September 26, 2006
The Power of the Dash
I'm always on the lookout for ideas to better manage my time. I've come to the conclusion that it is always a work in progress. Last week, I ran across a terrific post by Patrick Rhone on time management and workflow processing. One of his tricks that I've started using is the power of the dash. (go about half way down the post to see a picture of it). Whenever he takes notes in a meeting or in a one on one discussion, he puts a dash (-)to the left to signify that there is an action that needs to be completed. When he completes the action item, he simply puts a vertical line, making it a plus sign (+). If he has delegated it to someone else or is waiting for someone, he transforms the dash into an arrow. If he needs to carry it forward to another page, he puts a circle around it.
I've been using this for a week now and find that it really helps me stay on top of things. To help me remember, I've put it on a sticky note and move it to the first blank page each day until I've got it in my mind.
Posted by chitch at 8:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2006
AURA
This past August, we had our Principal Fellows Orientation for class 13. One of the most powerful speakers we had was General Don Broome, who spoke to us about how to retain and keep great people. I was reminded that there are several parallels between military service and our work in public service. While military service has a longer "contract", it is critical for the military to retain their troops, rather than spend additional time and money training new inductees. School executives have a similar issue- how do you keep the people in your organization that you want to keep? General Broome's comments were inspiring to say the least. He noted that the US Army has an acronym "AURA" that they use to help retain members of their organization:
A-Acceptance. How do you accept new people into the process?
U-Understanding. Does each member of the organization understand the goals and mission? How are we doing this-formally and informally?
R-Recognition. Give proper and immediate recognition
A-Appreciation. Demonstrate appreciation.
General Broome mentioned that one of the biggest ways that he has found is to find ways to take care of the troops and their families-simple gestures such as flowers, cards, and short notes go a long way as reminders that the individual is valuable to the organization.
Thanks General-You're an unsung hero.
Posted by chitch at 7:56 PM | Comments (0)
Why this blog?
Admittedly, I have come to the blog world a bit late to the party. I thought that it would be a passing fad, but once again, I'm wrong.
My goal with this blog is to help encourage a conversation among executives from the educational sector, other aspects of the public sector, and the corporate sector. I'm convinced that there are ideas, concepts, strategies, and tools that we can learn from each other. Whether you decide to post (and I hope you do) or simply read to get a different perspective, welcome to the conversation.
My goal is to post something once a week (Monday is the goal) and check the comments daily.
One of the tenets I'm working from is that this will be useful for you as an executive. I'm counting on Robert Scoble and Shel Israel who mentioned in their book, Naked Conversations is that "you don't win by talking to people but by listening."
Join in.
Chris
Posted by chitch at 7:49 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2006
Who We are
I’m the director of the North Carolina Principal Fellows Program at the University of North Carolina. We’re part of the University of North Carolina System and we are housed at the Center for School Leadership Development . I also work in a dual appointment with the North Carolina Principals’ Executive Program . PFP and PEP are two of the longest running state supported executive development programs in the nation. PFP started in 1984 and PEP started in 1983.
I’ve had twenty-one years of diversified management experience in both the public and corporate sectors , including stints as a principal, HR Director, Accountability Director, executive development consultant, Product Manager, and Product Director of a multinational training company, before coming to work with Principal Fellows and the Principals’ Executive Program. This year, our enrollment for our PEP programs are up 17%, and we have launched a partnership with the Kenan Flagler Business School to provide cutting edge executive development to selected NC high schools. We’re also proud to have had our Principal Fellow Alumni significantly outperform the state average on state and federal accountability measures.
Posted by jflude at 3:17 PM | Comments (0)
What is the Executive's Edge?
WHAT IT IS
The Executive’s Edge is a tool to communicate and share leadership and management nuggets from various perspectives. It will also give you some links to some articles of interest to leaders from different backgrounds. Please “join the fray” by sharing your ideas and comments. I'll be posting to this once a week, but checking the comments more frequently.
COMMENTS
The Executive’s Edge allows for postings of comments on entries and articles to foster communication between managers and leaders of different backgrounds and perspectives. We reserve the right to delete comments at any time and ask that comments be constructive and civil. Advertisements are prohibited and will be deleted. Additionally, we operate in strict compliance with all laws and regulations regarding spamming.
To start your comment on an article, just click on the “comments” link below each news item.
Posted by jflude at 3:10 PM | Comments (1)