The Leadership Edit

If you don’t already know this from my posts on social media, I am obsessed with my word for the year….clarity. I have been searching for clarity and making it a priority to have a clear plan with actions for all areas of my life. I mean ALL the nooks and crannies of my world that have been getting shoved behind closed doors, piling up, and were now overflowing…sound familiar?

Lately, the show that has been taking the place of (GASP!) Desperate Housewives (I know….don’t judge…) has been The Home Edit show on Netflix. It is a show all about organizing which in turn provides…clarity. Cue the applause! I have found my clarity show! As I watched it, I began to be inspired to organize my own house corner by corner. But what became clear to me was that I could apply all of this to other areas of my life. That was where I began to look for ways to edit my leadership. I wanted to find ways to clear out the cobwebs, put my thinking and ideas into organized bins, set my boundaries and bubbles of people I let into my bubble, and set goals that were actually sustainable. This sounds amazing right! Well, stick with me and I will tell you how editing my leadership became my mantra and ticket to clarity, productivity, and efficiency.

Step one is take it all out and lay it out in front of you. I started with taking it all out and laying it on the table. Kind of like when you organize your closet. I began writing ideas on sticky notes of things about my leadership strategy that needed to be figured out, what’s been bugging me, goals and outcomes I wanted to achieve, boundaries, clutter in my office, books I wanted to read, difficult conversations, etc. You name it, I wrote it. I wrote whatever I needed to get out of my hidden junk drawers within my brain that had been sitting there for years, put it on a sticky note and laid it all out. I wrote one idea per sticky note so it represented a physical thing/item that I needed to do.

Step two is sort and create groupings. Next, I looked at my insanely huge pile of items and ideas and began to sort them into similar groupings with a label. Yep, just like you would organize your pantry, I organized my leadership. After I was completed, I had so many groupings but it was all becoming a lot more clear with what I had to do, what I had in my toolbox, what I had already accomplished, what I needed to edit and change, and where I needed to go next. I know what you are thinking….Why would I spend so much time doing this? Well, because pushing it aside to build and pile on top of each other was making me more and more anxious, more frustrated and more unclear of what to do next. Think of it like the dishes that keep building in your kitchen sink, the only way they will go away is to tackle it one dish at a time. You always feel better once you have an organized environment and know what you have to work with. The same goes for your mental health and leadership strategies. We need to have an organized environment there too. So, why spend so much time doing this? Because it made me feel better, finally gave me direction and is now getting me results. I would say it’s worth it.

Now let’s address the second thing you might be thinking, which is how did I group my ideas. Some of the groupings I used were:

• Administerial tasks – aka to do lists
• Goals – and then I prioritized them
• Actions – I prioritized them too!
• Space Organizing – decluttering ideas for my office to make my space prettier
• Visibility – team teaching, teacher observations
• Office hours – budgets stuff, paper work, etc
• Division Office – tasks for division office
• Conversations – email trails of conversations, anecdotal of behaviors, conversations with teachers
• Celebrations – thank you notes, highlighting experts, social events, etc.
• Professional Learning Communities – PD ideas, meeting agendas,
• Frameworks – problem solving frameworks, workshop frameworks, checklists, swipe files, worksheets, etc.
• Leadership Messaging – My notes on my own messaging and how I was going to model my message
• Start up routine – morning items that I do every day
• Shut down routine – shut down routines that I do every day
• I add as I see a need for another grouping

Once I have my groupings, I put the physical things into bins ( I use clear ones so I can see what is in them) and I label them. I am also in the process of adding the non-physical items into clear bins as well so I see them everyday to remind me that I have to make space in my day for that container too. I even put sticky note reminders in them! Or you could create the container system digitally. There is something about seeing it in front of me everyday that gets me wanting to tackle that container.

Step 3 is edit. Now that you have all of your clutter into groupings, you need to take a real hard look at what you have and whether or not it is worth your time and energy. Remember, you are going for clarity which provides more zen to your life. Think about what things are worth your time, energy, and attention when it comes to creating and maintaining a productive, efficient, and streamlined leadership plan. Think, where will it fit in my life, how will it get me the results or outcome I am looking for, and is it sustainable? If it isn’t….get rid of it.

Step 4 is organize the bins into your day. Now that you have the bins in your clear labelled containers (or digitally) and you know what you have, it will become clear to you which priorities you need to tackle first. I suggest you get out your calendar and schedule in time frames for your priority bins to fall into each day. For example, my calendar might look like this (keep in mind I would only write the bin names but I am giving you a description so you can see how it all fits together with your business and personal life):

• 5-6:30 am – Me Bin and Start Up Bin – exercise, journal, 5AM club
• 6:30-7:30 – Family Bin – getting kids ready, breakfast, etc.
• 8:00-10:00 – Teaching Bin – Lesson plans, resources, and outcomes I want to achieve that day
• 10:00-11:00 – To do Bin
• 11:00-12:00 – Visibility Bin – observe a teacher, team teach
• 1:00-2:00 – Leadership and Framework Bin – Developing a framework to support teacher leaders to have more productive meetings
• 2:00-3:00 – Professional Learning Bin – Setting up staff meeting agenda
• 3:00-4:00 – Office Hours Bin – paper work
• 4:00-4:30 – Conversations Bin – check in with two specific teachers
• 4:30-5:00- Shut down Bin – clear out emails and set up bins for next day
• 5:00-8:00 – Family Bin – supper, homework, and walk
• 8:00-10:00 – Me Bin – reading and watching The Home Edit show!

Now, I know you might be thinking, this is a whole lot of work and hard to maintain. I am not going to lie. At first…it is, but it soon becomes a routine that takes minutes to plan. This is because you already have done the work of setting up your bin system, your day starts to finally find a flow, and you have clarity on what you already have, what you need to do next, and what order it all needs to get done in. Through the leadership edit bin system, you are also taking care of yourself because you have everything in a bin at the time it needs to get done. You have set boundaries and put your time first. It allows you to go deep with your time because you know exactly where you are going and what you have to do. I know! Clarity right!! This is another game changer tip my friends, but it does take work. But that doesn’t scare you. That is why you are taking the time to read this blog post!

If you want more free tips like these, download my FREE Leadership Formula template guide. I show you how to organize your teacher leader’s leadership strategies into a bin called How to Lead Productive and Efficient meetings!

And….

Check out my website and our student led podcast on wellness for kids by kids called Even If You Miss!