I’m probably the last one person who should proclaim to understand race, equity and bias. I’m a middle-aged white guy, who grew up in a middle-class mostly white neighborhood, went to a middle class mostly white school and most of my acquaintances are middle-class white people. Sure, I have friends who are black, friends who …
FOR Equity?
For the better part of my adult life, I’ve asserted to everyone I encounter that there’s always a gray area. What I am referring to is a belief that there are always multiple “right” answers in nearly every situation. I’ve written about it, I’ve led with it and I’ve tried to live it. However, as …
What is leadership?
We all have people in our lives--past and present--who we considered “leaders.” And if you’re like me, you have likely spent years striving to be like those people you have admired. But what IS leadership? And how do we know it when we see it? Better yet, what is GOOD leadership, and how can we …
Where service and leadership UNITE
The following is a message I shared with my team recently. I thought it also appropriate to share here. There’s really no easy way to start this, other than saying that we’ve seen a dark side of humanity in the past couple weeks. Helplessness, outrage, frustration, hate, and other words seem to be commonly understood …
Point and Click
I started taking photos consistently about seven years ago. On an iPhone. I dabbled in photography prior to that, but digital camera technology was still pretty new, WIFI wasn’t as accessible and having the right software and wires made the process clunky and, frankly, a bit of a hassle. Everything changed for me, however, when …
Remote Work Environments & Self-Care
This is the fourth in a series of posts written collaboratively by Dr. Michele Andorfer and Mike Haynes. In previous posts, we explored ways to ensure productivity doesn't suffer because of a remote work environment. We also shared strategies that we learned from others regarding ways to build and nurture relationships when working remotely. In …
Plan A
At the beginning of the pandemic in the US, I wrote a post suggesting that we seize the opportunity of what appeared to be additional time that educators had, given schools were closing and students were staying home. Shortly thereafter, however, it became clear extra time was not necessarily available, as most educators, administrators and …
Become a Virtual Rockstar
People who lead understand that effective meetings don’t just happen by chance. Good leaders orchestrate the components of every meeting, including establishing a clear purpose, identifying items that should and should not be included on the agenda, determining who should participate, and utilizing strategies to engage all participants. Meetings that are not planned carefully are …
Remote Work Environments & Relationships
This is the third in a series of posts written collaboratively by Dr. Michele Andorfer and Mike Haynes. In the previous post, we explored ways to ensure productivity doesn't suffer because of a remote work environment. After talking with several colleagues--many of whom regularly work remotely--we were able to identify several strategies. In this …
Remote Work Environments and Productivity
This is the second in a series of posts written collaboratively by Dr. Michele Andorfer and Mike Haynes. In our last post, we scratched the surface on what we believe are the three most important considerations for the remote work environment--productivity, relationships and self-care. In this post, we will further explore the notion of productivity, …
