Blog #82: How Can I Help You Versus What Do You Want?

There are so many components that make up a great educator leader. One could write 100 blogs about all of the components, yet one thing I think about often is this simple concept: How can I help you? versus What do you want?

We have hundreds of requests throughout our work week: communicating with students, parents, staff, etc. We can get bogged down and certainly frustrated at times. Yet if we have the “How can I help you?” mindset when we respond to others, you can’t lose! You’re being helpful to others, seeking to understand, and being positive. By responding with “How can I help you?,” it doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to honor that request, or do it in the way that the person is asking. What it does mean is that you are listening and being respectful.

My former college basketball coach John Thompson now at North Carolina Wesleyan College said something to me that I think about often when working with people, especially when hiring new ones. I asked him in an interview, “What type of kids do you look for when you are recruiting?” His answer was simple. He responded with “OKG’s.” OKG’s, you ask? Our Kind of Guys/Gals. I want to be an OKG and I also want to work with OKG’s. OKG’s are people that are empathic, competent, energetic, have growth mindsets, and just people that you want to be around. They also are simplifiers.

John Thompson

Another mentor and friend John Clougherty, former Supervisor of Basketball Officials for the ACC, used to talk about simplifiers and complicators often. Regardless of the situation, are you a simplifier or complicater? Are you bringing solutions? By asking the question, “How can I help you?”, you are most definitely becoming a simplifier and fixing situations, solving problems, and helping people around you.

John Clougherty

Continue to model these behaviors for your staff and continue to ask the question “How can I help you?” #OKG #Simplifier. Thanks to Coach T & John Clougherty for these mindsets and advice.