NYC Education - A BetterUp Leadership Story

oh look at these old pH gra you here to embarrass me about get these olds God oh yes my mom came here because she wanted a better life myself and my sister we weren't rich but we believed in education yeah this is me you and Lisa this is my graduation from H he was a good student you attended to your lessons actually my sister would always call me an undercover nerd because I would have to balance that growing up in the urban city and trying to be cool education that was the way out to excel church school and church and this is the old block remember that's to navigate New York City school system as an immigrant parent that had to be hard she didn't know anything except you're coming here and you're going to go to school not knowing what's the outcomes what about curriculum what teachers did they put in front of us she was just taking a leap of faith I think about change I constantly think about what has been the same what has not been the same how things could get better how could we improve you know back then the field of Psychology was relatively new I don't believe that teachers well-being were being considered looking back I had a teacher but I'm not even thinking about what they may be facing to actually wake up to come into this classroom to teach me and the burden is ensuring that everyone has the same opportunity as their other person the neighborhood shouldn't dictate the level of service that the children are receiving what I'm doing is about making other leaders sir good to see you welcome now that I'm actually part of the system one thing I'm directly responsible for is the teacher Recruitment and Retention wanted to talk about those two candidates we have an attrition rate you know people leave yearly whether it's through their own accord they time out they retire I am charged with ensuring that when parents drop their kids off there is a certified teacher in front of that student teaching them look at these beautiful people here look at this I know doing the hard work how you doing and that's just the bare minimum we got to think of ways to support them make sure that they don't burn down put them in the best position so that they can affect and make the impact for the 900,000 students that we are charged with serving the fact that you feel like entrepreneurs within a structured system and you're able to be free and be creative being a leader is all about making impact if I lose these staff members somebody that has the historical and institutional knowledge to move this system and who are very integral to shaping the lives of our children why not invest in them versus me going out hiring somebody training them up it's a fraction of the course and you done a great job with this school Chris under your leadership I was in a unique position because I'm also a doctoral candidate industrial organizational psychology I understand positive psychology looking at an individual and understanding how can we build upon their strength you can measure progress and behaviors progress in somebody's well-being emotions it's proven fact talk about the impact and your legacy that you want to leave I wanted to give people coaching great question it's not that something was wrong I just knew that something was better but what I found is when researching what's out there it wasn't available able to everyone a lot of solutions will sell you a product and that's it you spent the money like hey bye you're on your own did you follow the directions we meet everybody where they are right so we teach fundamentals from the start I came across better that's like yo you can get access to coaching 7 days a week 365 days a year they internationally certified and I was like nice oh good afternoon everyone the technology is there the connection and they have the science-based research behind it wasn't just lip service they're on to something you know this is a sports school and I'm very much involved with coaching on another level I want to hear from you all what does your coach mean to each of you my coach means family to me have somebody that navigate until you get right from wrong and it's okay to mess up okay what we're going to do today and what I believe I've done is democratize coaching making

it available to everyone within the organization who wants it with disregard to their position betterup provides me a platform give them something where whatever they need to work on professionally or personally as long as they're committed I have something for you and I promise you it's going to change your life and because it's going to change the outcomes of the organization children's lives it goes back to their homes and it changes the community people now feel a connection because they understand that I am them and they are me I wish that this could be for everybody it's in your hand and if you can't capitalize upon this right now you're going to be left behind and those who are using it are going to be light years ahead I would bet my money on this creates the leaders of tomorrow that's what I envisioned I wanted to make that type of impact