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How often do you empower others to develop SMART action steps?
We all want to accomplish our goals. To accomplish our goals, we need to take action steps. I’ve found that the SMARTer the action step, the more likely I am to accomplish it. A SMART action steps is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timebound

“Get in shape” is not a SMART action step, and it’s actually not that easy to accomplish. “Walk for 30 minutes 3 times per week for 1 month” is a SMART action step, and it’s actually easier to accomplish than “Get in shape.”
 
Question: How often do you empower others to develop SMART action steps for each of their goals?

• Consistently?
• Usually?
• Sometimes?
• Rarely?

Make sure you consistently empower others to develop SMART actions steps for each of their goals. If the person you’re talking to develops general action steps, help them SMARTen them up by asking questions like:

• Specific: What do you mean by ___?
• Measurable: How will you know when you’ve achieved your action step?
• Attainable: How doable is this?
• Relevant: How will this action step help you achieve your goal?
• Timebound: When will you do this?

Question: What action steps will you take to ensure that you consistently empower others to develop SMART action steps for each of their goals?
 
*To learn more about coaching others on taking action, click here.

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How focused is your staff on organizational improvement?
What gets focused on gets done. So, if you want to improve your organization, make sure your staff is focused on organizational improvement.
 
Question: How focused is your staff on organizational improvement?
 
To get an idea of how focused your staff is on organizational improvement, take the following assessment. Rate each item, using the following scale:

4: Consistently • 3: Usually • 2: Sometimes • 1: Rarely

___ Staff talk about organizational improvement.
___ Staff make proposals regarding organizational improvement.
___ Staff work on organizational improvement.
___ Staff hold each other accountable for organizational improvement.
___ Staff are disappointed when improvement goals are not reached.

___ Staff focus on organizational improvement.


3 questions:

1. How focused do you want your staff to be on organizational improvement?
2. How can you increase staff focus on organizational improvement?
3. What are you going to do?

Bottom line: Pursue excellence. Focus staff on organizational improvement. Today.

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Students connect Holocaust memoir and Biblical teaching
Kim Essenburg, English 10 teacher at Christian Academy in Japan, reflects on student learning results:
 
Here are sample student answers to the final question on my English 10 test on Night, a Holocaust memoir by Elie Wiesel: What else did you learn this unit that you did not have a chance to show on the test?

• “Night changed my view of the sufferings of others and made me realize my sinful nature.” 
• “I am blessed. I cannot repeat that enough even to realize it myself. Reading Night shocked me, and it made me realize God’s presence in my life. Now that I am more exposed to this realization, I feel like I want to do more for God and His people.”
• “God does try to help the suffering people by sending his people to help. He uses His people….That means that God could choose me or anybody to help the suffering. All we have to do is be ready to help.”

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Empower others to help students see the importance of Biblical perspective
Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a discussion of “How can you help your students see the importance of Biblical perspective?”
 
Define: Get the facts defined.
In your last unit or during the last week of instruction in 1 class, what was the fraction?

1. # of lessons in which you taught a Biblical perspective of course content / total # of lessons
2. # of class minutes students learned about Biblical perspective of course content / total # of class minutes
3. # of Biblical perspective assessments / total # of assessments (including homework, in-class assignments, quizzes, and tests)

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

1. What excites/frustrates your students about Biblical perspective?
2. What excites/frustrates you about how your students see Biblical perspective?
3. What excites/frustrates you about teaching from a Biblical perspective?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

1. What helps your students see the importance of Biblical perspective? What hinders?
2. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), what value do your students think you put on connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?
3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), what value do your students put on connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?
4. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being high), what value do you want your students to put on connecting what they study and what the Bible teaches?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

1. To get your students to see the importance of Biblical perspective, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?
2. What will you do?