Let me begin by saying that I am not an advocate for an unplugged lifestyle. I have no plans of moving to a remote area in Montana that is 200 miles from the nearest cellphone tower and where homes get both their heat and light from a well maintained fireplace. However, I would be lying if I did not say that I have thought at least once, that we have gone a bit off the deep end with our "connectivity."
I am a proud owner of an iPad, iPhone, laptop and a WiFi household. I have accounts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google. I blog, tweet, text, status update and "cyber-creep" as much as the next guy. I can access every digital data point in my life from my phone and as long as I have a charge... I am always reachable.
Now that we have established that I can and that I do, the question is should I? As I stated above, I am not going unplugged anytime soon. I will not be living off the grid. However, I have found myself recently feeling like something was not quite right, that perhaps something was missing, or lost.
This past Monday I attended the Literacy for All Conference in Providence, RI. One of the many sessions I attended was entitled, Teachers as Digital Writers. The presenter, Kristen Hawley Turner (@teachKHT) showed us this video below entitled, Can We Auto-Correct Humanity? Now there is a good chance you have seen the video as it has almost 8.5 million views at the time of this post, but if you have not I recommend taking three and 1/2 minutes to watch.
Leadership is about relationships. Effective leaders take the time to build quality relationships with the people they work with, to build trust, to get to know their staff and let their staff get to know them. This is because in order for you to lead, people must follow and people will not follow those that they don't know, feel don't know them and most importantly those that they do not trust.
As I have already stated, I can do my entire job from my phone. I can send information in various formats, document student learning and teacher performance, stay up to date on current trends in education, approve budgetary expenditures and much more. If I wanted to get really crazy, I could Skype or Face Time in for faculty meetings... quite frankly, the mechanics of my job could probably be done by a well programmed computer. However, this is not what makes for good leadership, it is what makes for a good manager, and I aspire to be a good leader.
So it is important for me to remember to get out of my chair and talk with someone rather than sending an email, to ask questions about the lives of those I work with, to create opportunities for faculty to converse, and to sacrifice immediate access to information so that I can take a few minutes to talk with a student.
The irony that I am using a blog to share my thoughts on this topic and the fact that I will likely publicize it on Twitter is not lost on me. All good things come in moderation and technology is no different. So as a father, husband, friend and leader I resolve to put down my phone a little more often, to look up and to connect with my own humanity and the humanity that surrounds me.
As I have already stated, I can do my entire job from my phone. I can send information in various formats, document student learning and teacher performance, stay up to date on current trends in education, approve budgetary expenditures and much more. If I wanted to get really crazy, I could Skype or Face Time in for faculty meetings... quite frankly, the mechanics of my job could probably be done by a well programmed computer. However, this is not what makes for good leadership, it is what makes for a good manager, and I aspire to be a good leader.
So it is important for me to remember to get out of my chair and talk with someone rather than sending an email, to ask questions about the lives of those I work with, to create opportunities for faculty to converse, and to sacrifice immediate access to information so that I can take a few minutes to talk with a student.
The irony that I am using a blog to share my thoughts on this topic and the fact that I will likely publicize it on Twitter is not lost on me. All good things come in moderation and technology is no different. So as a father, husband, friend and leader I resolve to put down my phone a little more often, to look up and to connect with my own humanity and the humanity that surrounds me.
