source: https://www.facebook.com/StrategicCoach

I highly recommend that you read “The Dan Sullivan Question: Ask it and Transform Anyone’s Future.” The book is a quick read, but the message is ever so important.

The question is simple, and it is effective for organizations, businesses and schools. We use it at my school because it makes change less personal and more process-centered. Let’s face it, change can be grueling, and thankless. Change takes time, and eventually, everyone needs to be part of the process.

For me, the Question allowed me to (in the first year) understand  the staff  in a personal and professional way. The discussions that ensued were priceless. Of course some staff took it more seriously then others, but that revealed more about their ability to reflect and plan.

Each year since, I have emailed the staff with the same Question. This year will be no different, but the challenges (perhaps unforeseen 3 years ago) are very different. How will we respond? What will need to change?

Here is Dan’s question:

If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back over those three years, what has to have happened in your life, both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about yourself?

The answers to this question will range, and as a leader it can help transform the future of the organization. For instance, say you are a public school that is facing budget cuts, increasing payments to charter schools, and relative progress on standardized assessments. What do you do? Well, you ask yourself the question, and then you ask everyone else the question…