A Few Words on Educators in Transition

There are hundreds of places where Educators are valued outside the pure practice of “educating”.

If you are an Educator and reading this consider the following: Your “value-mix” – your unique proposition to an organization – comes from what it is you can do, not where you chose to do it. It is your mix of competencies, education, skill sets, experience, talent, professional characteristics and more, NOT the venue in which you practiced them. When you consider the value you bring to the table, consider it from about 10,000 feet – the big picture perspective that is.

Educators are disciplined organizers who must learn early on in their careers to manage their time, and that of others, wisely. Although their classroom hours may be structured for them, all that they do in the preparation and creating of new approaches and the monitoring, et al is performed in an unsupervised environment. This means that they have to set the structure themselves, on their own time, and maintain the discipline required to keep at it. Have you ever known an Educator who does not have strong scheduling, planning, time management and administrative skills? Just to be minimally effective requires careful planning as to course content, materials to be used, pace of learning, plus the optimum mix of role playing, testing, lecturing, drill, and more – very similar to project managers in business and industry. Here are some perspectives on Educators.

Educators are project managers – good ones! They HAVE to be in order to get through the day, week and year. They are normally assigned duties beyond the classroom: Parent and teacher meetings; conferences; professional development workshops; associations meetings; coursework; and presiding over one or more student activities. It is left up to them to provide the organizational structure, goals, milestones for progress, and they are the final authority on matters that might be in dispute. At the same time, they have to understand group dynamics, build consensus, and enlist/enroll others to contribute so that they get the most out of the raw enthusiasm and talent that their students can bring to an activity. Too, it is they who see that the objectives are met and gets things done, day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute.

If an Educator fails to function well as expert project manager and leader, the evidence is glaring and staring them in the face. A poor newspaper article, a yearbook that doesn’t come out on time, a junior prom that flops, an art show with unfinished projects, an archaeology club with no field trips… lack of results has immediate and harsh consequences. When you think about it, time after time and year after year, Educators as a group do turn in outstanding performances in these many roles they are asked to fill.

Educators are Public Relations, Communications and Community Affairs professionals as they are involved in group and individual sessions with parents/providers/administrators/unions/board members. Often different aspects of the community are touched by Educators’ activities, thus tactful and carefully thought-out communications is a must. This has become especially critical in recent years as schools have been asked to take over more and more of the roles formerly filled by families and the community. For those who are creative and/or thrive on new challenges, it’s a jolt of adrenalin every day.

Educators are Counselors and Consultants. They are expected to provide the psychological and emotional support that many of their students AND families require. They also counsel and consult with each other. This requires the qualities of a good listener, advanced communications skills, a person who gets beyond the symptoms to the causes, a perceptive person who is supportive, compassionate and bold … all these come to the foreground in the Educators who function as counselor and consultant. And finally...

Many formal Educators are General Managers who have started and run small businesses during the summer. It makes little difference whether it is a concession stand at the shore, a landscaping or house painting company, part ownership in a local restaurant, operation of a summer camp or a basketball clinic, running tours for students, working in Retail, or building home additions. In any of these businesses, they learn what it means to meet a payroll and what cash flow and generating revenue are all about; and they learn to deal with the pressures involved in making a profit. They understand the importance of systems to control operations, costs and quality, and the importance of good customer service and “selling” too. They oversee operations; plan direction; serve as spokespersons; train and organize; recruit and motivate, and more … and they know how to “act in the moment” to make adjustments when things aren’t going as planned. These Educators also understand logistics and supply chain and many other aspects fundamental to running a business. In general, they can do almost anything good managers of successful small to mid-size businesses can do, and accordingly, for all the Educators who have run or helped run businesses, there are tens of thousands of potential employers -they include just about every small and medium-sized business in the U.S.

Just a few words on Educators! Hopes this helps someone.

Yours truly!