There was once a great book many of my contemporaries read when our kids were little. The book was called Blessings of a Skinned Knee and was written by Wendy Mogel (Clinical Psychologist and Talmudic Scholar).
The book spoke to all of us first-time, often overprotective moms about the opportunities to turn those skinned knees, bad grades, and failed auditions into lessons of resilience, compassion, and so much more.
I love this book, and we have often celebrated mistakes as opportunities to learn within our family. If you would like the stories that go along with this, please refer to my kids 🙂
Now, here is how I have used these theories in my management style.
Here is a real-life story:
I was truly blessed when my director assigned a lovely new graduate to work for my team. Hmmmm, let’s call her Brittany. I had spent limited time with her prior to her move to my team. All I knew was that she lived near me, she was very well-spoken, always smiled, and seemed to have a terrific attitude.
What I would come to learn was that she was one of those bright stars in the world of fundraising who fell victim to the lack of training—but, I will be sure to tell you when you do something wrong “cycle.”
Oh no, not that.
Within a short time, I would also learn that she was VERY smart, extremely coachable, and eager to learn, with a clear goal to be the very best at everything she touched.
Every slip or misunderstanding was turned into an opportunity to learn and grow.
Every opportunity for coaching was taken…including the long period of at-home lockdown called COVID-19. I can’t even tell you how she took those days to grow into a nimble and inventive fundraiser. She took advantage of every bit of coaching available and used it to grow her expertise.
Today, she is a Development Director, a very good Development Director!
Today, she coaches others and turns their skinned knees into opportunities to grow.
Getting permission to coach:
I take this SO seriously that way back in 2021, I wrote an entire blog about getting permission to coach.
Truly, you ask your team if they are willing to be coached by YOU on how they can be more effective at their job. Then, you can ask them how they like to be coached.
Some folks like to go through a process.
How could we have done this better or differently?
What did you learn?
Some folks like a spoonful of sugar, like a warm hug full of input.
Then there are those who like to receive their input like a shot of tequila at a fraternity party (like I would know what that is—hahaha).
The important thing is to understand what will work and how YOU, as their leader, can help them grow.
OK, a moment about broken knees.
I have learned that sometimes your knee is so broken that you may not be able to fix it.
There may be too much on your manager’s plate, or the structure of the organization does not give them the ability to hire a consultant, or the culture of the organization is just not a place where you can have healthy knees.
Then, maybe use your knees and the legs attached to take yourself to another organization where you can grow and thrive and get the coaching needed to be the fundraising professional you have the potential to be.
I have become an expert on Knees over the years not just because I have had two ACL repairs but because I have taken a few blows to my knees over the years and come back stronger.
All of us at Team Kat & Mouse truly love to coach and would love to help you take your team through the skinned knees, the broken knees, and the knee replacement with the lessons needed to move to greatness.
Reach out today to Team Kat & Mouse for your free consultation.
This lovely Vintage picture is from after my first Knee surgery- clearly the large brace shows I did NOT let my broken knee slow me down. The silver ski outfit shows it was probably sometime in the early to mid 1990's and someplace in Colorado.
I thought I looked Tough :)
And, to my sister who just had knee replacement- hang in there- you are a warrior!
erwdas
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