Planning in advance?

The distance between where you are and where you want to be can have an infinite amount of points in-between. Where should we identify the focus of planning?

I’ve been spending a considerable amount of time contemplating the relationship between planning and reaching goals. My obsession started with the excessive “coach speak” during the NCAA football season. While each coach had aspirations and goals to improve their rankings and receive a bowl berth, they effective coaches maintained their immediate focus not on the future in January, but on the next game. So I began to wonder, when it comes to planning how close to the point of action is necessary for success? Or was my question, does planning too far in advance increase your chances on missing your goals. I wasn’t sure, but I do know that the successful coaches didn’t prepare for the games two weeks away but planned for the next week. Yet is that close enough? Did they plan for each day of the week? Perhaps after the Saturday game and watching the game film, they planned for Sunday, and took each day one day at a time.

What are the aspirations and goals of our School Liaisons and Instructional Coaches?
I am curious to know how their planning is approached.

Doctors preparing their replacements

A few days ago Kimberly Dozier’s story shared her story of survival from a car bombing in Iraq on Memorial Day 2006 on National Public Radio. I wondered if she new about the concept of Induction.

What caught my attention was the part of her story regarding the interest her doctors had when after her full recovery she returned to see them. She shared that since medical treatment in Iraq is administered in different stages, the doctors are not always able to receive feedback on whether they were a success. From what I understand from her interview it appears that there is a fast turnover with medical doctors in Iraq and they sought to identify and record the proper procedures to share with the "newbies" in the field. Perhaps it would be better I share an email I received from Kimberly describing her situation.

Kimberly writes, “...it's not so much an attrition rate I was aware of, but the year-in-year-out turnover of doctors just like all the other troops. One set rotates in, gains expertise, then has a short overlap with the new set of about a month, and rotates out. The new guys have to start from scratch, relying on what they learned in the few weeks of exchange. That's one of the reasons my trauma docs said they need a database that everyone can refer to, so the newly acquired knowledge isn't lost.” Kimberly’s story is unique in that a doctor’s Induction system is essential in saving lives.

I replied to her email, “Would you believe that a similar situation exists with teachers, department chairs, office managers, and administrators in our schools? The problem is similar with the Doctors in that since the routines and procedures of the work are people driven as soon as someone leaves that position the organization drops back down to a point of zero. The doctor database might just be a possible solution. In our schools identifying and developing a written plan facilitates the move away from being people centered. If the work has value then by all means it should stay with the organization just as the doctors look to develop a process that retains the most effective medical routines and procedures available.”

What processes exist to prepare your replacement?

Additional information on preparing your replacement is available as an HRD Podcast. Search for “Induction Air #2” and “Induction Planning”

There is a procedure...no need to worry.

By now most of us had the opportunity to see or at least hear the taser incident at the University of Florida this past weekend. What I find interesting is the statement made by the university spokesman Steve Orlando, "The police department does have a standard procedure for when they use force, including when they use a Taser. That is what the internal investigation would address — whether the proper procedures were followed, whether the officers acted appropriately."

Okay, Steve is letting us all know that the police department had a plan and now an internal investigation will determine if the plan was followed. Great, yet I would like to know if the plan had a procedure that addressed accountability for its members. Can you imagine if this internal investigation is that process? Would there even be any thought of following the plan (or accountability) if it wasn’t for the YouTube video? Perhaps the department is just happy that the investigation is internal and not being investigated by an external source.

Should the ownership of accountability fall with the internal investigation? The police officers? The video? The man that was tasered? Or his attorney?

I had a mentor who believed that sometimes folks only think about accountability when they hit their wall. Unfortunately I believe that she was right. Why is it that some only react to situations while others plan for them? Why are ownership lines of accountability too easily passed to others? Is integrity challenged when people are quick to point the finger and not look in the mirror? When you have undesirable results, who should ask why?