Monday Moanin Thoughts #251 How Are You Going To Lead This Week?

Happy first Monday Moanin of May 2017.  This week I kept reflecting about the numerous challenges that leaders face working in public education. Some of my thoughts included that leading is overwhelming, thankless, more top down decisions, less control, everything’s urgent, and poor staff morale. So, how do you deal with these and other challenges and  still keep your organization effective and growing ? This week, how are you going to lead? Consider these three areas to focus on as you continue to wind down the 2016-17 school year.

  • Lead by taking care of the little things. Be well planned and organized for the week. John Maxwell writes; ” Don’t try to conquer the world until you’ve taken care of things in your own backyard.” 
  • Spend this week leading from your strengths. Reflect on what you do well and stay in that lane. Enhance your practice. Maxwell shares; ” Set your priorities and focus on your strengths today.”
  • Lead with the right attitude this week. Lead with your glass half full. Your staff doesn’t need to hear you blame others for the challenges everyone faces. Take responsibility for your attitude. Maxwell reminds; “Life is full of surprises, and the adjustment of our attitudes is a lifelong project. The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails.”

Lead this week by focusing on the little things, strengths and attitude. All doable and in your control. Have a great week and keep finding the good stuff.

Monday Moanin Thoughts #250 Great Week To Focus On Listening

Happy beautiful Michigan Monday Moanin to all of you. It is hard to believe that today is the final Monday of April 2017. For school districts in Michigan, April signals the beginning of the stretch drive to the end of the  2016-17 school year. For the past several years the focus of  many April MMT’s were about the critical focus of finishing strong. Today’s blog is about a key ingredient of doing just that, the importance of  being a good listener.  During the final weeks of school there are many demands on all staff and students. From testing, final evaluation meetings, assessments, classroom interruptions, to end of the year celebrations , demands can  turn into distractions. For all of us in education, these distractions can be unsettling and may cause a lack of patience and understanding as we deal with them and one another. Read more

Monday Moanin Thoughts #249 Do You Want To Finish Strong?, Try MVP

Happy April 2017 Monday Moanin to all of you. Hopefully you had a relaxing Holiday weekend with your family and friends. As I mentioned last week, April signals the beginning of the path to the end of the 2016-17 school year. This is the time of year of many year-end activities that simply put,  are filled with  lots of emotions and distractions. As a result, dealing with the complexities of this time of year can be challenging and some times paralyzing. Let’s simplify our leadership and enhance our effectiveness by focusing on MVP. Let’s break it down:   Read more

Monday Moanin Thoughts #248 Use Top Tweets To Guide Your Week

Happy  Monday Moanin  of April 2017.  Spring time is the signal that you are beginning the home stretch of the 2016-17 school year. During January through March, I tweeted many opinions and quotes from many of the stars of leadership and education. Below are listed my top ten tweets for that time period. Each of them had over 1500 impressions on Twitter. Consider using them to guide your work this week as you begin winding down and finishing strong. Read more