Teamwork and Communication

You can learn a lot from spending time watching youth soccer games. I am super proud of my daughter and her select team. They won this past weekend's Halloween Tournament in Folsom. But, I think we ALL can learn a lot from team sports.

Soccer is such a TEAM effort. It is essential that each player is skilled in his/her position but is also adaptable and able to sub in for a player in a different position when needed. Each player understands the rules of the game and learns the most effective way to capitalize on one another's strengths. Additionally, they adapt their plays on the field to respond to the other team. One element that is critical is COMMUNICATION. On the field it is a necessity that the players communicate with each other to announce if they are open for a pass, if a player is behind them about to approach the ball, or if their teammate is getting close to an off sides call. It all works beautifully when both TEAMWORK and COMMUNICATION are synced.

Were you making a mental analogy between the soccer field and the work that you do in your department and/or school? We each must hone and refine our craft in our immediate position, but we also must be well versed in our FSUSD policies and procedures so that we can "sub" in and help out the larger team when needed. We must adapt and adjust according to our students needs and without a doubt we must continually and effectively communicate so that we can truly work as a TEAM unit!! We each play a role in the success and/or failures of FSUSD. Let's focus on ensuring a WIN for our students. That WIN is graduating high school!! We can do this! We must do this! #TOGETHER

We must graduate every FSUSD student and ensure that they leave FSUSD college and career ready!  Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!!

Being Intentional At the End of Each Day...

I have been able to spend some more time reading When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink. I am excited to share another excerpt from the book that has so much relevance in our field of education.

Chapter Five is entitled, "Time Hackers Handbook" and has a section titled "Four Areas Where You Can Create Better Endings" one of the areas that I want to share with you is: The Workday.  Below is a direct excerpt from the book on page 172.

The Workday

When the workday ends, many of us want to tear away-- to pick up children, race home to prepare dinner, or just beeline to the nearest bar.  But the science of endings suggests that instead of fleeing we're better off reserving the final five minutes of work for a few small deliberate actions that bring the day to a fulfilling close.  Begin by taking two or three minutes to write down what you accomplished since the morning.  Making progress is the single largest day-to-day motivator on the job.  But without tracking our "dones," we often don't know whether we're progressing.  Ending the day by recording what you've achieved can encode the entire day more positively. (Testimonial: I've been doing this for four years and I swear by the practice.  On good days, the exercise delivers feelings of completion; on bad days, it often shows me I got more done than I suspected.) 

Now use the other two or three minutes to lay out your plan for the following day.  This will help close the door on today and energize you for tomorrow.

Bonus: If you've go an extra minute left, send someone--anyone-- a thank you e-mail.  I mentioned in chapter 2 that gratitude is a powerful restorative.  It's an equally powerful form of elevation.


😍I think this practice could help me a lot!!  I am committing to making it part of my way to close each of my work days. I will do a progress check in a month to see what impact it is having on me.-KW

Remember how important your words and actions are on all those that you interact with!

We must graduate every FSUSD student and ensure that they leave FSUSD college and career ready!  Inspire, Engage, Excite, Lead, Foster, Create, Empower!!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!!

Take Time to Reflect

I encourage everyone to take some time to reflect on their past month of work and look at your actions and your words and determine if you have been LEADING or MANAGING. True leadership is such an important element to the success of a school, business, home, etc. Your work will contain elements of management, but in the absence of leadership, managing work will maintain status quo and ensure things happen as they always have. If you want fundamental change and improvement, you need both leadership and elements of management.  There is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership entails establishing a clear vision, sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, and providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision. Management is a set of principles relating to the functions of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling, and the applications of these principles in harnessing physical, financial, human and informational resources efficiently and effectively to achieve organizational goals. 

As the leader of your campus, ask yourself these two questions:

1. What is the vision or direction I am setting for my school?

2. How am I spearheading that vision or direction?

Pay It Forward...Kindness

I posted this post originally on January 22, 2017. It seemed like a good time to repost this message.

A smile, a kind word, a helping hand; all acts of kindness. How impactful can one positive act be? You may or may not be surprised to find out that kindness can be LIFE CHANGING!  A happiness researcher, Sean Anchor, found that if you perform random acts of kindness for two minutes a day for twenty-one days, you can actually retrain your brain to be more positive. The Power of Kindness Article

Sean Anchor also argues that happiness inspires us to be more productive.  The more kindness you sow, your mindset will shift to live and lead a happier life. See his Ted Talk here:

Jamil Zaki, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford writes about the Kindness Contagion.  He explains that when someone carries out a single act of kindness, three people benefit.  The person doing the act, the person receiving and anyone who witnesses the act.  He goes on to state that a single act of kindness can spread faster than a virus.  Kindness Contagion Article

Here are a few inspirational videos to help spread the message of Paying it Forward!!

Continue to be innovative, creative, and a model of excellence!!