Together Friends,
It’s September. I think?! The weather tells me otherwise, but my kids’ sports schedules and our class schedule tell me we are firmly in fall mode. Our Together Tours took a planned summer pause, but we are back in it through December.
PS We are looking to feature some additional folks in supporting and operations roles later this fall, so nominate someone or nominate yourself here. Please submit at least 3-5 artifacts with your nomination.
Together Tour: Alison Moore
This month’s Together Tour features Alison Moore, the Chief Operations Officer for Tulsa Honor Academy in Oklahoma. Alison participated in an online Together Leader course last year, and then we met in-real-life this past July when her entire school leadership team joined our class. As soon as Alison pulled out her homemade, coil-bound Together Planner, I knew I had to write about it. You see, we try to feature many variations of Togetherness with hyper-digital people like Juan and Liz, paper-based folks like Braxton, and then some people who straddle both worlds like Crystal and Thomas! And when someone talks about having their own binding machine (!), swoon! I knew I had to get right into this with Alison.
What made you build your own Together Planner?
After my first Together Leader training, I started by just printing out tools that I liked every week for about four months. I also took my time building my Later List in soft copy, getting feedback from our CEO and the previous COO who I was still in contact with. I just kept trying things out to figure out what pieces worked for me each week.
Over the summer, I was preparing for the new year and I knew that I loved the Together Leader system/tools and that I personally prefer a “notebook” type feel. I wanted a physical tool I could bring around with me to keep everything together, take notes, and be able to flip back and forth between weeks of Together Tools.
I also love designing. It’s a passion of mine. So I knew I’d find it fun to design my own version of the Together Tools I’d been using. I recently heard the idea that the work and “recharge” don’t have to be separate from each other and if you find elements of the work fun, the work itself can recharge you at times. So I’ve been trying to be sure I make time for parts of the work that do recharge me and designing my own Together Tools was one way I did that. (Editor’s Note: Alison has a beautiful design eye!)
I built my templates, but I was still craving the “notebook” feel. I was carrying around the templates printed off and other notebooks for notes and it was too much to keep up with. So I ordered a spiral binding machine on Amazon along with a blank spiral-bound notebook that had a front and back cover that I liked. I took the notebook apart and saved the filler paper to use as scratch paper. Then I printed, hole-punched, and bound my own Together Leader notebook that will have enough weekly tool sets for 1 quarter. Not too big to carry around and perfectly tailored to my needs.
(Editor’s Note: Alison inspired two members of the Together Team to purchase their own spiral binding machines and they have made planners for their TEENS!)
Watch Alison share how she uses her Together System!
One of the biggest challenges we hear, especially for our school-based folks, is how to toggle between digital and paper. It feels like you have a hit a sweet spot between your Google Calendar and your paper tools. Obviously, you are a “when-er,” and I love how far out your Google Calendar is built. Tell me more about how you use this digital tool.
My calendar is color-coded to help me navigate it quickly when I need to move things around day to day.
- Green = meetings
- Dark Gray = immovable/prioritized work time
- Light Brown = movable work time
- Lavender = personal
- Pink = tasks (often recurring)
- Red = small but important reminders
- Yellow = items that connect to my direct reports that I either scheduled or want to be aware of (this one is new for me)
I spend time every month “calendaring” out my Later List for three months out. So this week I’ll be calendaring Later List items for November into my Comprehensive Calendar.
But then you have a Weekly Worksheet on top of this. Say more.
I use my Weekly Worksheet to take stock of all I’ve done during my Meeting with Myself (highlighted in gray) and identify what I need to make space for next week that wasn’t completed (highlighted in coral). I also use it to help me digest my Comprehensive Calendar in Google Calendar for the coming week (using abbreviations for my meetings, etc.).
Building my Weekly Worksheet from my Google Calendar each week during my Meeting with Myself gives me time to internalize what’s coming and lets my brain chew on it a bit. In this time, I might realize something I need to do to be better prepared for the meeting or a person that should have a seat at the table for that meeting that wasn’t on the invite. (Editor’s Note: I personally do the exact same thing in a spiral bound planner I created on Etsy. It helps me digest and forecast.)
And you write on this during the week?
Yes! This is coming around with me every single day, everywhere I go. I mark meetings and tasks off as I complete them through the week. I move tasks around when I need to as well. Having it on paper and keeping track of what needs to move in real time helps me ensure tasks don’t fall through the cracks and keeps me flexible – which can be challenging for us “when-ers.” I think of this as “annotating” my Weekly Worksheet, and that also makes my former-ELA-teacher heart happy.
The Meeting with Myself is critical to staying Together. How do you keep this practice sacred? I am also intrigued by how it has spread within your organization.
I hold 1.5 hours weekly for my Meeting with Myself. I cover all the items that the training points out, plus I update my check-in agendas for the coming week, and I draft and send my weekly network-wide Ops team email. My Meeting with Myself agenda is set up “bookmark size.” I print and cut up many copies in advance. When it’s time for my meeting, I grab one and get started. I’m trying to add thank you notes and birthday cards this year!
Last week, I was playing my Meeting with Myself playlist and starting my time in my office. Our Chief of Staff heard the music and recognized that I was starting my Meeting with Myself. She brought her tools and silently joined me at the table in my office to do her own. Our Chief Academic Officer walked by and asked, “Are we doing a community Meeting with Myself??” To which we laughed (because we were, without even acknowledging it) and invited her to come over and join! It’s almost like a mindset and an open invitation to join in this way of being and moving as a leader. The common language really helps with this. I love that so many of our team members have been able to experience training with Maia now.
Let’s keep going. Your Later List is marvelous, and I love how you note why you have a soft and hard copy.
I make hard copy edits to the Later List as I need to. Then in my monthly Later List calendaring time, I also update my soft copy version of my Later List for the current month with any changes I made on paper so they will be reflected next quarter when I print again.
I think your Thought Catchers are what first caught my attention. They are such an underrated, yet powerful tool for Togetherness. How do yours work?
I have it set up by people, and I use it to capture ideas/topics. I come back to it during my Meeting with Myself when I’m building my check-in agendas for the coming week to add items from the Thought Catcher to those agendas either as discussion topics, quick questions, or updates.
Thought Catcher use is still a growth area for me! I got into the habit of adding a comment to the most recent agenda copy of my check-ins for each person when something would come up day-to-day that I wanted to remember to bring to them. Then when I built the agendas for the upcoming week’s check-ins, I would add those comments to the agenda and resolve them.
What I like about now pushing myself to use the Thought Catcher I’ve created for my Together Notebook is that it keeps me more present in the meeting or conversation where the thing came up by jotting it on physical paper vs. going to a new tab or document to add a comment. That moves my brain from one space to another, virtually, and I think it negatively impacts my presence in the current space.
I read a quote in a magazine once, and I’m not going to quote it correctly and I wish I could remember who said it – but it’s always stuck with me: the best people are always punctual and simultaneously always make you feel like they have all the time in the world. I think the Thought Catcher is a tool that helps me embody that in my work. I’m right here with you, I’m listening and fully present with you, and I’m going to note this in a place that will ensure I won’t lose it when our conversation is done, but still makes you feel like I have all the time in the world for you.
Talk to us about your Exec Huddle page. This looks like a combination of a Meeting Matrix (Ch. 5) and Thought Catchers (Ch. 10) from The Together Leader.
We start each morning with a 15-minute Exec Team Huddle between the CEO, CAO, COO, and CoS. This tool helps me prepare for that huddle either the evening before or morning of. I jot down important notes of items in my day/week that have connective tissue with the other Chiefs, quick questions I have for the group or at least one other Chief, and during the huddle I take note of any action items for me that come out of the huddle. This space helps me make sure that I am prepared to make the most of the short meeting and by capturing my action items separately in a “low tech” space, I can stay fully present in the Exec Huddle without getting sidetracked by the rest of my Weekly Worksheet, my calendar, or my inbox.
How does Togetherness show up at home? I noted with delight that your wife ALSO works in education and was at our Together Training!
My spouse and I just recently started the journey of expanding our family! For us it will take extra help from science, and a financial commitment. To support this, we sold one of our cars and are now sharing a car. It helps that we work at the same place to make this possible! That said, we still both have very busy schedules with needs throughout the day and in the evenings for use of the car. We use this refrigerator calendar we ordered off of Amazon to help us keep our car sharing straight.
- White = Both of us using the car together
- Pink = My car needs
- Blue = My spouse’s car needs
We wipe the car calendar clean and plan out the coming week on Sundays together. Spending this time together is nice – because we know that this sacrifice gets us closer to growing our family – and it helps us avoid stressful and frustrating moments midday or mid-week when one of us needs the car and we haven’t done a great job of communicating that!
Thank you, Alison, for giving us such a full picture of your entire Together universe, both at work and at home. And for inspiring two members of our team to buy their own spiral binders!
- How do you “when” your “whats”? If you don’t yet have a system, we’ve got some tips for making Microsoft Planner your go-to tool for Togetherness. Thanks, Kristin!
- Don’t let False Fatigue derail your day. Sometimes after a large chunk of work, our brains need a break before we recenter. Katie at City Garden Montessori gave us some suggestions for how we can honor our need for a break and get back on track.
- Are we all avoiding undesirable tasks, or is it just me? Body doubling can help us add accountability and motivation to tedious To-Do list items, or even just help us focus on the task at hand (stares at laundry pile).
