Category: Thought Leaders

Our natural tendency, when feeling threatened, is to tighten, to hunker down, to narrow.

The best leaders I know resist this temptation to “reduce” when faced with difficulties or crises. Instead, they seem to lean into the challenge (or challengers) by increasing engagement levels.

They accomplish this sort of broadening by several means:

• They accelerate their curiosity and ramp up their inquiry.
• They turn up their listening ear to its top setting.
• They slow decision making down (except in cases where safety is imperiled).
• They invite discourse with a wide range of truth tellers.
• They shift into hyper reflection mode.

In effect, when the world seems to spin out of control, when the pace gets more frantic, when the pressures heighten, these folks seem to be able to slow and absorb and become more deliberate in the midst of the chaos.

I’m gonna try to learn to do that better. Broadening is goodening.

*To read more of nc’s blatherings, go to www.nelsonwcoulter.com

“Did you ever get so busy driving that you didn’t take time to stop and refuel?” 

I once heard the late Stephen Covey pose that question to an interviewee. As was his habit, SC brought to our attention in a metaphorical way an important insight into healthy living and productive working.

Thinking about my lifelong penchant to try to get “more blood out of the turnip” than is really there, here are some of the things I’ve seen others do that represent healthy approaches to refueling.

• They take frequent “reset” breaks — mentally, physically, and emotional-spiritually — during the course of each day (usually breaking work into increments of intense focus lasting no longer than 90 minutes).
• They purposefully build movement into their day (e.g., standing while reading documents, taking a brief walk down the hall, doing a bit of yoga or stretching, using a stand-up desk, eating lunch outside, etc.).
• They toggle into each day some diversionary learning that is separate from their work, such as reading a favorite blogger, watching a TED Talk, reading from a daily devotional book, etc.
• They periodically spend a few minutes, if briefly, engaging with others in an authentically interpersonal way.
• They pay very close attention to what they put into their body by way of food and drink, making consciously healthy choices.
• They prioritize their workday by placing the most difficult tasks at the front of the day, working their way toward the less demanding ones as the day progresses.

I’ve tried most of these strategies. Admittedly, I’ve been a slow learner in many respects. 

Yet, I am proving to be somewhat educable. 

Happy learning!

*If you’d like to read more of nc’s blatherings, go to www.nelsonwcoulter.com.

More than ever, schools are now in competition for teachers, substitutes, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, etc. Every position has been affected by the Great Resignation, the ability to work from home, fear of the pandemic, and by other enticements to simply not work for a living. But this is nothing new. There was a growing teacher shortage well before the pandemic, and it has been exponentially exacerbated since then. Simply put, there are more teaching positions than there are teachers, and that isn’t going to change overnight.

At the same time, the moral obligation to provide excellent instruction for students still looms large. We cannot lower organizational standards just to keep a warm body. But the problem demands a fresh approach, and on many fronts. We will address only one in this blog: Identifying weaknesses so they can be addressed.

Before you start replacing people, make the ones you have better. We simply don’t have the luxury of having disposable teachers. This necessitates a systematic plan for a higher degree of intentional mentorship than ever before. In order to do so, you have to pinpoint the weaknesses of your team members and address them.

Start by dividing your personnel into their job descriptions. Teachers, paraprofessionals, etc. On a spreadsheet, rank the people in every job description you have, top to bottom. If you have 50 teachers on a campus, someone will be #1, and someone will be #50. Every conscientious principal can do this list in their head in a matter of minutes.

On the first pass, take no more than 120 seconds to consider any one teacher. There is scientific validity in the gut response or intuition and besides, it speeds the process along. On the second pass, you will take a bit more time, and consider why you placed each one in the spots that you did. You may even want to move some around, based on further consideration. You may even find it advantageous to first use a quadrant rubric, based on aptitude and attitude.

Once you have them all ranked, then go back and consider whyJoe Bulldog was ranked #27 and Suzy Q was ranked #28. There is/are a reason(s) you placed them that way, and that needs to be placed in comments beside each one. Therefore, each row will contain a brief description of the compliments and concerns that you need to address with each person. As a means of accountability, this list should be shared with the superintendent. But otherwise, no one else should ever see the list. No teacher needs to know that they are #27, or that any such list exists.

This exercise helps to pinpoint areas of concern, and to begin planning for follow-up on addressing them. This is only the beginning, and should be followed up with intentional training and mentoring of each one. If there aren’t enough teachers to go around, you’d better make the ones you have better, while simultaneously working to keep them.

7 years!  That is the grand total amount of time I have had the privilege of working in Texas ISDs.  19 years if we add in the Texas education I received as a young student. 11 years that it took to get my bachelor’s and another 1 to get the old master’s degree.  Somehow I managed 8 different schools before I graduated from high school.  It took me 5 different colleges to get all of that finished up.  I don’t know about you, but that is a lot of teachers, coaches, classrooms, and years to get me to this point.  The real question today, though, is what is my point?

I was your average dyslexic, ADDHDD, boy.  I didn’t care for or like school, and reading has always been a struggle.  The only problem I had in my life was that my dad didn’t understand my issues.  Each morning I made a choice to get up and go to school, where I would try to apply myself and usually succeeded so that I didn’t have to be at home where manual labor awaited me.  By the time I reached high school graduation, my dad had so convinced me that education was my only way out that I did exactly that.  I went to college and what a world opened up to me.  Yep, you guessed it, I was free and could go to work every day and skip school.

After promptly failing my way out of school, I managed to live out my dream.  I managed to live in 5 countries and 4 states all while putting bombs on airplanes, legally!  I picked up 3 kids and a wife on the way as well.  That last one got me, though.  She promptly insured I was back in school, and so began those 11 years of college.

Today I work to convince students that education is the choice.  It isn’t about high school, college, and classrooms, but it IS about education.  The CEN model has provided a way for students with everything or nothing to explore and grow in directions that were not even created when I was a student.  It took me a long time to arrive at this point in my life. This year we hired a teacher that is only one year removed from our halls as a high school student.  He is growing and learning to be one of the great life changers in Roscoe.  Everyone has a story, and I enjoy being a part of a system that allows students to build their story with such support.

It’s Not the Destination; It’s the Journey
—What I’ve Learned on My Journey, First Installment/Beginnings

As I mark my 50th year as an educator, I find it so appropriate to reflect on the journey. Involvement in formal education has been a most significant part of 65 of my 70 years! What have I learned—both inside the classroom and outside? LOTS. But, in this note, I want to focus just on the early years—mine and those of our most precious human resource: our children.

I started my formal education as a first-grader at Addicks Elementary School in 1957. No pre-school, no kindergarten for this child growing up in the 1950s. But unlike so many children today, I had loving, caring, supportive parents and grandparents to nurture me through my early years. Much too often, children of poverty do not have that luxury of support. In most of our public schools today, the educational journey for children extends “downward” to age 3 or 4 or, at latest, 5—pre-school, pre-K, kindergarten. And those early years, again, are most important and valuable for those who don’t get proper nurturing and care and “read to” in early years. (Yes, reading to young children has been found to be a most valuable practice!)

The CEN Model of P-20 recognizes the “P” as pre-kindergarten. For students of poverty and other marginalized students, even that might not be early enough. I contend that the “P” might be better served or deemed as “pre-natal.” Education for expectant mothers (and fathers!) should be a strong consideration for our extended educational network—that is, within CEN schools but extending to our other partners. And, in fact, there ARE educational agencies serving this population: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, especially its Family and Community Health Unit and its agents and specialists provide pre-natal and early-childhood care and nutrition and parenting information and educational programs. Just as CEN and its network schools partner with AgriLife Extension through 4-H to facilitate problem-based research of third- through twelfth-graders, so, too, might we encourage expectant and new mothers and fathers to seek out and use services of AgriLife Extension—or other agencies that serve this important population in your community? (How all are you collaborating with your county extension agents?)

If you’re not convinced of the importance our attention on “pre-pre-school” children, I invite you to read Roger Thurow’s book The First 1,000 Days for an eye-opening look at what’s THE MOST IMPORTANT time of human development—physical, mental/intellectual, social, emotional. (I found the book available online to purchase for as little as $3.98 with free shipping!)

My lesson learned: Start ‘em when they’re young! “P” means pre-natal! In future installments, I hope to share other lessons I’ve learned on my journey. And, I’ll share one more tidbit about that journey of mine: I was born in a 1951 Pontiac sedan on our way to the hospital. My parents and paternal grandparents owned and operated a dairy just west of Houston. So, Dad and Granddad were somewhat proficient in delivering newborns—well, newborn calves, that is. It wasn’t PLANNED that I be born in the car. But I couldn’t wait. While it’s rare to be born in a car, the next is more nearly unique. Granddad stopped the car in the parking lot of the Addicks United Methodist Church, Dad tied off my umbilical cord with a drawstring from the toilet seat lid (Are you old enough or rural enough to remember a toilet lid cover drawstring?) courtesy of the Methodist minister, and they turned the car around and returned home. Knock on wood as I’ve never been a patient overnight in a hospital—70+ years and counting. Yes, start ‘em when they’re young, and hit the ground running!

The wisest leaders I know are fixated on continuous improvement.
A continuous improvement mindset is inherently one that is futures focused. And, a continuous improvement mindset implies that something needs to change from its current state toward a better one. There’s that change thing again.

I know a few very worthy wearers of the Continuous Improver tattoo. Here are some of commonalities I have observed in their thinking/behavior:

Windshield Mania – they spend 10% or less time looking/thinking/talking/planning backward (the rearview mirror) and 90% or more time looking/thinking/talking/planning forward (the windshield).
Perseveration Nation – they relentlessly focus on clearly articulated vision and desired outcomes for themselves and their organizations.
Collective Intelligencia – they constantly invite the best thinking of the whole team (internal and external customers) into the let’s-get-better dialogue.
Energizer Gorillas (not bunnies) – they bring personal and focused energy to the endeavor and they foster it in others (through noticing, acknowledgement, praise, encouragement, and incentivizing).
From my past days as an athletic coach:
“If we’re not getting better, we’re getting left behind — because our competition most certainly IS getting better.”
*To read more on nc’s blatherings go to www.nelsonwcoulter.com.

Reversing the flow of an entire river is a notable accomplishment.

From its inception, the Chicago River flowed from west to east just like every other US river east of the Continental Divide. Motivated by various needs and benefits, a vision to reverse the river’s flow began in 1871 and was fully realized nearly thirty years later. Today, the Chicago River system is a vibrant, central part of the city’s daily life and was named a “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium” in 1999. It all began as a vision and was achieved by an inspired, determined city.

Leading and achieving a vision of such notable impact does not follow a singular formula. But there is a basic and oft-proven “1-2-3 Step” model that leaders can follow.

Forming a Vision is where it all starts. How a vision takes shape is important. Time spent understanding a need and soliciting thoughtful inputs from vested stakeholders can increase the probability that various perspectives are considered, that a comprehensive plan emerges and that stakeholders are effectively engaged in the vision’s eventual implementation.

Casting a Vision is step two. It’s one thing to have a good idea — even a right idea — that evolves into a clear vision for change. But the vision’s ultimate success is largely determined by a leader’s ability to enlist and engage a team that believes in the vision and will actively be a part of it. Keeping the vision the front of people, sharing relevant updates, listening and adjusting to feedback, and celebrating progress, all contribute to getting to where the vision is taking everyone.

Achieving Your Vision is the ultimate goal and often the most elusive. Having a vision for change and motivating people to be a part of it are somewhat the easiest steps. Incrementally tracking benchmarks, and adjusting as needed, is where a vision’s actualization often fails or falls short. But these steps of tracking and adjusting can empower the on-going work and commitment to the vision. And they often require the most intentionality and focus by the leader.

Changing the directional flow of a major river is notable. Kudos to my kinfolk in Chicagoland. But perhaps the most noble visions are those formed to positively affect the direction of lives lived. That is the work that so many of us are devoted to in education, civic leadership and social impact. So let’s envision, cast and achieve new futures that can propel anyone and everyone forward… collectively

When Dr. Coulter asked me to do this blog I didn’t realize the email was to me. I have no idea who I thought DG was – Let’s just say I wasn’t very observant. I asked a dear friend, “What on earth am I going to write about?” She answered, “write about your story.” Well that won’t work. Which “me” would I write about? I have been about 20 different people in my lifetime.

Driving to work this morning, when most of my deep thought happens, I was having conversations in my head with my other selves and God, and had the thought, “tell them your why.” It may surprise some of you to know that the me I am today has a totally different why than I did in 1989 when I walked into my first classroom.

As a young teacher, students asked me all the time why was I a teacher. I usually would say because I am too bossy to be anything else. I didn’t know my why, but I did know my WHO. I knew who lead me into the field, and that would be Mrs. Jerry Watts. She is a story all by herself. Twelve years later, as I walked into my first principal’s office, several of the teachers asked me why I would want to be a principal. I didn’t know my why, but I knew my WHO: Tommy Turner and Ron Stanley. They both were superintendents that saw something I didn’t know was there. When I began to grow as a leader and had the honor of being selected as a Superintendent I was again asked the same question: why? I think at that point I was beginning to see my true why and realize that it had changed with the experiences I have had.

I believe that every person I have been has had a different why. The why has to change along with what we do and what we believe, but mostly with how we grow and what we learn.

My selves this morning are very concerned with our student safety and mental state. I think about all of my WHOs and why I didn’t go through what our students face and I realize what my WHOs have done for me. The Lord, Daddy, Momma, Mrs. Watts, Ron Stanley, Tommy Turner, Tommy Long and all of my other WHOs along the way gave me love, security, support, and the confidence to fail and succeed. They also showed me all of the whys that I have claimed over the past 30+ years. So all that to say, that in all this mess we call education the whys change but the WHOS are the most important people in the lives of our kids.

I want to be a WHO and that is my why for now. DO you think Dr. Suess would approve????

The wisest leaders I know remain hyperfocused on their intended outcomes. They refuse to be distracted by unimportant and tangential stuff that screams for time on their calendar and for their precious attention.

Most of these excellent leaders have learned that too many “goals,” the constant pull to accomplish everything, typically results in achieving very little (if anything). If we are focused on everything, then we ultimately focus on nothing.

How do these extraordinary leaders remain hyperfocused in the interest of high performance?

They clarify (both personally and collectively) no more than five (5) areas of intense focus for intended organizational outcomes.
They calendar their time around the primary people, activities, and appearances that are most likely to make those intended outcomes a reality.
They discipline themselves to think and talk through those limited lenses constantly.
The late General/Secretary Colin Powell wisely warned us to avoid what he called “mission creep.” He also aptly modeled leadership so fashioned.

Want high performance? Hyperfocus.

The first step is knowing where we wanna go…

*To read more of nc’s blatherings, go to www.nelsonwcoulter.com

I have learned that sometimes things don’t always work out like you hoped. I never envisioned a career in education, being a teacher, yet alone becoming a principal of a campus. I credit my Associate degree, Bachelor’s degree, and Master’s degree to the people that encouraged and supported me on my journey when I was unsure of what to do. Those that know me well, know that my dream job growing up was to be a game warden. Well, that didn’t quite work out.

Growing up, I considered myself an average student. As I look back and reflect, I recall that school was not very difficult for me, however I didn’t take advantage of it at the time. I put forth little effort and could get by with mostly A’s and B’s. It was my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Johnson that told me how smart I was and had encouraged and challenged me to be better. She saw something in me that I didn’t see. I talked a lot and was frequently off task in her class. Instead of getting into trouble, she challenged my work effort and pushed me. She always had encouraging words and supported me. I started working harder in class for her. The harder I worked the easier it became.

Little did I know that I would be the first in my family to go to college. Like other first time college students, I didn’t have anyone to guide me or give sound advice. My school counselor told me that I wouldn’t make it at a four year college and that I should go to a junior college. That was a little disheartening. My parents wanted me to just go to college, but they, nor I, knew where to start. I was convinced that I couldn’t make it at a four year college, even though I had no idea what a four year college was.

I ended up graduating with an associates degree and I was proud of my accomplishment. One of my professors and mentors encouraged me to go further and pursue the entire four year degree. I was unsure about it, but he was persistent in pushing me and explained the opportunities I would have by obtaining a bachelor’s degree. I listened and I finished my degree, made the Dean’s List, and completed some internships with law enforcement agencies. Some of the most impacting people in my life were the professors I had, as well as the professionals I met in the field that I was pursuing. Following graduation, I had a successful career in the field of juvenile probation. I worked at the county and state level and found myself working for the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission in Austin. I continued my education and was able to obtain my master’s degree.

After working with children on the wrong side of the law, I was determined to work with them before they were in trouble or in the system, so I decided that I would become a teacher. I began teaching at a middle school in San Antonio. I knew right away that I made the right decision and enjoyed my time teaching and mentoring students. My calling was working with the most troubled and discouraged students. Being a mentor and a positive force in their lives was what I enjoyed doing.

Now, as a school administrator, I find myself at Lytle ISD working on the implementation of the CEN initiative. I am excited that students, much like myself at their age, will now have opportunities in high school that will help launch their careers. Students will have a support system to assist them in pursuing their college degree or obtain a technical certification. In the CEN P-20 model, students and parents will have an understanding, from early on, of the different career choices and possibilities available to them. The students will have teachers at each grade level to support them in achieving their goals. Teacher support and encouragement is core to this model. Through the model, we no longer have to worry about that “first in the family to go to college” student being unsure of what to do, or how to do it.

At Lytle ISD we are providing life changing opportunities for the families of first time college students as well as other career minded students. I was fortunate to have key people encourage me along the way. I now have the opportunity to pay it forward to the students on my campus. I often wonder where I would be if I had been a student in the P-20 model. Who knows, maybe I would have become a game warden.