Sunday, May 22, 2016

Staying Vulnerable & "Rising Strong" - Follow-up Post

Update for May 23-27


A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about being inspired by Brene' Brown's book Rising Strong to stay vulnerable in order to grow as a leader.

 I set up times for my staff members to provide me with face-to-face feedback on these questions:
  • What should I start doing?
  • What should I stop doing?
  • What should I continue doing?
  • Is my vision for learning evident?
  • Are my expectations clear and realistic?
  • Do I provide good feedback and positive reinforcement?
  • Can I be trusted?
  • How could I help you more?

While not everyone took me up on the opportunity to provide me with feedback, those who did helped me in a very meaningful way.

"Start doing"? Those answered ranged from "Watch how you react to situations; you seem to wear your heart on your sleeve" to "I can't figure you out - You always seem to be wearing a poker face in situations".

That was all good feedback, but I had to laugh at that!

"Stop doing" responses included "You don't need to do a blog post every week", "You sometimes are sending too many emails" and "I want to know what is going on, so "stop" not including us in some of the details."

Another opportunity to chuckle.

 There were slices of moments when the implicit message from staff members affirms things I am doing well and causes me to pause and reflect on the things I am not.

I have realized from this opportunity that I have to provide a range of leadership that attempts to meet the needs of my staff and parents.  

 I need to differentiate my leadership - Be explicit with feedback and be more telling with some while planting seeds and leading from behind with others. The former pushes me to try and get better -- It puts me outside of my comfort zone which means I will probably fail or fall short of expectations during this journey.

 But I'm ready for that.

 As Dr. Brown states in Rising Strong,


"I believe that vulnerability -- the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome -- is the only path to more love, belonging, and joy."

I am committed to staying vulnerable and I challenge each of my staff to do the same.  

I challenge you to create a time when you can offer your students the chance to provide you with feedback on the experience you provided them with this year.  It will be affirming, uncomfortable, challenge and probably one of the best professional learning opportunities you will have this year.

 I would love to know if you take this opportunity to get better and how it turned out!

 In the meantime, have a GREAT week!

 -Herb

 Tweets Worth Checking Out --











Upcoming Dates -- 

 May 23-Jun 3 -- No PD dates (includes Assessment Days)
May 26 — Last Grow Together Thursday
May 30 -- Holiday, NO SCHOOL
May 31 -- ADE PTO Family Luau, 6-8PM -- It's a great time to relax and have fun with families! I ended up in a conga line last year and that's saying something!


Jun 3 -- Last Day of School (Students)
Jun 10 -- Secretaries' last day to report
Jun 24 -- Herb's last day to report

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