Back to the 7 Habits

Posted on April 20, 2010 by collinsd

I was intoduced to Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People about 26 years ago. My copy of the book is well worn but I haven’t returned to it in over ten years. This week I’ve come across a seven week program left by predissesor at the school. After a quick glance I have been re-hooked.

My first assignment has four questions:

1. What results am I responsible for on my job? I need to show a school that helps students succeed. There are few hard measures. A balanced budget is important. Graduation is important. Satisfied students, parents, and staff is important. Getting students to solve personal issues. Achieve academic and occupational success. Having students meet weekly goals in hours and work.

2. How do the following resources help me produce the desired results?

a) physical – I need appropriate books and resources. I need an inviting building

b) financial – this is what allows me to have the right staffing available and also books. It also allows for the staff to improve their own learning.

c) human – this is a core of our school. My staff is really important. It is who the students connect with.

d) technological – seems relatively minor. It allows us to manage parts of the job but it is just a tool.

3. What am I and my school doing to maintain these resources? We spend most of our energy on our students. If they are successful then these other things come. Otherwise we do take time during the year to review each part and address any concerns.

4. How healthy is our P/PC balance at work? I think it is very good. We take time to renew ourselves which is very important. Our daily debriefings allow us to attend to Production Capacity. We value learning and finding support for our students. The golden egg of diploma results are valued only in relation to each student’s situation.

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Tracking the “Unseen”

Posted on March 29, 2010 by collinsd

Today is Palm Sunday. I always find that this day hits me the hardest in the Easter season. I try to struggle through Lent. I give up something that will require work and dedication. I remind myself constantly that my difficulties are far from what many people face. But really, my daily errands have not been a struggle or hardship. The reading of the Passion that happens today always is a very strong reminder of what truth lies out in the world, in the past, and just beyond our daily distractions. I will hear the Passion again during the Holy Week and on the Easter Vigil. But it is this first hearing of the story after a year of time that gives it the strongest pull.

I get asked regularly, and mostly by students I teach, why I decided to become Catholic after being raised in a reasonably agnostic house. I have come to realize that it is because of my interest how things work, in science of nature (physics) and people (counseling and psychology) along with my love of a great story that there is something I can sense throughout it all – a deeper truth, a mystery behind the curtain.

It is difficult to put this into words. Yet, this story about tracking wolves, is the closest I’ve come to finding a metaphor. Thanks again, Coyote for the guidance.

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Philosophy and the “Big Picture”

Posted on March 29, 2010 by collinsd
I have realized the difference between “seeing the big picture” and philosophy. Perhaps it is something that is obvious to many people. It wasn’t to me. I began a new job at a school that has some fundamental differences from the others I had worked at before. I am a principal of an Outreach school. The school is set up to help students who have not experienced success in traditional schools. We provide flexible programs and hours. Students work independently with lots of access to one-on-one help. We offer career and personal counseling and we partner with addiction, mental health and financial services. Students work with a staff member to set goals for attendance and academic work.You see? I knew and believed in the philosophy of the school.

I am just now, at the end of the semester seeing how the bigger picture works. I can look back over the past five months and see why goals are set so that the student can achieve them bu they are also set to edge them to finishing the course on time. I see how each meeting, each partnership helps the student move forward. I see how our phone calls help the kids come back and complete their time commitments. I accepted the philosophy of the school when I applied for the job. I need to follow through on the commitment. The big picture needs to come together to make the philosophy a reality.

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Finding the Rhythym

Posted on January 1, 2010 by collinsd
In order to grow in my awareness, I’ve been trying to be mindful of the flow and rhythm of the day around me. I believe I am getting to understand how the flow of energy is in my school. It is not all that great of a mystery. The first hour is quiet. Some are ready to work. Most are not even in the building. This is the time that the staff and I use to get fully into the South. We have already gone through our morning routine at our homes. We’ve acclimatized ourselves to the work day and have habits formed through dedication to our education, our own health, and family commitments. The students are still learning.The second hour and through noon passes back and forth from South to Southwest as the work period comes and goes. Within that rhythm, some students cycle very quickly. I’ve just noticed one student who can only give 5 – 10 minutes before he must transition. We need a way to help catch that and support him. Others have different times.

The afternoon it is harder to transition to South but there are strategies in place. Some afternoons have physical activity and group work. This seems to help. The fact that it is only two hours of work after lunch keeps the end within sight. Even the staff seems to be on a mode of work that is preparing for wrapping up the day and readying for the next.

What I learned today was my own responses to rhythms. Today was one were there was very little to do. I thought it would be a good time to keep my own flow going and find work. Something, a project, to work on. The end of the day was the opposite. I was balancing many demands and was very busy with much effort used to just keep everything (especially myself) in order. What I’ve noticed, in that time of quiet and slowness, was that enemy of “busy”ness. It was a good time to just watch, to learn, to allow the energy to be slower. Instead, I had to fill it with activity . . .

Much as I am doing now.

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Lots of Options

Posted on September 17, 2009 by collinsd
A common situation I come across in helping students with careers choices is the problem of making a decision. There are times when a student and his parents disagree. There are those students whose ideas of a career do not match their capabilities or personalities. But more often it is something along the lines of, “I have no idea what I want to do. How do I choose?”I approach this by doing an interest inventory. Together, the student and I, take those results and narrow down the career field into a manageable list of career that are similar and the student is excited about. Then we can begin to look at what post-secondary training is necessary. The next worry is, “What if I change my mind?” Of course, this is a normal thing to worry about. I have changed my mind, I remind them. There is a strong evidence that they will too.

Unfortunately, the student commonly falls back into a state of anxiety. A decision has to made eventually. How does he choose between general studies programs? How does he keep his options open, just in case?

While I understand that this anxiety is normal, I never have been sure how to deal with the idea of wanting to be flexible. It seems like a reasonable thing for a person to do. Until I read a recent article.

The authors, Shin and Ariely, investigate the idea of keeping options open. They look at finding out why people want to do this, is it out of a desire for flexibility or are they avoiding the pain of loss? Is it a rational decision? Is it “dangerous”?

The results of their study, in which they investigate how people choose different options with different values, show that people tend to overvalue options that seem like they will disappear. People will invest significant energy trying to keep options available even when the option is known to be of lower value than the situation they are currently in. People are motivated by an aversion to loss. They would rather loss and option. It is not about a rational desire for flexibility but a gut response to fear.

This can be seen in a high school setting when students take many courses to get a “general” education but the extra work does not allow them sufficient time to master any of their studies. Students spend lots of time visiting many colleges and doing lots of research in a way of avoiding simply choosing two or three to apply to. They postpone starting college because they just cannot decide.

It appears that it is important address this anxiety with the understanding that it is not a rational decision despite the statements. Getting the student to talk through the decision pushing them toward the edges of their fear of loss. Ask them what they are afraid of losing. Try to clarify the consequences of the decision they are facing throughout the spectrum of perfectly successful to worst – case scenario. Show them that there are always options and choices that can be revisited and rarely is a career choice a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It is just like counseling in other areas. It comes down to the same basic human emotions we all have.

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