Pick up the phone.

This blog isn’t about email. Or texting. Or even using the phone. It’s about communication: the real kind, where we listen and talk and learn from each other.

I’ll admit it: I’ve been railing against email for a lot of years. When I was a school principal, I received anywhere from 150 to 250 emails a day. Many were cc’s—a way for teachers and staff to inform me without directly engaging me. Others included long strings of information, comments, and attempts at making decisions, reaching consensus, and moving forward. I remember sitting for hours each day, trying to catch up on goings on and reading impossible threads of writing, trying to connect and learn from them. It was difficult to distinguish the critical from the mildly important, and sometimes it all felt like so much white noise.

The email communication I found most disturbing was the kind where disagreements bubbled up and parties sparred to have the last word. Even when I would call one or the other writer on the phone and ask him or her to set up a meeting or discuss the issue in person or by phone, the email war would continue. Rather than work toward an authentic conversation where viewpoints are shared and decisions are made, my colleagues hid behind their computers and accomplished little.

Now, I am not immune to the tendency to put off meaningful communication. Something happened last week that gave me pause and prompted me to rethink my current communication tendencies. I was doing research for an article I was writing, and one of my to-dos was to call a retired colleague whose work on the project had preceded my own. For whatever reason, I kept putting off the call. With the article deadline fast approaching, I finally reached out by email to set up the call. Then I waited a few more days… but finally dialed.

He answered immediately, enthusiastically tackling the topic at hand. We talked for 30 minutes, sharing stories and catching up on life. He told me about the challenges he had faced when working on the project—motivating people to get on board. He shared the names of specific people and organizations that had been integral to the project’s success and talked about the importance of the information they had gathered. The call was more than successful: I got the information I needed, but more importantly I connected with him on a personal basis.

Toward the end of the phone call, I told him of our plans to recognize his contributions to the project at an annual gathering of professionals a month away. True to his nature, he stated that he was just one of many who had moved the project forward. He thanked me for thinking of him, and we agreed to a follow-up conversation when the presentation date got closer.

The next night, this leader in our field suffered a catastrophic medical event and, a week later, he was dead. During the week he was hospitalized, this phrase played over and over in my head: Pick up the phone.

We live in a time of transition. Those with years of experience are retiring. Those newer to the field are applying their fresh skills in ways that will improve services for all. It is critical to our future that we talk to one another, share our wisdom and unique experiences, make those connections, and capture that information in a place and time where it can be retrieved by others. Young or old, everyone has knowledge, perspectives, and experiences that, when shared, make us better as professionals and people. If you’ve been putting off contacting someone who will enrich your life, listen to the voice in your head. Pick up the phone. Make the call. Connect.

What's all the hype about collaborative leadership? Read on.

“The basket that has two handles should be carried by two people.” –Egyptian proverb

I heard this quote at a conference I recently attended. It reminded me of my strong belief in collaborative leadership and its importance as a leadership stone. In truth, I have left many situations--organizations, committees, clubs, friendships—because they violated my overwhelming belief in collaboration.

Let’s take a look at our track record in advancing causes and cultivating constructive change in the very small field of visual impairment, blindness, and deafblindness. It is through the collaborative efforts of those willing to focus on a strong mission and purpose that positive change has occurred. Putting aside personal agendas and focusing on what we have in common has enabled us to agree on a common braille code, for example, and to ensure that those with unique needs receive the services they need. 

This leadership stone is one of the most difficult to achieve. I remember a situation when I was principal of a school for the blind. My office was next door to that of the school for the deaf principal, and we got along well. During my time in that position, we were able to greatly improve compliance in state-mandated processes, using a cross-departmental training approach that improved standards in all programs. For example. our counselors worked collaboratively to devise a suicide risk policy that kept our students safe. They also began working school-wide on student events to promote kindness and keep student harassment at bay, connecting students who were deaf and those who were blind in meaningful ways.

That principal left her position to return to the classroom, and the new principal began her tenure by creating and implementing goals and committees for the school for the deaf only. My attempts to approach her about continuing the initiatives that were in place were met with a sound “I don’t think we need those anymore.” I made several more attempts to find common ground and was unable to make any progress. The excitement and energy created through collaboration dwindled.

Did it make a substantial negative difference in our mission to do things separately? I think so. What I found was that energy shifted. Initiatives continued, but the speed at which things were accomplished slowed, and general morale among those who were used to working collaboratively decreased. Eventually, initiatives that were dependent on working together ended completely.

Two substantial benefits to collaboration, then, include making change happen at a respectable rate and improving employee engagement and morale. So why is collaboration so hard to achieve, and how do we go about convincing our colleagues that it is a critical part of a healthy organization?

My hunch about why the collaborative model is so often rejected is that people focus on its perceived negatives. I call these the myths of collaboration. They include:

·      It takes too long.

·      We’ll get too many ideas if we include others.

·      We don’t have enough in common to collaborate.

·      I lose my power if I “give in” to collaboration.

·      Hierarchical decision making is better because those at the top have the big picture.

Why do I call these myths? They are stories, not truths. They do not take into account the roots of the word collaboration: com- teamed up with laborare to form the Latin word collaborare, or “to labor together.” Laboring together toward a common goal encourages participants to consider other viewpoints and tap into additional knowledge resources. A well-run collaborative project creates energy and a sense of buy-in from the start, since it is inclusive.

A successful leader needs to be an example of collaboration in her day-to-day work. One fruitful example of this is using the technique of round robin when “camps” form around a particular decision or direction. The meeting’s facilitator simply asks each participant to state his or her position about a topic with a short explanation. Everyone speaks, and no one responds to the speaker. It is about listening. I have seen this technique help build compromise without sacrificing principles. Working together toward a decision ensures that you take many points of view into consideration.

Not everything should be accomplished collaboratively, of course. Sometimes a decision must be made on the spot, and sometimes one leader is best equipped to independently make certain decisions. Even in those cases, however, the collaborative leader has been actively learning from her peers so that the information she applies to her decision is based on collective knowledge.

Balancing family, self, and work Part 1

In a diverse work environment, the best leaders regularly support team members when personal issues arise: a death in the family, chronic illness, challenges at home. We all talk about work-life balance, but what does a leader need to know to effectively manage personal issues that come up with other employees?

I’ve seen a variety of leaders’ responses to personal crises: “Do whatever you need to do; the work will wait,” or “You have three bereavement days: you can either make up the time or we’ll have to doc your pay.” Seriously.

I’m the leader who says, “Do what you need to do.” I believe in flexible implementation of policy when an employee is faced with challenges outside his/her control, even if it puts the company in a short-term bind. But I’ve also handled the aftermath of the latter response, and it is not pretty. Employees have come to me in tears because their leader was all business about their personal tragedy. So how do you strike a balance between leniency and rigidity?

First, recognize that everyone handles personal challenge differently. Some will want to share the details of their situation; some will be private. Some will want to remain at work through their adversity, and others will simply not be capable of work. Some will want the option to do what they can. The best thing is to recognize differences and to be flexible in managing the situation.

What about precedent, you say? Aren’t there rules, laws even, that must be followed? Well, sure. But there is also decency and respect. Even if rules must be followed, look for ways to be flexible where you can.

The first time I experienced the grace of a leader was when my mother was dying from cancer. Her illness was relatively short—3-1/2 months—and the cancer was all-consuming. I traveled the twelve hours south as often as I could, taking shifts with my dad and siblings as we cared for her around the clock. I had a full caseload of students at that time, including two braille readers.

Although I had a wonderful braillist working on behalf of these students, she did not know the math code. I had not been able to secure a braille version of the first grader’s math textbook, so I was brailling it myself, working through it a few weeks ahead of his class. The book had diagrams on nearly every page—arrow roads, they were called—that had to be hand drawn and labeled in Nemeth code.

Each afternoon I would sit at my parents’ dining room table with the book at my side and a braillewriter in front of me, tapping out the instructions, removing the paper to draw the arrow roads with a tracing wheel, and labeling them with a slate and stylus. When I had ten or so pages completed, I put them in an envelope and mailed them off to the student’s school. 

Some criticized me for doing this work, even called me a workaholic. Others chided me for being away from my caseload for more than the allotted time. Here are the actual words my boss said to me when I was fretting about taking another leave: “They’ll still be blind when you get back.” Now those words might offend some, but for this 30-year-old teacher, they were exactly right. Boom! Put things into perspective. You are not indispensable. Move forward. Do what you can.

What my supervisor offered was an opportunity to do what I needed both for my family and for my students. I am grateful for the example he set and have used this leadership stone many, many times, both for myself and on behalf of my colleagues.

When a colleague comes to you with a personal issue, try balancing the needs of the organization with that of the employee:  What needs to be done in the individual’s absence? What flexibility can you offer that will help the person in crisis move forward? Providing support both for employees and your organization makes everyone a winner.