Future Focused with Today's Actions

Prior to moving into leadership, when I was the “boots on the ground,” it was hard for me to understand decisions that were being made by those above me. Sometimes with good reason as they were not good decisions, but more often it was because good leaders had a more full picture of the dots that need connecting.

What the best leaders need to be able to do is have that longer range plan in mind of what needs to happen, and backwards trace the steps back to the beginning to set everything in motion. That may very well mean changing or stopping a program that has been in place for years, or even something that was just started but doesn’t fit that vision. What the people who are in the day to day job of carrying out the work see is a change to what they do. It can cause confusion, frustration, backlash, or disengagement.

That is why the communication piece is so important. Being able to explain the purpose behind the idea, empathizing with how the change will impact people now, but to their betterment in the future, will help people dive in. Without this, rumors fly, the naysayers gain voice, and mistrust builds.

So be focused on the future and the now, but understand most people you are leading are really only focused on the now. Be able to work with them to see the bigger picture, and in so doing will also help future leaders see the way they should lead when given the chance.

Comments

Vulnerability

I cannot claim to be an expert on vulnerability, that title belongs to Brene Brown. Through her work, I have learned that being vulnerable is key to major breakthroughs in life. The opposite of this is true as well. Being unwilling to take risks, fearing failure or embarrassment, leads to stilted growth and eventual regression. The unwillingness to struggle in the short term leads to eventual major disappointment. That struggle is unpleasant, painful, draining, aggravating, defeating, and necessary. As a teacher, vulnerability arises when teaching a new grade level or content area. It happens when a re-designed lesson is taught for the first time, a new resource is used, and when being observed. Leaders face vulnerability when launching a new initiative and taking questions from stakeholders. Coaches face vulnerability when they meet with a new client or a client who operates outside the coach's wheelhouse of knowledge or skills. Humans are adept at procrastinating, which is a phys...

Navigating Uncertainty

One thing most people can agree on in early April 2024 is that no one knows what to expect right now. Federal agencies are being closed at a record pace, tariffs are rocking global finances, AI is changing faster than most people can keep up with, everyone has an opinion on this, and no one can anticipate what might happen next. The stock market is a prime example of the uncertainty, and on the day I started writing this the Dow Jones surged by 800 points and ultimately fell by 600. Today as I continue writing, it rose by nearly 3000 points. There are countless ways to reach when life becomes chaotic. Some people "don't look up" as the movie's title states, because as long as you can't see the asteroid heading straight towards you it does not exist. Some like to lean into the chaos, acting like Loki, the Norse god of mischief and disruption. Others protest through marches, speeches, and boycotts. All of these are human reactions on which I place no judgment. Based...

Scheduling - A School's Heuristic Problem

Students learn about algorithms in Computer Science to solve complex problems in reasonable times. Some issues are too complex even for the best algorithms to perfectly solve, and those are known as heuristics. The example commonly used is the traveling salesman. While a little outdated, and I have updated the example to be the logistics of UPS delivering packages, the story goes like this. A traveling salesman arrives in a new town intending to get to each house in the most efficient path possible. They get a road map of all the homes they will visit and their hotel room and start mapping out paths. The math works out to show the following: Let's nerd out for a moment. Each number of possible paths is the mathematical factorial of the number of homes on the path. So 3 homes means 3*2*1 = 6 paths. 7 homes means 7*6*5*4*3*2*1 = 5040 homes. Just 10 homes, and we are at 10 factorial or 3,682,800 pathways! How can one possibly solve for the best route with that many choices? It is too...

Teacher Leader Coach

Search This Blog