December 2, 2025 • 26 mins
Ever feel like the noise never stops? We invited Dr. Amanda March, former school psychologist, professional learning expert, and founder of Rise and Align Consulting, to help us turn down the volume and bring clarity back to teaching and leading. Through vivid stories and practical tools, Amanda shows how naming and living core values reduces burnout, speeds up decision-making, and builds a school culture that actually supports the work.
We unpack the science behind values alignment: what cognitive dissonance does to your brain and why aligning actions with beliefs lowers cortisol and lifts motivation. Amanda’s “tale of two district leaders” reveals how apparent personality clashes, independence versus collaboration, can transform into complementary strengths when teams do a simple values sort and embed organizational values alongside mission and goals. The result is fewer assumptions, more trust, and faster progress on what matters most for students.
If perfectionism keeps you stuck, you’ll hear why it’s more helpful to treat it as an anti-value and replace it with a daily micro-practice: Rise, Align, Reflect. Choose one value each morning, define how you’ll embody it, and keep a visible reminder so you can redirect when you slip into polishing or procrastination. We also share team practices, like quick value shout outs, that deliver immediate wins for culture, recognition, and focus. This is minimalist education in action: fewer distractions, clearer choices, and consistent habits that protect energy and impact.
If this conversation helps you rethink, reduce, or realign part of your practice, follow the show, share it with a colleague, and leave a review with your top core value. Your feedback helps others find these tools and keeps the work moving forward.
Find our book The Minimalist Teacher and Your School Leadership Edit: A Minimalist Approach to Rethinking Your School's Ecosystem at the links!
Follow on Instagram @PlanZEducation and @minimalist_ed_podcast.
The Minimalist Educator Podcast is a Plan Z Education Services adventure.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:16):
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast,
where the focus is on a less ismore approach to education.
Join your hosts, ChristineArnold and Tammy Musiowski,
authors of The MinimalistTeacher and your school
leadership edit, a minimalistapproach to rethinking your
school ecosystem, each week asthey explore practical ways to
simplify your work, sharpen yourfocus, and amplify what matters
(00:40):
most so you can teach and leadwith greater clarity, purpose,
and joy.
SPEAKER_02 (00:46):
On this week's episode of the podcast, we have
a discussion about thrivingschool support and values with
Dr.
Amanda March.
Dr.
Amanda March is a nationallycertified school psychologist,
professional learningconsultant, and founder of Rise
and Align Consulting.
With over 20 years ofexperience, she specialises in
(01:07):
translating research intopractice to support systemic
improvement and capacitybuilding.
Amanda serves as the executivedirector and past president of
Learning Forward Florida.
Her work focuses on aligningpersonal and organizational
values to drive meaningfulsustainable change.
She has worked with educationalinstitutions such as Harvard's
(01:28):
Proving Ground, Pearson,Michigan's MTSS Technical
Assistance Centre, and theFlorida Problem Solving Response
to Intervention Project.
Amanda brings deep expertise inadult learning, inclusive
facilitation, and transformativeleadership.
SPEAKER_03 (01:46):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Christine and I today aretalking with Dr.
Amanda March, who is a brilliantmind.
So we're excited to have youwith us today, Amanda.
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Oh, thank you so much.
I don't know about brilliant,but I'll take it.
If it's coming from you, youguys are both brilliant, I'll
take it.
But yes, thanks so much forhaving me.
SPEAKER_03 (02:11):
I would love to talk a little, well, I want to talk
about all the things, obviously.
But we'll start with how did youcome to the path that you're on
right now with focusing on alignvalues alignment?
I'm super interested in that.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
Sure.
Thank you.
And, you know, talking about,especially now mid-career,
middle age, of course, I have along path of professional
leadership roles and things likethat.
But I'm it all led me here.
So I'm a school psychologist bytraining and founded Rise in
(02:50):
aligned consulting a couple ofyears ago, based on the premise
of really just like leaning intomy passion and my core values.
And one of my core values isevidence.
And so since I've been a schoolpsychologist and then practiced
in the schools, had a lot ofleadership roles there, went
back to get my PhD to specializein organizational consultation,
(03:14):
systems change, and then allthings professional learning and
bringing really evidence orresearch to practice.
So, really what got meinterested in values and values
alignment is the evidence outthere to suggest how powerful it
is when not only we identify ourcore values, but then also we
(03:35):
define them, communicate them,and live by them day to day, not
just as individuals, but also aseducators and leaders to reach
the goals that we have set forourselves more efficiently and
effectively.
I call it the secret sauce toadult learning and professional
learning, but really the secretsauce, the fuel to achieve our
(03:55):
goals and to get rid of thenoise and the distractions in
what we want to accomplish aseducators and leaders.
Love that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
Got to get rid of that, that extra noise in the
background for sure.
So coming from your experience,as well as that evidence piece
that you were just talkingabout, what would be some signs,
some clear signs that a school,an organization, or even just an
educator or leader is out ofalignment with their values?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
Oh, great question.
So, and and as educators likeyourself, we always talk about
examples and non-examples.
So let's go ahead and like mydefinition of core values and
the definition out there in theliterature, there's several, but
core values are those deeplyheld beliefs that guide how we
think, make decisions, andinteract with others, right?
So, someone, for example, mightvalue creativity.
(04:50):
For example, a teacher in theclassroom who values creativity
and the art of theirinstructional design and meeting
students where they are, butthey might feel misaligned with
that core value when, due totime constraints and a new
curriculum, they feel that theyhave to just rapidly approach
the scope and sequence asdefined.
And then what we find is whenyou're acting in misalignment,
(05:13):
there's that what you know inpsychology is called cognitive
dissonance.
Your brain actually wants to actin alignment with your core
values, but when it's notallowed to, our cortisol rises.
And we know that icky stresshormone colders cortisol, right?
It stresses us out.
We burn out, we start todisengage, and we start seeing
lack of job satisfaction andlack of engagement within the
(05:38):
classroom.
If we're talking about thisexample, and then even
engagement with things that usedto keep give bring us joy with
our relationships and so forth.
So, what we know is when wedefine our core values, know
what really helps us live withinour true values and act in
alignment with them.
The cortisol goes down, thatcognitive dissonance minimizes
(06:01):
or depletes, and we start seeingthose good doses of dopamine in
our brain.
Not the dopamine hits we getwhen we're doom scrolling, you
know, on Facebook and I do itmyself or, you know, on
Instagram for those cat videosand all of that.
But really using the good typeof dopamine, which when it fuels
us, we start seeing ummotivation increase, our
(06:24):
long-term memory increases, jobsatisfaction, senses of
belonging, all of these reallyfacilitators and protective
factors for teachers, foreducators, as well as for
students.
So really identifying what thosecore values are, and I've worked
with many a leadership team todo this, really helps us stay on
(06:45):
course and then really helps usidentify and determine what is
no longer serving us as leadersand within our organization.
It helps us with those decisionmaking, those difficult
decisions.
Cause when we're acting inalignment with core values,
decisions become easier and moreclear.
SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
Speaking our language, that is absolutely.
Yeah.
So can you talk a little bit,maybe, maybe have an example
that'll come to mind.
When you're working with schoolleaders or teachers or teams,
what are some of thoseactivities or strategies that
(07:25):
you that are your go-to thingsthat help build resilience in
this practice?
Because it's it's pretty easy toget off track when we're, you
know, there is so much chaos andnoise around.
So what are some of those kinds,some of those resilience
builders?
SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Sure.
So one of one of my favoriteactivities that I've had great
success with is doing a corevalue sort and development of
organizational values withteams.
One example I provide a lot, Icall it the tale of two district
leaders.
And it's true, a couple of yearsago, I was working in Kansas.
That's as far as I'll say, Iwon't say what district.
(08:04):
And I had built a relationshipwith them as a consultant coming
in and really helping themevaluate some of the data that
they had for their strategicplan in their district, and then
identify, you know, what needsto go and what we need to beef
up in order to reach our goals.
I've been doing some classroomwalkthroughs, tons of meetings
with their district leadershipteam, problem solving.
They had a strong mission, astrong vision, and even some
(08:27):
goals there.
But what I call was what wasbecoming clear to me is that
invisible misalignment.
And I'll just kind of provideyou an example of how it led me
to the identification of thesecore values that was necessary.
So I'm sure you've been insituations like this as well.
(08:49):
There were two district leaders.
I won't say what their roleswere, but very high-level
district leaders.
One was Rhonda, one was Randy.
We'll call them that.
And before some of the meetings,I would always get called by one
of them and then the other ofthem.
So Randy would call me over andbe like, hey, you know, I love
Rhonda, she's great, but I needto warn you about her.
(09:10):
Have you been there before?
Right.
So, you know, in team meetings,she just, and then she really
wants to, she's just just reallynosy.
She always needs to get into mybusiness and everybody else's
business.
She distracts, she always like,you know, impairs the flow and
just needs to stay in her lane.
Well, and then of course, Rhondapulled me aside.
(09:31):
And guess what she was sayingabout Randy?
Randy is he never he's not atall collaborative, he's very
difficult to work with, healways has his own hidden
agenda, and he never wants totake the time to explore other
options.
So that got me thinking, I'mlike, okay, they're both clearly
working towards the same goal ofschool improvement, but what was
(09:52):
getting in the way there?
So they trusted me.
So we made some time to do acore value sort first with their
personal core values, which thenled them into the activity of
organizational values that theyembedded within their mission,
vision, and goal work.
And just knowing kind of thesebehaviors that I was telling you
about, what sort of core valuesdo you think bubbled to the
(10:14):
surface for these twoindividuals?
Of course, I do cards and wesort them out and they pick
their top 10 and then top fiveand then top three.
And then what is their one corevalue?
What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_03 (10:26):
That's a tough one because it almost, I mean, I
don't know if this is a corevalue, but it sounded like
control.
Sorry.
No, I get that.
You know something?
I'm like losing, I can't findthe right word that's like
positive sounding to that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:43):
So but to to be fair, Tammy, and I've told this
story uh many and many times,and that's what Randy would come
across as based on Rhonda'sexpression, like very
controlling and domineering anddoesn't take feedback and all of
that.
Well, it turned out his corevalue wasn't control, but
instead it was independence.
(11:07):
Independence.
So what Rhonda was seeing asmore control and what was
behaviors that were turning offin his worldview, he was much
more efficient and it was easierto reach what he was passionate
about, student success, by beingvery independent, working alone
and getting things done.
Okay.
What we found out then withRhonda after her core values
(11:30):
sort, what do you think Rhondavalued?
What are some terms thatpositive or negative that might
come out of her core valuessort?
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
She said she sounded like she really liked that
collaborative nature, thetalking back and forth, getting
viewpoints, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
Her top core value, exactly right, was
collaboration.
So in her worldview, her beliefswere that we are going to
achieve success only in so muchas we can be collaborative with
each other.
So those were two misalignedcore values that were getting in
the way of them working togethertowards their ultimate goal.
I kid you not, we shared.
(12:08):
They literally looked at eachother before they shared out
their core values and then justshared them with each other and
giggled.
It was like, ah, okay.
So then how can we take thisinformation to understand that
your behaviors aren't getting inthe way or aren't necessarily
impeding your goal?
We just need to figure out howto harness the power of our
(12:29):
actions, our core values andaction to get to the same goal.
From there, we developed fourorganizational goals that they
both and the rest of the teamwere able to come to consensus
on.
And all of a sudden, it was likea watershed moment for these
individuals.
So, in addition to having theirmission and vision and goals on
(12:51):
the wall, publicly displayed andtalking about them, we
integrated their valuesstatement because from an
organizational perspective,right, the values are how are
we, there, the kind of whatattitudes, behaviors, and
commitments from the team orfrom our group can we
demonstrate to create theorganization of our vision?
(13:12):
That's what was missing withinthis team.
And from there, they were ableto act more in alignment with
what they truly valued as ateam, which was, and
collaboration made itindependence did not, but Randy
was able to let go of that alittle bit now, understanding
how other people valued his workand activities.
SPEAKER_02 (13:33):
That's very cool.
Because I I was curious aboutwhat do you do when you have a
group of people that might havedifferent values?
But it sounds like just beingaware of other people's values
is so powerful because you knowa little bit more about where
they're coming from.
So that was a really coolexample to share.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Yeah, and and really what drives them.
And in the work that I do withprofessional learning for
professional learning, which ismy passion, talking about, you
know, the science of adultlearning and how to train,
support, and coach others, Ioften embed different types of
values, activities for teams tonot only understand, you know,
(14:11):
you as a leader, but how thepeople you're working with,
because professional learningand the good work doesn't live
in isolation.
In fact, high-qualityprofessional learning excels
from that collaborativeapproach, job-embedded approach.
So identifying and hearing howother people define their core
values from a leadershipperspective or a team member
perspective, provides youpowerful evidence on how to make
(14:36):
decisions a little bit moreclear and then how to really
make sure that we remind eachother the goals might be the
same, but how everybody choosesand prefers to get there might
look a little bit different,which can provide some great
information for leaders at alllevels.
SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
I can definitely see how your work and our work
around minimalism, there's ahuge crossover there.
Can you talk to a little bitmore to that idea of that
aligning with your values andgetting some clarity is really
supporting us in our worktowards minimalism?
SPEAKER_01 (15:10):
Yeah, so and again, you all as the experts in this
work, I would love to hear kindof your feedback on how I'm
framing this work and how youknow I'm seeing this Venn
diagram come together.
But of course, we know asleaders and educators, the sheer
volume of decisions that we faceevery day can be not just
(15:32):
challenging, but staggering,exhausting.
And I'll I'll be very vulnerablehere.
Sometimes when I get overwhelmedwith the amount of decisions, I
just shut down.
It's like I get stymied.
And it has been suggested thatteachers, for instance, make a
minimum of 1,500 decisionsdaily, right?
And that's on the low end.
Research has said that that'sprobably low.
(15:54):
And those decisions can rangefrom like, oh my gosh, when am I
going to get a bathroom break intoday?
Is it going to be, you know, thetransition to music, or will I
have to have my co-teacher takeover?
All the way to profound, youknow, big decisions financially,
impactful decisions like whichuniversal screening platform
should our district invest inout of all of the different
(16:15):
options.
So when we are clear with ourcore values, not only does this
help us provide insight intowhat direction we want to go,
especially when time getsreally, really taxing and all of
that.
But we know through neurologyand brain science and psychology
that when we are reminded of ourcore values, discuss them and
(16:38):
bring them to life every singleday, that our decision-making
ability becomes quicker, moreefficient, and more accurate day
to day.
And it's almost like buildingdifferent uh habits every single
day.
So where we might feeloverwhelmed, if we know, and
I'll list my six core valueshere.
I've got them, I know that thelistener can't see them, but I'm
(17:01):
showing you the list of minethat I keep posted every day.
Mine's courage, learning,collaboration, evidence,
curiosity, and humor.
But for those, when I wake upevery day overwhelmed with my
to-do list, a reminder of howI'm gonna show up as aligned
with my core values every dayhelps make that to-do list more
(17:21):
manageable and oftentimes helphelps me when we only have 24
hours in the day and we got tosleep at some time, helps me
eliminate because something'sgonna be taken off that list.
If it's not aligned with one ofthose six, it's off of the list.
So, from that perspective,getting rid of the noise and
becoming more of a minimalisteducator, I feel like leaning
(17:43):
into your core values reallyexemplifies the research and the
work that you all do.
But I would love to hear, youknow, your insights back on
that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:54):
One of the points that we bring up a lot in that
book and in other writings thatwe've done is that minimal
minimalism really is aboutfinding the value, the value in
things, right?
Like what value add does thisbring to what I'm doing?
And if it doesn't add value, whyam I doing it?
(18:16):
And so we talk a lot about thepurpose behind things.
And then once that's clear, youcan prioritize whatever lane
you're looking at, right?
It could be instructionalpractices, it could be looking
at your curriculum, it doesn'tmatter.
But you can use the sameframework to guide your thinking
(18:37):
and just clear out a bunch ofthe noise that just occupies our
brains.
And that noise is gonna staythere, but it helps us find a
focus.
And so we don't have toconstantly live in all of that
mental noise because there's somuch of it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
So much of it.
So it really kind of helps us.
So, like you said, it willalways be there, but tune it
down a little bit so it's justkind of a little bit of
background noise instead of abooming distraction throughout
our day that just againdistracts us from our purpose
and the good work that we do.
SPEAKER_03 (19:10):
I think that's a really great visual, actually,
when you said like the boomingnoise and just kind of tone it
down.
That's a super powerful visualbecause yeah, it is always there
in the background.
And something that can also livein the background for many of us
and can stagnate our alignmentwould be perfectionism.
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
Uh-huh.
Can we talk a little bit aboutthat?
Absolutely.
Well, and I'm I'm glad you bringthat up.
And and Tammy, I know you knowme, and perfectionism is
definitely something that Istruggle with.
I always have, and I know manyof us overachievers do.
So I'm not pointing fingers, butI feel like both of you can
relate, right?
For me, good is never enough.
(19:57):
It's it's an old script.
I don't need to get into thepsychology 101 behind it, right?
But it has to be perfect or it'snot, or it's worthless.
These are these old narrativesfrom childhood that comes up.
And when I get super passionate,especially in the service
industry that we're in withhelping other people achieve
their goals, whether it beadults or students, it becomes
(20:18):
even more elevated.
So perfectionism is mymisaligned characteristic,
right?
Of my values.
So is where other people seeperfectionism as some goal to
achieve, I've had to reframethat.
Perfectionism is no longer agoal for me.
My goals are very different.
(20:40):
Perfectionism is actually ananti-value of mine now.
I've actually had to breathethat into the air because
perfectionism stymies me.
It boosts my cortisol up, right?
And then I get lost in the noiseand dysfunction and my to-do
lists.
So that's why one thing thatI've started to do, I've called,
(21:02):
I call it the rise align andreflect activity.
I do it every morning instead ofjournaling, which I kind of know
it's good.
The research is sound behind it.
It's my quick way to journal andreflect upon how I'm going to
live in the moment and live inmy core value each day.
So I simply get into my plannerand there's a little part here
(21:23):
where I pick one, not all six ofmy core values.
Sometimes even that overwhelmsme.
I pick one for the day.
I write it down and I decide howI am going to embody that value
today.
So, for example, today's valuewas curiosity.
And I even have a values cardsort deck that I can provide you
(21:44):
some information on to peakvalues.
So I actually pull the card thatI'm working on today is
curiosity, and I literally putit on my screen to remind me to
lean into the value of my strongdesire to know or learn
something new, inquisitiveinterest.
So when I remember that, I seeit.
(22:04):
When my perfectionismtendencies, even sending the
perfect email comes through, Iremember, no, no, no, I'm
leaning into curiosity.
I'm sending this email to apotential client, not to provide
a perfect response to theirquestion, but to inquire more
about how I can provide aservice to them to get them to
where I need to go.
That's it seems like a simpleshift, but I it challenges me
(22:26):
every day.
But that rise, align, andreflect kind of card pool has
really done wonders for me.
So that is one strategy I wouldrecommend to some of your
listeners, no matter how they doit, reflect upon their core
value and how they are checkingevery single, you know, maybe
every couple of hours.
How are you doing?
(22:47):
When do you need to kind ofreconfigure?
Or are you getting into sittingthere scrolling on cat videos
because I'm distracted becauseI'm overwhelmed with
perfectionism?
Instead, let's refocus and getback to our core values.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
I love that idea of just picking one and coming back
to it, coming back to it, comingback to it.
That's that's really awesome.
Amanda, this has been such agreat chat.
And I I hate that we're havingto wrap up in a second, but we
do like to end our episodes witha pair-down pointer.
Do you have one strategy thatyou would like to share with us?
(23:23):
Might be something that you'vealready touched on.
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Sure.
Well, that was one of them.
I have a couple of strategies.
Another one that I have seenwork really, really well in
group situations, I call it justa value shout out.
So once you've identified yourcore values, and I will also
shout out, I've got a mission,vision, values, and goals
facilitated discussion tool forteams.
(23:46):
If teams are interested in doingthat type of work to identify
their core values as a team andthen how to integrate it into
their work, it's available foryou.
But once you've identified yourcore values of the team at any
level of the organization,publicly acknowledge not just
like when you show up, but whenyou see another member of your
team show up and exemplify andpersonify that core value.
(24:10):
That could be in, you know, avirtual platform.
We used to use Jamboards all thetime.
That went away, some sort ofpublic forum, maybe in
leadership team meetings at thestart of the day, maybe
reviewing the norms, but alsoprovide that quick minute or
whip around of celebratingsuccesses and living core values
and what that looks like andcelebrating that.
(24:32):
Again, publicly acknowledgingit, even if it's not about you
personally, giving that feedbackto somebody else not only
benefits them with that feedbackand boosts their dopamine, you
get the hit as well, thatpositive dopamine.
And it's also a nice callback tothe purpose of your work, right?
(24:52):
And to minimize the noise andrefocus.
So that is one strategy orpeer-down pointer that if
anybody takes one thing awayfrom, shout out shout it out
when you see other people livingtheir core values or their team
values.
SPEAKER_03 (25:07):
Thank you so much, Amanda.
That is super powerful.
And I don't think we do itenough.
Thank you for being with ustoday.
That was such a greatconversation, and we're gonna
have to have you back.
SPEAKER_01 (25:18):
Oh, I would love it.
Anytime, anytime.
Thank you all so much, and Ilook forward for the ongoing
work and continue to rise andalign each day with your core
values.
SPEAKER_02 (25:27):
This episode was brought to you by Rise and Align
Consulting.
Elevate your impact, aligningorganizational values with
actionable strategies fortransformative change.
Find out more at Rise and AlignConsulting.com.
SPEAKER_00 (25:43):
Thank you for listening to the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Join Christine and Tammy andguests again next time for more
conversations about how tosimplify and clarify the
responsibilities and tasks inyour role.
If today's episode helped yourethink, reimagine, reduce, or
realign something in yourpractice, share it in a comment
(26:04):
or with a colleague.
For resources and updates, visitplan zeducation.com and
subscribe to receive weeklyemails.
Until next time, keep it simpleand stay intentional.
Welcome to the Minimalist Educator Podcast,
where the focus is on a less ismore approach to education.
Join your hosts, ChristineArnold and Tammy Musiowski,
authors of The MinimalistTeacher and your school
leadership edit, a minimalistapproach to rethinking your
school ecosystem, each week asthey explore practical ways to
simplify your work, sharpen yourfocus, and amplify what matters
(00:40):
most so you can teach and leadwith greater clarity, purpose,
and joy.
SPEAKER_02 (00:46):
On this week's episode of the podcast, we have
a discussion about thrivingschool support and values with
Dr.
Amanda March.
Dr.
Amanda March is a nationallycertified school psychologist,
professional learningconsultant, and founder of Rise
and Align Consulting.
With over 20 years ofexperience, she specialises in
(01:07):
translating research intopractice to support systemic
improvement and capacitybuilding.
Amanda serves as the executivedirector and past president of
Learning Forward Florida.
Her work focuses on aligningpersonal and organizational
values to drive meaningfulsustainable change.
She has worked with educationalinstitutions such as Harvard's
(01:28):
Proving Ground, Pearson,Michigan's MTSS Technical
Assistance Centre, and theFlorida Problem Solving Response
to Intervention Project.
Amanda brings deep expertise inadult learning, inclusive
facilitation, and transformativeleadership.
SPEAKER_03 (01:46):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Christine and I today aretalking with Dr.
Amanda March, who is a brilliantmind.
So we're excited to have youwith us today, Amanda.
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Oh, thank you so much.
I don't know about brilliant,but I'll take it.
If it's coming from you, youguys are both brilliant, I'll
take it.
But yes, thanks so much forhaving me.
SPEAKER_03 (02:11):
I would love to talk a little, well, I want to talk
about all the things, obviously.
But we'll start with how did youcome to the path that you're on
right now with focusing on alignvalues alignment?
I'm super interested in that.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
Sure.
Thank you.
And, you know, talking about,especially now mid-career,
middle age, of course, I have along path of professional
leadership roles and things likethat.
But I'm it all led me here.
So I'm a school psychologist bytraining and founded Rise in
(02:50):
aligned consulting a couple ofyears ago, based on the premise
of really just like leaning intomy passion and my core values.
And one of my core values isevidence.
And so since I've been a schoolpsychologist and then practiced
in the schools, had a lot ofleadership roles there, went
back to get my PhD to specializein organizational consultation,
(03:14):
systems change, and then allthings professional learning and
bringing really evidence orresearch to practice.
So, really what got meinterested in values and values
alignment is the evidence outthere to suggest how powerful it
is when not only we identify ourcore values, but then also we
(03:35):
define them, communicate them,and live by them day to day, not
just as individuals, but also aseducators and leaders to reach
the goals that we have set forourselves more efficiently and
effectively.
I call it the secret sauce toadult learning and professional
learning, but really the secretsauce, the fuel to achieve our
(03:55):
goals and to get rid of thenoise and the distractions in
what we want to accomplish aseducators and leaders.
Love that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:04):
Got to get rid of that, that extra noise in the
background for sure.
So coming from your experience,as well as that evidence piece
that you were just talkingabout, what would be some signs,
some clear signs that a school,an organization, or even just an
educator or leader is out ofalignment with their values?
SPEAKER_01 (04:26):
Oh, great question.
So, and and as educators likeyourself, we always talk about
examples and non-examples.
So let's go ahead and like mydefinition of core values and
the definition out there in theliterature, there's several, but
core values are those deeplyheld beliefs that guide how we
think, make decisions, andinteract with others, right?
So, someone, for example, mightvalue creativity.
(04:50):
For example, a teacher in theclassroom who values creativity
and the art of theirinstructional design and meeting
students where they are, butthey might feel misaligned with
that core value when, due totime constraints and a new
curriculum, they feel that theyhave to just rapidly approach
the scope and sequence asdefined.
And then what we find is whenyou're acting in misalignment,
(05:13):
there's that what you know inpsychology is called cognitive
dissonance.
Your brain actually wants to actin alignment with your core
values, but when it's notallowed to, our cortisol rises.
And we know that icky stresshormone colders cortisol, right?
It stresses us out.
We burn out, we start todisengage, and we start seeing
lack of job satisfaction andlack of engagement within the
(05:38):
classroom.
If we're talking about thisexample, and then even
engagement with things that usedto keep give bring us joy with
our relationships and so forth.
So, what we know is when wedefine our core values, know
what really helps us live withinour true values and act in
alignment with them.
The cortisol goes down, thatcognitive dissonance minimizes
(06:01):
or depletes, and we start seeingthose good doses of dopamine in
our brain.
Not the dopamine hits we getwhen we're doom scrolling, you
know, on Facebook and I do itmyself or, you know, on
Instagram for those cat videosand all of that.
But really using the good typeof dopamine, which when it fuels
us, we start seeing ummotivation increase, our
(06:24):
long-term memory increases, jobsatisfaction, senses of
belonging, all of these reallyfacilitators and protective
factors for teachers, foreducators, as well as for
students.
So really identifying what thosecore values are, and I've worked
with many a leadership team todo this, really helps us stay on
(06:45):
course and then really helps usidentify and determine what is
no longer serving us as leadersand within our organization.
It helps us with those decisionmaking, those difficult
decisions.
Cause when we're acting inalignment with core values,
decisions become easier and moreclear.
SPEAKER_03 (07:04):
Speaking our language, that is absolutely.
Yeah.
So can you talk a little bit,maybe, maybe have an example
that'll come to mind.
When you're working with schoolleaders or teachers or teams,
what are some of thoseactivities or strategies that
(07:25):
you that are your go-to thingsthat help build resilience in
this practice?
Because it's it's pretty easy toget off track when we're, you
know, there is so much chaos andnoise around.
So what are some of those kinds,some of those resilience
builders?
SPEAKER_01 (07:41):
Sure.
So one of one of my favoriteactivities that I've had great
success with is doing a corevalue sort and development of
organizational values withteams.
One example I provide a lot, Icall it the tale of two district
leaders.
And it's true, a couple of yearsago, I was working in Kansas.
That's as far as I'll say, Iwon't say what district.
(08:04):
And I had built a relationshipwith them as a consultant coming
in and really helping themevaluate some of the data that
they had for their strategicplan in their district, and then
identify, you know, what needsto go and what we need to beef
up in order to reach our goals.
I've been doing some classroomwalkthroughs, tons of meetings
with their district leadershipteam, problem solving.
They had a strong mission, astrong vision, and even some
(08:27):
goals there.
But what I call was what wasbecoming clear to me is that
invisible misalignment.
And I'll just kind of provideyou an example of how it led me
to the identification of thesecore values that was necessary.
So I'm sure you've been insituations like this as well.
(08:49):
There were two district leaders.
I won't say what their roleswere, but very high-level
district leaders.
One was Rhonda, one was Randy.
We'll call them that.
And before some of the meetings,I would always get called by one
of them and then the other ofthem.
So Randy would call me over andbe like, hey, you know, I love
Rhonda, she's great, but I needto warn you about her.
(09:10):
Have you been there before?
Right.
So, you know, in team meetings,she just, and then she really
wants to, she's just just reallynosy.
She always needs to get into mybusiness and everybody else's
business.
She distracts, she always like,you know, impairs the flow and
just needs to stay in her lane.
Well, and then of course, Rhondapulled me aside.
(09:31):
And guess what she was sayingabout Randy?
Randy is he never he's not atall collaborative, he's very
difficult to work with, healways has his own hidden
agenda, and he never wants totake the time to explore other
options.
So that got me thinking, I'mlike, okay, they're both clearly
working towards the same goal ofschool improvement, but what was
(09:52):
getting in the way there?
So they trusted me.
So we made some time to do acore value sort first with their
personal core values, which thenled them into the activity of
organizational values that theyembedded within their mission,
vision, and goal work.
And just knowing kind of thesebehaviors that I was telling you
about, what sort of core valuesdo you think bubbled to the
(10:14):
surface for these twoindividuals?
Of course, I do cards and wesort them out and they pick
their top 10 and then top fiveand then top three.
And then what is their one corevalue?
What do you guys think?
SPEAKER_03 (10:26):
That's a tough one because it almost, I mean, I
don't know if this is a corevalue, but it sounded like
control.
Sorry.
No, I get that.
You know something?
I'm like losing, I can't findthe right word that's like
positive sounding to that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:43):
So but to to be fair, Tammy, and I've told this
story uh many and many times,and that's what Randy would come
across as based on Rhonda'sexpression, like very
controlling and domineering anddoesn't take feedback and all of
that.
Well, it turned out his corevalue wasn't control, but
instead it was independence.
(11:07):
Independence.
So what Rhonda was seeing asmore control and what was
behaviors that were turning offin his worldview, he was much
more efficient and it was easierto reach what he was passionate
about, student success, by beingvery independent, working alone
and getting things done.
Okay.
What we found out then withRhonda after her core values
(11:30):
sort, what do you think Rhondavalued?
What are some terms thatpositive or negative that might
come out of her core valuessort?
SPEAKER_02 (11:38):
She said she sounded like she really liked that
collaborative nature, thetalking back and forth, getting
viewpoints, that sort of thing.
SPEAKER_01 (11:46):
Her top core value, exactly right, was
collaboration.
So in her worldview, her beliefswere that we are going to
achieve success only in so muchas we can be collaborative with
each other.
So those were two misalignedcore values that were getting in
the way of them working togethertowards their ultimate goal.
I kid you not, we shared.
(12:08):
They literally looked at eachother before they shared out
their core values and then justshared them with each other and
giggled.
It was like, ah, okay.
So then how can we take thisinformation to understand that
your behaviors aren't getting inthe way or aren't necessarily
impeding your goal?
We just need to figure out howto harness the power of our
(12:29):
actions, our core values andaction to get to the same goal.
From there, we developed fourorganizational goals that they
both and the rest of the teamwere able to come to consensus
on.
And all of a sudden, it was likea watershed moment for these
individuals.
So, in addition to having theirmission and vision and goals on
(12:51):
the wall, publicly displayed andtalking about them, we
integrated their valuesstatement because from an
organizational perspective,right, the values are how are
we, there, the kind of whatattitudes, behaviors, and
commitments from the team orfrom our group can we
demonstrate to create theorganization of our vision?
(13:12):
That's what was missing withinthis team.
And from there, they were ableto act more in alignment with
what they truly valued as ateam, which was, and
collaboration made itindependence did not, but Randy
was able to let go of that alittle bit now, understanding
how other people valued his workand activities.
SPEAKER_02 (13:33):
That's very cool.
Because I I was curious aboutwhat do you do when you have a
group of people that might havedifferent values?
But it sounds like just beingaware of other people's values
is so powerful because you knowa little bit more about where
they're coming from.
So that was a really coolexample to share.
SPEAKER_01 (13:51):
Yeah, and and really what drives them.
And in the work that I do withprofessional learning for
professional learning, which ismy passion, talking about, you
know, the science of adultlearning and how to train,
support, and coach others, Ioften embed different types of
values, activities for teams tonot only understand, you know,
(14:11):
you as a leader, but how thepeople you're working with,
because professional learningand the good work doesn't live
in isolation.
In fact, high-qualityprofessional learning excels
from that collaborativeapproach, job-embedded approach.
So identifying and hearing howother people define their core
values from a leadershipperspective or a team member
perspective, provides youpowerful evidence on how to make
(14:36):
decisions a little bit moreclear and then how to really
make sure that we remind eachother the goals might be the
same, but how everybody choosesand prefers to get there might
look a little bit different,which can provide some great
information for leaders at alllevels.
SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
I can definitely see how your work and our work
around minimalism, there's ahuge crossover there.
Can you talk to a little bitmore to that idea of that
aligning with your values andgetting some clarity is really
supporting us in our worktowards minimalism?
SPEAKER_01 (15:10):
Yeah, so and again, you all as the experts in this
work, I would love to hear kindof your feedback on how I'm
framing this work and how youknow I'm seeing this Venn
diagram come together.
But of course, we know asleaders and educators, the sheer
volume of decisions that we faceevery day can be not just
(15:32):
challenging, but staggering,exhausting.
And I'll I'll be very vulnerablehere.
Sometimes when I get overwhelmedwith the amount of decisions, I
just shut down.
It's like I get stymied.
And it has been suggested thatteachers, for instance, make a
minimum of 1,500 decisionsdaily, right?
And that's on the low end.
Research has said that that'sprobably low.
(15:54):
And those decisions can rangefrom like, oh my gosh, when am I
going to get a bathroom break intoday?
Is it going to be, you know, thetransition to music, or will I
have to have my co-teacher takeover?
All the way to profound, youknow, big decisions financially,
impactful decisions like whichuniversal screening platform
should our district invest inout of all of the different
(16:15):
options.
So when we are clear with ourcore values, not only does this
help us provide insight intowhat direction we want to go,
especially when time getsreally, really taxing and all of
that.
But we know through neurologyand brain science and psychology
that when we are reminded of ourcore values, discuss them and
(16:38):
bring them to life every singleday, that our decision-making
ability becomes quicker, moreefficient, and more accurate day
to day.
And it's almost like buildingdifferent uh habits every single
day.
So where we might feeloverwhelmed, if we know, and
I'll list my six core valueshere.
I've got them, I know that thelistener can't see them, but I'm
(17:01):
showing you the list of minethat I keep posted every day.
Mine's courage, learning,collaboration, evidence,
curiosity, and humor.
But for those, when I wake upevery day overwhelmed with my
to-do list, a reminder of howI'm gonna show up as aligned
with my core values every dayhelps make that to-do list more
(17:21):
manageable and oftentimes helphelps me when we only have 24
hours in the day and we got tosleep at some time, helps me
eliminate because something'sgonna be taken off that list.
If it's not aligned with one ofthose six, it's off of the list.
So, from that perspective,getting rid of the noise and
becoming more of a minimalisteducator, I feel like leaning
(17:43):
into your core values reallyexemplifies the research and the
work that you all do.
But I would love to hear, youknow, your insights back on
that.
SPEAKER_03 (17:54):
One of the points that we bring up a lot in that
book and in other writings thatwe've done is that minimal
minimalism really is aboutfinding the value, the value in
things, right?
Like what value add does thisbring to what I'm doing?
And if it doesn't add value, whyam I doing it?
(18:16):
And so we talk a lot about thepurpose behind things.
And then once that's clear, youcan prioritize whatever lane
you're looking at, right?
It could be instructionalpractices, it could be looking
at your curriculum, it doesn'tmatter.
But you can use the sameframework to guide your thinking
(18:37):
and just clear out a bunch ofthe noise that just occupies our
brains.
And that noise is gonna staythere, but it helps us find a
focus.
And so we don't have toconstantly live in all of that
mental noise because there's somuch of it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
So much of it.
So it really kind of helps us.
So, like you said, it willalways be there, but tune it
down a little bit so it's justkind of a little bit of
background noise instead of abooming distraction throughout
our day that just againdistracts us from our purpose
and the good work that we do.
SPEAKER_03 (19:10):
I think that's a really great visual, actually,
when you said like the boomingnoise and just kind of tone it
down.
That's a super powerful visualbecause yeah, it is always there
in the background.
And something that can also livein the background for many of us
and can stagnate our alignmentwould be perfectionism.
SPEAKER_01 (19:34):
Uh-huh.
Can we talk a little bit aboutthat?
Absolutely.
Well, and I'm I'm glad you bringthat up.
And and Tammy, I know you knowme, and perfectionism is
definitely something that Istruggle with.
I always have, and I know manyof us overachievers do.
So I'm not pointing fingers, butI feel like both of you can
relate, right?
For me, good is never enough.
(19:57):
It's it's an old script.
I don't need to get into thepsychology 101 behind it, right?
But it has to be perfect or it'snot, or it's worthless.
These are these old narrativesfrom childhood that comes up.
And when I get super passionate,especially in the service
industry that we're in withhelping other people achieve
their goals, whether it beadults or students, it becomes
(20:18):
even more elevated.
So perfectionism is mymisaligned characteristic,
right?
Of my values.
So is where other people seeperfectionism as some goal to
achieve, I've had to reframethat.
Perfectionism is no longer agoal for me.
My goals are very different.
(20:40):
Perfectionism is actually ananti-value of mine now.
I've actually had to breathethat into the air because
perfectionism stymies me.
It boosts my cortisol up, right?
And then I get lost in the noiseand dysfunction and my to-do
lists.
So that's why one thing thatI've started to do, I've called,
(21:02):
I call it the rise align andreflect activity.
I do it every morning instead ofjournaling, which I kind of know
it's good.
The research is sound behind it.
It's my quick way to journal andreflect upon how I'm going to
live in the moment and live inmy core value each day.
So I simply get into my plannerand there's a little part here
(21:23):
where I pick one, not all six ofmy core values.
Sometimes even that overwhelmsme.
I pick one for the day.
I write it down and I decide howI am going to embody that value
today.
So, for example, today's valuewas curiosity.
And I even have a values cardsort deck that I can provide you
(21:44):
some information on to peakvalues.
So I actually pull the card thatI'm working on today is
curiosity, and I literally putit on my screen to remind me to
lean into the value of my strongdesire to know or learn
something new, inquisitiveinterest.
So when I remember that, I seeit.
(22:04):
When my perfectionismtendencies, even sending the
perfect email comes through, Iremember, no, no, no, I'm
leaning into curiosity.
I'm sending this email to apotential client, not to provide
a perfect response to theirquestion, but to inquire more
about how I can provide aservice to them to get them to
where I need to go.
That's it seems like a simpleshift, but I it challenges me
(22:26):
every day.
But that rise, align, andreflect kind of card pool has
really done wonders for me.
So that is one strategy I wouldrecommend to some of your
listeners, no matter how they doit, reflect upon their core
value and how they are checkingevery single, you know, maybe
every couple of hours.
How are you doing?
(22:47):
When do you need to kind ofreconfigure?
Or are you getting into sittingthere scrolling on cat videos
because I'm distracted becauseI'm overwhelmed with
perfectionism?
Instead, let's refocus and getback to our core values.
SPEAKER_02 (23:02):
I love that idea of just picking one and coming back
to it, coming back to it, comingback to it.
That's that's really awesome.
Amanda, this has been such agreat chat.
And I I hate that we're havingto wrap up in a second, but we
do like to end our episodes witha pair-down pointer.
Do you have one strategy thatyou would like to share with us?
(23:23):
Might be something that you'vealready touched on.
SPEAKER_01 (23:25):
Sure.
Well, that was one of them.
I have a couple of strategies.
Another one that I have seenwork really, really well in
group situations, I call it justa value shout out.
So once you've identified yourcore values, and I will also
shout out, I've got a mission,vision, values, and goals
facilitated discussion tool forteams.
(23:46):
If teams are interested in doingthat type of work to identify
their core values as a team andthen how to integrate it into
their work, it's available foryou.
But once you've identified yourcore values of the team at any
level of the organization,publicly acknowledge not just
like when you show up, but whenyou see another member of your
team show up and exemplify andpersonify that core value.
(24:10):
That could be in, you know, avirtual platform.
We used to use Jamboards all thetime.
That went away, some sort ofpublic forum, maybe in
leadership team meetings at thestart of the day, maybe
reviewing the norms, but alsoprovide that quick minute or
whip around of celebratingsuccesses and living core values
and what that looks like andcelebrating that.
(24:32):
Again, publicly acknowledgingit, even if it's not about you
personally, giving that feedbackto somebody else not only
benefits them with that feedbackand boosts their dopamine, you
get the hit as well, thatpositive dopamine.
And it's also a nice callback tothe purpose of your work, right?
(24:52):
And to minimize the noise andrefocus.
So that is one strategy orpeer-down pointer that if
anybody takes one thing awayfrom, shout out shout it out
when you see other people livingtheir core values or their team
values.
SPEAKER_03 (25:07):
Thank you so much, Amanda.
That is super powerful.
And I don't think we do itenough.
Thank you for being with ustoday.
That was such a greatconversation, and we're gonna
have to have you back.
SPEAKER_01 (25:18):
Oh, I would love it.
Anytime, anytime.
Thank you all so much, and Ilook forward for the ongoing
work and continue to rise andalign each day with your core
values.
SPEAKER_02 (25:27):
This episode was brought to you by Rise and Align
Consulting.
Elevate your impact, aligningorganizational values with
actionable strategies fortransformative change.
Find out more at Rise and AlignConsulting.com.
SPEAKER_00 (25:43):
Thank you for listening to the Minimalist
Educator Podcast.
Join Christine and Tammy andguests again next time for more
conversations about how tosimplify and clarify the
responsibilities and tasks inyour role.
If today's episode helped yourethink, reimagine, reduce, or
realign something in yourpractice, share it in a comment
(26:04):
or with a colleague.
For resources and updates, visitplan zeducation.com and
subscribe to receive weeklyemails.
Until next time, keep it simpleand stay intentional.
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