Each month, I have the honor of facilitating our Tech Team meetings at Snoqualmie Valley School District. We come together to connect with each other, discuss tech issues, problem solve, make plans, etc. I also make it a point to focus on various aspects of team dynamics such as communication, trust and productive conflict. This month’s focus was accountability. How can we hold each other to account for our agreed upon standards of behavior? How should we respond when someone falls short? There was some great conversation in small groups and some good ideas generated. Ultimately, one meeting alone is not a panacea that will solve longstanding cultural patterns that a team may have fallen into. But by continually focusing on productive ways of being and leaning into a focus on how we interact with each other, over time a positive dynamic will flourish.
The Reality for Civil Servants
I texted a friend of mine this evening who works for a federal agency. “How's everything going at work?” I asked him. He replied, “It's a guessing game everyday I show up. Every email I worry it will tell me I’m fired.” This friend has literally worked as a loyal civil servant for two decades.
34 Years Coaching Youth Sports
In a few weeks I will hang up my coaches whistle for good. I was thinking the other day that I have been coaching one sport or another basically non-stop since 1991. That's when I went to work for the City of Oak Harbor Recreation Dept as a 16 year old. There were a few years when Jonah and Thomas were little where I didn't coach anything (2010 & 2011). Hard to believe it's been that long. It will be weird for sure as the seasons come and go next year to not be making a practice or playing time plan, collaborating with partner coaches, sending reminder messages to parents/players, etc.
