EPISODE #283

Are you too comfortable?

You're listening to the school leadership reimagined podcast episode 283. 

Hey builders, before we begin today's episode, I want to make sure that you have heard about the fail safe feedback workshop that we're hosting October 27th through 29 and it's all virtual. So we're going to get together every single day, October 27th, 28th and 29th for just 90 minutes. But during that time, I'm going to show you how to quickly pinpoint the root cause of a teacher's practice when you go into their classrooms.

So you're not wondering, you know, you see stuff and you're not sure what to say. You'll know exactly what to say and you'll be able to figure it out between five and seven minutes. We're going to be teaching you something called micro slicing.

And if you've ever heard us talk about micro slicing, it is a game changer. You're going to actually get to practice during the workshop so that you can get it right. You'll get opportunity to get some feedback as you are, are, are trying to give feedback.

And then after we learn micro slicing, then I'm going to show you how to have the conversation with teachers and how to follow up. This will completely transform your feedback game. And normally this is something we only do inside of BU.

In fact, this is a workshop that I am doing inside of BU, but I've got a couple of guest tickets. And if you want one of those tickets, you need to go to buildershipuniversity.com slash feedback. But you need to hurry up because we only have a few tickets because, you know, again, this is a BU workshop.

It's an internal BU workshop. But if you are not a member of BU and you want to get a sense, a sampling of, of some of the stuff that we do inside of BU, this training is for you. Very practical, something you can implement right away.

There's a workbook with all of the templates, including the conversation templates, everything you need. You need to be at this workshop. Again, go to buildershipuniversity.com slash feedback.

Now on with the show. You're listening to the School Leadership Reimagined Podcast, episode 283. How do builders like us make a dramatic difference in the lives of our students in spite of all the obstacles we face? How do you keep your vision for your school from being held hostage by resistant teachers, uncooperative parents, ridiculous district policies, or a lack of time, money, or resources? If you're facing those challenges right now, here's where you'll find the answers, strategies, and actionable tips you need to overcome any obstacle you face.

You don't have to wait to make a difference in the lives of the people you serve. You can turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Let's get started.

Hey builders, welcome to another episode of the School Leadership Reimagined Podcast. 

I'm your host, Robin Jackson. And y'all, I need to tell you about a conversation that I just had with one of my mentors last week.

So I was talking to him about a project that I'm working on and how frustrated I was, and I was feeling really stuck. And instead of saying, you know, you're doing a good job, keep going, you know, what I was looking for, he said, you're not stuck. You're just comfortable.

Well, what? What are you talking about? No, no, no. I'm stuck. I have been trying to get this done for weeks.

I can't dredge up the energy to do it. I've tried everything. I'm having a hard time focusing.

And he goes, yeah, because you're too comfortable. You've gotten comfortable where you are. You're not hungry anymore.

If you were hungry, you'd figure out a way to do it. It's not like you don't have the time or that you can't make the time. You're just not hungry.

And it's hard to be innovative and it's hard to do new things when you're comfortable. Now I'll be honest with you. At first, I did not appreciate that.

I felt like he wasn't feeling my pain. I wanted to fight him and I was thinking, why is this guy my mentor again? But, but after thinking about it, he's right. I had gotten comfortable and because I'm comfortable, I'm not pushing.

I find that I am most innovative when I am not comfortable where I am. And I also find that the same thing is true for builders. You see, there are two places where we get uncomfortable, where we get too comfortable.

And I want to spend today's podcast talking about those. And I want you as you're listening to be reflective. I know this is going to be hard because I just had to swallow this myself, but it's really important because a lot of us have gotten too comfortable.

It's October, the school year started, and it's so easy to get, just kind of settle into the routine of school. We know this, we know how it works and we've gotten too comfortable. And as a result, we're not making the progress that we really should be making.

And so let's talk about it today. And I'm going to give you some straight talk, just the way I had to get some straight talk. And then together, we're going to do things differently. Deal? Okay. So let's start out.

The first place we get too comfortable is almost before we get started.

So there are a lot of people who hear me talk about a hundred percent vision. And even if they agree with it in theory, they're not practicing it. They say, that's yeah, we're a hundred percent.

I agree. All kids need to deserve it, but then they don't do the work to build a hundred percent vision. They don't do the work to create that vision story around the hundred percent vision to invite other people to join them in working towards that vision.

The hundred percent vision remains an idea, a concept, but it's never real for us. There are a lot of people who pay lip service to a hundred percent. You know, people will come up to me from time to time and they'll say, yeah, you know, I have a hundred percent vision too.

And then they say something like all kids every day, no matter what it takes. That is, that is a cop-out. That is not a hundred percent vision.

Let me tell you why it's a cop-out. When you say all kids every day, no matter what it takes or some version of that, you can make yourself feel better because you're talking about all kids. But in reality, all kids what? You haven't defined anything.

So if you have a great interaction with a kid one day, you can say, yep, see, that's what I'm talking about. All kids. When you create some great experience and your kids have a good day, you can say, see, this is what I'm talking about.

All kids. But on a day to day basis, all kids are not thriving. All kids are not succeeding.

All kids are not making the kind of growth that you want them to make. But because you have never defined what that growth looks like, then you can get comfortable because you feel like I've done it. I have my hundred percent.

All kids. But because you haven't defined what that looks like, you're not accountable to a result for all kids. You've not made them a promise and you don't have because you haven't made them a promise.

You don't have to keep a promise to all kids. So people tell me all the time, my vision is all kids will experience a rigorous learning environment. That's not a hundred percent vision because that's not about the kids.

That's about you. 

That's about what you're going to do. And frankly, even though people say that, they're not providing a rigorous learning environment for every single child, meeting every single child where they are.

A lot of times when people say all kids will experience a rigorous learning environment, they put the responsibility on the kids and take the responsibility off themselves. Again, they allow themselves to be comfortable. They can say we provided rigor.

Now whether or not they accessed it, that's up to them. And we did our part and they have to do their part. And again, it allows you to stay comfortable not serving all kids.

So if you have not sat down and created a hundred percent vision, one that is very specific, one that is powerful, meaningful, and urgent, one that outlines specifically the promise that you are making to all kids, then you have allowed yourself to be comfortable. You've told yourself, yes, I believe all kids, but you have not put your money where your mouth is and built a vision that defines exactly what all kids can expect from your school. And without the accountability of that hundred percent vision, you will not be successful.

I think about this for myself, right? So I'm not just preaching to you. Even though we don't serve kids in Buildership University, we have a vision for Buildership University that 100% of the principals we serve will achieve their 100% vision. Now we're not there yet, which is why we're constantly tweaking Buildership University and adjusting what we do and streamlining it.

We just released the new Buildership 2.0 model this summer to be able to get people there faster. And what we are seeing is that even though we're not there yet with people reaching their 100% vision, what we are seeing is that we're getting closer and closer and closer to everybody setting the right vision, having those big, huge wins. And so we're judging not just the 100% vision final thing.

We're also judging because we believe if you follow the path, you will get to your hundred percent vision. So we're judging ourselves on did 100% of people hit and achieve each of these milestones? Do we have 100% of the people following the path? And so we've been setting up systems to hold ourselves accountable. And I'll be honest with you, when we look at the numbers, it's very uncomfortable because it's not 100% yet.

But that 100% goal is what keeps us uncomfortable with anything else. 

And if you are uncomfortable with anything less than 100%, then you won't get stuck. You won't get complacent or lazy because that 100% vision is always in front of you.

People talk to me all the time and say, Robin, you shouldn't push 100%. The research says that if you do that, it's demotivating. But my experience has been the opposite.

Because when you say 100%, it is very motivating. People hit milestones. We have people in BU who have shot to the top of their district or who have doubled their achievement from the year before or who have made these huge gains in all of these areas.

And it gets to the point where they're just like, I mean, yeah, it's great. We're still moving towards 100%. So they can celebrate those milestones, but those milestones don't make them so comfortable that they stop pushing.

Other people, they hit a milestone, they celebrate, they have a party and then they're like, oof, that was exhausting and we're done because the milestone was the goal, not 100%. And so I actually find that 100% is more motivating. It keeps you going versus the way that we were trained to do it, which is to set this incremental growth goal, hit the goal, then collapse and say, okay, well, we've done that.

And then drag yourself back up to set another goal, work really hard, hit the goal maybe, and then collapse again. It's that start and stop thing that I think is so, so that makes us comfortable. We get comfortable with tiny incremental gains.

When you are a builder, you don't get comfortable. The 100% vision keeps you from getting comfortable with tiny incremental gains. And it also keeps you from getting arrogant with the big games that come from being a builder.

Because when you hit those gains, you're just like, okay, yeah, that's great. Now let's get to the next thing. We've had builders in BU now who have hit their 100% goal.

And so now they're looking at the next goal. They're not like, okay, I'm ready to go on Oprah when Oprah doesn't have a show anymore. I'm ready.

I don't know who has a show. Kelly Clarkson. I'm ready to go on her show and tell everybody how I did it.

No, they're saying that was great. We hit it. So now we know we can hit 100%.

Let's deal with the next thing and the next thing. 

And you know who benefits from that? Your children, because they are getting better and better. They're doing things they didn't even know they were capable of doing.

They're having experiences in your school that are unlike what other children are experiencing and that are going to be life altering all because you said 100%. So the first way that we get too comfortable is that we let ourselves off the hook with 100%. We create a vague vision, 100% of students will reach their full potential.

I don't know what that means. Neither do you, quite frankly. And so you can feel good about saying 100% without being accountable to that 100%.

Or we don't set 100% vision and we settle on those kind of tiny incremental goals and we allow ourselves to get comfortable as long as we are making progress. There are a lot of people who have decent schools. They're not great schools, they're not 100% schools, but they're not the worst school in the district either.

And so they feel as long as I hit the yearly milestones that my district sets, which are always too low, then I'm fine. At least I'm not the school down the street. Really? Do you want to be the tallest jockey at the racetrack? Is that really your goal? Is that why you became an educator? Or do you want to do something transformative? I know we were trained to think in tiny incremental goals.

I know we were trained to think as long as I'm not as bad as this school, I'm okay. I know we were trained to be comfortable with mediocrity, but that was then. Now you are a builder and as a builder, you're no longer comfortable with mediocrity.

Doesn't matter that you're not as bad as the school down the street. What does the school down the street have to do with you anyway? What matters to you are the kids in front of you and are you doing your best for those kids? That's what's going to keep you moving. That's what's going to keep you pushing and innovating.

But unfortunately many of us have gotten too comfortable. Now the second way that we've gotten too comfortable, you know, first way, let ourselves off the hook with a hundred percent, um, by not pursuing it or not defining it. The second way we've gotten too comfortable is that we start pursuing our hundred percent vision with passion and vigor and then we hit our first couple of wins and the wins are bigger than anything that we could have imagined.

We're getting pats on the back. We're getting accolades. The superintendent is visiting our school talking about this is amazing.

How did you do it? 

You've far outshined every other school in the district and it happens. It's pretty common, quite frankly, for the builders who do the work, it, it, I mean, it's just a matter of time that will happen. But after you get that first big win, you rest on it.

You think, huh, we did it. You get so rewarded for that first big win that you stop looking ahead. You're saying, you know what? That was good.

And then you just stop pushing because you've got a win underneath your, your belt. Is that right? A win on your, underneath your belt. I think that's the turn of phrase.

You've got a win and now you, you're riding high because your win has put you at the top of the pack. And so you don't feel like you have to work as hard or work in, in, pursue things in the same way because you have that win. And a lot of people hit those first couple of wins and then they stop pushing because they get comfortable with that.

Hey, it's Robin here real quick. I just want to interrupt this episode for just a second because if you are enjoying what you're hearing, then would you mind sharing this episode with somebody else? So all you need to do is just go to your phone. If you're listening to it on your phone or your podcast player, and then click the three dots next to this episode and it'll give you the option to share the episode.

Now, if you do that, three things are going to happen. First, the person that you shared with is going to think you're a hero, especially if they're struggling with what we're talking about right now, they're going to love you. Secondly, you're going to feel good because you're going to get the word out about buildership and start building this buildership nation.

And third, you will get my eternal gratitude because I really want to get this out to the world and you'd be helping me out. You'd be doing me a huge favor. So please share this episode with someone right now who's, who's dealing with this same issue.

Someone you think would really benefit. And now back to the show. They get that, that wind was so much better than, than anything that they could have imagined for themselves that, that when they hit it, they're saying, golly, you know, the old you would have never dreamed of getting there.

The old you would have, would that wind would have taken you three years. You did it in three months. And so the new you thinks, well, I've far surpassed even what I thought we were capable of.

Let's just rest a little bit. Let's, let's just, let's just take it easy for a little bit. Let's allow ourselves to enjoy the win.

We stop pushing. 

We stop pursuing our a hundred percent vision and we settle for not a tiny incremental win, a big incremental win, but it's incremental. Nevertheless, people get on me all the time.

And they say, Robin, listen, you, you keep downing incremental wins. There are, there's, there's value to incremental wins. And the reason that I don't like the focus on incremental wins is that a lot of times when you focus too much on those, that incremental growth, each increment feels like finality.

Each increment allows you the excuse to stop pushing because the increment becomes the goal rather than the bigger goal. And when you start getting those wins, you can get to a place less than a hundred percent where you are comfortable and then you stop pushing. That's what happened to me recently.

We, you know, we were pushing and we hit some milestones and I was like, you know, this is great. It's not where I want to be, but the relief that came for after pushing and working so hard and, and failing and trying and getting it and it hitting a milestone was so great that I just, I just exhaled. And then I just said, you know what, this is so much better than where we were.

I don't know. I just got comfortable. And the thing that happened to me is that once I got comfortable, I stopped pushing, which means that I became less productive.

Um, it means that I let some things go that I shouldn't have let go. It means that I procrastinated a lot. It means that I just settled into my quote unquote new normal and made it my new normal.

It stopped being a milestone and ended up being my destination. I started building a home there because, and I get it because a lot of times when you hit that milestone, the relief is so great that it's hard to dredge up that, that push again, because you don't feel it right then you, you don't feel, you don't feel the stress. You just, the relief of that stress is, is, is, is seductive.

It's a drug. And as a result, you stop pushing. And I would be willing to, to bet that a lot of you are listening right now.

You've gotten comfortable. Maybe it was the beginning of the school year and you had all these dreams and plans for, for what you wanted to do in your school. And you got some things going and they're starting to work.

And now you're just kind of, ah, okay. And even though they're not working perfectly yet, it took, it was so hard getting it going that the fact that you've gotten it kind of going and you're not experiencing the stress you felt last month, feels good enough that it almost feels done or at least good enough for you not to have to push. Maybe you started out with a hundred percent vision.

Maybe you created one last year and now that you have your hundred percent vision, you're, you're, you're, you started with a big push for it and people embraced it and got excited about it. And they said, yes, a hundred percent. But maybe you didn't make the progress you wanted to make, or didn't get all the pieces in place that you needed to get in place to achieve your vision.

And yet your culture feels so much better. 

The few things that you did get in place have made such a difference that it feels good enough. Maybe last year you worked really hard and you got your scores over this summer and you saw progress.

One where you wanted it to be at, but it was better than you expected. And so that feels good enough. Maybe you had a great summer.

You, what you came to our summer bootcamp, you learned some things. You, you learned about how to get your whole staff aligned in the next 90 days. Well, 90 days has come.

It's here. And you did a lot of the things you learned in the bootcamp and you got several teachers that you never imagined you would get to start supporting the work and you, the, the energy that they, that, that created was good enough. There's still some teachers in your building who don't support your vision, who are not moving, but you got some teachers and that feels good enough.

You know, good enough is a trap. It makes you satisfied with something less than you're capable of. It makes you, it makes you settle in before you reach your goal.

It's as if you were running a race and then you stopped at a water station to, to you're running a marathon. You stopped at a water station to get some water. And once you stopped and you tasted the water, it was cool and refreshing.

And the people at the water station were really cool. And it's almost like you stopped there and you forgot you were running a race because it was good enough. I want to encourage you the way my mentor encouraged me today, finish the race.

Good enough is not good enough for you. You are capable of so much more. You don't have any idea the difference you could make in the lives of all the kids in your school.

You have just scratched the surface. You're just getting started. And although in the past, your training has led you to believe that good enough is good enough.

It isn't enough for you. And it isn't enough for the kids that good enough leaves behind. You deserve better.

Your kids deserve better. You deserve a hundred percent. Your kids deserve a hundred percent.

And so don't settle. Don't be seduced into settling for less than that. Once you become a builder, you will far surpass your colleagues who are still stuck in leadership.

You will far surpass the goals the district has set for you. You will far surpass what you even think you are capable of. And so you've got to stop settling and thinking small and thinking good enough.

You're a builder now. 

That's the way you used to think as a leader, but you are a builder now. And as a builder, you know a hundred percent is not only possible, it's necessary.

As a builder, you know that tiny incremental gains, you could get that with your eyes closed. But then if you put a little effort to it and you put some systems in place, you can get huge gains this school year. So what are you waiting for? Why aren't you putting those things in place that you know will get you those gains? Why are you reverting back to who you used to be and settling for good enough when you are a builder and you know that good enough is not enough for you? And so this week, I am letting go of being comfortable.

I am putting myself in a position to be uncomfortable because I know I'm capable of so much more. And I'm inviting you to join me in that, to look at areas where you've gotten comfortable in your practice, areas where you had goals that you've kind of let slip, areas where you know that if you just did a couple of things, you can have something really excellent, but it looks like a lot of work, so I'll just settle for good enough. Areas where you know that you should be pushing towards your vision, but you've let your vision kind of take a nap, Areas where you know things aren't right and need to be addressed, but I'll get to it later and you're procrastinating. I'm encouraging and challenging you to look around at all the places in your practice right now that you've said that's good enough and to reject good enough for great, like a builder. I'll talk to you next time.

Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you, where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Inside, you'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me, tons of resources, templates and exemplars, and monthly live office hours with me, where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now.

If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental gains each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today. Hey, it's Robyn here, and I want to thank you for listening to today's episode.

Now, if you have a question about today's episode, or you just want to keep the conversation going, did you know that we had a School Leadership Reimagined Facebook group? All you need to do is go to Facebook, join the School Leadership Reimagined Facebook group. Now, there are going to be a couple of questions that we ask at the beginning, because we want to protect this group and make sure that we don't have any trolls come in, and that it really is for people who are principals, assistant principals, district administrators. So make sure you answer those questions or you won't get in, but then we can keep the conversation going.

Plus, we do a lot of great bonus content. I'm in there every single weekday. So if you have a question or comment about the episode, let's continue the conversation. Join us at the School Leadership Reimagined Facebook group, and I'll talk to you next time.

Thank you for listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast for show notes and free downloads visit https://schoolleadershipreimagined.com/

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