seven chapters, you will discover that energy and not time is the human capital you need to develop and protect if you wish to live a fully engaged and grace-filled work life.
And, you might be surprised, but you will discover that the vast majority of adults in our profession is not fully engaged in its work. This can damage the culture for learning in your school or district. In a 2014 report, Gallup states:
Disengaged teachers are less likely to bring the energy, insights, and resilience that effective teaching requires to the classroom. They are less likely to build the kind of positive, caring relationships with their students that form the emotional core of the learning process.34
In other words, full engagement, effort, and positive energy at work are necessary and never-ending improvement pursuits for every one of us when we choose education as our profession. This includes administrators too. Imagine if we rewrote the Gallup quote and just changed a few words (italicized):
“Disengaged administrators are less likely to bring the energy, insights, and resilience that effective teaching requires for the school culture. They are less likely to build the kind of positive, caring relationships with their teachers that form the emotional core of the learning process.”
If you and I are not currently able to locate a positive, high-energy state in our daily teaching and leading lives, then we are expected to be mindful of it, nurture it, and define it until it becomes part of who we are as professionals. It is my intent in these chapters to provide some insight into how to grow in your full and positive engagement as an educator—each and every day.
As we lead a more purposeful professional life, a life committed to some of the happiness factors listed in part 1, we are more likely to move toward a fully engaged professional life. Strangely, however, you can score yourself high on the happiness criteria, find yourself somewhat satisfied by your work as a teacher and leader, and still be noncommittal toward high engagement with your work life.
Thus, part 2 provides a road map to help you stay emotionally connected to the work of your profession.
Do you wonder from time to time what would possibly compel students or colleagues to follow you? I know I did. Early in my teaching career, I distinctly remember sitting in my classroom late one night after a basketball practice, imagining I was a student in my own class and wondering, “Would I even enjoy being led by me? Am I really an engaging and inspiring teacher to my students?” The answer at the time was a little frustrating. I just wasn’t completely sure I could say yes. I liked teaching, but the job often overwhelmed me.
In the next seven chapters, we will go on a journey in pursuit of the energy balance necessary to pursue a professional life that becomes inspiring to others.
We will connect to strategies that prevent our drift away from full engagement at work, clarify the time-energy dilemma faced in the pressure and pace of daily life, learn to become grittier, and examine how to use our own personal stories to inspire others.
After all, it is why we became teachers and leaders, is it not?
To get started, consider two work engagement questions.
1. Do you care so much about teaching students well that you are willing to stay committed to teaching and give it your best energy and effort every day?
2. Are you still in love with teaching and leading others? More important, do you believe you are currently fully engaged in your work?
Full Engagement Not Ahead
Throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.
—Dale Carnegie
The title of this chapter may give away the answer, but take a guess by estimating what you believe is the percentage of teachers actively engaged in their work at your school. Think of all of the educators: teachers, administrators, and staff who are part of your professional work life.
Where exactly do you go to find such information? The Gallup polls, of course! You may not know it, but Gallup polls (named after George Gallup from Princeton) began in 193535. The reputation of the Gallup polls and surveys over the years continues to bring insight and focus into the professional life of educators. So, back to our question: What percentage of U.S. K–12 teachers do you think is fully engaged in its daily work? In a 2015 Gallup report on engagement among U.S. teachers, respondents indicated whether they were engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged at work based on responses to questions about workplace elements with proven links to performance outcomes.36 Gallup described three categories of engagement as follows.
What percentage of your colleagues do you think is actively engaged in its work each day? Describe your reasoning. How would you define actively engaged?
1. Engaged teachers are involved with, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work. They know the scope of their jobs and constantly look for new and better ways to achieve outcomes. (30 percent of all respondents)
2. Not engaged teachers may be satisfied with their jobs, but they are not emotionally connected to their workplaces and are unlikely to devote much discretionary effort to their work. Discretionary effort is a hallmark of measuring the teaching profession as meeting your passion and purpose. (57 percent of respondents)
3. Actively disengaged teachers are not only unhappy, but also act out their unhappiness in ways that undermine what their coworkers accomplish. (13 percent of respondents)37
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