EPISODE 151

Is that a strategy or a coping mechanism?

Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss:

  • Most of the strategies we learned in our leadership training teach us how to cope with problems rather than eliminate them.  
  • If your strategy simply deals with a challenge but doesn’t overcome it, it isn’t a strategy at all. It’s a coping mechanism.
  • We need to stop wasting time solving the same problems over and over again. We need to eliminate our problems instead. 
  • Leadership offers coping mechanisms that teach you to tolerate the intolerable. Buildership offers you a way to eliminate the intolerable and build the school you, your teachers, and your students deserve. 

I’m going to give it to you straight. Most of what you were taught to do as a leader does not solve your problems. It simply teaches you how to tolerate them.

That’s why most leadership “strategy” isn’t strategic at all. It’s little more than a series of coping mechanisms designed to help you tolerate the intolerable.

But, here’s the good news.

When you become a Builder, you stop relying on coping mechanisms and start putting systems in place that will not only eliminate your problems, but will help you build a school where those problems will NEVER return.

So tune into today’s episode where you’ll discover how to stop relying on leadership coping mechanisms and start removing challenges and building a school you, your teachers, and your students deserve #LikeABuilder.

Check out these highlights:

  • The television show that sparked the idea for this episode.
  • The difference between a coping mechanism and a strategy.
  • How what we were taught to do in our leadership training often dooms us to keep solving the same problems over and over again.
  • Why looking for the right Teacher Appreciation Gift may signal a deeper problem.
  • How enforcing rules can quickly become a trap.
  • Why you should never have to tolerate toxicity and what Builders do to eliminate it.
  • How “data dives” and SIP plans give you a false sense of confidence.
  • Why you shouldn’t have to plan PD days.
  • Why most teacher improvement plans fail.  
  • Why you should never have to tolerate toxicity and what Builders do to eliminate it.
Links mentioned in this episode:

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