From p. 31:  “If you can’t tell me what you’d like to be happening,” he said, “you don’t a have a problem yet.  You’re just complaining.  A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.”

As much as I enjoyed the goal setting, praise and reprimand ideas, this was the concept that kept coming back to me.  It was a total lightbulb moment for me how much time is spent wallowing in the complain stage and how much more productive and forward-moving life would be if we could get to the actual problem-solving stage.  It made me think about my year ahead, being the mentor teacher for 10 staff members going through their first or second year of BTSA.  We are all intensely busy and I want to maximize the quality of our time together.  I would love to be able to apply some of the ideas from One Minute Manager, especially the emphasis on problem-solving.  

My question is: how do you change your relationship to others so that you take on qualities of the One Minute Manager without seeming fake, harsh, or drastically different than people already know you?  How do I establish with my mentees that, as much as there is value in having a chance to vent frustrations with peers, the ultimate goal should be to focus on potential solutions?

I used the hopes/fears protocol and set a few norms at a whole BTSA kick-off meeting last week.  This week we’ve started our weekly check-in meetings and I focused on sharing the BTSA resources and schedule, answering questions etc.  I think next week I will share the “it’s not a problem unless you have a solution in mind” mantra and see how my mentees feel about it.  I think, if we are working together, they’ll feel that this is not an effort to minimize their frustrations or problems, but a way to make sure that they are getting support in solving those problems.

Lastly, I think the ideas of the One Minute Manager are ideal for use in the classroom.  I feel I do fairly well with behavior strategies, but I need to have a conversation with my students in advance letting them know that I am striving to carry these same principals into my feedback with their work.  I always get that icky feeling when you have a hard-working, eager-to-please student asking for your feedback and their work is really sub-par.  Tip-toeing around the issue is not going to make it any better, however!  So, preparing students in advance, making sure they understand that I am never critiquing them as a human and also being cognizant to heap on genuine praise–I think it will make for a very productive and safe work environment.


 
From p. 31:  “If you can’t tell me what you’d like to be happening,” he said, “you don’t a have a problem yet.  You’re just complaining.  A problem only exists if there is a difference between what is actually happening and what you desire to be happening.”

As much as I enjoyed the goal setting, praise and reprimand ideas, this was the concept that kept coming back to me.  It was a total lightbulb moment for me how much time is spent wallowing in the complain stage and how much more productive and forward-moving life would be if we could get to the actual problem-solving stage.  It made me think about my year ahead, being the mentor teacher for 10 staff members going through their first or second year of BTSA.  We are all intensely busy and I want to maximize the quality of our time together.  I would love to be able to apply some of the ideas from One Minute Manager, especially the emphasis on problem-solving.  

My question is: how do you change your relationship to others so that you take on qualities of the One Minute Manager without seeming fake, harsh, or drastically different than people already know you?  How do I establish with my mentees that, as much as there is value in having a chance to vent frustrations with peers, the ultimate goal should be to focus on potential solutions?

I used the hopes/fears protocol and set a few norms at a whole BTSA kick-off meeting last week.  This week we’ve started our weekly check-in meetings and I focused on sharing the BTSA resources and schedule, answering questions etc.  I think next week I will share the “it’s not a problem unless you have a solution in mind” mantra and see how my mentees feel about it.  I think, if we are working together, they’ll feel that this is not an effort to minimize their frustrations or problems, but a way to make sure that they are getting support in solving those problems.

Lastly, I think the ideas of the One Minute Manager are ideal for use in the classroom.  I feel I do fairly well with behavior strategies, but I need to have a conversation with my students in advance letting them know that I am striving to carry these same principals into my feedback with their work.  I always get that icky feeling when you have a hard-working, eager-to-please student asking for your feedback and their work is really sub-par.  Tip-toeing around the issue is not going to make it any better, however!  So, preparing students in advance, making sure they understand that I am never critiquing them as a human and also being cognizant to heap on genuine praise–I think it will make for a very productive and safe work environment.

 
This book is both inspiring and a bit overwhelming!  Soooo many ideas.  I really appreciate being able to try out some of the protocols in class as I have a hard time visualizing how they work just from reading the directions.  For example, the “provocative prompts” activity didn’t sound that engaging in the book but turned out to be a very successful protocol in class.

I would really like to try the “Peeling the Onion” protocol with one of the teachers I am mentoring (or even in grad class) as it focuses on clarifying the problem/question.  From our efforts in class, it is clear that the question posed to a group is KEY to a successful protocol.  An unclear question or misinterpretation leads to unsatisfying results.

One question I am posing to myself is how to structure protocols into a 49 minute class period.  I would really like to try some of these ideas with my students, but I don’t want to fail because we ran out of time.  Perhaps, with more experience with protocols  and better familiarity with my students, I’ll be able to guage which areas can be trimmed and which protocols best match my students’ needs.

 
This book is both inspiring and a bit overwhelming!  Soooo many ideas.  I really appreciate being able to try out some of the protocols in class as I have a hard time visualizing how they work just from reading the directions.  For example, the “provocative prompts” activity didn’t sound that engaging in the book but turned out to be a very successful protocol in class.

I would really like to try the “Peeling the Onion” protocol with one of the teachers I am mentoring (or even in grad class) as it focuses on clarifying the problem/question.  From our efforts in class, it is clear that the question posed to a group is KEY to a successful protocol.  An unclear question or misinterpretation leads to unsatisfying results.

One question I am posing to myself is how to structure protocols into a 49 minute class period.  I would really like to try some of these ideas with my students, but I don’t want to fail because we ran out of time.  Perhaps, with more experience with protocols  and better familiarity with my students, I’ll be able to guage which areas can be trimmed and which protocols best match my students’ needs.

 
I’ve decided to commit to owning this book (I usually try to resell everything) and have been writing like mad in the margins.  One area that I put a lot of !!!!!’s and underlining was from chapter 2, page 18:

“When a facilitator promotes a group’s trust, it is not to help everyone trust every other individual member as an individual, but rather to help each trust the situation that has been collectively created.  The purpose is not trust in general, but trust sufficient to do the work at hand.  Nor is the goal to make everyone feel comfortable.”

I wondered: why isn’t this a more transparent and expected understanding to group situations?  It seems I am often in groups where either: a) no trust is built at all and we are all supposed to just jump in and expose our ideas to a group of strangers or, b) so much emphasis is put on everyone being comfortable and happy and right that nothing gets deeply discussed or ultimately decided.

These few sentences gave me permission, as a facilitator and member of a group, to narrow the focus of trust-building so that it is purposeful, transparent, and not scorned as “touchy-feely.”

 
I’ve decided to commit to owning this book (I usually try to resell everything) and have been writing like mad in the margins.  One area that I put a lot of !!!!!’s and underlining was from chapter 2, page 18:

“When a facilitator promotes a group’s trust, it is not to help everyone trust every other individual member as an individual, but rather to help each trust the situation that has been collectively created.  The purpose is not trust in general, but trust sufficient to do the work at hand.  Nor is the goal to make everyone feel comfortable.”

I wondered: why isn’t this a more transparent and expected understanding to group situations?  It seems I am often in groups where either: a) no trust is built at all and we are all supposed to just jump in and expose our ideas to a group of strangers or, b) so much emphasis is put on everyone being comfortable and happy and right that nothing gets deeply discussed or ultimately decided.

These few sentences gave me permission, as a facilitator and member of a group, to narrow the focus of trust-building so that it is purposeful, transparent, and not scorned as “touchy-feely.”