Whether I’m leading a meeting or working in my office alone, anytime my team or I might be tempted to put a small, pressing, and required task off until later, I say, “Let’s do it now.” Taking a few seconds or even a few minutes to complete the job will prevent to-do lists from exploding and accelerate progress towards goals by ensuring that no one is waiting for a tiny task to get done.
Category Archives: Leadership
Step onto your platform and into your power-tell your story effectively on social media.
Hi there! My name is Dr. Tim Grivois, Executive Director of TGS Educational Consulting, and I want to have some intense fellowship with my colleagues (you!) about social media.
The fact is, if you don’t tell your story on social media, someone else will. And you have too many beautiful stories to tell to let anyone else but you share!
Leaders, step onto your platform, and step into your power. Come to my workshop on Sharing your Story on Social Media: Tools and Tips. It’s Wednesday, September 6, 3:30-5:00 Pacific/Arizona time, and it costs $5.00 per participant.
Effective leaders are outstanding coaches.
Because coaching is effective, positive, and respectful of team members, coaching should be one element of all leadership styles. When leaders emphasize coaching in their leadership practice, you’ll notice a greater emphasis on keeping feedback small, bite-sized, and actionable immediately. You’ll also see leaders visible and actively helping. Typically, leaders who use the coaching style will have time built into their day for walk-throughs and coaching conversations.
Achieve big goals through consistent, effective, tiny strategy.
I rarely encounter leaders who are unwilling to set bold goals and work on them. The biggest problem I see when working with schools on action planning is that most leaders need to pay more attention to how much work is involved in making things happen. Hint: It’s usually much more work than most of us anticipate. Dr. Carlson recommends that leaders focus on two or three achievable goals a year, plan backward from them, and make time in their calendars daily to work on a narrow list.
When school leaders take charge of the story.
-by Dr. Tim Grivois, Executive Director Last week, I hosted Stefanie Boe, Tourism and Marketing Manager for the Town of Marana, on the “Transform. Grow. Succeed.” podcast. While you’ll see in the interview that she loves her work in Marana, I first met Stefanie when she was the Senior Director of Media Relations for TucsonContinue reading “When school leaders take charge of the story.”
Why “Off-the-shelf” solutions fail.
Once you’ve evaluated the “off-the-shelf” option, consider whether a DIY/DIT option might be the most cost-effective, long-term solution. Solving a problem once and for all is better than continuing to apply to wrong solutions year after year (and paying for them too).
So you want to start a GSA…
A 2017 University of Chicago study estimates that 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA+. The 2021 National Survey on LGBTW Youth Mental Health finds that homeless queer youth are two to four times as likely to suffer depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
A 2008 study from British Colombia found that if a school had a Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA), suicide risk for LGBTQ+ youth was 50% lower—and 50% lower for heterosexual boys as well.
Forming a GSA is an act of suicide prevention.
Normalizing Joy
These strategies are free except for the cost of a pack of sticky notes. Even better, making them a routine normalizes joy and coaches the team to look for the best in each other. Teaching is hard work, and taking time to celebrate each other is an important way for the entire teaching community to model and practice self-care.
No more self-less self-care.
On 18 November 2022, 3:00-4:30 pm (Arizona Time), I’ll lead a session of one of our most popular online workshops: Self-care for Caring Professionals. As always, we’ll explore self-care strategies through the Eight Dimensions of Wellness. However, what’s new in this workshop is how we’ll confront what I’m calling “Self-less self-care.”
Working smarter.
Successful initiatives begin with a shared understanding of what the team is doing, who the work is for, and what’s supposed to happen when we get it right. Sometimes, leaders assume that everyone understands what’s going on. The best, however, take no chances. Recently, Fatih Karatas, Chief Executive Officer at Sonoran Schools, sat down with me and his leadership team to list all initiatives and then identify the audience, responsibility, and outcome for each.