Lead Like a Pirate; Chapter 4

Ask and Analyze

Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers. --Anthony Robbins

In this chapter, the authors (Beth Houf and Shelley Burgess) ask you to think about the questions that you need to ask of yourself and of your team in order to move forward. "Pirate leaders ask many thoughtful questions of themselves and of others, and they are skillful at analyzing all the data that comes at them."  Probing questions dig deep to get to the roots of any issue and as a team, your job then is to actively seek solutions.

Using John Maxwell's book, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions: Your Foundation for Successful Leadership, as a springboard the authors look at the 8 reasons that leaders ask intentional questions. "If we want to get out of ruts, engage students and staff members alike, spark innovation, and build a culture of inclusion and excitement - then we need to make sure we're asking the right types of questions."  Another quote that challenged my thinking was- "Good questions inform.  Great questions transform."  That is truth in my book!  

An example of a traditional question - "What strategies will you use to engage students in your lesson?"

An example of a transformed question - "What will you do during your lesson that will inspire students to bubble over with excitement when parents or friends ask them about what they did in school that day?"

An example of a traditional question - "What is the agenda for the next faculty meeting?"

An example of a transformed question - "How can we personalize professional development to create experiences that would get staff running into meetings, not out?"

After asking the questions, what do you do with the information?  We need to diagnose what's going on in our schools and in our classrooms.  We need to be able to determine whether our programs are working or not.  We need to USE or data.  "Asking, listening, analyzing, reflecting, and learning are all essential to your role as a leader."  

Ask yourself this... What kinds of questions do you ask your teams?  What do you do with that information?  How will we transform our schools and classrooms with this feedback? Are we actively a part of the process to create a better school, a dynamic school, a student centered school?  Ask yourself what YOU will do differently to engage the people around you.

My challenge to you is to think about some routine questions that you use with your team. How can you transform those questions to get better more meaningful answers, and finally DO SOMETHING with the information that you gather.  Make a change - no matter how small - to move your school from GOOD to GREAT!