Hey everyone,

Communicating the desire for the "new" normal has significant impact on not only your morale, but those you lead can have a significant impact on morale, working conditions. 

I have spent some time this week reflecting on my experiences hearing folks wanting and wishing for the "new" normal. 

Watch or listen to the lesson to get a better understanding of what this person is actually saying and how it is impacting the low morale on your team or in your school. 

I offer multiple strategies that I know will work (I use them) to help you and your team be in a better place emotionally and physically!

 You you prefer to listen to this lesson: 

Once you are finished...

Are you ready to go from:

• Wanting to change to actually changing?
• Envisioning your goal to actually achieving it?
• Being the person you are right now to becoming the person you want to be?
• Breaking through your 'Immunity to Change'...

I believe that those leaders who do not to listen to their people, will eventually be surrounded by no one who speaks. 

Learning how to listen is a vital step in becoming an effective leader. According to research conducted by Personality Insights, the average executive spends two hours talking each day but eight hours listening.

Here is an example. 

After spending two hours at home with my eight year old son, I estimate that the average stay-at-home parent  spends 12 to 16 hours a day listening!!!

Well... at least one of the five levels of listening (more about this to come). 

Whether we realize it or not, whether we are intentionally engaged or not, we are always listening. Sometimes we are listening to new ideas, listening to a story, to music, to the background noise of a television, or in a true conversation where we are sharing our thoughts and conveying important information. I don’t know about you, but after a day of listening and...

I believe sustained organizational health and success begins with a clear and concise mission statement.

Here is what I mean.

Great organizations continuously follow their mission and rarely stray from it; as even a deviation can result in a flutter of ineffective activity and confusion. 

As marketing expert Donald Miller says, “When you confuse, you lose.” 

The most effective schools I have studied sustained their mission through stable school leadership, clear education plans, effective teachers, and highly engaged parents. 

As a consultant, and strategic thinking partner to hundreds of school leaders, I investigate and analyze schools at all years of existence and achievement levels. There is one thing I know for sure.

The school’s whose faculty understand who they are and why they exist are able to clearly articulate and communicate their education plans and overall programming.

They have learned to prioritize their time and focus their resources...

Hello {{first_name}},

Nine years ago today I earned the right to turn the tassel, earning my Doctorate in Education Leadership!

When this picture was taken I was still a middle school director of a very successful rural charter school. 

I did not know that a few weeks after I would get recruited by the NC Department of Public Instruction Office of Charter Schools to assist the growth of public charter schools as the Legislation just eliminated the 100 school cap. 

I did not know HOW to write a charter application let alone lead the process that would evaluate over 250 applications that resulted in the opening over 50 charter schools in the following three years.

I did not know HOW to support and prepare  charter school leaders opening their school from scratch. But I did. 

When I quit that government job to start my own business supporting school leaders in growing themselves and their schools, I did not know HOW to start a business.

I did not know ANYTHING!...

The one thing any school leader never wants to happen is a failure to communicate clearly.

When it comes to communicating the mission, vision, goals and values, and expectations, a leader must consistently communicate with clarity. 

Here is the rule we start from: Once you’ve talked about your mission, vision, values and goals, a hundred times, the average employee has heard and understood it less than ten.

Shocking, right?

But it’s true.

One of the great failures of school leaders happens when they think everyone else ‘just gets it.’

They don’t.

That is assumptive leadership, and it is the most dangerous leadership style. 

As a school principal, you may be passionate and inspired by your mission and vision. Compelled by your WHY! It's the reason you jump out of bed every day ready to change the world.

Here is a newsflash.

Most of your teachers and employees do not. 

To bring them into the mission and vision you created, it must be...

When you withhold your recognition of another person's contribution to the team's success, you are not just treating people unfairly, but you are depriving people of the emotional payoff that comes with success. 

And they resent you for it. 

One example of this was when a colleague of mine was excited about a grant he received to build an outdoor garden to help the "at-risk" youth he served to build emotional resilience and life skills. 

He told me that his principal came to him very excited and wanted to know all about the grant and the plans. 

Then, she went to the Superintendent meeting and took all of the credit, receiving accolades in the newspaper. My buddy, not a word was written about him or the students. 

He told me that he would never trust the principal and thought about shutting the project down. 

The principal's actions not only impacted his behavior, but now the students would suffer. 

Recognition is all about closure. 

When you...

Remember, silent gratitude isn’t good to anyone.--

I remember my first few weeks as an Exceptional Children's teacher. I was helping in the car pick up line when this third grade student came to me and said, "I think there is something wrong with our teacher. I think she is sleeping." 

I grabbed a colleague and went to the classroom. It was filled with after-school students and a woman who I had never met slumped in a chair. 

"We have to clear this room," I directed. 

I checked the pulse of the woman. There was no vitals. 

"Call 911!" I told my colleague and slowly eased her off the chair and onto the floor to begin CPR. 

She did not make it. 

As I was watching her get taken away in an ambulance my boss came over to me to thank me for my leadership. He had just gotten off the phone with the woman's husband. 

He told me, "He just kept repeating, I think I told her I loved her this morning. I know I thanked her. I think I told her."

If you are...