LEADERSHIP COACHING: BUILDING COMMUNITY
Honestly, there was a time I hated ice-breakers. Hated almost everything about them. At times they felt forced, disingenuous, cheesy or quite frankly, like a waste of time. “Seriously,” I thought to myself, “Another community circle conversation? Please, help me.
Ask me today, and I have done a complete 180 turn. I believe community builders lay the foundation for the most important element of every culture of excellence - relationships. Community or culture builders as I like to call them, when created thoughtfully and delivered in an intentional and genuine manner, allow us to tell our story. After all, everyone has one. Many of them in fact. And when we take the time to actively listen to those stories it allows us to tune in to and in some cases, almost relive those experiences with the storyteller. When these personal stories are shared, they sometimes generate a sense of curiosity, understanding, smiles, joy, laughter, tears, or in some cases, empathy. Empathy is critical to healthy cultures because it reminds us that people have landed where they are based on those life experiences.
This past week I came across a thread on Twitter with people expressing their thoughts and opinions regarding ice-breakers. Some found value in them, others not. My purpose is not to judge or be critical of where people have landed. Some educators did share their thoughts and ideas on what they believe makes an effective ice-breaker. I decided to go ahead and crowdsource the ideas I came across as well as add some of my personal PD favorite community builders into a resource that you will find at the end of this post in hopes that it will allow us to show people that when done effectively, it can bring people together and build a stronger community for all educators and more importantly, for the students we serve. Today, more than ever as we are faced with unprecedented times, we need to create opportunities for human connection; not just teacher/admin to student, but student to student and colleague to colleague. This week, I will be hosting a FREE webinar, entitled, “How To Lead When We Don’t Know What To Do - Key Strategies For Teaching and Leading In Challenging Times.” My aim is to support teachers as well as school and campus leaders with some practical ideas to consider and take away as we approach a new school year, regardless whether you are delivering instruction face to face, in a blended model or strictly remotely.
Each week I share 1 Reflection, 2 Ideas, and 1 Resource for you to consider that I hope will encourage you to explore new and better practices in your daily work. My aspirations are to support you and others in developing your skills and shifting your thinking so you will invest in your own development and maybe, just maybe I can inspire you to want to live your excellence so you can bring your best self to school every day!
Live your excellence…
Jimmy
BUILDING COMMUNITY: 121
1 REFLECTION
Culturize: To cultivate a community of learners by behaving in a kind, caring, honest, and compassionate manner in order to challenge and inspire each member of the school community to become more than they ever thought possible.
2 IDEAS
One of my all-time favorite community builders is the Picture Story. Follow these steps or tweak as necessary and you will see how most people love to share their joy with others.
Using your phone, ask participants to go to their camera roll and select a picture that brings them joy. In other words, have them scroll through their camera roll until they come across a picture that makes them wish they could relive that moment at this time. They can also use the pic on their lock screen.
The individual then shares the pic with their partner and tells them the story of that pic. In other words, why did they select that specific picture? What is it about that picture that brings them so much joy and ask them to share the details of that picture.
Next, switch and have the other partner share their pic and tell that story.
When given ample time what you often see is people will continue to scroll through their camera roll and share more pics and tell more stories. These moments are often filled with joy, laughter and on occasion tears. When we take the time to share the pic of a loved one, whether it be a child, grandchild, a favorite memory, vacation spot, or the pic of lost loved one, these moments are sure to give us a glimpse of a personal moment in that person’s life.
Care to take this activity one step further? Print the pics and post around the room the next time you have a staff meeting. Split the group in half and create a gallery walk, allowing staff to view the pics posted around the room which allows staff to engage each other in conversation on a greater scale. Once again, when we invest in one another and give students and staff time to chat and share their stories, it energizes us and lifts our human spirit.
________________________________________________________________________________
Would it surprise you if I told you I was one failed eye-exam away from going to Quantico, Virginia and becoming and FBI agent? True. I spent two years going through a rigorous testing and background check on my 22 year-old life with the hopes of serving our country. After completing and passing all of the required cognitive and physical exams, interviews and psychological tests, I was given a training date at the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, only to fail my final eye exam multiple times. But that experience taught me a lot about myself and sent me in a different direction after graduate school - teaching. And here I am today, thirty-one years later, having been blessed with a lifetime of wonderful relationships and life-changing moments.
The following community builder is one that I use often because it brings in so many different facets of one’s life. I am a strong believer in life-fit (rather than life balance), which I talk about in detail in Culturize, because it gives us permission not to feel guilty about what we are able to give or not give. Taking a life-fit approach allows to take into account where we are in our life cycle. I hope you enjoy this one.
Allow every person in the room to create a list of every paid job they have ever held in their lifetime - for me it would go something like this: newspaper carrier, busboy, grocery store cashier, stock boy, janitor, insurance salesman, bartender, waiter, night club manager, factory worker, teacher, principal, business owner.
After each person has completed their list, partner up and have one person share their list with the other person.
After each partner reviews the other person’s list, they select one job and ask the other person to tell that story - how did they get the job, what did they love/hate about the job, anything funny or scary happen during that employment and what did they take away from that experience?
What I have found is most often people have no idea of another person’s life path. Journeys can be significantly different, but what we all have in common is that together we landed in this wonderful profession we call education. And that is our blessing.
Take this culture builder to a deeper level by asking a participant to share one of the job experiences or their partner’s experience with the entire group to build a stronger connection among the entire team. Another option could be to ask how many people worked, for example, as a waiter or bartender and group them together and ask them to share one horror story about that experience among each other and you will see we all have much more in common than we ever knew.
Regardless of where our life experiences have landed us, I do believe that the more we intentionally invest our personal time in one another and share our stories without fear of judgement or shame, the more confidence and trust we are able to build with our school family which ultimately allows us to connect on a more personal level so we can bring our best selves to work every day!
1 RESOURCE
FREE WEBINAR
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
7:00 PM CST.
HOW TO LEAD WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO
Key Strategies for Learning & Leading In Challenging Times
Today, more than ever, we need to create opportunities for human connection; not just teacher/admin to student, but student to student and colleague to colleague. This week, I will be hosting a FREE webinar, entitled, “How To Lead When We Don’t Know What To Do - Key Strategies For Teaching and Leading In Challenging Times.” My aim is to support teachers as well as school and campus leaders with some practical ideas to consider and take away as we approach a new school year, regardless whether you are delivering instruction face to face, in a blended model or strictly remotely.
THE CRITICAL TRUTHS COACHING COURSE
What All Educators Need To Know To Effectively Transform Their Classrooms and Schools To Excellence
These are challenging and stressful times for educators across the country. I empathize with my fellow educators and colleagues who are doing the very best they can with what they know. I wish I could be on site learning side by side with you, but for now, that is not possible for many school districts.
Therefore, I've created an on-line course to provide you virtual asynchronous professional learning opportunities during these challenging times as well as options for synchronous one on one and group coaching connections. My EXCEL 5 FRAMEWORK Self-Paced Learning Course is receiving rave reviews and I am thrilled to continue to work with educators across the country to dive deeper into the tenets of my award-winning book, Culturize, as well as my latest release, Live Your Excellence.
YES, I Want to Learn More About the EXCEL 5 FRAMEWORK