target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#i000036910000.jpg" alt="image"/> Can this book work for me if I am not a mission-driven leader? I've grappled with this question myself, but the answer is yes. I actually believe everything in this book can be applied to any busy leader. Go for it!
On the flip side, it's also possible to be incredibly Together yet highly ineffective. I'm sure you have all met the color-coded colleague with her notebook always at the ready along with a specific set of pens and a very neat desk. But at the end of the year, she actually didn't accomplish any of her goals. This person often has a very mechanically clean calendar but doesn't always prioritize. She might get the next steps from meetings accomplished without issue but can't stop to reflect on if she is actually doing things that will ensure she reaches her goals.
Can you be effective without being Together? Yes, but only for a short period of time. Eventually your disorganization will catch up with you in some way, whether it's your team getting tired of operating in crisis mode, losing enough sleep that you get sick all the time, or your family forgetting what you look like.
The goal is to be Together enough to achieve your goals, do your job to the best of your ability, and enjoy your life. This can happen when you and your organization routinize all predictable work, make processes more efficient, and ruthlessly plan ahead. I want you to have more headspace to think innovatively and creatively, react smoothly to true emergencies, and minimize as much job-related stress and overwhelmedness as possible.
My Own Togetherness Journey
It all started with my button collection when I was two years old … just kidding! In reality, I've been fortunate to work in leadership roles for several high-performing nonprofits and school districts. And I've served as a Together coach and trainer for organizations, traditional school districts, stand-alone charter schools, and more. I've directly coached leaders in start-up mode, those in rapid-growth mode, and veteran leaders trying to sustain systems. And my own Togetherness journey directly mirrors the way I decided to set up this book. Just as I had to learn to create and define systems for myself, systems for my teams, and then systems for my organizations, you will likely follow a similar path over the course of your career.
As I settled into my first nonprofit leadership role as an executive director at Teach For America, I needed to set a clear direction for my team. This helped me appreciate measurable goals, detailed plans to accomplish an ambitious set of objectives, and transparent roles and responsibilities.
After that, I oversaw a large summer teacher-preparation program that required me to manage an even larger team, this time spread out across the country. Together we learned about the value of managing our energy and ourselves to pull off a successful summer.
Following that, I took on an executive-level role in a growing charter school organization. Oh, and I got married and had two kids of my own. And so I really came to value organization-wide practices to support Togetherness – my organization and my family were rapidly scaling! Similar to you, I was interested in creating good in the world —and having a life.
Why This Book Is Different
Lots of good resources already exist on time management and leadership. Check out my website, www.thetogethergroup.com, for my ongoing list of favorite books, articles, and blogs. So why write (or read) another one? What's out there seems to split into two camps: the technical and the philosophical. On the technical side are outstanding titles such as Getting Things Done by David Allen and Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook by Michael Linenberger. For those who want to focus on prioritization and the philosophy of leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and First Things First, both written by the dearly beloved Steven Covey, and 168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam, are amazing. And I'm a big fan of Your Best Just Got Better by Jason Womack and The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg for routines, habits, and efficiencies.
Yet none of these speaks directly to the unique challenges faced by leaders in mission-driven settings. Effective writing and training on Togetherness has to be practical – focused on tools and rituals – and neutral – applicable to anyone who leads people – whether in a school building, nonprofit, central office, or volunteer organization. I can't tell you what your goals or priorities should be, but I sure can help you achieve them by helping you ask the right questions, build the right tools, and develop the right rituals for yourself.
My work is rooted in this mind-set: What is good is what works. I draw best practices from many of the cited titles, but the bulk of my research and examples come directly from the thousands of workshop participants and many coaching clients I have been privileged to learn from in the past decade. I've been welcomed into high-performing nonprofits, strong school districts, advocacy organizations, and rural schools. And I've been fortunate enough to coach leaders of all levels directly in their own environments, which enables me to bear witness to every single emergency, interruption, and crisis that can throw off a well-planned day. You will see many of my past clients featured in this book. Quite deliberately, I have chosen people and organizations who get strong results but are not wild perfectionists.
One of my biggest observations is that the Togetherness journey is personal, specific to one's own habits, preferences, and organizational culture. I am not going to sell you a particular gadget, lock you into one specific app, or require you to purchase a certain planner. I'm remarkably indifferent about specific tools, but I'm a staunch believer in strong routines, planning, boundaries, and communication. And I'm going to really push you to ensure your goals are clear and your actions are aligned to meet them.
How This Book Is Organized
The Together Leader is organized into five sections. It is designed to be read sequentially, though I invite you to pick and choose chapters based on your specific needs. In between sections, you will also find real-life examples of how organizations have put systems into action. And peppered throughout, you will find vignettes of real-life leaders facing common challenges. Last, scattered between chapters, you will get to read Togetherness Talks from real-life mission-driven leaders, most of whom still continue in their current capacities – though a few have moved on to new ventures. In the case of a job move, I chose to keep the position listed at the time of the sample for consistency. But everyone's samples are active and the real deal. In several cases, we created cleaner versions if there was an issue with readability or pared down a document so you could dive more deeply but know this content is not invented! Almost all the tools and templates you'll see throughout the book can be found on my website, www.thetogethergroup.com, using the passcode provided with the book. There you will also find additional samples, videos, and modifiable templates.
Section 1 : Set the Stage
These initial chapters set the stage for why productivity and time management in your unique, mission-driven context is so important. This section also helps you evaluate your current strengths and gaps as they relate to tools, routines, and mind-sets.
Chapter 1 : Leading in a Mission-Driven Context: You are here! This chapter is designed to preview the what, why, and how of the book.
Chapter 2 : Take Stock: Assess Your Togetherness Level: This chapter is full of quizzes and assessments to help you determine your current level of Togetherness and set your purpose for reading.
Section 2 : Get Clear on Your Purpose
