Page 22 - AASBO EDGE Summer 2023 WEB

You’re Not Just-a School Employee
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costly assumption that our workers make for
themselves and the organization.”
Brown paused and emphasized: “Everyone and
everything has a purpose – nothing is unimportant.”
The just-a system has an element of fear, he
explained: “Employees are hesitant to stick their
necks out for fear of rejection, like being told,
‘Who the heck do you think you are?’ Or ridicule,
or being held accountable for things they cannot
control.”
“A just-a person is one
who feels their actions
or job has little or no
direct effect.”
Likewise, bosses are hesitant to involve employees
out of fear that they will lose control, that traditional
command-and-control systems have not kept
up, that customer expectations, technology and
globalization are constantly changing, or that their
success increasingly relies on the involvement of
lower echelon employees – that’s the just-a system.
“Consequently, they have an irrational need to
micromanage,” Brown said.
Another key issue is trust – the ability for qualified
people to act on their own, regardless of their job
title. “School districts have a leg up on trust,”
Brown said. “We are comprised almost entirely of
leaders and self-supervised people.”
Moreover, mutual trust helps attract and retain top
talent, encourages problem-solving and buy-in,
causes productivity rates to increase, improves
communication, and reduces isolation, Brown
explained.
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Four dimensions of trust involve whether you can
do the job, will you do the job, will you fit in, and
can you communicate effectively? “By the way,
every question in a job interview falls into one of
these categories,” Brown added.
Choice is another powerful tool. “If we choose to
become just-a people, we will unhappily accept
our situation, gripe about it and nothing changes,”
Brown said. “We are not just-a anything. Everyone
chooses how they react to life’s situations. We
can choose to be happy or we can choose to be
miserable. We cannot choose the hand that is dealt
us, only how we choose to play it,”
Brown commended AASBO members, saying
they meet and exceed expectations every day,
under nearly impossible conditions. “You are
trained, certified and tested,” he said. “Most
importantly, you care. You are critical to the
success of education and more importantly, our
future. Our bosses know they are lucky to have
you and although they don’t say so often enough
– thank you.”
Brown called it a terrible mistake to allow and
accept just-a people’s attitude. “Under-utilization
of our competent and caring people is one of
the greatest, preventable resource wastes of our
operations,” he said. “Teamwork has the incredible
power to increase productivity, job satisfaction
and even a person’s individual performance.”
Brown recalled a quote from Helen Keller: “Alone
we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
He added: “We really are all in this together.”
Walter B. “Skip” Brown can be reached at:
drskipbrown@gmail.com or (602) 400-9192.
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THE EDGE SUMMER 2023