#328 supervisor education

Over the weekend, I attended the keynote by noted educator Rafe Esquith.  He has won a host of awards for how he manages his 5th grade classroom at a public school in Los Angeles.  His students voluntarily come to class at 6:30am and stay until 5pm, and during this time learn skills that are helping them be successful as students and in life.

I attended to support our education department at their conference, but came away with many lessons that I can apply as a supervisor.  I think the classroom environment has many parallels to an employee/supervisor relationship.  Here are some examples from Esquith's speech:

> You have to be the person you want your kids [substitute: employees] to be.  If you want them to be nice, you have to be nice, even when you want to throw them out the window.  If you want them to work hard, you have to be the first to arrive and last to leave.  Your [employees] watch you constantly and will mimic you.

> Their #1 fear is to be laughed at, so they don't ask questions for fear of looking stupid.  You need to create an environment where no one laughs at each other so people ask and learn.

> Lessons must be relevant.  Before each new assignment, share why you are doing this and how it will help them [and the organization].

> Remain true to yourself.  Esquith has three loves:  baseball, Shakespeare and rock 'n roll, so he infuses these into his curriculum as a basis for life lessons.  

> Travel on a journey to reach what he calls "level 6" where people build a personal code of behavior because of who they are (not because of rewards, rules or someone else).   People at level 6 work hard because of who they are, not because of you.  

Doesn't that sound a lot like a list of tips for good supervision:  Set expectations high through modeling, foster internal motivation, infuse yourself in your work and make the task relevant.  If Esquith can do it with a group of inner-city 5th graders, surely you are smart enough to adopt his principles for your own "class."

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

See hobartshakespeareans.org