Work Smart

Try using the 4Rs

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2013-03-08T12:10:17+09:00

Do you want to help your students learn even more? One way you can do this is by leveraging your unit maps on an ongoing basis. How can you do this? Try the 4 Rs:

Review your unit map before starting each unit.
Reflect on how each unit went.
Revise each unit map, based on your reflection.
Regularly talk about your unit maps.

Let me explain further:

(1) Review your unit map for 5 or more minutes before starting each unit—this will help you focus on what you want your students to learn:

Look at your learning targets, enduring understandings, and essential questions. Ask yourself, "What do my students need to learn?"
Look at your content and skills. Ask yourself, "How are the content and skills connected to my learning targets and enduring understandings?"
Look at your assessments, noting which learning targets a given assessment addresses. Ask yourself, "To what extent do these assessment give high quality evidence for student achievement of the learning targets?"
Look at your resources, making sure you know where all of them are. Ask yourself, "How helpful are these resources?" and “Do I use anything that is not documented in my map?”

(2) Reflect on how each unit went. Do this as soon after a unit finishes as you can. You might want to consider the following questions:

What did your students learn during the unit?
What is encouraging/discouraging about what your students learned?
To what extent did you carry out your unit plan?
To increase student learning, what changes could you make to your unit map?

(3) Revise each unit map, based on your reflection. I like to make changes immediately, and others like to make changes right before teaching the unit again. The important thing is not when you make the revisions, but that you make the revisions before teaching the unit again.

(4) Regularly talk about your unit maps—this is fun and will keep you focused on your unit maps. Each year, talk through at least 4 units with a colleague. As necessary, talk through various parts of your unit maps, for example, enduring understandings, essential questions, and assessments.

To find out how you and your colleagues are using the 4Rs, rate each statement below. Use the following scale: 4: Strongly Agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly Disagree

___ Before starting each unit, I take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ I reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ I revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ I regularly talk about my unit maps with colleagues.
___ Before starting each unit, my colleagues take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ My colleagues reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ My colleagues revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ My colleagues regularly talk about their unit maps with others.

Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:

How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s are there?
What excites/concerns me about the data?
What can I do to increase the practice of the 4 Rs (review, reflect, revise, regularly talk)?
What will I do?

Reflect on your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-08-04T00:18:51+09:00

Reflect on your goals daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually.

Facilitators use skills

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-07-30T00:05:04+09:00

When you facilitate, make sure your listen, inquire, focus, and encourage.

Meet the needs of workshop participants

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-07-29T09:17:07+09:00

To help workshop participants learn and apply their learning, meet their needs. Give them support, concrete examples, opportunities to apply their learning, reflection time, and engaging instruction.

Facilitate from your heart

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-07-29T09:18:23+09:00

Facilitate from your heart, from beliefs you have about personal growth.

Reflect on your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2011-04-14T20:58:00+09:00

I think it’s true. I think it’s true that what you pay attention to gets done. So, if you want to get your goals done, pay attention to them.

How?

Take 30 minutes each week to review what your goals are, track the progress you’ve made on each goal, and determine the action steps you’ll take in the next week.

Take 30 minutes. Go somewhere you won’t be disturbed. Bring along whatever you need to help you reflect on your goals—paper, pens, computer, post-its, whatever. Then reflect on your goals in order to determine what to do next.

Reflecting on my goals has helped me achieve them. I think it will help you, too.

Track progress on your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2011-02-16T08:57:57+09:00

You’ve developed goals. You’ve documented them, and you review your goals from time to time, thinking that reviewing them will help you know what to do next. Reviewing does help, but not enough.

Question: What else can you do to determine what to do next?

Answer: Track progress on your goals. In addition to reviewing your goals, track progress on your goals. Tracking progress will help you understand where you are in terms of achieving your goals. And when you know where you are, it’s easier to determine what to do next. For example, imagine my goal is to memorize the alphabet. In tracking my progress, I know that I’ve memorized A-M. So, I’ve determined that next week I’ll memorize A-P.

Track progress on your goals. Today.

Plan backwards

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-12-15T09:54:15+09:00

You’ve been assigned a project. You know planning is important, and you know that you need to get started so that you can complete the project on time.

Question: What can you do?

Answer: You can plan backwards. You can treat the project like a dinner party. You know, the guest will arrive at 6:30, so the food and table setting need to be completed by 6:25. In order for the food and table setting to be completed by 6:25, you need to…. And so forth.

You try: Imagine your project completed. Then ask yourself, “Right before my project gets completed, what do I need to do? And what do I need to do right before that? And what do I need to do right before that?” And so on.

Plan backward. Streamline your planning process.

Schedule your action steps

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-10-14T20:54:09+09:00

You’ve reviewed your projects and project deadlines. You’ve put the deadlines into your calendar program, and you’ve brainstormed action steps for each project. Good.

Later, the calendar alarm goes off, signaling that a project is due, and you find that you haven’t completed the necessary action steps. Bummer.

Question: What can you do?

Answer: Schedule all your action steps. Put them in your calendar program. This can help you get all your action steps done before your calendar alarm goes off for a given project deadline.

Think outside the box

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-08-16T20:52:13+09:00

You’re stuck. You’re not making progress on your goal. You’ve tried the things that have worked before, and you’re still stuck.

Time to think outside the box. For example, imagine that your goal is to more quickly peel a boiled egg. You’ve tried rolling the egg on a plate to crack the shell and then peeling it—too slow. You’ve tried hitting the shell with a spoon, inserting the spoon between the egg white and the shell, and then using the spoon to peel the egg—still too slow.

What can you do? Find an “outside the box” solution. Try watching this video.

When you’re stuck (and even when you’re not), try thinking outside the box.

Think clearly

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-06-14T20:51:26+09:00

Thinking clearly is vital. You know this. When you think clearly, you’re more focused, have a better understanding of your goals and of what it takes to achieve those goals, and can more effectively communicate with those you work with.

Lately, you’ve been feeling muddled, feeling less certain of your goals, and your direct reports have commented that they aren’t clear enough on what you want them to do. You find yourself wanting to think more clearly. Good.

Question: What helps you think clearly?

Answer: What helps me think clearly is taking time to think, writing, and having someone ask me open-ended questions: What’s your goal? What’s happening? What can you do? What will you do?

Take steps to think more clearly. Today.

Leaders, find ways to work smarter

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2011-03-18T21:37:00+09:00

You’re in ministry. You’re faithful, you’re working hard, and you’re concerned that key tasks aren’t getting done. You wonder, “What can I do? I don’t think I can work harder, or my health and relationships will suffer. What can I do?”

Well, what can you do? You can focus on working smarter, not harder. Here are 5 things you can do to work smarter:

(1) Join God in what He's already doing. God has a plan. He’s already at work. And He’s prepared ways for you to join Him in His work (Eph. 2.10). So, you have the opportunity to be part of God’s plan and work. You don’t have to go figure it all out by yourself or do it all by yourself. You can work smarter by joining God in what He’s already doing.

(2) Ask God for help. God knows everything and wants to help you. So, ask Him for help. Ask Him what your ministry goals should be. Ask Him to help you carry out your ministry goals effectively and efficiently. And ask Him to help you work smarter, not harder. Work smarter by asking God for help.

(3) Document your ministry goals. Having documented goals makes is possible for you to easily review your goals, to schedule your next action steps, and to find out what your goals are when you can’t remember them (something which happens to everyone).

(4) Take time to reflect. Take time to step back, review progress, and determine next steps. You can do this for 5 minutes at the end of each day, for 1 hour at the end of each week, for 2 hours at the end of each quarter, and for 4 hours at the end of each year. Work smarter by taking time to reflect.

(5) Empower others to solve problems. The more others can solve problems, the less you have to solve the problems. You can empower others to solve problems by asking questions like the following: What’s the problem? How do others see this problem? What criteria do you want to use to solve this problem? What can you do to solve this problem?

Bottom line: Find ways to work smarter.

*How can you help others to work smarter? By asking questions like:

What’s your ministry?
How do you feel about your ministry and your workload?
How interested are you in getting more done in the same amount of time?
What helps you work efficiently and effectively? What doesn’t help you?
What can you do to work smarter?
What will you do?

To get more energy, reduce your frustrations

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-06-14T19:45:33+09:00

You know it takes energy. You know it takes energy to ride your bike to church. You know it takes energy to buy bananas at the store and to lead a Bible study on Romans 12. And you know it takes energy to write an email to your donors about Sachi’s baptism and to talk with Thomas and Kim about the culture shock they’re experiencing.

You’re wishing you had more energy—10% more, 5% more, even 1% more. Just more energy. If you had more energy, you could work on balancing your personal/professional life, developing relationships with 3 neighbors, and translating training materials on house churches.

While it’s true that if you had more energy you’d be able to work on these goals, maybe the issue isn’t having more energy. Maybe you have all the energy you need, but some of your energy is being sapped by frustrations.

Maybe your energy is getting sapped by frustrations you have with email. You’re frustrated that your thinking keeps getting interrupted by the sound email makes when downloading. You’re frustrated that you don’t have big blocks of time to work because you have to attend to email throughout the day. You’re so frustrated about email that you use energy to talk with others about your frustration and to listen to their frustrations.

Instead of using your energy to tolerate your energy-sapping frustrations, use your energy to reduce your frustrations. For example, use your energy to turn the sound off for downloading email and to schedule doing email twice a day.

Question: What can you do to reduce one or more energy-sapping frustrations?

Remember, reducing your energy-sapping frustrations frees up energy you can use to pursue God’s calling. Reduce one frustration. Today.

Want to empower others to reduce their frustrations? Ask questions that provoke reflection, for example:

What are 5 frustrations you have?
How do you feel when these frustrations are present/not present?
How would you feel if you could reduce 1 or more of these 5 frustrations?
How would reducing 1 or more frustrations impact your ministry?
If you reduced all 5 frustrations, what might happen?
What helps you reduce your frustrations? What hinders you?
What’s 1 frustration you want to reduce?
What can you do to reduce that frustration?
What will you do?

How organized are you?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-02-04T12:15:21+09:00

We all want to be organized. We all want to be better organized. The problem is that we might not be clear on what it means to be organized. For example, does being organized mean…?

Having SMART goals, having goals, or having values?
Using spreadsheets to track progress or being able to tell stories about progress?
Having a clean desk with everything filed away or having a messy desk with everything in stacks?
Planning ahead or seeing what happens?

My answer?

Being organized doesn’t mean having SMART goals, having goals, or having values—being organized means being aware of your priorities.
Being organized doesn’t mean using spreadsheets to track progress or being able to tell stories about progress—it means being aware of progress on your priorities.
Being organized doesn’t mean having a clean desk with everything filed away or having a messy desk with everything in stacks—it means being able to access the resources you need to address your priorities.
Being organized doesn’t mean planning ahead or seeing what happens—it means being intentional about pursuing your priorities.

So, what can you do? Reflect on the following 6 questions: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high)…

How aware are you of your priorities?
How aware are you of your progress on your priorities?
How able are you to access the resources you need to address your priorities?
How intentional are you about pursuing your priorities?
So, how organized are you?
How organized do you want to be?

Remember, being organized helps you pursue God’s calling. Get better organized. Today.

Reduce your frustrations

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-12-28T09:50:20+09:00

Do you want to reduce your frustrations so you can get on with what God's calling you to do? If so, reflecting on these 5 questions can help.

How can you manage yourself more effectivey at work?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-12-21T08:44:29+09:00

If you want to get more done in less time at work, think about how you can manage yourself more effectively at work.

Get organized

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-12-18T15:09:47+09:00

Before getting organized, make sure you're clear on what being organized means and how being organized can help you more effectively carry out your mission.

Use the strengths God has given you

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-10-26T10:42:01+09:00

How faithfully and effectively do you use your God-given strengths?

How faithful are you in using your God-given strengths?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-10-19T11:53:49+09:00

Each day you pursue God’s calling—at home, at work, at church. Each day you focus on being faithful. That’s good. In pursuing God’s calling, being faithful is vital. Because being faithful is vital, I want you to consider a question: How faithful are you in using your God-given strengths? Or to put it another way, How faithful are you in using God’s blessings?

God has given you a calling. And He has prepared you for that calling by giving you specific strengths: He has worked in your life to teach you key truths and given you a unique network of relationships, a variety of abilities, distinguishing character traits, and a range of experiences and education.

So, how faithful are you in using your God-given strengths? How faithful are you in using God’s blessings? (How faithful are you in using your talents? Remember the Parable of the Talents? Remember how the master responded to the servant who buried his talent? Not using your talents in the name of being faithful is a little like burying them.)

Answering these questions is vital. Answering these questions can help you pursue God’s calling. Answering these questions can help you make sure that you are playing your proper role in the Body of Christ and help you avoid being an “eye” that strives to faithfully be a “foot.”

So, what can you do? Identify the strengths (blessings) God has given you. Ask yourself, How faithful am I in using my God-given strengths? Help someone else reflect (you can use the questions in the sidebar). If you are a supervisor, ask yourself: How faithful am I in using the strengths God has given to those I supervise? How can I more effectively leverage the blessings God has given those I supervise?

Remember, faithfully pursuing God’s calling involves using the strengths God’s given you.

How can you improve your planning?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-31T15:01:06+09:00

You want improve in planning. You know this is going to feel like climbing a steep set of steps, so you decide to take it 1 step at a time.

Question: How can you climb the next step?

To find out:

Read about the 5 developmental steps (below).
Then, use some reflection questions to identify what you will do to climb the next step.

Here are the 5 steps:

Step 1: You work.
You’re a missionary, you’re out of language school, and you’ve just started doing full-time ministry. You’re sitting in a room, getting introduced to other missionaries. Each person introduces him/herself by name and job title. Your turn comes, and you say, “Roger, evangelist.”

A few weeks later, you’re out walking in your neighborhood. You’re feeling a little fuzzy about your ministry. And you find yourself thinking, “What’s my plan?” A few days later, you take time to pray and to write out your plan. It describes the activities you want to do, for example, teaching English Bible classes, making and distributing tracts, and talking with those in your neighborhood. You look at your plan and feel better.

Step 2: You work, and you have a documented plan.
You look at your plan every once in awhile. But you notice that having a plan hasn’t helped you as much you thought it would. You think maybe that’s because your plan isn’t as good as it should be. You wonder, “How good is my plan?”

You take a look at your plan, pray, and decide to revise it. Instead of just listing your activities, you decide to:

List your overarching ministry purpose, the 4-6 goals you need to accomplish in order to achieve your overarching ministry purpose, and the key activities you need to do for each of your goals.
Make everything SMART: Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant • Timebound.
Keep your plan to 1 page.

Step 3: You work, and you have good documented plan.
You continue to look at your plan every once in awhile. And you notice that upgrading your plan hasn’t helped you as much you thought it would. You find yourself asking, “How can I really use my plan?”

A couple of days later, you read an article about paying attention to your goals. The article suggests that you review your goals on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis. You pray about it and decide to do this. And you decide to measure your progress on your goals and to reflect each month by talking with a fellow missionary about ministry progress. You know that reviewing your goals, measuring your progress, and reflecting will take time, but you think it’ll be worth it.

Step 4: You intentionally use your plan to guide your work.
As a result of reviewing your goals, measuring your progress, and reflecting, you find that you’re using your plan a lot more to guide your work. And you find that you’re more clear about what you want to accomplish. So, you improve your plan by putting in better activities, revising your goals, and by tightening the alignment between your overarching ministry purpose, goals, and activities. You share your “improved” plan with colleagues, invite feedback, and use feedback to further improve your plan.

In addition, you increasingly recognize that you have limited time, energy, and abilities. You find yourself wondering, “How can I manage myself better? How can I get more focused, work smarter, and pursue excellence?”

You pray, watch a video, read an article, take a self-assessment, and explore getting a coach. As a result, you decide to get a coach. Your coach empowers you to:

Identify what helps you focus.
Target your strengths and reduce your frustrations.
Determine the amount of time you will invest in each goal.
Identify 3 articles you will read about best practices in evangelism.

Step 5: You think success is being a person who is focused, works smart, and pursues excellence.
As a result of working with your coach and using your plan to guide your work, you find that you’re more focused, working smarter, and intentionally pursuing excellence.

And you’ve shifted your thinking about success. Instead of thinking that success is having a plan or even achieving a plan, you now think success is being a person who is focused, works smart, and pursues excellence—as evidenced by the achievement of your plan.

You’re wondering, “How can I empower others to strategically pursue God’s calling?” You pray, and you watch a video and take a self-assessment on leading by asking questions. And you decide to apply your learning to empower others to reflect, get clear, focus, prioritize, and pay attention to their goals.

Now, ask yourself the following 5 questions:

Which “step” best describes me? (Be brutally honest. When doubt, choose the earlier stage.)
How do I feel about being on this “step”?
In terms of climbing the next step, what helps/hinders me?
To climb the next step, what do I need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
What will I do to climb the next step?

Improve your planning. Start climbing the next step. Today.

Pay attention

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-21T15:52:11+09:00

If you want to get your goals done, pay attention to them.

How much time should you invest?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-07T08:03:07+09:00

Reflecting on 4 questions can help you figure out how much time you should invest in each of your goals.

How much time do you want to invest in each of your goals?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-07-01T13:03:54+09:00

You want to carry out your God-given mission: To empower Christian leaders and organizations to close the rhetoric/reality gap.

You have reflected on your mission, prayed and thought about what God would have you do in the next 5 years, and established a 2-part vision:

200 Christian staff from 40 Christian organizations with increased capacity/results
15 Christian organizations with total of 25 new annual capacity-building goals

You have also developed goals that address your vision: To increase capacity/results for…

30 Christian staff through coaching
75 Christian staff through consulting
40 Christian staff through networking
40 Christian staff through resourcing
150 Christian staff through training

Question: How much time do you want to invest in each of your goals?

One way you can determine how much time you want to invest is by reflecting on a set of DRAW questions:

Define: Get the facts defined.
Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use to determine how much time you want to invest in each goal:

Define: Get the facts defined.

What’s your mission?
What’s your vision?
What are your goals for moving forward on your vision?

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
What excites/concerns you about your mission? vision? goals?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

In terms of helping you accomplish your vision, how would you priority rank your goals?
How much time do you currently invest in each goal?
To achieve your vision, how much time do you want to invest in each goal?
How do your priority rankings (question 1) and preferred time investments (question 3) compare?
What helps you move toward your preferred time investments? What hinders you?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

What can you do to move toward your preferred time investments?
What will you do?

To see how reflecting on these questions helped me to determine how much time to invest in each of my goals, keep reading.

What’s your God-given mission?
Me: To empower Christian leaders and organizations to close the rhetoric/reality gap. By that I mean, to close the gap between the word of the mission statement and the reality of the current situation.

What’s your vision?
Me: By the end of 5 years, I want to see 200 Christian staff from 40 Christian organizations with increased capacity/results. And I want to see 15 Christian organizations with a total of 25 new annual capacity-building goals.

What are your goals for moving forward on your vision?
Me: To achieve my vision, I want to help Christian staff increase capacity/results through coaching, consulting, networking, resourcing, and training. Within the next 2 years, I want to have empowered:

30 staff through coaching
75 staff through consulting
40 staff through networking
40 staff through resourcing
150 staff through training

Some people might only get empowered through coaching. Others might get empowered through training and consulting. So for my goals, I can count a person in more than 1 category. But ultimately, I just want to empower 200 Christians. I just want to achieve my vision.

What excites/concerns you about your mission? vision? goals?
Me: God has put it on my heart to encourage Christian leaders and to help them and their organizations achieve their missions. I’m excited about this. It really turns my crank to help leaders strategically pursue God’s calling.

What concerns me about the mission God has given me is that Christian leaders don’t always seek or welcome being empowered. For example, they sometimes think of empowerment as remediation, instead of as a way to more effectively leverage the gifts God has given them. And if I write an email to encourage a leader on a goal he’s identified (How’s it going with___?), sometimes I’m concerned that he might think I’m checking up on him.

In terms of vision, I’m excited about helping a lot of Christian staff that serve in a variety of Christian organizations. And I’m excited about helping organizations set capacity-building goals—I like a challenge. But I’m concerned that I might not be able to connect with enough staff and organizations.

I like my goals. I like coaching, consulting, networking, resourcing, and training. But it’s hard to know how to set goals that are both aggressive and attainable because its hard to gauge how many people I’ll be able to help in the next 2 years.

In terms of helping you achieve your vision, how would you priority rank your goals?
Me: Before I listed only 5 areas—coaching, consulting, networking, resourcing, and training. I need to add a 6th area—mobilizing. I need to do this because I’m a missionary. To do this ministry, I need to raise support. OK, so in terms of helping me empower Christian leaders and organizations, I’d priority rank my goals like this:

Consulting
Training
Coaching
Resourcing
Networking
Mobilizing

Here’s my thinking:

Consulting: Through consulting, I can address both parts of my vision. I can help Christian staff grow individually, and I can help organizations set goals. Last year through consulting, I helped 64 people, and I helped 11 organizations set a total of 11 goals.
Training: I can help the greatest number of Christian staff through training. Last year, I helped 110 people through training.
Coaching: As with consulting, I use coaching to address both parts of my vision. But last year I helped more people through consulting (64) and training (110) than through coaching (20), so I ranked as this #3. Coaching is a powerful way to follow-up on consulting and training.
Resourcing: In order to consult, train, and coach, I need to know what I’m doing and I need to get known. Developing resources provides me with the knowledge and tools I need to help others; publishing resources helps me get known. And the feedback I get indicates that the resources I publish help Christian staff increase their capacity/results.
Networking: One way I help Christian staff is by developing networks and by networking with individuals. And one way I get opportunities to consult, train, and coach is by networking. I’m vacillating between ranking this as #4 or #5. But right now, I’ll keep it as #5.
Mobilizing: I put mobilizing at the bottom because this goal doesn’t directly address my vision. I recognize the importance of mobilizing—if I don’t mobilize effectively, I won’t be able to raise the funds I need to do this ministry.

How much time do you currently invest in each goal?
Me: Probably something like this:

Consulting: 30%
Training: 5%
Coaching: 10%
Resourcing: 40%
Networking: 5%
Mobilizing: 10%

To achieve your vision, how much time do you want to invest in each goal?
Me: Well, I probably need to keep investing the same amount of time in networking and mobilizing. And I need to increase training and coaching. By increasing training, I can help more people. By increasing coaching, I can help Christian staff achieve lasting growth. As I mentioned earlier, coaching is a good way to follow-up on consulting and training.

If I increase training and coaching, I’ll have to invest less time in consulting and resourcing. So, my preferred time investments would probably look like this:

Consulting: 25%
Training: 15%
Coaching: 15%
Resourcing: 30%
Networking: 5%
Mobilizing: 10%

How do your priority rankings and preferred time investments compare?
Me: Pretty well, I think. Resourcing (ranked #4) provides the basis for what I do, so it makes sense that I invest the biggest amount of time (30%) in it. I feel good that my top 3 priorities receive the next biggest amounts of time. I like it that in my preferred time investments, my top 3 priorities get 55% of my time—this is 10% over my current investment in my top 3 priorities.

What helps you move toward your preferred time investments? What hinders you?
Me: What helps me is that I like training and coaching, so having more time for both of those will be fun. What hinders me is that I really like consulting and resourcing—having less time for both is kind of a bummer. But I think I need to head in this direction.

What can you do to move toward your preferred time investments?
Me: I can get more opportunities to train and coach by asking administrators and human resource personnel about what their organizational needs are. I can ask individuals what their personnel needs are. For example, I can ask those I’ve helped through consulting about getting coaching to follow through on the goals they set. I can find additional ways to provide training—like webinars.

I can also monitor the amount of time I invest in resource development more carefully. That should help me decrease it.

What will you do?
Me: I’ll take a couple of hours to explore webinars and the possibility of doing 1-4 of them within the next 12 months. I’ll ask the administrators/human resource personnel from 1 Christian school and 3 missions about what their needs are and how I can help them meet those needs through training and coaching. After seeing what happens as a result of taking these 2 action steps, I’ll consider contacting 5 people that I’ve helped through consulting or training to see if they’d like coaching to help them follow up.

What are your action steps?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-04-16T07:41:00+09:00

You’ve spent 2 days in reflection. You feel good:

You have a mission statement.
You have a list of the 4 goals necessary for carrying out your mission statement.
You like the wording of your mission statement and your goals.
You feel like you have what you need—direction.

Question: What’s next?

Answer: Determining the action steps you need to take for each of your 4 goals—then taking those action steps. Why? Well, success is not having a mission statement and goals—success is accomplishing your mission and goals.

I recommend that each week you take time to determine action steps.

Bottom line: Determine your action steps. Then take them.

What are your goals?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2010-02-08T11:38:00+09:00

You want to achieve your mission. So, you get out of the office and take time to identify 5 key goals. Good. When you return to the office, you focus on achieving your goals all week. Good.

And then things head downhill:

In week #2, you notice that you’re not quite as focused on your goals.
In week #3, you have a crazy week where you can’t work on your goals.
By week #4, you can’t remember 2 of your goals. Not good.

Question: What’s the problem?

Answer: You didn’t document your goals.

This means…

You can’t easily review your goals.
You can’t easily use your goals to schedule your next action steps.
You can’t easily find out what your goals are when you can’t remember them (something which happens to everyone).

Tip: Document your goals. Today.

Can God help?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-12-12T08:36:10+09:00

You’re working on a vital project. You need help. Which 3 of the following would you most likely do?

Reflect on what you know.
Talk with colleagues.
Read books and magazines.
Get coaching.
Check the Internet.
Get help from a consultant.
Look at relevant files on your computer.

Have you identified the 3 things you’d most likely do? Good.

Question: What key option is missing in the above list?

Need some hints? It doesn’t cost money. It’s available 24/7. You can use it anywhere. It gets results.

Answer: Asking God for help. God knows everything and wants to help you. So, ask Him for help. Today.

How are your mission, goals, and daily activities connected?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-10-13T08:30:00+09:00

Think of an activity you’re doing. Got one in mind? Good.

Question: Why are you doing that activity?

Tip: You need to be able to answer that question for each activity you’re involved in.

What should your answer include?

An activity.
The goal your activity addresses.
How working on your goal helps you accomplish your mission.

What does an answer look like?

I’m updating my curriculum maps for Social Studies 8. I'm doing this because I want my students to experience a coherent curriculum. When my students experience a coherent curriculum, they learn more. And when they learn more, they get equipped to impact the world for Christ.
I’m fixing a sticky door hinge so that students can get to their classes on time. When students get to their classes on time, they can learn more. And when they learn more, they get equipped to impact the world for Christ.

Bottom line: Clarify how your mission, goals, and daily activities are connected. Today.

What’s God doing?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-08-21T08:29:09+09:00

Good news—God has a plan. He’s already at work. And He’s prepared ways for you to join Him in His work (Eph. 2.10). So, you have the opportunity to be part of God’s plan and work. You don’t have to go figure it all out by yourself or do it all by yourself.

Point: Join God in what He’s already doing.

3 questions:

How clear are you on what God is already doing?
How clear are you on how God wants you to join Him in His work?
How willing are you to join God in what He’s already doing?

Tip: If you need increased clarity on what God is already doing:

Pray daily for a minimum of 2 weeks.
Read God’s Word daily.
Seek wisdom from 5 of God’s people.

Remember: Join God in what He is already doing. Today.

Schedule your key priorities first

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-05-13T08:08:42+09:00

Make sure you schedule time for your key priorities before you schedule time for other things.

How can you manage yourself more effectively?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-06-19T07:24:51+09:00

By focusing, working smart, and pursuing excellence. To get an idea of how you can manage yourself more effectively, take the following assessment (download). Write the number in the blank that comes closest to representing how true a given statement is for you right now. Use the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

Focus
___ I focus on joining God in what he is already doing.
___ I focus on doing right things, before I focus on doing things right.
___ I focus on my God-given mission.
___ I have defined my mission in terms of SMART goals.
___ I understand how my mission, goals, and daily activities are connected.

Work smart
___ I ask God for help.
___ I think big. For example, I ask myself questions like “What 3 dreams do I want to realize?”
___ I think clearly.
___ I think outside the box.
___ I document my goals.
___ I determine the actions steps I will take to achieve my goals.
___ I take SMART action.
___ I schedule my action steps.
___ I schedule my big goals first.
___ I plan backwards.
___ I track my progress on my goals.
___ I reflect on my goals.
___ I find better ways to achieve my goals.

Pursue excellence
___ I pursue my goals.
___ Before I start working on my goals, I get the resources I need.
___ I get the support, encouragement, and accountability I need to achieve my goals.
___ I pay attention to my goals (because I know that what I pay attention to gets done).
___ I target my strengths.
___ I eliminate my frustrations.

Now, ask yourself 5 questions about the data:

How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s do I have?
What excites/concerns me about the data?
What helps me increase my self-management?
What hinders me from increasing my self-management?
What will I do?

Work smart. Increase your self-management. Today.

Do right things

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-02-11T15:36:35+09:00

Want to increase your effectiveness? Do right things, then do things right.

DRAW others out to focus on science-related issues

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-02-07T18:24:14+09:00

You're at school, and you want to help others grow. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, ask questions that fit the DRAW protocol:

Define: Get the facts defined.
Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a faculty meeting conversation about science-related issues:

Define: Get the facts defined.

What do the following 5 terms mean: creationism, theory of evolution, common ancestry, microevolution, and evolutionism?
What questions do students, parents, staff, and board members ask about these 5 terms?
What are your students taught about these 5 terms?
What’s the school’s position on these 5 terms?

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

What excites/frustrates you about these 5 terms?
What positive/negative experiences have you had related to these 5 terms?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

Scale of 1-10 (10 being high), how important is it for your school to address these 5 terms?
What helps/hinders students as they work to learn about these 5 terms?
For your students to learn about these 5 terms, what do teachers need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

What action steps will you take?
What resources will you need?
Who’s responsible for what?
How will you hold each other accountable?

Want to achieve your goals?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-09-29T14:01:38+09:00

The point is not to have goals. The point is to achieve goals. To achieve your goals, take 4 steps: pray, put, take, and reflect.

SMARTen up your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-09-26T14:52:06+09:00

You’re pursuing God’s calling. Good. Three weeks ago, you developed a list 5 goals that are part of pursuing God’s calling:

Pray more.
Make spouse happy.
Answer email immediately.
Coach students.
Provide training for Christian schools.

Now, you’re seated at your desk, reflecting on your goals. Good. You notice that you haven’t made any progress. You’re puzzled. You want to work on your goals—so motivation is not the issue. Yes, you have been busy the past 3 weeks, but you did have time to work on your goals—so time is not the issue. You just feel like it’s hard to get started. You look at your goals, and you find it hard to get traction.

Question: What can you do?

Answer: Make each of your goals SMART. What do I mean by SMART?

A SMART goal is:

Specific: A specific goal identifies a concrete task. Instead of having the general goal of praying more, use the specific goal of praying 15 minutes each weekday morning.
Measurable: Progress on a measurable goal can be readily tracked. Instead of having a general goal of making your spouse happy, use a measurable goal like going out for monthly dates with your spouse.
Attainable: An attainable goal is a challenging goal that you can accomplish. Instead of setting an unattainable goal like answering all your email immediately, set an attainable goal of answering all email within 48 hours.
Relevant: A relevant goal is one that is aligned with your values and mission. If you value empowering others and your mission is to empower leaders of Christian organizations, focus on coaching leaders of Christian organizations, not students.
Time-bound: A time-bound goal is one that has a realistic deadline. Instead of having an open-ended goal of providing training for Christian schools, use the measurable, time-bound goal of providing 5 workshops by April 30.

Situation: You have 30 minutes to work on a goal. Which goal is easier to get started on?

Goal A: Write an article.
Goal B: By the 22nd of this month, write a 500-word article for Christian school teachers on SMART goals.

Answer: I picked Goal B. I think you did, too. Why didn’t I pick Goal A? Because I needed answers to the following questions before I could get started: What’s the topic? Who’s the audience? How many words? When’s it due?

I didn’t pick Goal A because it wasn’t SMART.

Question: Does making goals SMART really help?

Answer: Yes. Here’s what staff at Christian Academy in Japan have to say:

Kim Essenburg (English 10): SMART goals help me focus. For example, last year our English Department had a goal of meeting every other month to discuss teaching reading strategies—because we wanted to help our students improve their reading skills. Having a goal that specified the purpose and frequency of our meetings helped us get started and stay with it.
Jennifer Robinson (curriculum coordinator): We use the SMART-goal format when presenting our school improvement goals. We do this because we want to provide our staff with clear expectations—including by when we want to accomplish our goals.
Stephen Willson (facilities manager): The SMARTer the goals are, the easier it to understand and complete the task. For example, when someone brings a broken desk to our shop and doesn’t specify where the desk should be returned to, it’s harder to achieve the goal of having the fixed desk returned to the right room.

Bottom line: Making your goals SMART helps you clarify what you want to achieve and, consequently, helps you get started more quickly.

SMARTen up your goals. Today.

Achieve your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-07-15T17:41:09+09:00

Goals help. Goals help you get focused, get energized, get organized, and know what to say “yes” and “no” to.

But having goals is not enough. You don’t just want to have goals—you want to achieve goals. You want to achieve your goals in order to pursue your God-given calling. Is there something you can to do increase the likelihood that you’ll achieve your goals? Yes!

These four steps can help:

Pray. Ask God to guide you as you select goals and to provide the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your goals.
Put your goals on paper. Write them down. The act of writing your goals down will deepen your commitment to them. And if you write your goals down, you can easily review them.
Take one or more action steps on each goal every week. And make sure each action step is SMART (Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Relevant • Timebound). The SMARTer your action step, the more likely you’ll complete it. For example, imagine your goal is managing your email. Instead of identifying your action step as “only working on email at certain times,” identify your action step as “doing email for 30 minutes two times per day (11:30-12:00, 4:00-4:30), starting Wednesday.”
Reflect on your progress with a friend each week. Tell your friend the progress you’ve made on each action step and what your action steps are for the coming week.

Make email work for you (and not the other way round)

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-09-12T15:40:44+09:00

Email is a useful, but limited, form of communication. Being a good steward of the resources God has given you includes making email work for you—and not the other way round.

Question: How can you make email work for you?

Answer: Here’s are 4 things that can help you make email work for you:

Schedule: Don’t check your email as it comes in. Instead, do your email a specified times during the day. For example, do email 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes before lunch, and 15 minutes at the end of the day.
Response time: Don’t assume that you must respond to all email immediately or even within 60 minutes. Instead, set a deadline to respond to email, say within 48 hours. This will free you up and allow you to focus on important, non-urgent matters.
Subject line: Don’t just write a topic. Instead, write a summary—write the thesis of the email. This helps your reader grasp your message.
Format: Don’t assume using a readable font is sufficient. Instead, use bold and bullets to help your reader understand your message.

Personal note: I’ve learned about email the hard way. Here are 3 of the lessons I’ve learned:

The more email you send, the more email you get. So, if you want less email, send less email.
When dealing with relational issues, talk to the person face-to-face or by phone. Use email as a last resort.
Just because you have a concern or suggestion doesn’t mean you should share via email. Your recipients, like your colleagues at work, already have a lot to think about. Try emailing as few concerns or suggestions to a given person as possible—try 1 email per person per week. Better yet, go talk. If talking is too much of a hassle, don’t email—if it’s not worth your effort to talk, it’s not work his/her effort to read your email.

Make email work for you (and not the other way round). Work smart. Today.

Eliminate your frustrations

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-04-09T08:27:59+09:00

What frustrates you? What has frustrated me includes not having proper travel gear, not having necessary software, and unclear job expectations.

Notice, I listed what has frustrated me, not what frustrates me. Why? Because I’ve eliminated these frustrations. Doing this has helped me get on with what God has called me to do.

Tip: Eliminate your frustrations. One by one, eliminate your frustrations. If you don’t have the proper travel gear you need, get good luggage and clothes that don’t wrinkle. If you don’t have the computer software you need for organizing your tasks, get OmniFocus. If you don’t have clear job expectations, ask for a job description. Eliminate your frustrations so you’re freed up to focus more fully on God’s calling.

Work smart. Eliminate your frustrations. Today.

Target your strengths

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2009-02-13T08:26:24+09:00

Imagine you’re a basketball coach. You have a player who scores 27 points per game, shoots 46% from the 3-point line, and gets 14 rebounds per game. You’re pleased with his performance.

But you’re puzzled. Rather than targeting what he does well, your player has started focusing on his lowest stat area—1 assist per game. He’s started using all his free time in practice to work on his passing. And in the next 3 games, he focuses on passing. The result? In those 3 games, your player averages 2 assists, 19 points, 33% from the 3-point line, and 11 rebounds—and your team loses all 3 games.

What are you going to do? If I were the coach, I’d talk to the player, encouraging him to target his strengths (scoring, 3-point shooting, rebounding) for his own sake and for the team’s sake. I’d let him know that no player has to do everything well. I’d let him know that his teammates can take care of assists.

My point: Target your strengths. Target leveraging your God-given gifts. You’ll perform better.

Work smart. Target your strengths. Today.

Pay attention to your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-12-12T08:24:00+09:00

You’re at the end of a hectic week, the kind where you can hardly remember what happened. You’re sitting at your desk, doing some reflection. You’re noticing that you’ve accomplished some goals (building your network list and preparing a message) and that you haven’t accomplished some other goals (developing a debriefing tool and a conflict resolution workshop). You wonder why some goals get done, while others don’t.

Then it hits you.

You paid attention to networking and preparing a message. You didn’t pay attention to developing the debriefing tool and the conflict resolution workshop.

Tip: Pay attention to your goals—because what you pay attention to gets done.

Question: What can help you pay attention to your goals?

Answer: A review system. A review system that you use on a daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual basis:

Daily review: Take 5 minutes at the end of each day to review progress on your goals and to look at your schedule for the next day.
Weekly review: Take 30 minutes at the end of each week to review progress on your goals, determine your action steps for the next week, and schedule your action steps.
Quarterly review: Take 1-2 hours to review your goals, your progress, what helps/hinders you, and what you want to accomplish for each goal in the next 90 days.
Annual review: Take 2 or more hours to review your goals and the progress you’ve made, to establish your goals for the coming year, and to identify what you want to accomplish for each goal in the next 90 days.

Remember: What you pay attention to gets done.

*Ciick here to watch a video about paying attetion to your goals.

Get support, encouragement, and accountability

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-10-24T08:22:13+09:00

You’ve documented your goal: To develop a community of practice for Christian school curriculum coordinators.

You did a careful study of the current situation, considered options for moving forward, and documented your goal. That’s good. Now you’re ready to start. That’s right—you’re ready to start. Remember, success is not developing a goal for curriculum coordinators. Success is having a functioning community of practice.

Now the real work begins. Now you need to achieve your documented goal. Now you need to get Christian school curriculum coordinators involved in the community of practice. Given all the others things you have going on, achieving your goal is going to be a challenge.

Tip: Be sure to get the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your documented goal. Discipline yourself to get these on a weekly basis, for example, by getting a coach.

Work smart. Get support, encouragement, and accountability. Today.

Secure resources—then start

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-08-26T09:18:32+09:00

You have a plan. Before you start working:

Try to get the resources specified in the plan: Say you have a plan to rough in 100% of curriculum unit maps for all courses. The plan calls for 3 resources: a curriculum coordinator, computer software, and 20 hours of work time for staff. What happens to your plan if you can’t get these 3 resources?
Review the resources you’ve been able to get: You’ve been able to get software and the work time, but not the curriculum coordinator. This affects your plan.
Use what you learn from reviewing the resources to assess and revise your plan: Since you aren’t able to get a curriculum coordinator, you assign some of the curriculum coordinator’s responsibilities to principals and department chairs. You also change the outcome to roughing in 50% of curriculum unit maps for all courses.
Then, start working.

Work smart. Secure resources. Today.

Get organized

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-06-10T10:52:48+09:00

A good way to get organized is to do the behaviors that organized people do. Here are 3:

Review your goals for a minimum of 15 minutes each week. Reflect on the big picture and think about how you can take action on your goals.
Take time each week to plan out the coming week. Use the time to align your goals and your schedule.
Empty your inbox each week.

Take action: Pick a behavior from the list above or pick one of your own. Then take action.

Get organized. Today.

Principals, use the Rule of 3

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-05-16T08:48:53+09:00

Looking for a way to address your challenges? Try using the Rule of 3:

3 minutes: Take at least 3 minutes at the end of each day to plan the next day.
3 hours: Take 3 hours each week to work on 1 key project.
3 days: For the first 3 days after an extended vacation, focus on helping those you supervise to get going, not on getting yourself going.
3 weeks: For the first 3 weeks of school, focus on helping those you supervise to get going, not on getting yourself going. And for the first 3 weeks of 4th quarter, focus on planning for the next school year.
3 months: Use the first 3 months of a school year to initiate improvement plans—then take the rest of the school year to follow up.
3 years: If you’re a new principal, give yourself 3 years to establish yourself. You don’t have to get everything right in the first 2 years, but by year 3 year you do need to have established yourself.

How to write a SMART goal

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-05-02T15:49:23+09:00

To help work colleagues grow, DRAW them out by asking questions

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-04-10T10:49:11+09:00

You're at work, and you want to help others grow. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, ask questions that fit the DRAW protocol:

Define: Get the facts defined.

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

What’s next?: Get next steps considered. Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a 15-minute conversation:

Define: Get the facts defined.

What’s going on in your work?

What people/projects are you spending your time/energy on?

What are your goals for this next week/month?

Whom do you talk to about your work? What do you talk about?

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

What progress on your goals have you experienced? What’s been satisfying?

What roadblocks have you experienced? What’s been frustrating?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

What are the reasons for your feelings of satisfaction and frustration?

What can you do to build on your progress/minimize your roadblocks? Who can help you?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

You talked about ___ today. What do you think you’ll do?

How can I pray for you?

Schedule your key priorities first

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-04-09T10:08:14+09:00

You’ve gotten away for a bit and identified some key priorities, including spending more time with family, regularly getting exercise, and getting coaching each week.

But when you come back, you hit reality—271 emails your inbox, 11 meetings to attend in the next week, 2 unexpected projects to complete by Wednesday. You have to deal with reality, so you respond to your email, attend the meetings, and complete the projects—only to find that while you have spent more time with family, you haven’t gotten any exercise or coaching.

This doesn’t feel good.

What can you do? Schedule time each week for each of your key priorities first. Then schedule time for your email, meetings, and projects. In other words, don’t schedule time for email before you schedule time for getting coaching and getting exercise.

Discipline yourself to do this. Doing this will help you stay focused on your key priorities.

Know where you are and where you want to go

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-02-13T08:28:53+09:00

Knowing where you are and where you want to go helps you make effective decisions:

You’re at the train station. You need to buy a ticket. How much should you spend? That depends on where you are and where you want to go. If you’re in Ikebukro and want to go to Higashi Kurume, you need a ¥260 ticket; however, if you’re in Higashi Kurume and want to go to Tokorozawa, you need a ¥170 ticket.

You’re planting a church. You want the church to become independent. What you focus on? That depends on where you are and where you want to go. If you have a pastor, sufficient giving, a facility, but not the requisite 2 elders, you need to focus on getting 2 elders; however, if you have a pastor, a facility, 2 elders, but not the requisite giving, you need to focus on increasing giving.

You’re coaching basketball. It’s half-time. What do you want to tell your players? That depends on where you are and where you want to go. If you’re winning 29-8 and you don’t want to run up the score, you need to tell your players not to press and not to fastbreak; however, if you’re losing 8-29, you tell need to tell your players to press and fastbreak.

You’re leading a school. Your goal is for 90% of your students to score at or above standard on each of your schoolwide learning outcomes. What do you want your teachers to focus on? That depends on where you are and where you want to go. For example, f 90% of your students perform at or above standard on applying a Biblical perspective, while 50% perform at or above standard on using their learning to serve others, you need to focus your teachers on helping students use their learning to serve others.

Bottom line #1: Know where you are and where you want to go.

Bottom line #2: To know where you are and where you want to go, take 5 steps:

Define what it takes to achieve the mission—for example, publishing and networking.

Transform your definition of mission achievement into SMART goals. For example, change “Publish” to “Publish 10 articles by June 30.” Or, change “Network” to “Start 5 communities of practice by Sept. 15.”

Measure the current achievement of your SMART goals. If your goal is to publish 10 articles this year, count how many articles you’ve already published. If your goal is to start 5 communities of practice, count how many communities of practice you’ve already started.

Consistently track your progress. Set aside time each week or each month to track your progress. This takes discipline, but doing this gives you the information you need to make effective decisions.

Regularly ask yourself 5 questions: What are my goals? What’s the current achievement level of each of my goals? Regarding the achievement of my goals, what satisfies/concerns me? Given that I have finite resources, which goals should I prioritize? For each prioritized goal, what key actions can I take? (Even better, get someone to ask you these questions on a weekly or monthly basis. How about getting a coach?)

Know where you are and where you want to go. Work smart. Today.

It's self-management, not time management

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-02-05T08:33:31+09:00

God calls us to manage ourselves within the time He gives us, not to manage time.

“And” learning, not “or” learning

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-01-18T15:09:01+09:00

You’re planning a workshop for an organization. You’re talking to the contact person about the objectives, and the contact person keeps talking about skipping the application so there’s more time to cover more content. I’ll be you’re frustrated.

I’ll bet you’re frustrated and that you feel like a basketball coach who’s been given the following choice: during the season you can have your players either practice or play, but not both.

I’ll bet you don’t like the choices.

Why? Because you want practicing and playing. You want to do training that involves understanding and applying. You want “and” learning, not “or” learning. So, you choose:

Rehearsing and performing.
Attitude and behavior
Using head/heart and hands.

Use “and” learning, not “or” learning. Work smart. Today.

Draw out, don’t put in

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2008-01-15T08:24:23+09:00

You want to help others pursue God’s calling, so you give advice. But it doesn’t really help. Sound familiar? Instead of putting advice in, try drawing out.

Start by using LIFE skills:

Listen, instead of talking.
Inquire, instead of advising.
Focus the conversation, instead of letting the conversation float around.
Encourage, instead of critiquing.

Use your LIFE skills empower others to DRAW:

Define the facts, instead of generalizing.
Respond to the facts, instead of venting.
Analyze the facts and their response to the facts, instead of avoiding what’s going on.
Consider What’s next, instead of thinking they’re done.

When you use LIFE skills to empower others DRAW out, they can better leverage God’s GRACE in their lives:

God’s work in their hearts.
Relationships He has provided.
Abilities God has bestowed.
Character qualities He has blessed them with.
Experiences God given them, including education and jobs.

Draw out, don’t put in. Work smart. Today.

Define your goals

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-12-13T07:34:58+09:00

You’re focusing on working smart, not hard. And you want to move forward on this. Good.

What can you do? Define your goals. How? By making your goals SMART:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timebound

For example:

Change “Get exercise” to “Starting Monday, jog 20 minutes 3 times a week.”
Change “Get organized” to “By Friday at 4:30, properly file all the files that are stacked on my desk.”
Change “Take on less” to “Starting tomorrow, say ‘yes’ only to requests that are directly related to the curriculum improvement plan.”

Making your goals SMART takes discipline, but doing so helps you clarify what you want to achieve. Knowing what you want to achieve helps you make better decisions about what to do next. And making better decisions means working smart.

To SMARTen up a goal, answer questions like:

Specific: What do you mean by ___? (What do you mean by “exercise”?)
Measurable: How will you know when you’ve achieved your goal?
Attainable: How doable is this?
Relevant: How will this goal help you?
Timebound: When will you do this?

Remember, focus on working smart, not hard. Define your goals. Today.

Think big

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-10-15T11:37:41+09:00

Want to work smart? Think big.

To get an idea of how you can think big, take the following self-assessment. Use the following scale:
4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sort of • 1: Rarely

I ask God for help.
I want to attempt great things for God.
I take time each week to reflect.
I ask myself key questions: How can I serve God more effectively? What 3 dreams do I want to realize? What 3 things could I do in the next 30 days that would make a real difference?
I read books on vision (like The Dream Giver by Wilkinson, Full Steam Ahead by Blanchard, and The Path by Jones).
I talk with people who think big.
I listen to podcasts/CDs on vision (like Coaching Visionaries by Stoltzfus).
I focus on thinking big.

Use your assessment data to design action steps to think big. Then take action.

To work smart, think big. Today.

Clearly communicate results

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-08-24T11:22:35+09:00

You’re in the staff lounge, and the basketball coach walks in.

You: How’d the game go last night?
Coach: Pretty well.

You: What was the score?
Coach: The players dribbled, rebounded, passed the ball, and took shots.

You: Did you achieve your game objectives?
Coach: The kids played.

You: How will you prepare for next game?
Coach: We’ll keep practicing.

How are you feeling about the conversation? Personally, I’m frustrated. I’m beginning to wonder how well the coach understands basketball.

Let’s try the conversation again:

You: How’d the game go last night?
Coach: Pretty well.

You: What was the score?
Coach: 65-64 in double-overtime. We lost.

You: Did you achieve your game objectives?
Coach: Yes. We out-rebounded our opponents and made 80% of our freethrows.

You: How will you prepare for next game?
Coach: We’ll work on work on reducing the number of shots in the key. Our opponents scored 24 points in the key.

Sounds better.

Question: When someone asks you about your work, what does your conversation sound like?

Real question: What will you do to clearly communicate results?

Work smart. Today.

Do right things first

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-08-22T12:06:22+09:00

Imagine:

You have arrived safely and on time—which is important because your wife, who is in the car, is in labor. You both wore seatbelts. You drove the speed limit and obeyed the traffic lights. You feel good—until you realize you are at the wrong hospital.
You are prepared. You studied for the science test, have a pencil and eraser, and are seated before the bell rings. You feel good—until you receive the math test.
You catch the basketball, square your shoulders to the basket, jump, shoot, and score—at the wrong basket.
You complete 29 of 30 tasks quickly. You stand up, spin around 5 times, shout your name out loud, sing “Happy Birthday” to Mickey Mouse, recite the alphabet backwards—lots of crazy things. Great fun! You are puzzled as to why some of the others aren’t doing anything. Then you read Task 30: “You were instructed to read all the tasks before starting. Do only this task—sit in your seat.”
You are done before the deadline. You have reviewed the recruitment process, edited and published existing recruitment materials, and sent the materials to colleges before the deadline. You feel good—until you realize that you have not gotten a single new staff member from a college in the past 4 years.
You provide staff training. Staff complete the training. You feel good—until you realize that you targeted staff completing the training, not staff using the training to achieve the mission.

Do right things, then do things right. Make sure you are working on the truly important before you spend time fine-tuning what you are working on. This is a challenge. Why? Because, for example, it is easier to edit than it is to develop high quality content. Discipline yourself to do right things, then do things right.

Work smart. Today.

Share your thoughts about life and success

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-06-13T13:42:54+09:00

Encourage others to pursue their God-given calling. One way you can do this is by sharing your thoughts on life and success.

Here are some of my thoughts:

God is already at work. Join Him.
Want results? Invest in yourself.
Do right things, then do things right.
“Be” what you want to “see.”
There's usually a better way. You can find it.
Defining your goal is the first step toward achieving it.
Want to improve? Target your strengths.
It’s self-management, not time management.
Make your program exemplary, sustainable, and replicable. Target outputs and inputs.
Change is about motivation. Motivation is about getting support, encouragement, and accountability.
Rocks, pebbles, sand, water. In that order.
Plan backwards.
Know the score.
Flow, seep, evaporate, rain.
Listen (respelled) = Silent
It’s solvable, or it’s not. Either way, trust God.
Focus. On your God-given mission.
Work smart, not hard.
Pursue defined excellence, not undefined excellence.
Envision, coach, relate, collaborate.
Arrange success.
Eating chocolate with friends is better than eating carrots alone.
Danglestalk.
Lead by asking.
What you pay attention to gets done—so pay attention to your priorities.
Use reflection to leverage results.
Measuring motivates.

Want to take the next step? Write down 3-5 of your thoughts about life and success. Make sure each item is concise and easy to say. Next, encourage others to pursue their calling by sharing your thoughts.

Use a scorecard to “budgetize” your God-given mission

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-05-03T10:39:22+09:00

Your organization’s budget system works:

Your organization uses common categories and common line items.
Individuals track expenditures.
Individual data is compiled into the overall budget.
Your organization uses budget data to make decisions.

What if your organization could do the same with its mission?

What if your organization “budgetized” its mission?

What if your organization used a common definition of mission achievement, complete with common goals?
What if individuals tracked progress on goals?
What if individual data was compiled so that it showed progress on goals and, consequently, on the mission?
What if your organization used mission achievement data to make decisions?

A scorecard can help you “budgetize” your mission. Use a scorecard today.

Your mission statement is a powerful tool—use it

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-10-26T11:46:13+09:00

Christian school staff know answers, know what the answers mean, and use the answers appropriately. Just ask Christian school staff, and you’ll find out:

Who is Jesus?
What’s the budget process?
What’s a noun?
What’s the room cleaning schedule?
What’s the water cycle?

Christian missionaries know answers, know what the answers mean, and use the answers appropriately. Just ask missionaries, and you’ll find out:

Who is Jesus?
What is sin?
How can I be saved?
What’s the name of your church?
When are the worship services?

Answers are tools. Knowing answers, knowing what the answers mean, and using the answers increases the effectiveness of Christian school staff and Christian missionaries.

A mission statement is a powerful tool. Your mission statement is a powerful tool. To unleash its power, you need to:

Know your mission statement word for word.
Know what your mission statement means.
Use your mission statement.

How well do you know your mission statement?

Can you recite it word for word? Practice until you can.
Can you say smoothly? So that it sounds like it does when you read it? Practice until you can.
Can you say it in the same number of seconds it takes you to read it? Practice until you can.

How well do you know what your mission statement means? In 30 seconds:

Can you tell me 5 things it means and 5 things it doesn’t mean? Right now? If not, identify these things. Practice sharing them until you can share them in 30 seconds.
Can you tell me an interesting story that illustrates your mission? Right now? If not, write down a story. Practice telling it until you can effectively tell it in 30 seconds.

How well do you use your mission statement?

Do you routinely use your mission statement to cast the vision and inspire others? If not, at the next meeting you attend, use your mission statement to remind everyone of the real purpose of the meeting.
When developing a proposal, do you routinely ask, “How will this help us accomplish our mission?” If not, do this when developing your next proposal.
When deciding whether or not to take on a task, do you routinely ask, “How effectively will this help us accomplish our mission?” If not, start when considering your next task.

Remember: Success is you effectively using your mission statement on a routine basis. Success is not knowing your mission statement or knowing what it means. But remember, in order to effectively use your mission statement on a routine basis, you need to know it and know what it means.

Imagine you and everyone on your church staff, tentmaking staff, mission staff, or school staff reciting your mission statement, telling 30-second stories that illustrate your mission statement, and routinely using your mission statement to focus energy on achieving your mission. If this happened, how might it impact the achievement of your mission?

Work smart. Know your mission statement. Know what it means. Use it. Unleash its power. Today.

Kim Essenburg, Christian Reformed missionary and English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, uses her school's mission statement:

Christian Academy in Japan, a school for the children of evangelical missionaries in Japan, equips students to impact the world for Christ.

This means we emphasize:

Equipping students to impact the world for Christ, not equipping students for college and career (although we do this)
Students applying a biblical perspective to course content they have mastered, not students mastering course content
Students using knowledge, not students having knowledge
Using real-world and classroom assessments, not using just classroom assessments
Being student-centered, not teacher-centered

I get excited when students get equipped to impact the world for Christ. Recently, I was looking at student essays on Cry, the Beloved Country. I was excited to read, “Arthur's goal is for black people and white people to treat each other fairly, which is exactly what God requires of us: ‘...to act justly and to love mercy...’ (Micah 6:8).”

Our school’s mission statement is a useful tool. I use our school mission statement to define the purpose of my teaching, shape the assessments I use, screen changes to the content I teach, and determine the professional development I’ll pursue.

It’s self-management, not time management

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-03-07T11:45:47+09:00

I don’t try to manage certain things. I don’t try to manage gravity. I don’t try to manage the revolution of the planets around the sun or the rotation of the earth on its axis. And I don’t try to manage sunrise or sunset.

Actually, I am utterly incapable of managing any of these. The good news is that God, who does manage these, doesn’t ask me to.

I don’t try to manage the entirety of God’s creation, and I’ve stopped trying to manage a certain part of God’s creation. Why? Because my efforts have been about as effective as any attempt I would make to manage gravity. In other words, useless. Completely useless.

No matter what I do, I can’t change the amount I receive. I set and work at goals to change the amount, but I get exactly the same amount. And to make matters worse, I can’t even affect the rate at which I receive it. I set and work at goals to change the rate, and I get it at exactly the same rate.

What have I stopped trying to manage? Time. Why? First, I’m a time-bound being. I’m trapped in time, and there is no escape. Second, whether I like it or not, I receive the same amount of time each day. And third, no matter what I do, I receive time at the same rate: 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, 24 hours per day. I can’t make a day 40 hours long. Can you? I can’t even add 1 second to a day. Can you?

Simply put, I am completely unable to manage time. My efforts to manage time are as effective as any attempt I would make to manage the revolution of the planets around the sun or the earth’s rotation on its axis. Let me be frank: your efforts to manage time are as effective as any attempt you would make to manage sunset. When’s the last time you set a goal to change the time of sunset and it worked, even to an infinitesimal degree?

However, the good news is that God manages time. And the good news is that what God calls us to do is to manage ourselves within the time he gives us. So, it’s how you manage yourself within time, not how you manage time. In other words, focus on yourself (which you can affect), not on time (which you can’t affect).

Practical implications?

Stop asking “How can I get more time?” and “How can I use my time effectively?” Start asking “How can I manage myself effectively within the time God gives me?”
Stop saying things like “I need 30-hour days” and “I need 10-day weeks.” Start realizing that when you say things like that, you’re commenting on how effectively you manage yourself and/or your level of trust that God gives you what you need.
Stop trying to manage time. Start focusing on managing yourself.

To increase your focus on self-management, reflect on 1 or more of the following:

Do right things, then do things right. Make sure you are working on the truly important before you spend time fine-tuning what you are working on. This is a challenge. Why? Because it is easier, for example, to edit than it is to develop high quality content. Discipline yourself do right things, then do things right.
Focus. On your God-given mission. This means saying “no” to certain requests, and saying “no” takes discipline.
Think big. Expand your vision. Play a bigger game. Regularly ask yourself questions like “What 3 dreams do I want to realize?” and “What 3 things could I do in the next 30 days that would make a real difference?”
Define your goals. Consistently make your goals SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timebound. Making your goals SMART takes discipline, but doing so helps you clarify what you want to achieve. And knowing what you want to achieve helps you make better decisions about what to do next.
Know the score. Know where you are in terms of achieving your goals. Consistently track your progress. This takes discipline, but doing so will help you make effective decisions about what to do next.
Schedule your big priorities first, your smaller priorities next, and so forth. Don’t schedule renewing the newspaper, for example, before you schedule your key ministry goals. Discipline yourself to do this. Doing this will help you stay focused on your big priorities.
Plan backward. Plan like you would for a dinner party. Picture your house cleaned, your table set, and your meal prepared. Then figure out what you need to do to get your house cleaned, your table ready, and your meal prepared. In other words, picture the goal accomplished, and then plan backward. Say to yourself, “Just before I achieve my goal, I need to ____. And just before I do that, I need to ____. And just before I do that, I need to ____....” Planning backward takes discipline, but it results in a streamlined plan of action.
Get organized. Schedule time each week to review your goals, empty your inbox, and plan out the coming week. Discipline yourself to do this for a minimum of 30 minutes each week.
Get resources. Discipline yourself to secure the resources you need to achieve your goals before you start working on your goals.
Get support, encouragement, and accountability. Discipline yourself to get these on a weekly basis, for example, by getting a coach.

Now, take action to increase your self-management:

Choose 1 of the 10 items mentioned above. Design a SMART action plan that will help you increase your self-management: By ____________ (date), I will _______________________________.
Make a commitment to achieve this action plan, and tell someone about your commitment.
Achieve your action plan.

Remember, it’s self-management, not time management. Work smart. Today.

Want increased results? Get coaching!

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-05-22T11:44:55+09:00

You want to achieve your God-given mission. To do so, you need increased results. And to get increased results, you have developed a plan.

You know that your schedule is full of good things that will distract you from achieving your plan. And you recall that this past year, you had planned to develop a staff development handbook—it still isn’t done.

What can you do? Invest 30 minutes each week in coaching. During your 30-minute coaching session, you’ll develop concrete steps to accomplish your plan, and you’ll receive the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to achieve your plan.

To get increased results, get coaching. Your mission is worth it.

What is success?

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-07-14T11:44:29+09:00

Everyone wants success. The questions is, “What is success?” Defining success will help you work smart. Consider the following possibilities, develop your definition of success, and share your definition with colleagues.

Success is...

Joining God is what He’s doing, not starting down your own path.
Achieving your mission, not implementing a Christian philosophy of education.
Using diversity to achieve one mission, not using unity to achieve diverse missions.
Building community in order to achieve the mission, not achieving your mission in order to build community.
Caring for others as you do mission, not doing mission as you care for others.
The Parable of the Talents, not the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
Getting targeted results, not getting results.
Reaching a pre-determined destination, not reaching a destination.
Getting it done, not getting it perfect.
Batting 300, not getting a 98%.
Distinction, not perfection.
Displacement, not distance.
Direction, not motion.
Hitting the bulls-eye, not going the distance.
Doing right things, not doing things right.
A program that is exemplary, sustainable, and replicable; not a program that is exemplary.
Quality outputs based on quality inputs, not quality outputs or quality inputs.
Increased student learning, not increased teacher learning.
A Christian who teaches Christianly, not a Christian who teaches.
Learning, not being learned.
Getting experience, not getting knowledge.
Doing, not knowing.
Using learning, not getting learning.
Professional development that targets mission achievement, not professional development that targets teacher knowledge.
Adding 1 best practice per year, not adding 5 best practices per year.
Asking questions, not dispensing answers.
Working smarter, not working harder.
Increasing “face” time, not increasing email.
Using data, not collecting data.
Maximizing strengths, not remediating weaknesses.
Reaching potential, not achieving at a high level.
Adding value to student learning, not students achieving to a high degree.
Getting things right through repeated failure, not getting things right the first time.
ReadyFireAim, not ReadyAimFire.
Using documents, not having documents.
Productivity, not effort.
Effort, not productivity.
Talking about student learning, not talking about schedule changes.
Looking at student work, not looking at teacher work.
Students learning, not teachers teaching.
Students learning, not students behaving.
Students behaving, not students getting good grades.
Students on task, not students wanting to learn.
Students achieving, not students trying.
Students trying, not students achieving.

Work smart. Define success.

Want to increase your productivity? Stop working!

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-10-04T11:44:05+09:00

That’s right. To increase your productivity, stop working:

You have 167 unanswered emails in your inbox? Stop answering email.
You’re planning 3 major projects? Stop planning projects.
You’re planning meetings with your team, your staff, and your clients? Stop planning meetings.
You have 34 urgent tasks? Stop working on urgent tasks.
You have 25 more reports to assess? Stop assessing reports.

Just stop. For 30 minutes. Each week. Yes, I know you were hoping to stop working. You can, if you want to. The choice is yours. But I recommend that you keep working and that you stop for a minimum of 30 minutes each week—30 minutes. That’s 1.25% of a 40-hour work week—1.25%.

Stop for a minimum 30 minutes each week. And do what? Reflect. Why? Well, reflection is like…

Putting air in your bike tires so you can ride efficiently. (How efficiently can you ride on tires that don’t have enough air in them?)
Changing the oil in your car so the engine will run well. (How well will your engine run if you don’t change the oil?)
Using a filter when making coffee. Using a filter is an extra step, but using a filter means good coffee with no grounds in it. (Do you like drinking coffee that has grounds in it? I don’t.)
Taking a hot shower after a tough day. Afterward, you feel refreshed. (If you don’t wind down after a tough day, what happens to you?)

So what can you do during your 30 minutes? You can pray, consider questions, find a better way to work, and get coaching. Let’s take a look at each of these 4 options:

(1) During your 30 minutes, you can pray. Ask God what He wants you to do, how He wants you to do it, and by when. (Remember, it’s God’s work. He has the master plan. Your task is to join God in what He’s already doing.) After you ask, listen. Quietly. For God to speak.

(2) During your 30 minutes, you can consider 5 questions:

What’s the mission?
What’s the definition of mission achievement?
What’s my role in contributing to mission achievement?
What did I accomplish this week?
What do I need to keep doing? Start doing? Stop doing?

(3) During your 30 minutes, you can find a better way to work:

Instead of responding to your 167 unanswered emails, define your communication system and the role email plays in it.
Instead of planning projects and meetings, check your goals. Define them more clearly. Then, decide which projects and meetings are pivotal. Plan these. Only these.
Instead of completing your 34 urgent tasks, assess your time allocation for good things (urgent tasks) and best things (non-urgent tasks). Build in time for non-urgent tasks. Even if it means not getting some of the urgent tasks done.
Instead of assessing your 25 reports, assess your goals. Then determine your system for assigning reports and your criteria for assessing reports.

(4) During your 30 minutes, you can get coaching. Your coach can help you:

Think bigger and more clearly.
Think outside the box.
Get more focused and stay focused.
Get organized.
Get the support, encouragement, and accountability you need to reach your goals.

In summary, during your 30 minutes you can pray, consider questions, find a better way to work, and get coaching. What will you do during your 30 minutes each week?

You: But you don’t know how busy I am. You don’t know what my reality is like.

Me: The real reality is that you can’t afford not to stop and reflect. If you don’t stop and reflect, you increase the likelihood that:

You’ll feel that it’s your work and it’s God’s privilege to join you. In reality, God is already at work, and it’s your privilege to join Him. Remember, God can do it without you.
You’ll overestimate what you can accomplish in 1 year, while underestimating what you can accomplish in 2 years. This means you will strive to get 2 years’ worth of work done in 1 year. Not a good idea.
You’ll work hard, without maximizing your God-given strengths. This will make you tired.
You’ll finish developing a program, but it won’t be sufficiently exemplary, sustainable, and replicable. Ouch.
You’ll plan forwards, instead of backwards—meaning, you won’t plan with the end result in mind. Not good.

What do I do? I reflect on a daily and weekly basis. Each day, I reflect as I pray about God’s work. I ask God for guidance. Then I go for about a 15-minute walk. During my walk, I listen for God’s voice. I listen for God to tell me whom He wants me to talk with, what he wants me to write about, and what projects He wants me keep doing, start doing, or stop doing.

In addition to reflecting daily, I reflect weekly for up to 2 hours. I use up to 75 minutes to process ideas, determine progress toward key goals, and identify and schedule tasks for the coming week. I use 30 minutes to meet with my coach. I use up to 15 minutes to review my schedule of tasks in light of my coaching session.

What happens during my coaching session? My coach asks me crucial questions like:

How are you doing on your goals?
Are you staying within your goals?
How’s your life balance?
How did you equip people this week?
How can you more effectively equip people?

My daily and weekly reflection times help me stay focused, organized, encouraged, supported, and accountable. My daily and weekly reflection times definitely increase my productivity. To accomplish my God-given mission, I can’t afford not to reflect on a daily and weekly basis.

Imagine if you and everyone on your church staff, tentmaking staff, mission staff, or school staff spent 30 minutes each week in quiet, focused reflection. How would this impact the achievement your mission?

Work smart. Stop working and start reflecting for a minimum of 30 minutes each week. Increase your productivity. Start today.

Use curriculum mapping to increase CLASS

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-09-06T11:43:43+09:00

Working smart means mapping curriculum. And the good news is that mapping curriculum can help you increase CLASS:

Collaboration
Learning
Accountability
Strategic Planning
Sustainability

Here’s how:

Collaboration: Mapping facilitates collaborative dialogue about what is being taught and assessed.
Learning: Mapping requires planning for student learning. Planning for student learning results in increased student learning.
Accountability: Through mapping, a school demonstrates accountability to best practice.
Strategic planning: Mapping data can be used to develop and support strategic plans.
Sustainability: A new teacher can be given the mapped curriculum.

Work smart. Map curriculum. Increase CLASS.

Know when to lead

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-12-05T11:43:13+09:00

Kim Essenburg, Christian Reformed missionary and English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on leadership: Their 4 answers? Foot. Brain. Nose. Heart.

Use reflection to leverage your results

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2006-12-14T11:42:44+09:00

You: A couple of months ago, I made a real commitment to getting better results in my personal life and in my ministry.

Me: What’s happened since you made your commitment?

You: A lot. I’ve completed several projects, including preparing a set of lessons for the classes I teach, sending out a newsletter, and updating my photo albums. I’ve organized several events—a concert, a workshop, and a surprise birthday party for a friend. And I’ve learned to say “no” to some requests, to respond to my e-mail twice a day (instead of throughout the day), and to start using calendar software to map out how I’ll get my goals done.

Me: Good for you!

You: Yeah, I feel pretty good. Focusing on results has helped me see that I really do have limited time and energy. I can’t really take on more things, but I still want better results. What can I do to leverage my results?

Me: Before I respond to your question, can you reflect on what you learned from getting projects done, organizing events, and learning new things?

You: OK. As I said, focusing on results has helped me make better choices about how I focus my time and energy. Making a commitment to ministry results meant saying “no” to some requests—and now I feel OK about saying “no.” I realize I’m saying “no” in order to carry out the ministry God has given me. I feel less guilty and less stressed out about saying “no.”

Me: Pretty powerful learning. What else did you learn?

You: That I can save time in the long-run by taking time to learn new things. Like calendar software. It took me some time and frustration to learn to use it to map out my goals. But now I my plans are a little better. And mapping out my goals helped me finish updating my photo albums.

Me: What else did you learn?

You: I need to make a deeper commitment to achieving my priorities. When I’m not clear on my priorities and when I haven’t made a definite commitment to my priorities, I’m more likely to spend too much time on e-mail. I used the time I saved on doing e-mail to work on my friend’s party and to get my newsletter done.

Me: You’ve learned some key things. How can you use your learning to leverage your results?

You: I think I’ll continue reviewing and documenting my priorities, making a plan for each priority, and entering each plan into my calendar. That will help me make sure I’ll get the results I want. It’ll also help me know how much time I have available to say “yes” to appropriate requests.

Me: That sounds good. Earlier you asked me, “What can I do to leverage my results?” How would you answer your question?

You: I can leverage my results by reflecting on them and applying what I learn from my reflection.

Here are 4 questions you can ask to promote reflection:

What did you learn?
What insights did you have?
What discoveries did you make?
What was helpful?

What question can you ask to leverage results in the following situations?

An event your team organized is now finished.
Someone you supervise is reporting on a project she has completed.
Someone you coach is sharing the progress he has made on a personal goal.
You’ve facilitated an all-day strategy meeting. Your organization now has a strategy statement that is clearer and more specific.
You have just finished collaborating with other board members to identify your organization’s core values.

Danglestalk

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-02-01T11:42:16+09:00

Dangle. Like a wind chime. Arms limp, hands open, feet air-perched. Fiercely await Wind.

Stalk. Your calling. Hunt it down. Like a weasel, going for the jugular, never letting go.

Danglestalk. Teeth deep in God’s jugular, arms limp, hand open, feet air-perched. Hunt down your calling by dangling. Fiercely.

Use MOSAIC compliments today to inspire others

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-03-19T11:40:37+09:00

Give othersMOSAIC compliments, compliments that connect daily activity to the mission. Here are 3 examples:

“I appreciated your sending out the all-staff email about the upcoming coaching workshop. By the end of the year, we want 100% of staff trained in coaching, as we feel that coach training will help staff more effectively implement our organizational value of collaboration. Living out our values is central to carrying out our mission. In terms of collaboration, we’re at level 3. To achieve our mission, we need to be at level 4. Your email helps us achieve our mission of equipping missionaries to make disciples. Thanks.”
“Thanks for working on mapping curriculum units. I appreciate your hard work. Your mapping helps us improve our curriculum. And I’ve heard from you and other teachers that mapping has helped increase student learning. That’s great! Last tally, our writing scores moved from 80% of students above standard to 85% of students at/above standard—5% more and we reach our goal of 90%. Mapping units is helping us equip our students to impact the world for Christ. Keep up the good work.”
“Thanks for putting flyers in mailboxes. I appreciate your help in getting our flyer for the special evangelistic activity in every mailbox in the apartment complex next to the church. The more people that know about the event, the more likely some will come. Those who come will hear the Gospel. Lord willing, some will respond, and some will even get baptized and join the church. That’d be great. We need 5 more members for our mission post to become an independent congregation. By distributing flyers, you are helping make disciples and plant a church.”

Each of above compliments contains MOSAIC characteristics:

Mission (the big purpose): “Your email helps us achieve our mission of equipping missionaries to make disciples.”
Objectives (what it takes to achieve the mission) “To achieve our mission, we need to be at level 4.”
Standards-based Assessment (current performance): “In terms of collaboration, we’re at level 3.”
Improvement plans (projects): “By the end of the year, we want 100% of staff trained in coaching.”
Collaboration for results (daily activity): “I appreciated your sending out the all-staff email about the upcoming coaching workshop.”

MOSAIC compliments inspire others. MOSAIC compliments take daily activity and place it in the context of the mission. That’s inspiring!

While MOSAIC compliments connect daily activity to the mission, 3 types of compliments don’t:

MO sukoshi (Japanese for “a little more”) compliments: These compliments address only the mission and the objectives. They’re big picture, but they don’t include specific details of what the person is doing. Not good.
SA (Japanese for “hmm”) compliments: These compliments address current performance, but aren’t attached to the mission and don’t include specific details of what the person is doing. “SA” compliments leave the person in a dense fog, leave the person thinking, “Hmm.”
ICky compliments: Icky compliments address improvement plans and collaboration, are immediately satisfying, but are icky in the long run because they are not attached to an overarching mission.

Inspire others today by giving MOSAIC compliments. Show people you’re grateful for their efforts, and help them connect their daily activity to the mission.

Curriculum mapping helps

learnmore@closethegapnow.org — 2007-04-18T10:43:08+09:00

Tom Postema, department chair coordinator at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ), describes how curriculum mapping helps CAJ:

CAJ department chairs think curriculum mapping helps us increase our CLASS:

Collaboration
Learning
Accountability
Strategic planning
Sustainability

To find out why, read on.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Collaboration?

I am in more discussions about curriculum now and this has resulted in me collaboratively developing unit plans.
I can get ideas for lessons from colleagues' maps.
We can work together cross-grade level or cross-departments on specific units or projects.
As a result of curriculum mapping, principals are increasingly talking with each other about curriculum and are increasingly working with teachers on unit plans.
Curriculum mapping helps me see that curriculum development is a together thing.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Learning?

It helps me plan instruction more effectively, and planned instruction increases student learning.
We can modify our maps in response to assessment in order to promote student learning.
It helps me increase alignment between the content and skills I teach and the content and skills I assess.
It helps us use common vocabulary across divisions and departments to reinforce student learning.
It helps us compare what we thought we were teaching and what we actually are teaching–and then we can go ahead and plug the holes.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Accountability?

I'm glad that I can see colleagues' unit plans and they can see mine. "Going public" helps me be accountable for my unit plans and helps me support their work.
The curriculum coordinator can see the overall picture, and this helps him provide the accountability departments need to work effectively.
Curriculum mapping helps the administration hold itself accountable to reach its two goals of developing an exemplary curriculum and meeting curriculum related accreditation standards.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Strategic planning?

We use mapping data to determine what the professional development topics for next year are going to be.
We use mapping to implement our plan to get the curriculum done.
We use mapping data to determine curriculum goals for next year, including having units with accurately mapped content and skills.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Sustainability?

A new teacher can come in and quickly know what their curriculum is.
You can find it; you can adapt it; you can use it.
You can determine what resources you have and what resources you need to sustain a program.