January 2022

Thank You

Thank you to all of our Central Office managers for your support, understanding and flexibility as our team members have been assigned to and are helping at schools one day a week. As you know, the challenge to keep schools open for our kids has become extremely difficult, now more than ever during the recent surge in COVID cases. Our Central Office team members are already making a difference in keeping schools open for in-person learning, and our leaders have shared what a difference this is making for their students.   We are happy to share that we've had very few hiccups -- which is in a big part thanks to you, our leaders, and your collaboration and problem-solving within departments and between others assigned to the same schools. This goes a long way in helping our team members feel supported and is making sure our students have the help they need. As a reminder, if you have any questions about the assignments, please refer to our FAQ, which includes information about extra-duty pay and training supports that might be helpful for team members.  Thank you for helping prioritize work and manage your team through this transition. You are exemplifying what it means to put Students First.

Updates & FYI

ICYMI: Updated In-person Meeting Guidance

As a reminder, small in-person meetings are permitted at this time for up to 10 people, as long as 6 feet of distance can be maintained among all attendees. Team members should also provide the option at all meetings for participants to join remotely. This allows us to get more of the benefits of in-person collaboration and culture-building, while also adhering to strong safety guidelines and providing the flexibility to join meetings remotely for those who prefer it. All meetings with more than 10 attendees should take place virtually. For more information about meeting, isolation and mitigation guidance, click here.

Encourage Your Team to Take the DPS ‘Your Voice/Tu Voz’ Survey Beginning Jan. 24

Our mid-year DPS “Your Voice/Tu Voz” Survey opens on Monday! The survey will be sent to all team members’ DPS email address. Responses to the survey inform decisions on how we can better support Team DPS, so please take the survey yourself and encourage your team to complete this confidential survey. Note: The survey will include CollaboRATE engagement questions. CollaboRATE leader questions will be released in March. The final DPS Your Voice/Tu Voz Survey of the year will occur in May.

Growth & Performance

Host LIFT and CCE Mid-Year Performance Conversations by Feb. 28

Host mid-year performance conversations with your LIFT and CCE eligible team members Feb. 1-28 for the 2021-22 performance year.  Follow these next steps to help you prepare: Step 1: Schedule individual time with your direct reports. Complete all conversations by Feb. 28. Step 2: Review and share these best practices with your team members. Step 3: Watch this screencast and utilize these resources: Conversation Strategies, H/M/L Conversation Template and Sample Conversations.    Step 4: Review the Mid-Year tab in the Growth & Performance Template and document the conversation there. As always, feedback should be ongoing and timely to help team members grow. Consider using this two-way feedback form. Visit the LIFT and CCE pages on The Commons for more information.

LIFT Leaders: Identify Career Stallers for Yourself and Your Team

Career stallers are things that hold us back or make us less successful. For example, fixing the mistakes of direct reports rather than coaching and developing or maintaining the status quo rather than seeking improvements can stall growth. Success in our roles and in transitioning to new roles requires us to acquire new skills and let go of things that don't serve us well. Career stallers are important to identify, so we can focus on growth and development for ourselves and our team members.   Identify career stallers for you or your team by verifying the LIFT Level, then click on the appropriate link below to review career stallers for leaders of:  Self Others Programs Teams Leaders Functions Organization We encourage you to use the career stallers to plan next steps for yourself and your team members.

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