I was in a store the other day – a store with a reputation for NOT being the cat’s meow, but it was convenient so I went for it – and sure enough, the purchase I made turned out to be in need of a return.

Which, of course, I didn’t find out til I arrived at home and realized, this thing’s busted.

So back I went and in I went and what did I hear? “Sir, I just work here.”

Huh?

“I’m just an employee… I just work here. I don’t run the place. I don’t own the place. I tell you, I am just an EM-PLOY-EE.”

This reminds me of something I once heard about a company with a fantastic reputation, the Ritz Carlton. I’ve heard that each em-ploy-ee has, at their discretion,, a $2000 “do whatever you need to do to make the customer happy” budget.

Why? Because they obviously know the poison of the, “I just work here” excuse.

Clearly, we could all go up and down the halls of our local schools in an effort to seek out the “I just work here” folks.

But they are not the ones who deserve the most attention. It’s the kids in our classes who have been hoodwinked into believing that this is ever an acceptable attitude to have towards the job that you do. In sports they say you play like you practice. Well, in life I think that how you perform at the smaller things indicates how you will eventually perform at life’s bigger things.

In my experience, people who don’t give a darn about how well they do on low end of tasks often do not ever get the chance to make it to the high end. And then they become grumblers about how “no one ever cut them a break”.

You make your own breaks.

“I don’t run the place. I don’t own the place.”

Buddy, you probably never will.

“How can I better support you?” When is the last time an admin walked into your room and actually uttered those words with nothing more than their “listening ears” on?

I mean really, how dysfunctional are our teacher/admin relationships these days?

I don’t even think most admins view themselves as “supporters”. I think they mostly view themselves as “bosses”.

• Bosses tell people what to do.
• Supporters empower people with the things they need in order to better do that which they have been asked to do.
• Bosses know answers and delegate tasks.
• Supporters identify areas where the tasks that need to be done have gaps and work diligently to help smartly fill those missing pieces.
• Bosses think that they are allowed to be dour, grumpy, and irritable with their underlings.
• Supporters know that one key to supporting anyone well is to be encouraging, approachable and dependable.

How would you characterize your admins? Do they…

• tell people what to do.
• know answers and delegate tasks.
• think that they are allowed to be dour, grumpy, and irritable with their underlings.

Or do they…

• empower people with the things they need in order to better do that which they have been asked to do.
• identify areas where the tasks that need to be done have gaps and work diligently to help smartly fill those missing pieces.
• know that one key to supporting anyone well is to be encouraging, approachable and dependable.

I know this. The best admins I’ve ever had clearly fall into one category over the other.