Dr Flavius Akerele III's The E Team Education blog

Companies sometimes get bad news and it is not uncommon for this bad news to affect employees. Obviously the news must be disseminated in a timely manner, however, there are some companies whose company culture it is to practice a dangerous form of deception with their employees: they lie to them. When you lie to your employees, all you are doing is sweeping the trash into the closet, and that closet will eventually be opened. When you lie to your employees, you are saying you do not value them or trust them. When you lie to your employees you are missing an opportunity to solicit some potential solution from your staff; believe me, if the vested in the company they want to help see the problem fixed. Your employees know the pulse of your company, especially if they have been around for a little while; they know the cycles, and they can quickly separate the truth from falsehood. After all, they run the day to day operation of the place. Tell them the truth, ask for...

This post has nothing to do with religion, but religion will be touched upon; it does have everything to do with the perceived priorities of many people. Definition of Religion according to Merriam-Webster: ·     the belief in a god or in a group of gods ·     an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods ·     an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group Definition of a god according to Merriam-Webster: ·     the perfect and all-powerful spirit or being that is worshipped especially by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the one who created and rules the universe ·     a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc., and that can affect nature and the lives of people: one of various spirits or beings worshipped in some religions ·     a person and especially a man who i...

In my experience, most apologies are given to make the person apologizing feel better, and societal norms in this country say we must accept that apology and not hold a grudge, etc. What is not factored in is the human factor ; the fact that we are thinking, breathing and feeling creatures. How you treat your employees before they leave and how you treat your colleagues before you part ways will have a lot to do with how that apology is truly received. If you had made the effort beforehand, you probably will not have to apologize later, or give false platitudes such as “it is nice to see you”. This sounds cynical, I know, however, the point of this write up is to prevent these issues from becoming issues in the first place, and it starts with authentic leadership . Some things to think about that get taught in class every day, but do not necessarily get put into practice. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

ETeam Guest Writer: Debbra Smith As life evolves our world is growing into a deeper crisis of addictions and suicides. As God called me to write "Why Me God?", it is all about the awareness of real life choices and how a girl with so much potential got swallowed up by her addictions.  We must teach our children about these issues in school and how to learn what wrong choices can cost them. Educators can be the only hope a lot of these kids have now. We must act now! Everyone seems to know someone now. Life has changed so we must add more learning skills.   Debbra Smith, Author www.whymegod.org

Do you write articles about education issues or educational leadership? Do you want to grow your audience and help grow a fledgling blog into a large one? The ETeam welcomes writers (and before you ask, not there is no charge) to contribute to our blog! Go to: http://www.theeteamconsulting.com/contact-us.html fill out the contact me or email direct to: principal@theeteamconsulting.com When submitting articles, please make sure to submit an appropriate picture to go with it, and please keep it relevant to the important issues in education and leadership. Let’s make a difference, let’s change the world! Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam

If you know nothing about your staff other than their job description, if you have trouble having a non-work meaningful conversation with them, and if you do not know their first names, then you have work to do. Here is a quick plan to correct this: 1.       Monday. Ask them how their weekend was and actually pay attention. If you have a lot of employees alternate the weeks 2.       Tuesday. Ask how their week is set up and what projects they are working on. Inquire if they need help with any of them. This shows you are paying attention to what they are doing and are available if they need you 3.       Wednesday. Send a mid-week pep talk or check in to everyone, make the message about them and their efforts (avoid sarcasm) 4.       Thursday. Week is almost ended, check on their projects but most importantly ask what fun plans they have and listen 5.    ...

5 Signs You're Going To Fail As a Leader 1. Squashing the talents and strengths of team members. Not recognizing their unique strengths and talents beyond a job description, and how that translates to high performance, is certainly an engagement killer. People love to use their unique gifts. The best leaders will leverage close relationships with employees by finding out what their strengths are, and bringing out the best in their employees. 2. Hoarding information. Here's the real reason leaders hoard and withhold information: It's about power and control. And control is one of the most effective ways to kill trust. A leader hoarding information to control his environment and the people in it cannot be trusted. The reverse of this is a leader who acts responsibly by sharing information and being transparent with their team. 3. Micromanaging. Micro-managers operate their way because, again, it's about power, and power is about control; don't let them...

We have a tendency to pour a lot of ourselves into our work, especially in the education industry. We spend countless hours of unpaid overtime, answering student emails, working on projects that will benefit the institution, grading, etc, etc. Our spouses get mad at us, our children get mad at us, and we promise ourselves we are going to slow down and take that vacation. We spend so much time at our job that our social lives can be completely wrapped up in it. So what happens when for some reason or another you lose that job? How do you cope, but more importantly, how do your coworkers behave with your loss? Job loss is nothing new, but in this day and age of instant information, it is not uncommon to find yourself being interviewed by someone you laid off, or competing with someone you know from an old job. How did you treat that person when they left? How did you treat that person before they left? Crucial questions on how future events might play out. I personally f...

Active listening is a skill that must be practiced regularly when you supervise people because it is skill that can easily rust as one gets complacent. It should be said that there are many supervisors out there who have never possessed this skill at all. When an employee comes to you with a problem, to vent, or just to talk, it is all about that employee; your personal anecdotes and stories have no place in that conversations unless you were asked to share . It is amazing how often this mistake occurs. Trust and confidentiality is an important factor here as well; a private conversation told to you by an employee should stay private (unless a life is involved). It is amazing how rumors get spread by the people who are supposed to look out for your best interests. Seems simple correct? Then why is this not actively practiced in so many organizations? Retain your most valuable assets, your staff; and it starts by being engaged in their lives. It is not abou...

There are so many modalities of communication nowadays, and in business you can get plugged into so many of them to the point that it is overwhelming. But what good are all those modalities if you never get back to people, or if people can never reach you in a timely manner? The answer is that they are useless. Here is a useful tip for emails specifically, which seem to have the most volume: ·          Answer back immediately (or set up an automatic message to answer for yourself) just to acknowledge you received the message and will get back to them as quickly as possible; and make sure you do. The person who sent the message will appreciate the acknowledgment, and it buys you more time. It is amazing how some emails never get returned, or get returned so late that you wonder if the person is joking. Lesson from an MBA class…. Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam