I had a board of directors meeting this past Thursday and Friday for my day job. During the meeting we had some very candid discussions about how bad the past year or 2 have been. We discussed how the economy has impacted our stations and how we wish things were different. We talked about changes that were made and how we wish we would not have had to make some of those decisions. It made for a very negative meeting on Thursday.
After we got that out of our system we spent the better part of Friday discussing our successes. We talked about the good things we have done for clients, for the public and for our listeners. We made a conscious decision to stop dwelling on the past and the things that we cannot change and instead focus on the company’s future and what we can impact. The management team in this market is going to stress the wins and successes no matter how big or small. Right now every win is a step in the right direction.
On the way home this got me to thinking about the MG School District. Why can't we celebrate the successes and focus on the future? Where do we want to go and how do we get there? Why can't we celebrate our "wins" whether they are academic or extra-curricular? Why can't we toot our own horn on the good things our students do? I think we do some of this, but not nearly enough.
As a board member I have heard over and over about how things used to be or how they were done in the past. Well I was not a part of those boards and frankly I don't care how they did things. I am a part of this board and I only care how we are going to do things going forward. I am tired of continually looking backwards, when we should focus on the tasks ahead. How do we become more proactive instead of reactive?
I don't really have any answers at this point. However, I can tell you that my perspective has changed. I intend to try helping push us into the future. I will try to be more proactive with regards to the items that face us. Let's get them on the table and discuss them. Let's have those discussions and let's make the hard decisions. We won't know if we made the right or wrong decision immediately, but not making any decision is far worse in my opinion.
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I'm kinda with you on this. Another thing that drives me crazy along these same lines is comments the board makes and even you Jason may have made in the past and that is "what do other districts do?". I've been to several board meetings the last couple months and this comment was made by board members far to many times. My kids don't go to other districts and I don't elect the school boards of other districts!
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree. There is nothing all that unique about Monona Grove. It is very valuable to pull one's head out the MG sand long enough to see what is going on around us. No need to reinvent wheels. There is a lot of creativity around us and we should take advantage of it.
ReplyDeleteI think you can learn a lot by seeing how others do things. However, there are specific reasons or circumstances that lead them to do things their way. Those same reasons or circumstances usually don't apply exactly when the next group tries to incorporate the process. I have never been afraid to copy a basic plan from someone and then modify it for my specific needs.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Anonymous #1 that we need to be more concerned with how our district will get things done and less concerned with what others do. However, we cannot keep ourselves in a bubble and not learn from what others are doing.
I understand and agree with the spirit of your position, Jason. However, I would argue that visionary and historian will be most successful. Part of MG's success is a result of the way things were done in the past, and is worth being considered again. Other things need a new approach.
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