Since March 2020, we’ve all felt like we’ve been living in a state of constant change.\u00a0 One business leader called it “perpetual beta,” and an administrator in our local healthcare system said it’s been akin to building the airplane while we’re flying it.\u00a0 Others, like our pastor, couldn’t wait until we can all get back to “normal.”<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, “Normal” no longer exists.<\/p>\n
Through the pandemic, finding a vaccine in a little over a year (which is nothing short of a miracle), dealing with a divisive national election and the continuing aftermath of the polarizing effect it’s had on our nation, the great resignation, “work from home” morphing into “work from anywhere,” supply chain issues and the shortages caused by them and a lack of workers, the rising cost of housing, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and inflation that’s will need to be controlled by increasing interest rates which could bring about an economic recession, soaring gasoline prices, and to top it off, the continuing debate over gun ownership, school shootings, and a potential default if our nation’s debt ceiling isn’t increased, gives us many reasons to be anxious!<\/p>\n
So what do we do?\u00a0 We try to hold on – to what feels normal.\u00a0 To what is routine.\u00a0 To what we’ve always done.<\/p>\n
And that’s not going to help solve problems.<\/p>\n
Why?\u00a0 Because we can’t solve problems with the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.<\/p>\n
Yes, we create the problems – and therefore, we need to change what we’re doing to fix them.<\/p>\n
I became aware of the need for “adjustment” when dealing with one’s audience at a recent eye doctor appointment I took my 88 year-old father to.\u00a0 He was under the impression that he was going to have cataract surgery, and needed someone to take him because he would not be able to drive home.\u00a0 When I called the doctor’s office to make sure this was a surgery, they said it wasn’t, and that it was a referral for an evaluation as to whether a laser procedure would be recommended over a full-blown cataract operation.<\/p>\n
When dad was sitting in the examination chair with a mask on, the attending medical assistant came in the room, said, “Hello” without offering her name, put a chart down on the desk in the room, and, while looking down at the chart, asked my dad for his name.\u00a0 He did not respond.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Everyone had masks on, so first, he could not hear her well because her voice was muffled, and two, the medical assistant was not looking at him, and therefore her “talking to the chart” didn’t merit a response from him.<\/p>\n
Since I was in the room, I spoke up, saying, “Excuse me, but if you’d like him to answer, please look at him rather than your chart, and speak a little louder.”\u00a0 After all, she wasn’t talking to a 4o, 50 or even 60 year old patient.\u00a0 No doubt this was her typical modus operandi.\u00a0 <\/em>Possibly even more disturbing was the fact that she didn’t introduce herself by name when she walked into the room.\u00a0 \u00a0Apparently LOTS of medical personnel would do well to learn that one of the first ways to build relationship is to introduce yourself by name if they’ve never seen you before.<\/p>\n More recently, I took dad to his eye checkup, and would be there to help complete the paperwork, since they always want to know the drugs the patient is taking.\u00a0 Rather than being handed a clipboard and pen, the nurse handed him an iPad because all their records were moving toward electronic ones.\u00a0 His response: “Oh! I can play some games while I wait!”\u00a0 I said, “Um, no, you need to fill out the forms you usually do on paper on the iPad.”\u00a0 After saying, “I can’t do that,” he handed me the iPad.<\/p>\n Again, this doctor’s office doesn’t “know his audience.”<\/p>\n I found myself making the same kind of connection to my experience of working with schools in 20 cities over the past two decades.\u00a0 Whenever I’d enter a hotel and approach the front desk, the most popular words from the front desk person’s mouth dealt with “help.”\u00a0 Most notably, “Can I help you?” or “I can help whoever’s next.”<\/p>\n Like that’s going to make me feel welcome.\u00a0 Sometimes, the person says, “Welcome to the (insert hotel name),” but it can then be followed by, “Checking in?”\u00a0 At times, I really want to say, “Not really.\u00a0 I just felt like dragging some suitcases into this building when all I really want to do is use the restroom.”\u00a0 The BEST words of welcome could be, “Hello, and welcome to the (insert hotel name)!\u00a0 I’m (insert the person’s name), and I’ll be helping you with your check in process.\u00a0 And your name is….”<\/p>\n For many people, that’s an adjustment from what seems “natural.”\u00a0 “Natural is great when you’re in your own surroundings – your home, your neighborhood, or the homes of family and friends.”\u00a0 When you’re working in a professional capacity, one needs to be “appropriately professional.”\u00a0 And that means treating your customers not only in the way that they want to be treated (which has been called “The platinum rule” as coined by Michael O’Connor and Tony Alessandra in 1996 in their book, “The Platinum Rule,”), but it needs to be taken to the next level day.\u00a0 The Diamond Rule was established in 2013 in an article by Brad Larsen: \u201cTreat others the way they don’t even know they want to be treated.\u201d\u00a0 To boil it down \u2026 anticipate, anticipate, anticipate. Don’t just meet expectations, EXCEED them. (Source: https:\/\/www.standard.net\/news\/business\/2013\/oct\/11\/ground-your-leadership-and-service-in-three-universal-rules, accessed 6.1.22).\u00a0 I expect this was called the Diamond rule because it’s hard, but will produce magnificent results that simply shine!<\/p>\n Then there’s The Titanium Rule, which was published in “The Art of Connecting” by Claire Raines and Lara Ewing.\u00a0 It states, “Do unto others according to their druthers.”\u00a0 A nice rhyme scheme for sure, where “druthers” means “as they would like you to do.”<\/p>\n So today, years after these rules were published, let’s combine them into something very strong, very valuable, and very difficult:\u00a0 “Treat others in a way that is appropriate to them to exceed their expectations.”\u00a0 Since it’s harder than titanium, we could call it “The Carbon Steel Rule,” but Moissanite is brighter than a diamond, but not as hard, so perhaps we should call it “The Moissanite Rule.”\u00a0 While it’s only one word, most people would wonder what moissanite is.<\/p>\n Whatever it’s called, let’s apply this rule to your school.\u00a0 You may be comfortable with doing things in a particular way, and may have been doing those tasks or interactions for a number of years.\u00a0 If that’s the case, know that in this time of change, doing the things you’ve always done isn’t going to cut it anymore, and the reason is based in the study of Physics.\u00a0 The Law of Diminishing Returns states the more effort that’s put into a process will result in lower output over time.<\/p>\n Providing accommodation to your audience of your market in the manner in which they expect to be treated shows respect, kindness, and a genuine interest in them.\u00a0 If you continue to treat your audience the way you did 5, 10, 20 or even 25 years ago, you may be wondering why things aren’t working as well as they did before.\u00a0 It could be the fact that your audience (your current parent community, parents of prospective students, or even business leaders in the community) aren’t of the same generation as they were at those different time points in the past.\u00a0 Today’s parents are Millennials.\u00a0 Ten years ago, they were member of Generation X (the “me” generation), and, a couple of decades before that, they were Baby Boomers.\u00a0 The members of different generations have different traits, and therefore, need to be treated differently.\u00a0 That’s something we’ve missed when we ascribe to the “That’s the way we’ve always done it” philosophy.<\/p>\n Perhaps it’s the “normal” way of doing things for you – and that’s why it will no longer be effective.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since March 2020, we’ve all felt like we’ve been living in a state of constant change.\u00a0 One business leader called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-good-to-know"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GTK-e1682976309840.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ggCS-1F1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6387"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7797,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions\/7797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooladvancement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}