When Someone in Your Workplace Doesn't Like You

As a leader, how do you deal with those who don't like you? 

Having enemies in the workplace is often destructive. Ideally you should try to work with your rival instead of against him. But if your collaborative efforts fail, try one of these strategies instead:

• Find a common ally. Seek a third party whom your enemy trusts. A common ally may convince him of the benefits of working with you.
• Wait for the right time. Sometimes people need time and space before they can see your side. Put off communication until the right opportunity presents itself.
• When to go elsewhere. The effort of converting a rival is sometimes so great that you're better off focusing your energy on another relationship.
• Have a direct conversation.  This is the toughest one of all.  Many of us avoid difficult conversations but when all else fails, you need to.  Check this blog for listings about 'challenging conversations' and 'difficult conversations' to develop some specific strategies for engaging your enemy. 

Adapted from "Make Your Enemies Your Allies" by Brian Uzzi and Shannon Dunlap.

Creating Attention-getting Messages

As a leader, how do ensure your important messages are noticed?

With so much information out there, getting your audience's attention is tough. But it is also essential. Consider these three things next time you craft an important message that needs to be heard:

• Make a comparison. Whether you are promoting an idea or making a point, remember that people like to draw connections. Help your audience understand by comparing your message to something else.
• Piggyback on the familiar. Take something most people know and make it your own. Spinoffs of the "Got Milk?" slogan have done this successfully.
• Be specific. Use simple, specific details to solidify your point. These give your audience something to remember when you're no longer in front of them or they've put your memo off to the side.

Adapted from "Craft an Attention-Grabbing Message" by Kare Anderson.

Say Less and Convey More

As a leader, did you keep your communications concise and focused on your key messages?

When you're giving a presentation and nervousness kicks in, it's tough to be brief. But, your audience expects you to state your conclusion and stand behind it, not ramble on aimlessly. You can only do that if you zero in on the purpose. When you prepare for your talk, work backwards. Before you put anything down on paper, know the key messages you want your audience to remember. Ask yourself: If my presentation were 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes, what would I say? Force yourself to summarize your key points. Once you've done that, think through what other information you'll need to support that point and build your presentation from there.  Remember.....less is more.


Adapted from "In Presentations, Learn to Say Less" by Ron Ashkenas.

Engaging an Audience with your Message

As a leader, how do you engage an audience when communicating?

As a leader, you need to communicate with individuals, small groups, and large groups on a regular basis. To capture any audience's attention, you must frame your message properly. Whether you're making a presentation, composing an email, or talking with your boss, here's how to convey your idea: Start with what you want. Busy colleagues don't want to wait for the punch line. Provide the most important information up front.  Don't leave them guessing what your message is leading up to. Explain the complication. Give the specific reason for your message. What prompted you to deliver it?  Why is it important? Connect to the big picture. Explain why your audience should care. Point out what is relevant to them and how it links to their goals.  Where does this fit in to the bigger picture? End with a call to action. Once you've set the context, reiterate what you need or possible actions that you're recommending.  Adapted from Guide to Managing Up and Across (HBR OnPoint Collection).

When you need to apologize

As a leader, when you need to apologize, how do you do it?

When your school/organization messes up, avoid the half-hearted, half-baked apology. Instead craft a clear, strategic message that explains what went wrong and how you're rectifying the situation. Here are three tips for doing that:

• Keep it simple. Get to the point and don't deviate. Don't include any veiled attempts to shirk responsibility or appease people. You'll just upset stakeholders (those you serve as well as your own staff) and muddle the message.
• Mean what you say, and say what you mean. If you're truly sorry for your school's/organization's actions, say so and leave it at that. Avoid clarifying phrases and long, self-lauding explanations.
• Reaffirm your school's / organization's core values. Reaffirm what you stand for and communicate how you intend to bring the school/organization back to the values that guided it to success in the first place.

Adapted from "Smart Apologies Should Be Strategic" by Rosanna M. Fiske.

Prioritize before you begin

As a leader, do you prioritize your work before jumping into it?

Launching a project before you have a good sense of all its components will likely slow down your work and its successful completion. Make sure you get your priorities right - including input from colleagues - before setting your project in motion:

• Clarify the assignment. Don't start until stakeholders and colleagues agree on the goals and the general timetable.
• Organize your staff. Get team members involved at the get-go so they feel ownership. Agree on a way of working – how often you'll meet, how you'll communicate, etc.
• Create a project plan. Ask your team to help you identify project activities and how long they will take. Put them in sequence and identify which are interdependent and which can run at the same time.
• Determine check-in points. Set some specific dates to do check-ins on progress.  Catching gaps and mistakes early can them corrected quickly.

Adapted from Guide to Project Management from Harvard Business Review

Stop Emailing! Pick up the Phone!

As a leader, do you build strong working relationships by using personal communication?

Email has dramatically changed the way we interact. But, it cannot replace live, person-to-person conversation. This especially applies when resolving a conflict or communicating an important decision.  Too many people try to do important or sensitive business through email. This is problematic because tone and context are easy to misread. In a live conversation, how one says something is as important as what they are saying. Without inflections and intonations, it's hard to understand the feelings behind the words. In fact, email-based conflict often escalates because you aren't required to be as thoughtful as you would be in a one-on-one conversation.  Indeed, even apparently benign emails can turn ugly if they are misunderstood.  Next time you have a delicate or complex issue to discuss, take your hands off the keyboard and pick up the phone.

Keep your communications emotionally intelligent.


Adapted from "Don't Send That Email. Pick up the Phone!" by Anthony Tjan.

Reflections on Leadership as it relates to being a new Parent

How is being the parent of new-born twin boys like leadership?

My twin boys came on Dec 15th and today is the first month after they were born. These boys are behaving so differently compared to my daughter who just turned two a few weeks ago.

I reflected upon leadership in terms of the need for establishing a strong partnership between my partner and me. Throughout the entire last month, it was really a challenging time as my wife and I are mainly the only people looking after the 3 young kids in our household. Non-stop feeding, burping and diaper changing are already programmed in my brain. I am glad that we have a strong partnership in dealing with challenges around the clock.

How do I apply this to school leadership? Once a good partnership is established among staff at school, challenges will be met and shared.

A good partnership is key for successful leadership at school. School leader partnerships involve other stakeholders including school staff, board staff, parents, students and other community members.

To have a good partnership, I thought about the following six key directions:

1) Keeping up good communication skills (listening, expressing, verbal and non-verbal).

2) Respecting all stakeholders.

3) Willing to trust and bring trusted.

4) Keeping up a sense of humor.

5) Sharing the work.

6) Sharing the responsibility for outcomes.

Guest Post from: Benjamin Law (York Region District School Board)

Sometimes They Need to Know

As a leader, how much do you share with your staff?  How do you share it?

As leaders, we have many conversations in our offices with many different people or groups.  In some cases, significant discussions take place.  Some of these discussions end up in important decisions.  However, just because the conversation happened in your office and it was held with a group of key stakeholders, it doesn't mean that your staff knows what's going on.  How do you share important discussions, decisions, or information with all staff? 

Here are a few questions to ask yourself about how you share - or not! - the conversations you have:

• Who needs to know?
• Does everyone need to know?  If so, why?
• Who would like to know?  And just because they'd like to know, does it mean you share with them?
• Who might be affected by the discussions or decisions?  How will they find out what was discussed?
• Might you be missing additional thinking if some people are left out of discussions?
• How do you share discussions / decisions / information? 
• Do people have a variety of ways to access information from you?
• What might be the impact if some people don't know about the discussions or decisions?

Communication is a critical aspect of any school/organization.  People can feel included - or excluded - based on their access to information.  Exclusion from information can have a negative affect on both performance and morale.  In 2012, communication has never been easier.  Multiple methods of sharing information (bulletin boards, memoes, Twitter, email, etc.) have made it possible for everyone to have virtually immediate access to information. 

Don't risk damaging staff morale or their performance because you - as the leader - neglected to share information. 

Too Much Information

As a leader, how do you know how much information to share with staff?

When leading a staff, it's always important to keep people informed about what's going on - especially when it may affect them and their work.  This means providing them with the information they need.  Yet not all information is necessary for them.  In fact, some might be just too much.  It can become mental clutter and serve as a distracter. 

How do you know when to share and when to be the gatekeeper and protect your staff from an overabundance of information?  As a leader, you need to know how to determine how much information your staff really wants or needs.  What is important for them to know?  What is less important and might well be best if not shared?  Sometimes in our zeal to be effective with communications, we share too much.  At other times, we may be overly-protective of staff and not share with them information that they may appreciate having. 

How do you achieve the balance?  One effective - but embarrassingly obvious - strategy is simply to ask them.  Ask who might like to serve on a small committee to help determine what's important for everyone to know and what's not essential.  By doing this, you demonstrate a desire to share anything that may be important for your staff while recognizing the need to gatekeep the flow.  Your job on such a committee is always to ask: But if someone wants to know more, how do we still ensure that they have access to it? And then ensure that there are structures in place for those who want more.  Virtually every school/organization has at least a small group of people who enjoy serving as the gatekeepers of information.  As leader, you can benefit from the talents on your staff while ensuring that everyone knows just what they need. 

Knowing what to do when you don't know what to do

As a leader, do you know what to do when you don't know what to do?

As leaders, we have a significant role to play in leading our organizations especially when challenging situations emerge.  People look to you for direction, for comfort, for reassurance, and for strength.  This can be incredibly difficult if you aren't feeling completely in control of the situation or if you feel you might not have the skills you need to navigate something really challenging.  Nonetheless, your staff are watching you and what they are seeing is important. 

We don't usually get warning about challenging situations in the workplace.  Things happen.  As leaders, we need to be able to respond to the 'things' that happen.  A great phrase to keep in mind is: I know what to do when I don't know what to do. In other words, when these challenging situations arise, I know that I need to develop a response.  I know I need to communicate with everyone affected.  I know I may need to seek help or support from others.  Your staff will watch you especially closely in such situations.  Knowing what to do when you don't know what do - that is, developing a response, communicating, and drawing on outside knowledge and skill - will demonstrate that you are managing the situation in the best way possible.  This is reassuring to your staff.  They can't attend to their work if they're worried about what's going on.  By being prepared to handle challenging situations at a moment's notice, you ensure that your staff can keep their focus on the important work they do and not channel their energies into a focus on what's going wrong.

Student / Staff / Parent Voice

As a leader, how do you access student / staff / parent voice and keep open the lines of communication?

As leaders, we need to stay strongly connected to our students, staff, and parents if we lead schools.  The same applies to staff and clients in organizations.  How do we access the thoughts, perspectives, concerns, and ideas of those with whom we work and those whom we serve?  We need mechanisms so that all of these 'stakeholders' know that they can express their opinions, they will be heard, and they will be responded to.  If we don't have these avenues of communication open and readily accessible, we run the risk of leading organizations that are hierarchical and decreasingly responsive to the needs of those they serve and those who work within these schools/organizations.  In a world where people have previously unheard of access to communication in the palm of their hand, we, as leaders, can create ever-improving schools and organizations by mobilizing the intelligence of our stakeholders.  Avoid open lines of communication at your peril. 

Leader or Manager?

As a leader, do you characterize yourself as a leader, a manager, or a combination of the two?

Over time, the concept of 'leadership' vs. 'management' has somehow evolved into a pejorative view of management skills as a set of low-level, mundane and inferior set of skills when compared to the loftier instructional leadership skills.  The intention here is not to enter into a qualitative debate, but rather to demonstrate that an effective instructional leader needs to have well-developed management skills in order to lead effectively.  A poor manager will be hampered by broken relationships, mounds of unfinished paperwork, unmet deadlines and missing or unspent school funds. 

What follows is a synopsis of the key management skills whose absence have caused difficulty for some school leaders.

The article goes on to describe:

• communication skills
• time management
• delegation
• dispute resolution
• fiscal responsibility
• self-management

From:  Instructional Leadeship vs. Instructional Management by the OPC Professional Services Team
Published in: OPC Register - Spring 2011, Vol 13, No. 1