Friday Memo: The Communicator
In my most recent career iteration in public ed, I was a school principal. And every Friday (with occasional exception), I would send a Friday Memo to the whole staff. This was a practice I inherited from the principal before me and he from the principal before him and so on. I think we all probably got it from hearing Todd Whitaker speak, as it was a cornerstone of his practice. Anyway, the point is that I did this. It was often a point of issue for me. I would take down things to make sure I included over the week. I would languish over the color theme and make sure it was aligned to whatever holiday or season we were in. I would link helpful or just uplifting or fun resources and included memes to make it lighthearted as the world of public ed can be so heavy. Most significantly, I would very intentionally pen an opener in each and every one.
This opener would be specifically and strategically designed. It may be tone setting or a response to something going on in our school community. It may be to share something, celebrate, or help shape a narrative- possibly correct a false one I could see developing. Sometimes it would be to build relationship and camaraderie or to challenge staff to do something. Sometimes it was vulnerability. But always it was written by me.
I left that school mid-year. A very weird thing to do, but I had to make a really hard choice and I chose my family. That’s not really what all of this is about though. In my new job, after ninety days, I had to take a DISC assessment. This is a personality test. I took one in 2017 at the beginning of my admin career. I was curious how much it might change. It didn’t change at all.
Maybe you have taken the DISC before and maybe not, but as a refresher, it ranks where you fall within four personality types- Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. It gives you a “profile” based on how you rank in these areas. My type is the Communicator.
The Communicator has a very high effectiveness in relationship building, persuasion, and influence. They are people-focused and outgoing. That’s all true. I had a meeting with a lady to help guide me with my DISC assessment results. The same day, I read about the tragic loss of the original and queen of mommy bloggers Dooce. (This post is not really about her death. Very very tragic to hear this news and of course, I send prayers, love, and light to all her loved ones grieving this tremendous loss. Certainly not to make her death about me- the connection is just that it got me thinking about that time on the Internet.)
Dooce started blogging in 2002. I have blogged in some capacity pretty much since I was a teenager. I love it. And I remember following many so called “mommy blogs” in the aughts. Dooce was one that I had heard of at that time. Anyway, thinking about Dooce again after all this time, it made me think about all those “mommy blogs” and what happened to them.
They kind of died out a little with the rise of various social media platforms and “influencers.” Some continued to evolve and go with these changes, and some did not. Some continued to blog, some died out. I continue to blog, and back then, I was fairly successful with a few thousand blog followers. I had some blog friends and went to blog conferences and things. It was very fun, but I was not making money. I got some free stuff, but I didn’t really like that very much. And I don’t really love the influencer culture now. So much of social media is about consumerism and buying and I don’t like that very much either.
Anyway, thinking about Dooce and the other blogs and my own blog, I was thinking about what compels me to continue this blog. I found so much value in sharing and in communicating, both producing and receiving. I found so much connection and consideration in reading the words of mostly women sharing their thoughts and their lives. I share pictures on Facebook. But I like to record and reflect and remember. That’s what I like about the blog. But what I miss about my old blog is some of the authenticity, the candor, the sharing. Same as what I miss about the Friday Memo.
It’s funny because sometimes the Friday Memo felt like such a chore, but I felt like it was very very important. Because communication is so important. And I always put a lot into that opener in the Friday Memo. It was a communication tool.
As I considered my DISC assessment and discussed with this lady yesterday, she kept applying it not just to my professional life but my personal life. She was like, this applies to how we relate in our families too and with ourselves or when we are stressed at the workplace or elsewhere. I hadn’t thought about that.
She also talked about what “brings me energy.” I loved how she framed this. I was asking her about how I can make up for my shortcomings on the list of strengths. I was concerned about things that weren’t as developed as my colleagues. She was like, you’re not making up for anything. Those things aren’t weaknesses- it’s just not something that “brings you energy.” She said you just have to be aware of when you have things you have to do that don’t bring you energy so you can put systems in place to be sure you’re doing them in alignment with how you can best accomplish them and spend time doing things that do bring you energy to best contribute and be your best self.
Well guess what. I’m the Communicator. That brings me energy. So I am going to spend time with my blog. I’m going to try to do a Friday Memo- probably not every week, but from time to time. Not about a trip or a hike or a recipe, but just for sake of communicating. For old times sake.
