The Three Sings of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni
Principals, Directors, Managers, and Superintendents… want to set your school apart?
Answer the three questions.
Anonymity: “Do I really know my people?”
Irrelevance: “Do they know who their work impacts and how?”
Immeasurement: “Do they know how to assess their own progress or success?”
If you don’t have any answers for the “big three” questions, then you need to immediately set about creating systems, policies, habits, actions, etc. that can directly address them.
Why you ask? “Employees who find fulfillment in their jobs are going to work with more enthusiasm, passion, and attention to quality than their counterparts who do not, mostly because they develop a sense of ownership and pride in what they are doing.”
The benefit is, “…managers who work to reduce the three signs in their organizations discover an unexpected side effect. Employees themselves begin to take a greater interest in their colleagues, help them find meaning and relevance in their work, and find better ways to gauge their own success, and they do all of this without specific direction from their bosses. In essence, they take some responsibility for keeping the three signs of a miserable job at bay. Ironically, this gives them yet a greater sense of meaning while creating a sustainable cultural advantage that competitors will envy but find difficult to duplicate.”
When teachers feel empowered and engaged, then change initiatives and improvement plans will succeed. A principal or district administrator should wish for just sort of an environment at his or her school. Not that schools should be in competition with each other, but others will notice the change that is taking place at your school when Anonymity, Irrelevance, and Immeasurement are overcome. What educational leader wouldn't want that? What teacher or support staff member wouldn't want to work at that school?
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