What's Underneath That Rock?! Ack!

I want to express my appreciation for those of you who came and spoke to me about this past Wednesday's staff meeting. In his text Good To Great, Jim Collins writes that the "...great companies continually refined the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality" and that "when you turn over rocks and look at all the squiggly things underneath, you can either put the rock down, or you can say, 'My job is to turn over rocks and look at the squiggly things,' even if what you see can scare the hell out of you." I usually associate that quote with the process of looking deeply at data, but it also applies to our situation on Wednesday. I felt that our meeting was "off", and I know that I own that because I created an agenda that was too densely packed and rushed. Actually the last two staff meetings were poorly structured, and both times I canned the team-building activity at the end due to a lack of time. I apologize for that. But I am grateful for those of you who conversed with me privately and showed me even more of the squiggly-under-rock-things. Thank you for communicating.

Let's maintain a commitment to communicating with each other with a shared purpose, and above the "center of gravity." And let's try to end each meeting with either a team building activity or with a celebration and appreciation for each other. Our next staff meeting is voluntary, and it is the same time as when the Napa COE is offering a free workshop with the awesome, fun and super tech guy named Hall Davidson! Hall is great!!  I'd pay money to see him but he's being offered to us for FREE. How cool is that. The only catch is that you have to register TODAY!!  Peter and I are attending~  anyone else interested? Sign yourself up and we'll see you there. Here's a link to the flyer. Call now!

Remember that you can access our Staff Development Meeting Agendas at any time through the Google doc titled "Staff Meetings 2011-2012" (you have to be logged in to your newtechhigh.org email/google doc to access).

Have a much deserved Holiday weekend~ be safe and savor time with your family and friends.

Peace, Michelle