Sharpening the saw differs from the first six habits we covered in that it focuses on implementing all of them combined rather than bringing in a new method to become an effective leader. Here we emphasize the importance of practice by allowing the learners (us) to take advantage of the classroom setting and invest in practicing the six habits. We "tend our garden" by going beyond just settling with what knowledge we have obtained. This is the opportunity to improve our practice in the classroom and defining ourselves as a leader to be the absolute best.
I plan on continuing to sharpening my saw by writing down and detailing all of the habits and always having it with me while subbing. There will always be opportunities to enhance our leadership styles and this guide will be a visual reminder as to which habits I am successful in implementing and the ones that need more focus. Within my sphere of influence, my sister has been the person that I have discussed the six habits with and I want to take this opportunity to review them with her. I want her to identify her strengths and weaknesses and then be introduced to the seventh and final habit as her opportunity to practice them herself. I'm looking forward to continuing my practice if everything we've learned and bettering myself as an educational leader.
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"Synergizing" sounds a lot like "thinking win - win" in that all parties are cooperating and creating better solutions for everyone. Synergy goes beyond thinking win - win by not only coming up with better solutions, but the best solution. It's almost like combining all of the habits and seeking an outcome where we are listening and understanding each other to fulfill everyone's needs.
To be a more effective educational leader, I need to first make sure that all of my students can trust me and rely on me to execute our action plans. We need to be able to effectively communicate with all parties involved for poor communication skills will not get us to our goals. Covey makes some very good points about valuing everyone on the team. As a teacher, I will recognize student's contributions more and focus on the strengths we each obtain. When we are acknowledged for our efforts, we become more positive about the outcome of the task and are willing to contribute more to the best solution. If I can get people to support me, then we will achieve more. I plan on discussing this habit with my mom for she will find the power of synergy to be very useful in her own classroom. She will appreciate the multiple factors that go into achieving the best outcome with those in your sphere of influence. And hopefully she will pass this leadership technique to her colleagues as well! This habit is one of the most difficult ones to tackle for we are often unaware or blinded by our self-centeredness in prioritizing our needs over the listener. I definitely struggle with this when doing one-on-ones with students for I unintentionally plan out our conversation before I even listen to what the student needs. This leads to a collective monologue where I may guide our conversation to where I want it to go and not necessarily where the student needs guidance.
I am able to accept the fact that I frequently practice this bad habit and am willing to change and work on eliminating probing and advising discussions that should be more effective. This week I have been making sure that the student understands our discussions are meaningful to the both of us and that they are appreciated and heard. Also within my sphere of influence, my sister and I had a brief discussion about empathetic listening and how there are ways to tell if people are truly listening to your needs. We mentioned how sometimes the speaker may feel rushed by the listener to switch so that the listener can talk. Constant "uh-huh" or "yeah" or "mhmm" and impatient movements can make you feel uncomfortable or not want to finish your statement. We also mentioned that there needs to be more acknowledgement of what the previous person said and not move on to another subject / topic or something irrelevant. We need to work on reflecting other people's needs so that they know we are seeking their understanding. "Think Win - Win" requires all parties to go beyond negotiating and instead cooperate to come up with the best outcome for everyone without having to sacrifice anything (1+1=1.5 vs. 1+1=3). Leaders need to get in the habit of mutually benefitting with others in their work environment by making mental "deposits" rather than "withdrawals."
In my personal experience, I have been able to go above and beyond with some of the key traits that positively benefits my students. I strive to create solutions that are greater than either of our initial demands plus no competition for I feel that that can negatively impact the classroom culture. At the end of the day, educational leaders work towards creating comfortable yet productive working environments. Cooperation moves everyone towards that goal, whereas competition will interfere and move us away from becoming effective leaders. Out of the three character habits that we have learned so far, this is the one that I know for a fact needs the most improvement in my life. I enjoyed watching Covey's explanation as to how many of us (myself included) are prioritizing what most would deem as being unimportant and not making enough time for the necessities. The four quadrants helped me better visualize the most logical way to "put first things first." I am so used to creating lists of everything that I need to accomplish and sometimes the lists can be quite overwhelming. I appreciate Covey's use of four distinct groups to focus our attention on one and move on to the next once finished.
I think this would be an excellent tool to share with our students, especially at the high school level. I encounter teenagers constantly procrastinating in school and saving their work for later. This blog post is evidence of me not putting the most urgent matters first. I have a very bad habit of putting all of my classwork off until the very last minute, something that I unfortunately picked up in college. Labeling the blog posts and other assignments as urgent and important is the responsible choice that will help further my career and eliminate the bad habits. I need to remind myself that this is temporary and will be rewarded with a master's degree. Educational leaders need to make prioritization a key part of their lives, something that I definitely need work on. This week's lesson builds off of an educational leader's duty of being more proactive. When one is more proactive, they start to get a better sense as to where their "true north" is and looking ahead before taking action. I've learned that as a leader, it is really important to think ahead before doing anything for there are consequences on how my colleagues and other coworkers will perceive me. We are held reliable for what we say and if we commit to our promises. If our beliefs differ from our actions, we can come off as liars, frauds, and untrustworthy individuals. These are the results from our actions that help build our character. In the end, we strive to be as genuine as possible to help better our relationships with colleagues and to be viewed as a strong yet trustworthy leader.
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AuthorRobert Marley Lerma is an online graduate student through San Diego State University. Weebly is being used to post blog posts for EDL 610 (Visionary Leadership). Archives
March 2019
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