Back to School Goals

School starts this week, and I'm looking forward to Back to School Night. At the beginning of the event, the principal will step up to the podium and present her goals for the year. She'll share the goals she is setting for the school, and her plan to hold the staff accountable. She'll then go a step further and ask the parent community to hold both her and her staff accountable for these goals as well.

The first time this happened, 3 years ago, I was floored. Principals have goals? Beyond test scores? In fact, yes.

I'm not sure why this was such a shock to me. Maybe it's because up to this point, I had viewed the educators in our school system as authorities. Teachers teach and evaluate students learning. Parents support, but mostly defer to the teacher. In the event of a problem, we'd call in the principal to discuss what needed to be done. It never occurred to me that I could be holding the school or teachers accountable to something more than teaching. They were the ones holding people accountable – namely my kids and me!

What a refreshing change to have a series of goals to review. Now, as a "customer" of the educational system, I have better insight. I know what the principal is trying to accomplish, and I have a better sense of why they need help. For example, when they ask for more parents to help with Yard Duty, it's not just to give teachers a lunch break (as certain cynics might have thought), it's because the school is committed to intervening before bullying can start. That requires more eyes on kids during recess, and help from the community.

Also, as an informed customer, I have a better way to interact with the teachers and staff. If I know what they are trying to accomplish, I can assess how my kids' experience fits with the goals. Parent teacher conferences are about more than just the report card. They can include questions about the school lunch program, the anti-bullying initiative, or the new technology focus. If something isn't working, I'm more comfortable asking for a change. Conversations with teachers changes to a dialog around how to get to the outcomes we both want to have.

Many people view the start of a school year as a time to set new goals. What do you want your kids to accomplish this year? Do you know how your goals for your children align with your school's goals? Shouldn't you? Maybe it's time to ask for some additional conversations with teachers at Back to School night. This year, go beyond the review of the syllabus and the homework policy. Ask them how they are held accountable, and how you can help them be successful. You may be surprised to gain a new insight into your school's systems.

Creativity On Demand

I had a great plan for last Friday. I was working from home, and for once had a free calendar. The only thing I needed to do was finish a presentation. So how, exactly, did I end up working ALL Friday night and until 2am Saturday?

Friday turned into a day of writer’s block. By the end of the afternoon I had a very clean house, snippets of graphics, a few cool ideas, and some great quotes, but there wasn’t a story that hung together. So I gave up, decided that I’d write off the afternoon as unplanned PTO and headed out to pick up my daughter at school. An hour later, I was standing in the grocery store, and the answer arrived fully-formed in my head. As usually happens after a block, once the vision came in, it was completely clear. I had the idea, knew the path the story needed to take and had no choice but to focus entirely on the presentation until it was completely finished. Even though that meant working until 2.

It’s a cliché that engineers are known for working weird hours. While I was at the startup, it was common for the developers to come in around 11, take frequent breaks for World of Warcraft or foosball, and then work all night. As an HR person, I used to worry about this schedule – didn’t these guys have home lives? Shouldn’t I be encouraging them to work a normal schedule, or at least try to get them back to 40 hours/week?

The truth is that creativity is not available on demand. When you are managing people who work in a creative space, you need to acknowledge this fact. You will have people who work crazy hours, and deliver at random times. This will be simultaneously energizing and frustrating. Most innovators I’ve worked with are incredibly dedicated people but they are also demanding. As an HR person, and as a manager, I’ve found some principles that help in setting the stage to help innovators:
- Focus on outcomes not hours. Some projects will seem easier than others, but you may not be able to accurately predict this. Better to make sure your team members are aligned on the goal, and not worry as much about the time required.
- Create frameworks for success. When assigning projects, give as much context as possible, and be clear if there are specific requirements such as a requirement for delivery, or a deadline that cannot be missed. Beyond that, try to leave ample room for innovation and creativity.
- Be ready to call “done”. Many creative people have trouble declaring something is finished. There’s always one more refinement, or one more thing to add. You may need to set earlier deadlines, or add in reviews to stop tweaking.
- Acknowledge the need for downtime (which may come from nowhere). An engaged creative person is likely to work insane hours. As a result, they will come close to burnout and may need a manager to encourage PTO. Or, they may catch themselves, and announce a spontaneous trip to Hawaii. This flexibility in time off will be necessary to balance the crazy hours and to allow them to recharge creative batteries.

The creative process isn’t a straight line. There are high highs and low lows, and there will always be late nights. But when you see an innovator deliver their latest product, or present a new solution, they aren’t thinking about the hours they put in. They have created something new, something they can be proud of. That’s the measure of accomplishment, not the hours that they worked.

[Image Source Evil Erin. Used under Creative Commons.]

A Whiteboard in the Shower

My husband and I have an ongoing game where we talk about all the home improvements we will make someday when we’ve hit the lottery. The last few weeks we’ve been focused on our master bathroom, which is a textbook example of all that was wrong with 1980’s décor. Most of my suggestions are usually pretty mundane - better lighting, move the linen closet - but there’s one requirement that always gets a weird look: a whiteboard in the shower.

You see, both my husband and I have jobs requiring a lot of creativity. He spends his days dreaming up new products, and I spend mine looking at new approaches to business processes. In both cases, there’s a lot of opportunity to think and dream, and a lot of need to capture ideas.

Years ago when I took a personality types course, our leader recommended that certain types of people keep a journal by their bed. She said that these types were known for processing the day’s events long after they were supposed to be asleep, and often would wake up in the middle of the night still thinking about what had gone on during the day. If they had the opportunity to write down their thoughts, she reasoned, these types would be able to sleep better. This works well for my husband, and he has a nice orderly journal where he writes most of his design ideas.

Unfortunately, my creative processes are a little less predictable. I can’t say I’ve ever woken up in the middle of the night with a brand new strategy. However, I can say that I have created multiple marketing campaigns and solved world hunger while on my elliptical trainer. I’ve written character studies, and planned out presentations while driving to and from work. And I’ve rewritten requirements, dreamed up product names and solved design problems in the shower. There’s something about these times when I’m focused elsewhere that my subconscious takes over and delivers a solution that is exactly perfect.

Of course, in most of these situations, it’s a little hard to document my brilliant ideas. I’m enough of a klutz to know that writing while on the elliptical trainer is a recipe for a broken ankle, and the CHP doesn’t really like people to write and drive at the same time. But HGTV shows bathroom remodels to add TVs, shower radios and telephones, so why not a whiteboard?

How about you – where are you when the creative idea hits? How do you capture it?

[Whiteboard courtesy of Mark.Pilgrim. Used under Creative Commons]