Summary of Comments for Teacher #3

Scott Elias is a newly appointed principal.In the first post he talks about how his staff complained that there were too many meetings.He writes:

know this will come as a huge shock, but most people despise meetings. When I ask staff about things that are holding them back, almost to a person they have said, “Too many meetings.”

When it comes right down to it, though, these are rituals that are deeply ingrained in the culture of our school. Most schools have a similar situation.

Long, low-energy meetings tend to distract and mute the day. – Martin Fowler

The trouble with throwing out meetings completely is that they do have some value. According to a few papers summarized here, meetings can help achieve the following:

* Shared commitment
* Communicate daily status, progress, and plans to the team and any observers
* Identify obstacles so that the team can take steps to remove them
* Set direction and focus
* Build a team

Being a new leader and getting to know my staff, I’m not willing to cut out all meetings. But what I am committed to doing is making sure that every minute we spend in some kind of meeting serves to move forward the school’s mission and agenda.

Zero-Based Meeting Budgeting
We’re going to get back to basics. At the first regular, monthly meeting of our leadership team, we will remove every meeting from our calendars and begin adding back in those meetings that make sense and will move us toward our goals. We will no longer meet four times per month if we can accomplish the same objective in two highly-productive, focused meetings.

Less meeting time focused on dissemination of information
Since my first day on the job, I’ve made some changes that I hope will whittle down the sheer volume of meeting time. Depending on the sensitivity, items that are “information only” in nature go into an email to team leaders or onto our school blog or wiki. Weening people off email has gone well so far, in no small part thanks to my very flexible group of teacher leaders who have been willing to jump into some new ways of doing business.

Two things I’ve learned in trying to bring this level of change to the day-to-day business of an organization are (1) stop trying to use the “inducement” approach to improving processes and systems (see letter B of Scott’s post on RSS for PD), and (2) stop asking questions like “Do you use Google Docs?” in favor of questions like, “To which email address should I send the invite for this document we’re working on?” It’s all about positive presuppositions. Of course we’re using Google Docs! I mean, who isn’t?

I’ll let you know how it goes, but it’s a start! Look for an upcoming post with more detail on the process of paper-reduction in a 40-year-old middle school.

I commented:


Hi Scott. My name is Amberli Chastang and I am visiting your blog for my EDM310 class at the University of South Alabama. I will be commenting on your blog as well as posting a copy of your blog with my comment on my blog.I think that meetings can be effective if they have specific purposes. I agree with your resource that standing up will make the meeting more effective and more focused on the main purposes.If you can accomplish what you need to in fewer meetings, then your team will probably be more appreciative of the content shared.

In Scott second post talks about his nervousness to speak in front of the school for the first time as principal. He writes:



Tomorrow is the first time I’ll speak (officially, formally) to the entire staff at my school as their principal. I’ve been thinking and stressing a lot over the last week about how that might go. Then I picked up Rework, which was one of the books I read this summer, and found a passage I’d highlighted a few days before I was asked to be a principal:

Don’t be afraid to show your flaws. Imperfections are real and people respond to real. It’s why we like real flowers that wilt, not perfect plastic ones that never change. Don’t worry about how you’re supposed to sound and how you’re supposed to act. Show the world what you’re really like, warts and all.

So talk like you really talk. Reveal things that others are unwilling to discuss. Be upfront about your shortcomings. Show the latest version of what you’re working on, even if you’re not done yet. It’s OK if it’s not perfect. You might not seem as professional, but you will seem a lot more genuine


I commented:

Hi,I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I am always nervous to give a presentation in my class too.Although I know exactly what I am going to say and I feel comfortable with the other students in the class, I still get butterflies when my name is called to present especially if I have to stand up and speak. I really like that passage you shared also. It's true people will appreciate you more if they see you speaking from the heart and when you allow some of your imperfections to show. I think you will do a good job. Thanks for sharing.