PMP:097 Building a Community of Messaging with Entanglement, Engagement, and Mission
Summary: Last month I enjoyed some time away with family in West Tennessee.<br> When I was there, my son Jack and I hiked the backwoods behind my parents’ farm. There is a winding creek that runs behind the house. It’s filled with lily pads in the summer, and on the back end of the creek is a beaver dam that floods an area that is great for duck hunting. Although Jack and I didn’t do any duck hunting, we did enjoy tramping around the woods, walking fields, and just enjoying the time away.<br> The pros and cons of being so far out in the country also include the loss of internet service. For days, we had no access to email or social media unless we drove seven miles to the nearest town. One afternoon my wife and I drove there looking for a place to drink coffee and check email. The one coffee shop in the downtown area was closed, so we drove to two other restaurants before finally ending up at the local Walmart where we found an internet connection that worked.<br> Being unplugged, however, isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it is a good reminder that life goes whether or not you’re connected to the rest of the world. It is also a good time to reconnect with other joys like family, playing music, or hiking.<br> I don’t know about you, but most of the time when I check my email or social media feeds, I am not just looking for information. If I’m honest, I’m also looking for human connection. In some ways, it is ironic that our technology-connections are social outlets. We are rarely seeing others face-to-face in online settings; however, we derive some satisfaction from these digital tools that keep us connected.<br> Ultimately, relationships are what really influence so many of the choices we make, including how well we connect with our students, teachers, and communities.<br> This semester I am sharing a webinar series on my new book, <a href="https://www.solutiontree.com/messaging-matters.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Messaging Matters: How to Inspire Teachers, Motivate Students, and Reach Communities</a>. Each week I will share takeaways on why messaging is an important part of your school leadership. In it, I take a deep-dive into what research says about engagement and leading others to reach shared goals. We explore how every part of the work you do in leading a school is somehow connected to your ability to communicate and build relationships.<br> Why Messaging?<br> Here is an outline of the points covered in the first webinar episode on Messaging Matters. You can learn more details by reading <a href="https://www.solutiontree.com/messaging-matters.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the book</a>, listening to <a href="http://traffic.libsyn.com/principalmatters/PMP097.mp3" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the podcast</a>, or checking out the free <a href="https://www.ccosa.org/index.php?second-semester-education-leaders-book-study" rel="noopener" target="_blank">video and slides</a>:<br> <br> * Entanglement and how it is affecting your connections<br> Explore how human connections (seen and unseen) radically affect the choices you make. Are you influencing or being influenced by your school culture?<br> * A Messaging crisis and how you should respond<br> Why do most Americans grade public schools with D’s or F’s but give their local schools A’s or B’s? What responsibility do you have to change the general narrative about our schools?<br> * What are the outcomes of positive messaging?<br> Positive messaging provides ways for you to set vision, identify goals, predict challenges, respond to negatives, and reframe perspectives.<br> * Understanding the other side of the moon for yourself and others<br> Not only do we have the responsibility to help others see the bigger picture, but also we must learn how to see the stories behind the stories.<br> * Takeaways from Jim Collins’Good to Great<br> Strong companies and strong schools have the same foundational p...
