What Do You Know? Does Anybody Care?

March 30, 2016 by Susan Wing in Leadership

People who influenced my leadership style over the years did so because something they said impacted my thought process significantly and I saw first hand how they lived what they spoke. One such leader was Dr. Mary Bracegirdle. I was a young assistant principal and she was a Director of Middle School Education. Dr. Bracegirdle was passionate about middle school students and the learning that took place for this age group. Often she would say about the students, “They don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

No matter your field or area of leadership, that statement will prove itself to be true. You may be an incredibly knowledgeable leader, but if you don’t have relationships with those you lead, they really don’t care what you know or care to implement what you ask. How then as a parent, a teacher, a leader can you create the environment that demonstrates that what you have to share is worth receiving? First…

What Are You Afraid Of?

February 23, 2016 by Susan Wing in Points to Ponder, Words of Wisdom, Leadership

Let’s face it; we all have a fear of something. I know people that are afraid of spiders, heights, speaking in front of an audience or flying in an airplane. While those things don’t impact me, snakes and needles are high on my list of things to avoid! While some fear is healthy as our body warns us of danger, fear can also be debilitating. When fear sets in, it causes us to stop in our tracks and lose focus of everything else around us.

I had the opportunity to serve on a women’s retreat weekend recently and the visual for the weekend showed a woman pushing through the gates of fear toward the hope of a brighter future. I began to think about the fears that we face in our daily lives. We may have the fear of financial despair, the fear of safety for those we love, the fear that the dreams we held are not coming to fruition. One thing I know about fear, it will steal your joy. How can you keep the fear of the future from robbing you of the joy of today?

Admiration is a Funny Thing

January 28, 2016 by Susan Wing in Leadership, Leadership Lessons

We admire things; we admire people; sometimes we admire our leaders. Take a minute to think about the people and leaders that you admire. What qualities do they possess? It is possible as well to admire people that you have never met, based on the qualities you hear about or see represented.

Frequently, I walk a three-mile loop through my neighborhood. One of the houses that I pass on my walk is different from the rest. Although I don’t know the people who live in this particular house, I greatly admire the woman of the household. The inhabitants of the houses I pass remain mostly unseen. I observe the lawns, the gardens and the pets that are racing to the edge of the yard to bark at me. In this particular house, however, the mom is always out in the front yard playing with her children. Today when I passed by she was playing soccer with her daughter and then switching off to shoot free throws in the driveway with the boys. She was not watching them play, or checking Facebook on her phone while they played, she was playing with them. I admire this woman whom I do not know. Good leaders take the journey side by side those they lead. They don’t direct from afar; good leaders are in the game participating in the work that has to be done.

I Don’t Even Like To Run… (A lesson in goal setting)

January 19, 2016 by Susan Wing in Leadership

t’s the truth – I don’t like to run. I have never loved running and doubt that I ever will. I remember being in college and jogging erupted as the new way to get in shape. Deciding that I would give jogging a try, I laced up my tennis shoes, walked to the top of my driveway and began running. After a minute or so, I began to question and wonder what was so appealing about jogging? I quickly decided that this was not my idea of fun or fitness. Where was I running? At least in a softball game you ran base to base with purpose. There was no destination or end in sight and without purpose, I quickly dismissed running as a means to fitness.

Fast forward many years later...

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

September 09, 2015 by Susan Wing in Leadership, Simple Stories

On a recent trip, I was reminded of the importance of being willing to step out of your comfort zone. As a leader, a teacher, in your profession or in your personal life, growth will not occur unless you are willing to step out of your comfort zone.

I accompanied my husband on a business trip and since we were going to be close to Zion National Park, I planned a day trip there so he could see the magnificence of the park. It had been twenty-three years since I had been to Zion and I was excited to share the wonder of the park with him. I mentioned to my brother that we were going to be there and he said, “Are you going to do the Angel’s Landing hike? That’s supposed to be ‘the’ hike to take in Zion.” That’s when I began to do some research…and decided to step out of my comfort zone.

There were a couple of things that occurred to me as we made this hike. The first was that I must have been a fool to think that I could accomplish this hike! We were obviously twenty to thirty years older than most everyone else on the trail. The trail description was strenuous – that doesn’t match my ability. The young people who were coming down as we were going up all had red faces and looked worn out. We had previously decided that we would take the hike slow and easy, stop when we needed rest and see if we could conquer this “strenuous” hike. We were definitely stepping out of our comfort zone!

When stepping out of your comfort zone, the following thoughts come to mind:

Everyone Has A Story

August 31, 2015 by Susan Wing in Interesting Icebreakers, Leadership

A key to the success of any organization or group is relational connectedness. People will work harder for the success of an organization if they believe in the vision and cause that they are working for and if positive relationships exist between the members of the organization.

It really boils down to the fact that you need to know the people with whom you work or lead. As a middle school principal, it was important to me to ensure that each year as new teachers came to our school that they had an opportunity to bond and build relationships with the teachers who had been there over the years. That’s one of the reasons leaders take the time to do those “get to know you” icebreaker activities. To the task driven, it may appear to be a waste of time, but if you have solid activities, relationships will begin to form. As relationships develop, collaboration begins to occur. Someone once said that two heads are stronger than one and collaboration for the betterment of your organization is a positive thing! You may lead in an office setting, a school, a volunteer organization, a church small group or children’s group. Periodically, I will share some of these icebreakers on the blog so that if you are leading any type of group, you will be able to modify and adapt these to work in your situation. I like to call them Interesting Icebreakers…

What Do You Know? Does Anybody Care?

What Are You Afraid Of?

Admiration is a Funny Thing

I Don’t Even Like To Run… (A lesson in goal setting)

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Everyone Has A Story

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