

But missing from that degree of loftiness might be something far more pressing. That same leader, well equipped to claim their role, might be harder pressed to answer this question: What do you DO all day?

That question is not necessarily judgmental. It’s just literal. If you’re in charge of the “long term sustainability of the organization,” what do you do on Monday morning at 8:00? What lane do you stay in? What meetings do you attend? What are you in charge of? So really, what do you do?

Oftentimes the answer to this question can be a bit jarring. I have clients do time audits to assess that they’re presently doing. Where does their time go? What impact are they having? Then we take that audit and translate it into a clearer understanding of what perhaps they SHOULD be doing.

This is not a pejorative process. This is simply the necessary analysis to ensure that leaders can define not only their intended impact, but the core utility. For the most part, almost all people “beneath” leadership can answer the “what do you do” question with remarkable clarity. It’s absolutely critical that they can answer that question of their leaders.

If you know your role but not your duty, it’s time to analyze, strategize, and publicize. What a totally liberating process it can be!

Citizen's League Voice Magazine: A Teacher's Guide.