Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Triangle
Not a teacher need check a participle that dangle.
All the grade books were left behind in their desks,
In hopes that winter break would give them some rest.
All the students were hanging out in the mall,
While texting their BFFs, ignoring Mom's call.
And Dad in his Hanes at home laying back
Had just settled down to watch the Wolf Pack.
When out on the street there arose such a clatter
Dad sprang from the sofa to see what was the matter.
Away from the flatscreen he flew like a flash,
Tripped over the xBox and opened a gash.
The lamp on the post by street down below,
Gave the luster of midday to the streakers below.
Yes, neighbors and kinfolk and friends all held dear,
Had cast off their clothes for reasons unclear.
Dad nursing his shin that now was bleeding,
Knew in a moment the naked were leading.
More rapid than cheetahs the nudists they ran,
And they sang and they cheered, "Next year will be grand!"
Now, Patrick! Now, Larry! Now, Erik! Now, Steve!
On, Neil! On, Tony! On, Jim! Just believe!
No crisis is wasted when minds it doth focus,
No magic is needed nor lame hocus pocus.
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the challenge the leaders they flew,
Sans clothing and guile they knew what to do.
And then, in twinkling, we heard on the news,
TLA was peerless and reckless to lose.
As we listened and marveled and hoped in our heart,
Partners with good will would cause a re-start.
Howard with VitalSmarts came to the fore,
Gail with the Highlands she opened a door.
David and Quality jumped at the chance
To keep TLA solvent and still in the dance.
Tom and Dawnelle kept trainees quite happy,
Principal coaches and networks were never more scrappy.
Donna, Dave, and Steve kept home fires burning,
They steadied the ship and kept business churning.
And then there was MJ and SLN facilitators,
Out in the swamp they slew alligators.
MJ in the water and facilitators on the bank,
They all worked together regardless of rank.
Their eyes how they twinkled! Their dimples, how merry!
Their cheeks were like roses, their noses like cherries!
Their droll sense of humor was never more great,
Than when their consultant fees were paid late.
But they served all the APs, the principals and directors,
The teachers, custodians, even parents and hectors.
A Culture of Yes, TLA required,
A cadre of leaders with purpose inspired.
They spoke lots of words, and went straight to their work,
To fill schools and districts with leaders, not jerks.
Then laying their fingers aside of their nose,
And giving a nod, up the pipeline leaders rose.
TLA and its leaders to the region gave a whistle,
And away they all led like the down of a thistle.
But I heard them exclaim, ere they drove out of sight,
Prosperous New Year to all and to all a good night!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
The Evolution of a Program
My friend, Shirley Hord, Scholar Emeritus of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, and fellow traveler across states too numerous to mention, said something pretty important--the predictable end of a successful change or innovation is the Stage of Renewal. By "renewal," Shirley meant that the people implementing the change had internalized it so completely that they improved upon the original design. That is, the innovation was "renewed."
Why is innovation stage theory on my radar tonight? Here's why: Since 2007, Wake County Public School System has sponsored a two-year program originally designed to enhance the leadership practice of school administrators. It was to be called the "Aspiring Leaders Institute." To say the program has changed is an understatement. But let me start from the beginning.
WCPSS senior leaders, then as now, wanted to provide opportunities in a cohort setting for high-potential leaders to learn more. They also wanted to fill the pipeline with qualified candidates for the next leadership level, generally the principalship. Senior leaders and accomplished principals worked with Triangle Leadership Academy to build the curriculum, create and coordinate the application process, and convene presenters for half-day monthly meetings.
The application process was as rigorous as admittance to a graduate program. Accomplished principals and area superintendents convened in panels of 3 or 4 to conduct a structured interview of administrators who had submitted a written application, including a resume, statement of professional interest, list of leadership experiences, essays on questions important to the district and practice of school leadership, and for the first cohort, scores on a self-administered online leadership assessment. Just to be selected was an honor.
The idea original model involved spending the first year learning from central service professionals about how, for example, student population growth was managed, students assigned to schools and new schools constructed. Year two was about going deeper into a particular leadership content, for example, leading change. During the intervening summer, participants worked together in the Langford Quality Tools Seminar. A capstone project was the crafting of an educational philosophy statement.
Nearly four years and three cohorts later, the Institute has expanded its target population from primarily assistant principals to one-third central-service administrators. This is due, in part, because of our listening to district leaders and program participants as well as to our assessing the "fill rate" of school and central service leadership positions.
We have also re-designed the curriculum to include more work with outside consultants, for example, Gail Ostrishko and her facilitation of the Highlands Ability Battery about which I wrote several months ago. Most recently, we hosted Steve and Suzi Snyder of the Choiceful Group who introduced Institute members to the Change Grid process. The idea is to look at once more deeply into one's own strengths and at what external partners may bring to the table.
Soon after we return from holiday break, I will announce to WCPSS senior leaders and other educational stakeholders an event to be held sometime in late May or early June, an event created entirely by members of Aspiring Administrators Leadership Institute III around a problem of practice.
In a few hours, I will be joining TLA Consultant for Planning & Development, Jim Sweeney, at Wake Ed Partnership where we convene the Institute. He and I will be more "guides on the side" than "stand and deliverers" while 12 outstanding mid-level administrators learn from and with each other--just like in the real world. Stand by for more.
Why is innovation stage theory on my radar tonight? Here's why: Since 2007, Wake County Public School System has sponsored a two-year program originally designed to enhance the leadership practice of school administrators. It was to be called the "Aspiring Leaders Institute." To say the program has changed is an understatement. But let me start from the beginning.
WCPSS senior leaders, then as now, wanted to provide opportunities in a cohort setting for high-potential leaders to learn more. They also wanted to fill the pipeline with qualified candidates for the next leadership level, generally the principalship. Senior leaders and accomplished principals worked with Triangle Leadership Academy to build the curriculum, create and coordinate the application process, and convene presenters for half-day monthly meetings.
The application process was as rigorous as admittance to a graduate program. Accomplished principals and area superintendents convened in panels of 3 or 4 to conduct a structured interview of administrators who had submitted a written application, including a resume, statement of professional interest, list of leadership experiences, essays on questions important to the district and practice of school leadership, and for the first cohort, scores on a self-administered online leadership assessment. Just to be selected was an honor.
The idea original model involved spending the first year learning from central service professionals about how, for example, student population growth was managed, students assigned to schools and new schools constructed. Year two was about going deeper into a particular leadership content, for example, leading change. During the intervening summer, participants worked together in the Langford Quality Tools Seminar. A capstone project was the crafting of an educational philosophy statement.
Nearly four years and three cohorts later, the Institute has expanded its target population from primarily assistant principals to one-third central-service administrators. This is due, in part, because of our listening to district leaders and program participants as well as to our assessing the "fill rate" of school and central service leadership positions.
We have also re-designed the curriculum to include more work with outside consultants, for example, Gail Ostrishko and her facilitation of the Highlands Ability Battery about which I wrote several months ago. Most recently, we hosted Steve and Suzi Snyder of the Choiceful Group who introduced Institute members to the Change Grid process. The idea is to look at once more deeply into one's own strengths and at what external partners may bring to the table.
Soon after we return from holiday break, I will announce to WCPSS senior leaders and other educational stakeholders an event to be held sometime in late May or early June, an event created entirely by members of Aspiring Administrators Leadership Institute III around a problem of practice.
In a few hours, I will be joining TLA Consultant for Planning & Development, Jim Sweeney, at Wake Ed Partnership where we convene the Institute. He and I will be more "guides on the side" than "stand and deliverers" while 12 outstanding mid-level administrators learn from and with each other--just like in the real world. Stand by for more.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Chief Energy Officers
Are you your school, district, or company's Chief Energy Officer? According to a guest on "The Dylan Ratigan Show" broadcast earlier today, if you are truly leading your organization, you are.
When driving home this afternoon, I was pondering what has happened this week worth sharing. The possibilities were many: the meeting I had with Steve Parrot today wherein we talked about how better to align TLA with regional and statewide efforts; day one of Principal Coach Foundation Training conducted for 18 high-performing Wake County principals on Wednesday, session 8 of Creating High Performing Learning Cultures at Forest Pines Drive Elementary School in Wake Forest this afternoon; Principles of Dialogue for Lufkin Road Middle School in Apex on Monday--to name a few.
Flooded with thoughts about my week, I got home, went to the kitchen, and flipped on the TV to keep me company while snarfing a snack. The channel was on MSNBC, left there from my brief and predictable viewing of "Morning Joe" just before I left home for work.
Amid all the thoughts vying for my attention, Dylan's anonymous (to me) guest won out. Why? The answer is easy. When I heard the him talk about the way companies like SAS are led, where employees are treated not as liabilities but as assets, where managers' main job is not to supervise work but to inspire and energize people who happen to work there, I saw the connection for my entire week, maybe for the work of TLA generally.
Every single leader with whom we have had the privilege of spending time this week is that kind of leader. The accomplished principals who want to coach new principals are Chief Energy Officers; Freda Cole and Diane Daly-New at FPDES are Chief Energy Officers; Parry Graham at LRMS is a Chief Energy Officer; Steve Parrot at Wake Ed Partnership is a Chief Energy Officer. That is the reason these leaders and others all across the NC Triangle call on TLA--they care deeply about supporting the growth and development of their people.
Folks, there is much to celebrate and only a little to carp about here. When we support each other by investing our time and energy in the well-being of those around us, the universe gives it back to us. In my own small way, I am proud both to contribute to and be part of the leadership mosaic of our little corner of the world. I hope you are too.
When driving home this afternoon, I was pondering what has happened this week worth sharing. The possibilities were many: the meeting I had with Steve Parrot today wherein we talked about how better to align TLA with regional and statewide efforts; day one of Principal Coach Foundation Training conducted for 18 high-performing Wake County principals on Wednesday, session 8 of Creating High Performing Learning Cultures at Forest Pines Drive Elementary School in Wake Forest this afternoon; Principles of Dialogue for Lufkin Road Middle School in Apex on Monday--to name a few.
Flooded with thoughts about my week, I got home, went to the kitchen, and flipped on the TV to keep me company while snarfing a snack. The channel was on MSNBC, left there from my brief and predictable viewing of "Morning Joe" just before I left home for work.
Amid all the thoughts vying for my attention, Dylan's anonymous (to me) guest won out. Why? The answer is easy. When I heard the him talk about the way companies like SAS are led, where employees are treated not as liabilities but as assets, where managers' main job is not to supervise work but to inspire and energize people who happen to work there, I saw the connection for my entire week, maybe for the work of TLA generally.
Every single leader with whom we have had the privilege of spending time this week is that kind of leader. The accomplished principals who want to coach new principals are Chief Energy Officers; Freda Cole and Diane Daly-New at FPDES are Chief Energy Officers; Parry Graham at LRMS is a Chief Energy Officer; Steve Parrot at Wake Ed Partnership is a Chief Energy Officer. That is the reason these leaders and others all across the NC Triangle call on TLA--they care deeply about supporting the growth and development of their people.
Folks, there is much to celebrate and only a little to carp about here. When we support each other by investing our time and energy in the well-being of those around us, the universe gives it back to us. In my own small way, I am proud both to contribute to and be part of the leadership mosaic of our little corner of the world. I hope you are too.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Empathic Response
No, you didn't miss a blog. I took time off for the family last week and I hope you did too. So to pick up where I left off two weeks ago, I wrote then about gratitude and how, when publicly demonstrated, has a way of evoking the same sentiment in others. Let's take it to the next level.
One good turn, it seems, not only deserves another, it causes it. There appears to be a kind of generalized empathetic response at play that very well may lie beyond our ability to control. We can't help it. It's the human condition.
In fact, research has shown that two people left alone together and monitored by scientists soon begin to breath at approximately the same rate, mirror each others posture, and eventually speak with similar tonality. Don't believe it? Have you ever heard married couples who finish each others' sentences? That's the empathetic response.
Even more fundamental, have you ever noticed on the social page of the newspaper photographs of couples celebrating their Gold and Silver Wedding Anniversary? Honest to gosh, sometimes I cannot tell the husband and wife apart. I fully expect someday to see Deb in the mirror and discover it is me (apologies to Deb).
As is my wont, I hope to leave you with a leadership lesson. Here's my best effort: I am a leader and I am thinking about everyone in my life that has influenced me for the good. At some unconscious level, I believe that I sought to be like them, to say what they said, think what they thought, do what they did. I am not unique. I believe that all of us are an amalgam of all the experiences and influences that have ever come our way. We make the world and the world makes us.
When I was talking to my son, Chris, tonight about this Friday blog, he suggested the take-away lesson be, "Lie down with dogs and get up with fleas." Well, maybe that's part of it. But as I have recently been reminded, I am a kind of purist. I strive mightily to see the ideal, the good, and the hopeful in every circumstance. Even as I write these words, I regret whatever I have written that could have been perceived as whining. That is not who we are.
Yes, TLA is threatened by the economic cliff off which we are all falling. But in truth there are far bigger issues about which we may chose to worry--like families losing their homes, parents without incomes, and students without teachers. I am truly convinced that we will think ourselves out of this hole. But first we must stop digging. I am putting down my shovel today to advance a new vision:
For as long as the regional leadership academy has life, I want it to be the protector of the hapless man on whom the stack of boxes is about to fall, the woman who pushes the cup of coffee from the edge of the table, the guy who raps on the back of the SUV headed blindly into the parked motorcycle. I want TLA to influence all of us for the good. I want to evoke in others the empathetic response. Let's get moving.
One good turn, it seems, not only deserves another, it causes it. There appears to be a kind of generalized empathetic response at play that very well may lie beyond our ability to control. We can't help it. It's the human condition.
In fact, research has shown that two people left alone together and monitored by scientists soon begin to breath at approximately the same rate, mirror each others posture, and eventually speak with similar tonality. Don't believe it? Have you ever heard married couples who finish each others' sentences? That's the empathetic response.
Even more fundamental, have you ever noticed on the social page of the newspaper photographs of couples celebrating their Gold and Silver Wedding Anniversary? Honest to gosh, sometimes I cannot tell the husband and wife apart. I fully expect someday to see Deb in the mirror and discover it is me (apologies to Deb).
As is my wont, I hope to leave you with a leadership lesson. Here's my best effort: I am a leader and I am thinking about everyone in my life that has influenced me for the good. At some unconscious level, I believe that I sought to be like them, to say what they said, think what they thought, do what they did. I am not unique. I believe that all of us are an amalgam of all the experiences and influences that have ever come our way. We make the world and the world makes us.
When I was talking to my son, Chris, tonight about this Friday blog, he suggested the take-away lesson be, "Lie down with dogs and get up with fleas." Well, maybe that's part of it. But as I have recently been reminded, I am a kind of purist. I strive mightily to see the ideal, the good, and the hopeful in every circumstance. Even as I write these words, I regret whatever I have written that could have been perceived as whining. That is not who we are.
Yes, TLA is threatened by the economic cliff off which we are all falling. But in truth there are far bigger issues about which we may chose to worry--like families losing their homes, parents without incomes, and students without teachers. I am truly convinced that we will think ourselves out of this hole. But first we must stop digging. I am putting down my shovel today to advance a new vision:
For as long as the regional leadership academy has life, I want it to be the protector of the hapless man on whom the stack of boxes is about to fall, the woman who pushes the cup of coffee from the edge of the table, the guy who raps on the back of the SUV headed blindly into the parked motorcycle. I want TLA to influence all of us for the good. I want to evoke in others the empathetic response. Let's get moving.
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