B.Y.O.T Bring Your Own Thoughts
The latest on all student-centered models, leadership development, strategic planning, teacher retention, and all things innovation in K-12 education. We answer questions before you think to ask them.
In a world hyper-focused on influencers and celebrities, it is no surprise that professional athletes are often a top feature of our news or social media feeds. The news we hear about athletes may be rooted in their record-breaking accomplishments, their broader impact on our society or culture, controversial behavior, or even experiences with an unexpected setback or tragedy. And, whether you consider yourself an avid sports fan, follow a few particular sports, teams, or individual athletes, or only engage in sports conversations when they are forced upon you via workplace metaphors, undoubtedly the presence of some leading athletic competitors have at times entered your thoughts. Regardless of your knowledge, appreciation, or perception of elite athletes, as school leaders there is much we can learn from other professionals who have been leaders amongst their peers and achieved greatness in their craft. I wanted to explore some of the mindsets, habits, and commitments of a handful of professional athletes who are widely considered the GOAT (greatest of all time) in their particular sport, and how intentionally embodying some of these ideas can strengthen our impact as school leaders. As you read, I invite you to consider the lessons you can apply to your own role as leaders striving to impact the lives and futures of students, families, communities, and educators you serve.
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Take a look at your calendars and consider the number of meetings you have each week. Can you say that you go through most of those meetings and 100% finish on time and in each of those meetings you get 80%-90% of the agenda items covered? While getting all this done, can you say that 100% of all meeting attendees get a chance to participate? I can. Just tweaking a few things about your meeting will make a significant difference in your organizational culture.
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In the early month of December, Anthony Kim and I had the opportunity to visit Mason City Schools outside of the city of Cincinnati to ask the question, “How might we use responsive practices to know we are on track to exceeding our goals?” The initial relationship between Education Elements and Mason City Schools started over a casual conversation of the sharing of what books they were reading. One book being Measure What Matters by John Doerr. As a learning organization, we are always on the quest to learn from others who are impacting the educational landscape, and our hope is to help connect them to other innovators, and to share what they are learning with partners in our network. Christine McCormick, Innovative Systems Officer at Mason City Schools, is a disruptor, dreamer and visionary of what the potential of what a school district could look like.
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Every team meeting we have at Education Elements begins with a check-in question. Sometimes it takes me a while to come up with my answer, but on a call recently it was a no-brainer: “What trait do you most value in a leader?” To me, that’s simple – it’s courage, for two key reasons. First, because courage in leadership is rare, or at least more rare than it should be. And second, because courage is a superpower when it comes to leading innovation, building culture, and enabling transformation. My colleagues and I do a lot of work with leaders, and our framework for innovative leadership is built around a set of competencies that directly feed, strengthen, and enrich leaders’ courage, a mission-critical element of their leadership. While the list could go on and on, here are seven leadership superpowers that courage can activate.
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Innovative Leadership | Teams & Culture
What is the definition of innovation? It turns out that most people can’t agree. I’m not surprised! It’s one of those words we use so much, but we rarely pause to think about what it really means. Now that I’ve read over 100 different definitions of “innovation,” I’m going to lean on this one:
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Education Elements and Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS) came together to design an experience for adult learners that would make a difference in their lives as innovative leaders. Both organizations wanted to create an experience that would inspire them, that would change mindsets and drive different results.
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