Colleagues, Have you missed an opportunity to do something better? Please humor me as I play with an idea.
APEx provides highly practical content, interactive learning, and a community environment. It is specifically designed to accommodate APs’ busy schedules and to be highly affordable to school districts ($600 for a full year).
In order to provide the service at that price, I had to make it scalable, so serving more people did not require more time on my part. That meant no customization. However, now I am seeing that some customization for different districts could provide a huge increase in the benefits of APEx. Yes, it would cost a lot more, but right now districts don’t even have a choice in how much to invest. What would APEx have looked like if I had started by designing the best program without compromise? I could then have scaled back to a middle version, and then stripped it down to a bargain version. I assumed that districts would not invest heavily in AP development, but what if I was wrong? What about you? Have you limited the possibilities of a project based on a fundamental calculus? Do good and be well, Frederick
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Colleagues,
After writing yesterday’s post about my backpacking checklist, I thought about the criteria I use to decide what equipment will go on the trip and what will stay behind. Weight is critical, but safety and comfort are also important. One of our biggest challenges in leadership is slowing down enough to identify clear criteria for making a decision. In the absence of clear criteria, we are more likely to focus on the urgent instead of the important. That translates into spending time treating symptoms instead of investing in solving problems. What does success look, sound, and feel like? How will we know that we got it right? Let’s apply this to one area – developing others. As you plan a training program, coaching cycle, or even informal feedback, do you have clear criteria for what successful growth looks like? If not, how do you make decisions about how much to spend, how long to sustain, or what comes next? Do good and be well, Frederick Colleagues,
As I write this, Pam and I are preparing for a short backpacking trip to Ellicott Rock. I get pretty exacting over pack weights, so I have a spreadsheet that lists all of our gear by category and includes the weight for each item. The list makes it easy to pack and by doing a pre-trip check off of the list I practically guarantee that nothing will be forgotten. However, there are a couple of things on the list that don’t come on every trip. They are weather specific, things like rain gear, down jacket, and extra clothing layers. It’s helpful to have an exact list of what I need, and to have some extra information that helps me deal with contingencies. If I only backpacked once a year, putting that list together would not have been worth it, but for multiple trips, developing a system that adapts to varied contexts makes my life so much easier. As a leader, what area, task, or function might be helped by having a more detailed plan? What contingencies do you need to be ready for? Do good and be well, Frederick Colleagues, I had an interesting interaction with my feline friend Wax this morning. He gets very demanding at mealtime. I never appreciate his “eagerness,” especially when he makes it hard for me to pour the food into his bowl. I was already a bit grumpy, and I pushed him back aggressively, and yelled at him. I put the food noisily and haphazardly into his bowl so that he knew I was not happy.
If Wax was a colleague at work, would he have sought me out? If not, I would have moved on with my day, unaware of the harm I had done.
At some point it would become obvious that our relationship was damaged, but by then I would not even remember the incident. Small interactions that we may not think anything of have an on impact our relationships with others. Next time you are especially stressed or grumpy, remember that not all of your colleagues will be as forgiving as Wax. Do good and be well, Frederick Colleagues,
There is a difference between action and progress. Progress is what we hope is the outcome of our actions, but there is no guarantee. Urgent leaders get caught up in acting – in doing something! Strategic leaders recognize that the first step to doing something is to figure out what the root problem is. Identifying the problem, and then acting, is what leads to progress. Do good and be well, Frederick |
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