Huddle Up...

This is one of the coolest parts of my job - I get to create this team to run this center.

I am past the fear of holding interviews and have learned how much of a balance the whole thing is between mind and gut. There were some candidates who, although I wanted to hire them, just didn't sit well with an inexplicable *something* inside that led to me not hiring them.

But now I have the majority of this staff assembled - teachers, child care workers and security - and I get to lead them through something I think is missing from most organizations: Mission, Vision and Values work. In our first full staff meeting today I broached the topic of this work and after the puzzled looks went away, gave them an exercise to help define thier own personal values which will ultimately help determine their own personal sense of mission. I am eager to see what they come up with.

It's no secret I am a disciple and fan of the whole FranklinCovey model. And the work that I have done with The Mankind Project's 'New Warriors' has only served to reinforce it. Now, I get the chance to pass it on to a group of people; and here is where I'm getting really hyped.

I am a believer that if all members of a team have input on the overall vision, values and mission, they will work harder for it because they have a stake in it. There is something in the bigger picture which contains a piece of them; they helped to build it; it is theirs. In my old job I was handed a small plastic card and told that these were the company's Guiding Principles, and that I was to conduct myself in accordance with them at work. Their principles were not objectionable, I just couldn't get excited about them because they weren't mine. I had no stake in their creation or execution but I was suppose to be excited about them.

And I could get into the reality of a nationwide company polling all of its employees for their input, but that's not what this post is about. This one's about my chance to take a samll team, craft a mission with them and help bring it to fruition. That's something I can get out of bed for everyday.

I recently read a poem whose bottom line was the fact that it is our power to choose (our attitude, response, etc.) which will determine how the ship of our life sails and I could not agree more. Therefore my personal mission for this community center is to empower these students to become the captains of their own ship.