At work, I exist in this weird role where I’m not quite one of the teachers, but I’m not quite part of the management. For the most part, it works. When I need to be a teacher, I’m a teacher. When I need to be more mangerial, I’m a manager.
One day, I got to thinking about this situation, thinking about how often this has been the case for me. At school. In volunteer positions. I seems to often find myself walking this fine line between manager and grunt (if you’ll pardon my expression). It occurred to me that people have long responded well to my managerial style, and as I sat there trying to reflect on my current situation, it dawned on me why.
When I was in leadership development in high school, one of the lessons drilled into our head was that you should never ask someone to do something you yourself aren’t willing to do. I embraced that theory as a teenager, and it’s still very much a critical part of my leadership style. I make a point of working right alongside those I lead.
In a lot of ways, it’s very freeing. Everyone can see I’m in there trying to get the job done, and so they feel encouraged to get the job done. Because I’m busy trying to pull my weight, I delegate tasks to people and then trust them to follow through. It’s amazing how that encourages my team to try just a bit harder, because they feel they have a say, that their say counts.
I hear horror stories about people working with managers who stay removed from the team for fear of losing that sense of who’s in charge. I just can’t do it. I need to be not only visible, but an active part of my team.
Written for Slacker Manager’s Free for All Friday
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 8:08 AM EDT
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I’m still wrestling with my personal brand, and let me tell you, nothing maims and shreds personal brand development like working on a personal statement for graduate school. I’m living one life with my eye on one I want to move into. It’s become quite the experience, full of its own obstacles, mental barriers, and research.
Frequently on my drive home from work, I’ll be thinking about either answers to questions or items for my brand. The second nearly always comes out, “You want to hire me because…” Thanks to my diverse background, there are a number of ways to answer this question, but the one currently my favorite (despite its lack of application to my future) is:
The reason you want to have me on your team is because I can bounce back and forth between teaching algebra students and student just learning to read without mising a beat or losing my cool!
That was a particularly fun night. Quite literally, I was teaching fractions and factoring polynomials and then turning around to time a student reading her fluency reader or sounding out new words. I was yoyoing between a pair of teenagers who wanted to be anywhere else and a hyper five year old.
This isn’t really all that uncommon for me, either. When I was teaching in museums, I was the one who often was handed preschoolers in one group, and then my very next group was high school seniors. I’ve always had to be able to handle that quick switch in gears. I’ve done it for so long that I reallly don’t give it a second thought (not that I ever really gave it a first one).
Actually, though…I say that my ability to bounce between diverse groups easily is not applicable to my future…but the ability to move quickly back and and forth between subjects might be. I’ll have to think about that!
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Personal development at 8:22 AM EDT
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I seem to have become a champion for EverNote. It’s just as well. I spend about as much time in EverNote as I do in Firefox.
This week alone, I’ve used EverNote to:
- manage an out-of-control to-do list (it’s truly been wild over the past week)
- prewrite blog entries for the blogs I contribute to
- start planning for a guest blogging opportunity coming up next month
- plan out copy for some jewelry posted to Etsy over the weekend
- keep track of edits made in Photoshop so I could duplicate effects on future images
- write and edit an article to be shared at Gather and EducationNiche
Part of why I’ve started working more in EverNote is because it keeps track of previous versions of a note. If I can’t remember where I was going with something or how I got there, all I have to do is access the older versions to get myself back on track. It’s also very easy to move around between notes if I’m merging information. It even keeps track of the web sites I’ve pulled information from, making it that much easier to link back or give credit.
We all work in our own ways I guess, but EverNote really does just work for all of my tasks.
Next up: EverNote to track progress on my grad school applications and writing submissions!
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 8:24 AM EDT
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When you’re an enterpreneur trying to market services instead of products, it’s sometimes hard to remember that you’re marketing a person. What makes a person different from, and simultaneously similar to, a product is that a person changes over time. A person learns new skills and gains experience with everything they do. A person can change to fit the niche they’re trying to fill.
Being an entrepreneur actually depends on the person’s growth and their unique combination of skills, so the service-focused entrepreneur would do well to market that unusual blend of skills and background to make themselves stand out in the competitive workplace. This is where the “hook” for the marketing pitch comes from. “Hi, I’m the informal teacher who can teach nearly anything to any group with no more than five minutes of prep time” goes a lot farther than “Hi, I’m a teacher.” After the first, you know something special about me. If you have a situation where flexibility is key, you’re more likely to think of me because I’ve just told you that’s my specialty. After the second, though, you might find yourself wondering. Do I teach in a school? Do I teach a specific subject and age group?
If I use the first pitch, I’ve just marketed myself to you as a unique individual. I’m more likely to stand out in your mind and earn your business.
Your skills are marketable commodities, but never forget that you are the power behind your own skills.
Inspired by this article from Ripples
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 5:51 PM EDT
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