Mentions: latoyadixon5

The Gap Between Knowing and Doing: Why Achieving Excellence Is Difficult.

It’s no secret that excellence, true excellence is difficult to achieve. When it comes to achieving excellence, inspiration and aspiration will only take you so far. Achieving excellence isn’t always related to a person’s skill level either. While a lack of skill definitely impacts achievement, it’s not the critical element that prevents one or an organization from achieving excellence. The difficulty in achieving excellence is related to the gap between what we know and what we do. In other words, we often possess the needed skills or can obtain them through training, development, practice, etc. to accomplish the task(s) before us and do so in a high-quality manner. It isn’t the skill that’s missing. It’s the discipline to consistently execute the behaviors we know are necessary to accomplish our goals at the highest level that prevent us from achieving excellence. This is true in multiple facets of life-socially, personally, professionally, etc. The truth is very few people execute the discipline needed to consistently apply the skills and behaviors needed to achieve excellence. Allow me to provide you with an analogy to make this point clear. Let’s say you have a desire to lose weight. What do we know is necessary for weight loss? Eating less, making better eating selections, and exercise, right? Well if we know that why is it so hard to lose weight? Is it because we don’t know what it takes to do so? Absolutely not. It’s because we don’t execute the discipline to eat well and exercise consistently and because of that, we struggle to lose weight. Sounds simple, right? Hold that thought.

Discipline is the gap between knowing and doing. It is the missing element that prevents us from achieving what we often are so quick to say we want to accomplish. The question, then, is what makes consistently executing what we know is an effective behavior difficult? Structure. We are often quick to immerse ourselves in the work we are doing without creating a structure to ensure we are doing the work at a quality level that aligns with our desire to be excellent. We lack strategy and structure and therefore assume being busy and getting things complete means we are doing our work.  We quickly become compliance driven.  That may be true, but if the goal is to do the work and achieve excellence, we must design a working structure that counters the unconsciousness that can occur when we are deep in practice.

As mentioned in a previous blog, I thoroughly enjoy studying effective leaders who have been able to achieve excellence. For me, it isn’t about how they are perceived; it is about the body of evidence that provides the evidence that they have been able to achieve excellence. Perhaps my line of thinking is off base, but I’m convinced that leaders who are able to achieve excellence have a defining factor in common, and that is, that they are disciplined enough to operationalize strategic behaviors on a consistent basis. While the words disciplined, strategic, and consistent sound simple, they are actually very difficult to operationalize. It requires an acknowledgment that we aren’t naturally disciplined, strategic, or consistent in behaviors that we know are effective to achieve excellence. To support our unnatural tendencies, effective leaders develop a structure to support our ability to be disciplined, consistent, and strategic.

That structure can happen in a variety of ways. It might be in the way we schedule our time, in the organization of resources, in how we monitor our progress toward achieving our goals, or how we develop and monitor processes for working with our colleagues, or using data to drive our work. We aren’t naturally structured and organized people, but it’s quite interesting that we operate sometimes as if discipline, strategy, and consistency come naturally to us.

So there you have it folks. Excellence is difficult to achieve because discipline, strategy, and consistency are the gap between knowing and doing. Now that you know that, how might you approach your work differently? What structure might you add to help support your ability to be disciplined, consistent, and strategic about your work? Good luck to all of you. I’ll be working alongside of you to improve my ability to close the gap as well.

Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!

Latoya
@latoyadixon5

Leadership and Learning: How Do You Conceptualize Leadership?

Leadership and Learning: How Do You Conceptualize Leadership?
I’m obsessed about studying excellent leaders. As I get to know folks, I’m known to enter into a role as a quiet observer, thoughtfully studying and reflecting on what I am seeing, hearing, and watching. I pay attention to everything around me, trying to capture the needed information that is often communicated in an unspoken manner. Once I have established a relationship and trust with those around me, I slowly begin to share my thoughts and ideas, but I try to be careful about my timing, my tone, and work to have an ever conscious awareness of my audience, and possible unintended consequences of my words and interactions. I’m a thinker, so even as I am speaking and working, I am thinking. For me, my brain never stops and that can be a curse as well as a gift. It all depends on how you look at it.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about leadership-more specifically, about what makes some leaders exceptional, and others average at best. A few things have come to the forefront of my mind on this topic and I’d like to share them here in this blog. While I do not presume that my thoughts on leadership are groundbreaking or even new, I do believe they are worth sharing. It should be noted that all of my leadership experience has been in education, mostly as a principal, and now in my new role-unless you count my K-12 student council experience and my role as a co-captian on  my high school basketball team. JIn my career, I’ve had the opportunity to observe and learn from a number of leaders, some peers, others superiors. After seeing leadership in a variety of different organizations and at different levels, there are a few summary thoughts I wish to capture and share.

Clarity precedes competence.     
Leadership and learning go hand in hand or not at all. Leaders have a responsibility to guide, direct, inspire, motivate, and hold folks accountable for their efforts, but that work is gravely impacted by the leader’s learning. It is quite difficult to lead folks in work you have not embarked on learning. As a leader your learning informs your decision-making. Gathering all information and increasing your knowledge base as needed, allows one to make better informed decisions, see the implications and long term benefits of the decisions they are making, and clarifies the intent of the strategy or action being executed. If leaders aren’t clear on the “what” and the “how” of their work, their competence has the potential to be compromised. There seems to be an encouraged focus to be hypersensitive regarding the “why” of our work as we work with adult learners, but the “what” and the “how” should not be left out of our thinking. Clarity precedes competence because if we only acknowledge why something needs to happen, we end up with some assumptions on what needs to happen and how it needs to happen. We must be clear about not only why we are doing something, but on how it can be operationalized and what that looks like for members of our organization in roles that will execute the strategy we are pushing them to implement.

Support is not a general term.
So often in my leadership experience, I’ve heard folks talk about their need to be supported or even an experience where they have not felt supported. It is my opinion, that our human condition, flawed and all, leads us to believe that a lack of agreement is a lack of support. Instead, we ought to be a bit more conscious about what support should be and how it should be provided as leaders and as recipients of it. Support is about precisely diagnosing what type of assistance, encouragement, intervention or guidance is needed and then administering it at the right time. Support is not about affirming another person’s ideas or actions or agreeing with them. Excellent leaders are careful about the use of this word, and in how they offer and administer support. Support is a gentle balance of pushing and stroking, just at the right time and in the right context. When I think about leaders who I see as excellent, this is something I see them doing with precision. They are not overly complimentary, yet their objective isn’t to be adversarial by constantly pointing out deficiencies and what’s wrong. They are skilled at situational leadership, administering encouragement when it is needed and warranted, critical feedback when it is necessary to ensure performance expectations are met and not compromised, and praise when there is a clear body of evidence of one’s work to support such recognition. Like criticism, compliments, are not given without a link to solid evidence of such. Average leaders often provide empty compliments and use support as a general term synonymous with agreement. Support is not a general term.

Excellent leaders are driven by the work.
My oldest sister Tonya, who is also in leadership (business, not education), told me something several years ago that has gravely impacted my leadership. If you knew our mother, you’d know her rearing was definitely an influence on Tonya’s thought that I agree with whole-heartedly. Tonya said in one of our many conversations about leadership and work, “There are two kinds of horses. There are show horses and there are workhorses. A show horse looks good and sounds good, but a work horse get’s the job done.” So often in my career, I’ve seen those who aspire to lead be enamored with the appearances of leadership. Many admire some who are well dressed, well spoken, socially graceful in their conversations with others, but lack a body of evidence of work to support that their leadership is in fact excellent. Excellent leaders are not only socially graceful, they are also driven by their body of work that serves as evidence that they are achieving their goals and getting the job done. Leaders who strive to be excellent aren’t always moved by what one says or how one is perceived, but by the work one has been instrumental in accomplishing, producing, etc. Excellent leaders are results oriented. Their worth is rooted in their ability to accomplish the tasks set before them. Several months ago, I heard a speaker say that he “always tries to imitate excellence”. I immediately thought, we must be sure we are defining excellence in the right way as leaders. Those we look to as examples ought to have a body of work that supports our judgment of seeing them as an excellent leader.
As I continue to think about this topic, I am sure there will be other thoughts that come to mind. Perhaps I’ll write a second blog as that happens. For now, I share this with you and hope you may have found something in my words that helps you think about how you conceptualize excellent leadership.
Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!
-Latoya
@latoyadixon5

Leadership: Are You Leading With Actions or Words?

The Power of Reflection
Leaders are often tasked with evaluating situations, perspectives, people, etc. Leaders look outward to see progress towards goals, to determine to what extent collaboration is happening, and to assess how well a strategy is executed or implemented. That’s why it’s important for leaders to look inward first. Reflection starts with looking inside and taking an honest and personal assessment of your efforts.  Reflection isn’t simply thinking about the past. It’s digging deep into the core of who you are as a leader, how you have lead others, and whether or not your leadership has been effective. Reflection isn’t about  how well you’ve taken charge either. Great leaders understand that positional power is an absolute, last resort. They are skilled at using the power of reflection to spur personal improvement and action. They are self motivated because they take the time to think about how to get better, and not just to review what else needs to be done. Reflection moves us from task masters to critical thinkers. We think more about how to go about the work to produce a desired effect. Leaders who struggle with reflection move along the checklist, checking off what has been done, and highlighting what’s left to be completed. That’s not reflection. That’s a review. Don’t confuse the two. They are quite different.

Leaders Go First  
When a shift in culture needs to happen, the leader does not wait for the rest of the members of the organization to shift. Instead, great leaders understand that they can model the shift they desire. Simply verbalizing the expectation of how folks should interact and behave isn’t enough. This means when a leader recognizes that his or her attitude or actions hasn’t met the bar, they admit it. They admit it by making it clear and transparent. Reflection, when done well, can serve as a catalyst for changing behavior. Changing others isn’t really possible. Leaders influence others, impact others, but individual change is personal. Change only happens when one makes a conscious decision to do so. That conscious decision is often the result of deep reflection. Above all, when the leader sees that something is not going well, he or she looks in the mirror first. Great leaders resist the urge to look outward to find blame in an initial assessment. Great leaders check themselves first, taking an honest assessment of what they have done or have failed to do. Reflection, in its’ truest form only happens when one looks in the mirror first. Leaders who go first lead with their actions, followed by their words. They believe in showing more than telling.

Leadership Challenge
Continuous improvement isn’t simply a mindset to be adopted by organizations who want to make sure their school, district, or company is always working to get better. It’s a concept to be adopted by individuals who wish to lead, regardless of position or title. Reflection is the mental exercise of figuring out how one can improve to reach his or her maximum potential. The challenge is to resist the urge to look outwardly first. So often when things aren’t going well or the way we desire, our tendency is to look at those around us. I reject that tendency. I believe that when we look at ourselves first, we not only model powerful reflection for others, but we commit to the idea that everyday we have an opportunity to get better, to improve our craft, to sharpen our expertise and skills. My challenge to leaders is simple. Have you taken a look in the mirror lately? Are you spending time thinking about how you get better at being the leader versus thinking about how others need to improve? If not, I challenge you to do just that. Take a look in the mirror and reflect!

Until next time-be you, be true, and be a hope builder!
-Latoya
@latoyadixon5

The Power & Pressure of the Principalship: Why Principals Need Support Now!

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

-Uncle Ben in Spiderman

 

Being a principal isn’t easy, and I’m not so sure it’s supposed to be that way. It’s a tough job. As principal, you have the power to improve the educational experience of students, instructional practices of teachers, and build a strong culture of trust among parents. If you work it right, they say, you can accomplish something amazing.  Principals must be master mind readers, noting each teacher’s particular strengths and opportunities for growth. Principals must know their students, in both academic and social-emotional fashion, and must be skilled at developing partnerships with parents to help students reach their maximum potential. Principals are tasked with creating a culture of collaboration, where each and every person feels valued, although they have little control over anyone’s actions. While principals may administer consequences or extend rewards and/or recognition for a particular action, the ultimate decision regarding how one acts or behaves, rest within each individual. Principals work to earn the power and permission to influence others, not control them. Principals are tasked with being familiar with a variety of content, pedagogy, instructional methods, all the while ensuring they have a firm handle on the budget, maintenance and operations, transportation logistics, personnel protocol, professional development, and board policies. Principals must support teachers, students, and parents in their efforts, but here’s a question: Who supports principals? Furthermore, how are principals supported? Beyond the monthly meeting and annual conference, what structures are in place to create that same culture of collaboration that is so beneficial to teachers and students, for principals? When principals need support where do they turn? 

For far too long, principals have been left out of the conversation regarding the benefits of collaborative communities of learners for teachers and for students. Principals, too, need collaborative communities with their peers, to work through problems of practice, to develop intelligent solutions to the challenges they face, and quite frankly to last in the principalship. In recent weeks, I’ve read a great deal regarding the principal shortage. Many states and districts are focused on strategies to replenish the principal pipeline, but who helps you stay there once you make the rank of principal? As a former principal, I can attest to the feelings of isolation, pressure, and stress that accompany the principalship. While a monthly principals’ meeting might provide a venue for a common meeting place, it doesn’t serve the purpose of support. In a recent tweet, I asked principals to share with me what would give them the support they so desperately need. As I presumed, they noted the following:

  1. A listener who understands the complexity of the job. While the first and foremost task is teaching and learning, so very often other factors (meeting basic needs of students, working through a personal crisis with a staff member, budgetary or operational issues) consume a great deal of time.
  2. A coach who uses an assets-based approach to coach them. It takes more than a review of school data and a set of goals to help principals meet the mark of academic achievement, but so often, to use a sports analogy, we cite last season’s record, state the goal for this season, and tell principals “Play ball!”. Occasionally, we cheer them on, but that’s usually at the end of the game, better known as testing season! 
  3. A superior who recognizes the things that are working well, as well as the opportunities for growth. Monthly principal meetings ought to be more than problem listing sessions. Principals need time with their peers to work through problems of practice. Additionally, principals need to be coached on what they can do to develop their skills, sharpen their weaknesses, etc. and that must go beyond talking to other principals at a meeting or shadowing someone else for a day.
  4. A structured and routine practice to ensure consistent opportunities for collaboration with job-alike peers. We know professional learning communities serve as powerful platforms for teachers to improve their practice. Principals, too, need a job-embedded opportunity to participate in a professional learning community that meets their needs.
  5. A focus on principal wellness, with professional development on stress management. As a former principal, I began a journey of fitness purely out of a grave need to manage stress, improve my sleep patterns, and reduce anxiety. It took me years in the principalship to recognize that I needed to be intentional about managing my stress levels so that I could bring my very best self to the job each day.

While the responsibility of the principalship is great, so is the pressure. Principals face a constant pressure to improve teacher practice, student learning, school community relations, and last but certainly not least, themselves. If principals aren’t provided with the support they need, what should be their power, often becomes pressure. In the age of high stakes testing, increased accountability, along with a push to be innovative in the ways we teach and that students learn, it is not difficult to see how a principal’s potential power can easily become a persistent pressure. District leaders have a responsibility to support principals in the same manner and fashion that they support the work of teachers and the educational experiences of students. Principals must not be left to fend for themselves when we know collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking are essential to the educational experience. If we know those elements are working for students and teachers, why aren’t we making it our business to create routine opportunities for principals in the same manner? Principals are the heart of school leadership and they need your support now! I dare you to do something different!

Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!

Latoya

@latoyadixon5

Leadership: Permission to Influence Others.

Leadership Redefined
Far too often leadership is conceptualized as an act that requires a big ego, a high level of arrogance, and false confidence that leads others to believe the leader has the answers to an organization’s complex problems. I beg to differ. Leadership isn’t about any of those things. It’s about the exact opposite. It’s about shedding your ego. Being relational, yet inspiring others to set high expectations of themselves to benefit the organization. It’s about appreciating the value everyone brings to the organization, no matter their role. It’s about being vulnerable enough to say I’m sorry, I made a mistake, and I need your help. It’s about people. Leadership is about people. I am convinced, more and more, that the greatest leaders among us, have a precise understanding of the human condition. That is, they understand that human beings need to feel connected, valued, appreciated, and inspired. They are clear that the success of any organization is rooted in the ability to build commitment to create a collective vision, put forth collective effort, to ensure collective efficacy. They build teams, they inspire and motivate others, they set an example in their words and in their work.

Leadership is Influence
Influence requires permission. We don’t just let someone influence our behavior and our actions because they hold a position of leadership. At some point in our interaction, we make a conscious, sometimes unconscious, decision to grant them permission to influence our work and our thinking. If they haven’t gained our permission, we don’t allow them to influence us. Regardless of our title, our position on an organizational chart, or who reports to us, permission to influence someone else is not given. It is earned. That is because before we are leaders, chiefs, executives, directors, or whatever, we are HUMAN. And because we are human, we ought to realize the flaws that come with being human, no matter who you are or what you do. We choose to allow others to inspire us, to push us, to influence us to do more, grow professionally, and increase our effectiveness.

Leadership Lessons in the Human Condition
Leadership requires we accept that much of our work is to help humans be better humans. When it comes to school improvement, we can’t take people out of the equation. Our ability to get better is predicated on our ability to help those who carry out the service of teaching and learning to get better. Our work is about building the capacity in people to achieve their maximum potential. We are dealers in hope, in help, in improving lives through education with a commitment to giving children the very best of ourselves, and you can’t quantify that, no matter how much some may try. We commit to continuous improvement, because we know perfection is not attainable. We expect to have to work to improve day in and day out, month after month, and year after year. We embrace accountability for our actions, but we also celebrate our strengths. We recognize that our work is too important to spend all of our time on discussing what’s wrong. In fact, we ought to be moving the conversation past problems to solutions. We need to avoid getting soaked in the what’s wrong down pour that is so prevalent in education. If our students need problem solving skills to be successful contributors in this global society, should we not be modeling the same? Let’s make a renewed commitment to counter the what’s wrong rhetoric with a what’s next, problem solving, mentality. Instead of drowning in deficits, let’s elevate the profession by bringing solutions to the forefront of conversations by simply asking: How do we solve this problem? What ideas do you have? What do you think we should do about it? What do we need to get it done?

Selflessly Lead
Above all, we ought to be sure to shed our egos, open our minds, and open our hearts to doing what is best for students. There is no competition in doing well when what you are doing is for the good of all. Education is for the good of our world, our society, our democracy. How do you compete at that? Accountability, while necessary, must not divide us. It must not turn us into fierce competitors, fighting against one another, but for the same goal. Instead, it ought to drive us to being so willing to be collaborative and collective in our efforts, because collectively is the only way we reach the lofty goals set for us. I dare you to ask those you serve if you have their permission to influence them.  Let me know how it goes by leaving a comment on this blog.

Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!
–@latoyadixon5

Let’s Elevate the Teaching Profession Now!

If you’re an educator, you may have heard folks talk about the dwindling teacher and principal pipeline or the decrease in the number of students choosing education as a major at institutes of higher education. Maybe you are aware of the vacancies in your own school, district, etc. that seem to be more challenging to fill because perhaps the demand is greater than the supply for your particular district or school.  If you’ve read the recent articles related to teacher shortage, you may see mixed reviews. In an April 2016 US News article by The Hechinger Report, the case was made that the shortage varies state by state, district by district, and school by school and in some places there is no shortage of educators to serve students at all.  As you might guess, it all relative to the geographic area and/or subject matter that is being referenced.  

I’ve yet to meet anyone who did not think that being an educator was a noble and honorable way to serve others. There may be some, but I’ve not had that experience. Responses vary from “I don’t know how you do it,” to “Thank you for what you do because we need good teachers and principals.” While the majority of those I’ve interacted with collectively express a healthy level of respect for educators, I find it quite interesting that even with that level of respect, there seems to be a challenge in the recruitment and retention of educators affecting schools and districts, and most of all children, in many places. So upon further inquiry, reading, and research, this interesting tidbit of information stood out to me. Richard Ingersoll, an education professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is quoted in the article noted above as follows: “Turnover is the big driver of the shortages,” he said. “The problem isn’t that we don’t produce enough new teachers. The problem is that we’re not retaining enough of the teachers we already have.” If the root of the issue is retention rather than recruitment, what can we do about it?

So what is it that we can do right now to assist with elevating the profession?  Can we shift the conversation to what an honor and noble opportunity it is to teach young people? Can we spend our time in informal conversations in the grocery store, in conversation over dinner with friends, with each other in the teacher’s lounge or work room talking about how proud we are to be a part of a field where our work is as critical to a student’s ability to change his or her own trajectory as a doctor’s ability to save a life in the emergency room? Can we relish in the moments when we can affirm without a doubt that we are making a difference or have made a difference and publicly document and share it? As educators, do we have a responsibly to elevate our profession by speaking openly and honestly about the value, nobility, and honor that comes with our work and being acutely aware of our participation or silent intake of conversations that emphasize the opposite? If we shift the conversation and reshape the narrative around our own profession, will that impact our ability to retain great teachers?

I’ve never met a person who didn’t want to be a part of a winning team or didn’t enjoy being around positive people, working in a fulfilling and positive environment, and being absolutely certain of the difference being made by serving a purpose greater than one’s self. I’m convinced that our narrative, now more than ever, has to shift. Let’s all do our part to elevate the profession!

-Latoya

@latoyadixon5


The Value of Teacher Leadership

For far too long some of the most important people in the school improvement process have been left out of the conversation. Perhaps left out is the wrong term. After all, teachers have been and are told repeatedly that they need to improve and improve everything. They need to improve their teaching, planning, questioning, assessments, and most of all improve student learning. However, it seems to me that teachers are often secondary conversationalist when it comes to school improvement. School improvement begins and ends with a great teacher. That’s why I believe we must do a better job of valuing and utilizing teacher leadership! .

With an ever growing complex accountability system, we need teacher leadership like never before. We ought to be developing teacher leaders in every capacity. Many teachers desire to lead, but not from the principal’s office. They’re perfectly happy leading their peers in data analysis, improved instructional strategies, in creating rigorous assessments, and desire to do so right from their classrooms. But so often when we begin the problem solving process, teachers are not at the table. Formal or informal, we have a tendency to fill the table with administrators and coaches first, bringing teachers in as secondary folks to help problem solve.  If school improvement begins and ends with the teacher’s execution of agreed upon strategies and interventions, shouldn’t teachers be seated at the problem solving table first?  
We must create deliberate and intentional opportunities for teachers to lead in our schools. We must capitalize on the strengths and talents of all. School improvement does not rests on the shoulders of the principal alone. It’s a banner we all must carry. My challenge to principals as we embark on a new school year is to answer this question: How are you creating opportunities for teachers to lead? 
No one should have to leave the classroom to lead if that is not their heart’s desire. Allow teachers to lead from where they are and practice collective effort in its purest form.  Principals don’t have to do the work of school improvement alone. When teachers are provided the opportunity to lead, collective effectiveness has the potential to significantly impact student achievement. Our work is too grand for one and too complex for a few. School improvement takes all of us. So put some extra chairs at the table and invite your teacher leaders to sit down and problem solve with you. You might just find that the road to creating your very best school is clearer than you thought. 
With respect for teachers everywhere, let them lead!
Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!
-Latoya
https://www.podbean.com/media/player/multi?playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fplaylist.podbean.com%2F1689180%2Fplaylist_multi.xml&vjs=1&kdsowie31j4k1jlf912=c4607324bfc0609cf60b8643c64cb7aed7eab203&size=315&share=1&fonts=Helvetica&auto=0&download=0&skin=0

The Power of Collective Effort

Too often in education, we treat our work as if there is a magic solution, an individual hero, or super powered program to move our students and our schools to a place of excellence. We spend our time, energy, and resources searching for the right program to move our students to achieve the goals we’ve set for them. We deliberate over whether we should choose this program or that program and make an attempt to determine if it will “work” in our school or district. However, we often forget that no matter how valuable or impactful a program or concept, it will always be at the mercy of those who have the responsibility of executing it.

School improvement is about people improvement. When people improve their practices, get better at their craft, and work better, schools improve. Programs don’t produce excellence. People are at the center of it all. We need school leaders who fully understand this. We need principals and administrators and teachers who accept, without hesitation, that improvement is a continuous concept. We never stop trying to get better at what we do. Regardless of our years of experience, expertise in our subject matter or field, the opportunity to improve your craft is constant. Leaders must work to develop a solid understanding and acceptance that people are at the center of any improvement in a school or district. Without an educated, driven, and committed group of people who believe that it is their professional responsibility to get better each and every day, no program, no initiative will succeed. For it is not the program that has the power; it is the people.

Collective effort is the secret to any organizational success. When a leader can rally a group of people around a common goal and everyone commits to giving their best, to improving their individual abilities so that they improve their contribution to the team, amazing things can happen. The real task of leadership is rooted in one’s ability to get a group of individually talented folks to partner for the good of the cause.

Collective efficacy needs more attention in our work. We need to spend more time talking about the collective impact of the group and less time discussing individual merit. No matter how good or great an individual might be, no one person can produce what a focused group of individuals who understand the power of collective effort can produce.

So what gets in the way of us capitalizing on the age old kindergarten concept of group work? Egos. Social conditioning to compare and rank ourselves against our counterparts. We have to focus on being our very best, instead of being concerned with who is the best. We must stand together, and not be distracted by our place in line. The human condition is vulnerable to this and that is why leaders must spend time making a conscious effort to highlight collective effort rather than individual heroism.

How do we do this? We intentionally create opportunities for collaboration. We celebrate the work and results of the group. We talk about collective efficacy over and over and over again. We explicitly ask others to place their egos on the shelf for the good of the cause. Everyone must work to be selfless and to put the needs of the group ahead of personal pride.

This, I believe, is the secret to producing amazing work. Imagine what might happen if everyone in your grade level, department, school, or district believed in the power of collective effort? What amazing things might you all accomplish? What if we all worked to push ourselves to maximize our personal potential? We must grow the people we have and stop looking for some super hero or super program to fix it all. The power, my friends, is in the people.

I dare you to challenge any group or team you’re associated with to do just that. Building a team who is committed to collective effort is hard work. Working on the program instead of the people is far easier. However, to achieve excellence we must pose the question constantly: Do you now what we could do if we all use our talents to accomplish a goal TOGETHER? While it sounds rather simple, it is the most challenging work of any leader. To get people to put themselves aside for the good of the group, to commit day in and day out to collective effort, is nothing short of a minor miracle. We begin by at least talking about collective effort. It needs to be a part of the conversation in our schools, in our districts, in our lives. If we work it right, some amazing things can be accomplished!
Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!
-Latoya
@latoyadixon5

This Is Your Reminder!

Attention Educators! This is your reminder. Do you know what an awesome and powerful responsibility and opportunity we have? Well, allow me to remind you:

Education is freedom. How, you ask? Being educated gives one the freedom to trust his or her own intuition, make his or her own choices, without reliance on someone else. It creates a sense of self sufficiency that cannot be obtained any other way. Education is opportunity. When you are educated, your ability to choose is enhanced. You can have choice about what you do, how you spend your time, who you spend it with, and more. You can have choice about your quality of life. Being educated can improve your quality of life. Education is powerful. There is an autonomy that comes with being educated.  Once you are educated, no one can take it away from you. My education is my most prized possession. It changed my life. Poverty of the mind can result in poverty in life, but poverty in life does not have to result in poverty of the mind. But most of all education gives power to the powerless and hope to the hopeless. Here’s what I like most about being educated: It’s like a secret weapon. You can’t tell how much someone has by looking at them. Don’t ever let an appearance fool you. It’s usually not what it looks like-Look deeper, search harder, and work to connect!

The mind is a way to harness power and opportunity, regardless of your race, religion, socioeconomic status, etc. When students understand that their education is the fuel that harnesses the power within them, their ability to change the trajectory of their own lives is unlocked. Sometimes I think we (educators) need to provide more direct instruction around the power of an education. We need to share our own narratives of how education changed our lives and the things we have overcome in our journey.

While I realize I am not the only one with a story, I am often reminded that I am one who is courageous enough to share it. Instead of being ashamed of the narrative that drove you to success, share it. There is power in a good story. I know so many of us overcame so many obstacles in our lives, but sometimes shame gets in the way of our sharing. Shame cannot be the narrative we live by if we want to inspire others. We must share our heart. We must remember that the mind is a powerful thing. It either coaches you up or talks you down. We must be mindful of what we allow to enter our minds. We are only limited by our own thoughts and that is why we must talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves. We all need to coach our conscious.

Because I recognize that for any great accomplishment struggle is a necessary precursor, we need to teach students not to be distracted by the struggle and to press on anyway. As we work to inspire students and each other, we need to tap into the power of the human condition. Pain and progress often happen simultaneously. When things become challenging, we often forget such. We must remember all of the journey, not just the easy parts. Being an educator is soul work, heart work, and it is hard work. It is for those whose soul is satisfied by serving. For all of the educators out there, keep fanning your flame, and don’t forget to pass the torch!

Until Next Time-Be you, be true, and be a hope builder!
Latoya
@latoyadixon5

In Pursuit of Passion

It’s not uncommon to hear educators talk about what they are passionate about. A word with such strong emotion attached to it should not be used ever so freely. Passion is what we can’t die without, not what we can’t live without. Passion is soul necessary. Passion is a spiritual experience, one in which we work to get our heart and mind to operate in tandem with each other. But above all, passion must be tended to, it must be protected, and preserved.

For educators, summer can be a time we use to rest and recharge. It’s a time to relax, to turn off so to speak from the daily hustle and bustle of school. However, during a recent #leadupchat I began thinking about how important it is to feed our passion on a regular basis so that we keep our energy we bring to our work in the right realm, one that’s positive and productive. Over the years I’ve heard keynote after keynote speaker talk about how important it is for educators to be passionate about their work. In some instances, they make it seem as if it is a characteristic or trait that is easily obtained, can be turned on at moment’s notice, and created by sheer wish. But I believe differently. Passion is a function of the spirit and soul. You can’t make it up and you can’t learn it. Either you feel it or you don’t. It is often born out of pain. Passion is the sum of our experiences-pain and progress-that has inspired us to use our work as a platform to spread hope! Passion comes from a place of authenticity. It is not trendy. It is not a buzz word. It is real and you feel it.  Passionate leaders are as passionate about people as they are about their work. People drive their passion for the work!

My challenge to all of us and question is this: How are your pursuing and protecting your passion? How do you ensure that you don’t allow the other factors of our work dampen or even exhaust your passion? What are your strategies for reviving your passion when it appears weak? Do you recognize when your passion is at risk of dying?

Our work is too important to not care for the inner narrative that drives us. My wish for educators everywhere, myself included, is that we are more passionate in our latter days than our beginning ones!

Until next time-be you, be true, be a hope builder!
-Latoya
@latoyadixon5