Setting Intentions

What’s your intention this year?

Back in Principal School, as a check in for a big semester-long project, our professor asked us to take a few minutes during class with him to share our progress. I happened to be in a stellar group so I knew we were absolutely golden with the project. So I shared how we were designing a curriculum with involvement from staff.  I shared that we were taking very seriously his insights about the power of involving EVERYONE in the theoretical school we were working with and that we knew, we just knew, that trust and relationships were the foundation for any positive work in a school. With this in mind, I proudly reported that we had even brought teams of teachers together to get their input to make sure they felt involved.  

This, I knew, was that one thing he wanted to hear.

And then.  And then he got a look in his eye and a little smile that let me, my group, and the rest of my cohort in class that night, know that I had walked into something he had really hoped I would.

“That sounds good, Jeff. But it seems to me that maybe you could involve those teachers,” he said.

Ok, I KNEW I had a lot on my plate that semester but I was also absolutely certain that I had told him how we had made those teachers feel involved. So I just restated the bit about the teacher groups.

And again…the smile. But this time it was a little more broad. And he sat more upright in his chair. Never a good sign.

I want to pause here and say that pretty much everyone in my project group was ready to blurt out some of the details we had in regards to those teacher groups. And you could actually feel the rest of the class, 1) trying to figure out what was actually happening here and 2) the total relief of not being the one that was presenting.

As he sat up taller, he took a minute to glance at the entire class. Then he just said, “Well, Jeff, you could make them feel involved. Or, you know, you could actually involve them.”

Cue my internal voice – “Oh ffffuuuuuuuddddddgggggeee.” But I didn’t tell myself fudge.

There were a couple of huge, personal and career defining moments from this class and this was one of the biggest.

He drove his point home. “It’s a big difference. Do you want their input and involvement? Well then get it. Do you want to make them feel like you want their insights and input? Don’t waste your time or theirs. In fact, if you don’t, and you act like you do…you may ruin everything before you’ve even begun. Every time.”

So what’s your intention this new year? Do you want to involve people around you or are you more interested in just making them feel involved?