Are we even attempting to learn from our mistakes: An Educator’s plea?

Insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. This a common occurrence in educational leadership and it does not look it is going to change anytime soon.

·         A school talks about the need for radical change, and their solution is to promote a long-time insider to head that department because they have not yet held that position.

·         A school is constantly in financial trouble, and instead of looking at the accounting structure, they hire a consultant (for a hefty price) to study the issue; even though you know someone is stealing

·         Your students complain that they are not learning anything new, and the school does not look at the fact most of the faculty and staff are graduates of the school they are working at

·         You advertise a job that you have already filled, and then months later you send generic form letters to the candidates letting them know how qualified they were but you are going with someone else: and you never even read their resume plus you spelled their names wrong on the form letter

·         Etc.

These are real situations, and there are real and easy solutions to them; but in education, sometimes we do not take the real solution. Why is that?

Why do leaders in education consistently make the same mistake over and over, why has there been no real significant, non-political change in education over the last few years. Technology is just a tool, not a solution.

You are a leader in education, but are you trained to lead? Do you know how to lead? What have you done make yourself ready to lead?

Leadership certifications makes sense! http://www.theeteamconsulting.com/our-work.html

Dr Flavius A B Akerele

The ETeam

You must serve with honor: an educator’s thoughts

Due to the nature of politics, education is once again thrown in the political mix. It is a pity that, every 2,4,6, or 8 years, the noble profession of education must be subjected to the political whims: but we must be prepared for it because we are public servants.

Innovation is great, change can be good, dedication is necessary but sometimes difficult when eggs are being thrown at you. As educators, we need to always be striving to serve with honor.

Serving our students honorably means we are giving them our best no matter what the circumstance, it means we are rising above chatter, it means we are trying to do what is right in the face of all that is wrong, it means being a professional.

Educators, keep serving with honor because in the end, honor is everything.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Do not be afraid of a career change

Sometimes, our careers become such a part of us that we lose sight of who we truly are and what are original dreams were.

It is alright to explore change, it is alright to dip your feet in the waters of a different career. Not risking anything could lead to questioning everything.

Life is full of surprises and it might show you your true path.

Lessons learned by a longtime educator….

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

Excerpts from an MBA Leadership Lesson

•      Communication is a matrix of oral, visual and emotion. Your spoken words, voice quality, and body language come together to communicate a message.

•      Successful communication is measured in how well these components are applied and balanced.

•      Is what I said, what you heard?

•      Communication requires a transmitter and a receiver. Both must be tuned to the same frequency.

•      As a manager, it is your job to ensure proper tuning.

•      You communicate to your staff at the frequency they are on. Words, phrases, ideas, concepts, theories and directions must be tuned to their level of comprehension. You do not talk down, but find a commonality where both you and the staff can meet and communicate on a level plane. 

Seems simple eh? Then why do many managers in higher education not practice this?

Lessons from an MBA program

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

At some point, you have to acknowledge your company is really not that into you: when to walk away

There is a humorous video I show in the first part of one of my HR classes called “when Barry Met Sammy- A Funny View of HR and KM”,

check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9QWojx8qE

While it is funny, it underscores a serious problem companies have, and industries have (including the higher education industry): leadership often does not show that they value their employees, in fact the reward for good work is often more work.

What is the difficulty with acknowledging the work your employees do on a regular basis and rewarding them for it?

I have said a million times before and I will say it again: YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE YOUR MOST VALUABLE ASSETS! This is a simple lesson to learn, and in theory it should be simple to practice; there is data that proves this. But the data is not being looked at, or at least not until it is too late.

We teach this stuff in our universities, but why oh why, can we not learn it ourselves?! Education and specifically higher education, will need to go through some major changes over the next few years, whether it likes it or not, and practicing what we are preaching/teaching needs to be lesson number one.

The creation and implementation of certifications for higher educational leaders should not just be a pipe dream, it needs to be a reality.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam http://www.theeteamconsulting.com/our-work.html

If you do not attempt to communicate effectively you reap what you sow

Communication is a buzz word in business/leadership, and you will find many different variations of what it is, but the root of it is simple; get the message you want to send to the right people in an effective manner.

Communications says nothing of what modality one should use, it does not say how often, it simply needs to be clear.

A complete lack of communication is still communication, except, what you are communicating to your people is that you really do not care about them. This is a common complaint from employees, not knowing what their boss wants of them or not knowing important things that could affect their job.

As a leader, effective communication should be at or near the top the list of skills you have or are trying to develop. How can you give that employee a bad review when they had no clue what the goals were? How do you expect employees to show up to a meeting that they heard nothing about? Etc.

Simple lessons from an MBA program.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam

When did banks stop serving the community? The cost of being poor

Do you remember actually going into the bank on a regular basis? Do you remember going into the bank and the manager knew your name? Do you remember when you knew all the bank tellers by name?

There was a time when the bank was a part of the community, where they made you feel welcome, where they actually wanted to see you come in. Today’s modern banking costs more money to regularly go into the bank and deposit money, because that kind of account is often an extra fee; nowadays they want you to use the machine or online only.

Banking fees have also gone up exponentially for everything, and the banks have a clever system of offering you overdraft protection, with a cost of between $25 to $40. In fact, you must opt out of that costly protection program otherwise it is automatic. Sometimes, using your overdraft is necessary though, especially if you live paycheck to paycheck; but paying $30 for a $15 check, really?

God forbid your account goes into the negative and you physically go into the bank to pay it because it seems part of banks’ training today, is to make you feel guilty for not having enough money to live.

·         “So why did you let your account go negative?”

·         “You really should avoid the fees”

As if you did it on purpose!

For the record, credit unions are operating just like regular banks now, so they are not exempt from this criticism.

Community is key because a community helps each other, they teach each other, and they look out for each other. If you are poor, often your community has entities in it that do not care about you and do not know you. Banks, you need to be part of the community you are supposed to be serving.

These are just thoughts, things observed by an educator.

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam