Dear Parents,
I want to first off praise the Lord for what he has given me in my life. I am loving my Call to Christ the King. My family and I feel welcomed and at home. I am glad I am the principal here and I want to keep moving CTK in a great direction.
I will come out and say a flaw of myself. Usually it is hard for someone to admit their weaknesses. Most interviews, you have the question, "What is one of your weaknesses?" We are trained to spin that question into a positive, instead of actually admitting our faults. One of my key answer for that question has been, I work hard, sometimes too hard. That answer is true, I am not lying, but I want it to portray a positive image about myself. I remember in one of my interviews, which I wasn't too sure about the position or even if I wanted to get the job, I was asked that famous question and I answered it, "I am a sinful person, I don't deserve anything I have received." I could never been more honest in that question, but also didn't really answer the question. So here I am looking from the outside onto myself, one of my weak areas is, "EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION". What does that mean though? If you don't know by now, I am not a paper type of person. I am very online, electronically, and green. I can be very stubborn in that way. Also with that, I know what I want, or I know the goal I want, but I am not always the best explaining it or putting it in words. If you have something to say to me, I prefer to have it in an email then face to face or on the phone. That is how I feel comfortable. Part of Effective Communication is adapting to how others communicate. My door is always open for you to stop by to say hi, or need to talk.
The secular world would want to believe, that we would never have an issue at CTK with sin or anything, but we do. We are sinful and we do sin. I have had a few conversations with individuals and some items have come up that would fall into the non-effective communication pot. Looking at my own weakness, I want to change that. One thing that I found and I have brought it up with my teachers is this concept " The Question Behind The Question." http://qbq.com/ While reading about this concept, they gave an example of a teacher asking, “Why don’t the parents read the beginning of the year information that was sent home?” I have heard that question before as a Principal and I have asked that question as a teacher. Griping and moaning, Why can't the parents just get it? Going to a fellow teacher, Do your parents get it? Do they understand what we are trying to do here? But, what is the problem with all of those questions? It has nothing to do with yourself or something you can change. It is putting the focus on someone or something else. The QBQ method wants us to ask the question behind that question. So taking our initial question from the teacher, "Why don't the parents read the information..." We shouldn't just ask that, but ask “What can I do differently to communicate this important information to the parents?” Another QBQ might be, How can I communicate to all of the parents the importance of this information?” I am asking my teachers and myself to do this and remember to ask that question behind the question.
In the same request of the teachers to ask the question behind the question, I am asking you, the parents to do the same. I know it may be hard, and it may take some time to get into the habit of asking that question. We are all sinful. But, Effective Communication is needed. One of the issues we have right now at CTK is our parking lot. Speeding, Wrong Way Driving, and plain, old selfishness is plaguing our parking lot. I have been asking the question behind the question on this topic. The question is, "How do we get people to act courteous and drive safely?" I have been wondering how can we better ask that question. We tried having Vickie standing out in the corner of the modular, which was after we put the few cones and slow down guy. We have put it in the newsletter, fast direct, and school reach messaging system. You can find a parking lot diagram on our website. I have had a few parents give great thoughts about how to change some of our issues, and we are looking into them, but as of right now, not sure that will decrease the speeding, wrong way driving, or mean words that have fallen onto our parking lot.
Lastly, I want to remind you the parents, that I welcome your thoughts, your opinions, and your love for CTK. I know when you are upset, it is because you want the best for your Child and for the school. But, I urge you to follow the Gospel of Matthew. If you have an issue with a teacher or a coach, go to them first. And, follow the chain of command. I know the frustration you may have or the feeling that as Principal I can dictate orders, but as much as I am here for you the parents, I am here for my teachers. It will help my relationships with my teachers by doing so. It is not that I don't care, because I do. I care too much at times (another great answer to that weakness interview question).
We are in a Customer Service business / ministry. We want everyone to be happy and we want everyone to learn. Lastly we want everyone to grow closer to Christ.
When I started this post, I goodsearched Effective Communication. It returned this website http://www.helpguide.org/mental/effective_communication_skills.htm Now, I haven't read everything on it word for word, but looked over their skills and believe those are wonderful skills to work on to help improve CTK all around.
If you have pointers so I can effectively communicate with you in a more concise and appropriate way, please let me know. Some of you will be leaving CTK for one reason or another (and besides moving or graduating, I will be sad) and some of you are CTK lifers. Your in here for life. Maybe because you have many children, or you are part of our Church family. I know it has been a long time since we bought the Penn Campus and talks about us moving over there. That is still in the works and I am hoping to better communicate where we are at and where we are going in the near future. My goal is to be moved over as soon as possible. But, I know it may take longer than I want. See that is another weakness of mine. When I have a goal, I just want to get there. I am never happy with where I am at, I always want to improve (another stock answer for that weakness interview question.)
In God
Dan
QBQ Article I read - https://luthed.org/mailingfile/viewfile/id/23949
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