Friday, September 5, 2008

ELT meetings and change . . .

It has been a busy first week with many issues that make it difficult at times to maintain energy and focus. It always helps to go to a BEARS football game that results in a win. We left in the fourth quarter leading 54 to 14 so I'm sure we won. I think we'll have to wait another week to see how good we really are.

We have our first administrator (ELT) business meeting of the year next Tuesday. These are not meetings that my colleagues all like to attend and over the last couple of years I have found myself cancelling about half of them. I rationalize to myself that it is because the potential items don't warrant a meeting. There is some truth to this, but I know I am also influenced by the non verbals and lack of engagement in the room during the meetings. I am committed to improving these meetings this year and that needs to start with my own mental model and ladders that I bring into the room. It will be interesting to watch how this unfolds and how well I do at improving the quality of these meetings.

Like always, the agenda is long because of the time of the year and because we meet for this business meeting only once a month so items build up. So, I need to model what I teach and begin to focus on my professional learning community. I am looking forward to the challenge. I wonder if my colleagues believe it can happen? My success will also be determined by my colleagues willingness to suspend their assumptions, something I have no control over, but must rely upon.

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