As a school principal, I worked hard to have an open door policy with my staff.  In addition to keeping my office door open, I set aside time every Monday to make myself available to whoever wanted to drop by and speak with me.  Did they have a procedural question?  Were clarifications needed about an upcoming event?  Perhaps they just wanted to share something exciting or troublesome that was going on in their life.

With all of my intent to be open and available to my staff, it never failed.  A huge deadline would be looming and there was much that needed to be done.  It was at that exact moment someone would come to my office door and say those dreaded words, “Do you have a minute?”