▸ Welcome Back — Season 3 Is Here

Welcome to Season 3 of Rise Up and Lead! Oh my goodness — I’m Dr. Kim, and this is my Rise Up and Lead podcast. I am so excited. I have been waiting all summer long to start the podcast back up, and I cannot wait to talk to you today. First, I just want to thank you for coming on back.

 ▸ What’s New This Season

Now, I want to let you know we’re going to do things just a little differently this season. Don’t worry — we are not taking the good things out. We are going to be very structured and aligned with the rest of my programming. Many of you know I’ve retired, and I actually had time to just think, plan, and put some things together. So let me tell you how this season is going to look.

We will still have our second and fourth Monday podcast publications — no change there. We’re still keeping it short and digestible. No hour-long podcasts here. Nobody has time for that. Well, I don’t!

What we are going to do is alternate between a solo podcast — just me, my reflections, my story, my take on the lesson — and a guest interview. So you’ll have an opportunity to start nibbling, as we’ll say, on the content we’re talking about, and then listen to how a leader has experienced it or practices it. And we’ll still keep some of our signature questions. I am so excited.

The other thing this season is going to do is align with my quarterly content series. If you are a subscriber to the Dr. Kim Leadership Newsletter — come on and join the movement now! We’re going to be operating in quarters, because traditionally most of us in this space are educators, and I have themes that will be the overarching content for the quarter across all things: the blog, the newsletters, and the podcast. It’s all part of your yearlong leadership support. Doesn’t that sound amazing?

 ▸ Four Quarters, Four Ways to Rise

First quarter, we will always focus on rising up and initiating. We want to make sure we’re building momentum, that we have energy and direction, and that we’re focused on shaping the culture of our departments and organizations — really making sure we’re getting that team buy-in at the launch of the year.

When we move into Quarter 2, we’re going to rise up and communicate. Now that we’ve had that incredible initiation at the beginning of the year, we want to navigate those hard conversations. We want to make sure we’re leading through any misalignment so there can be clarity and courage.

Then, when we start the new year, we’ll rise up and sustain those incredible practices. We want to protect our energy — because you know by that time of year, things are starting to build up and mount up — and we want to manage that pressure and stay grounded without burning out. We need endurance in the third quarter.

And in the fourth quarter, we will rise up and refine. That will be time for reflection and internal truth — slowing down to diagnose our systems. Did they break down? Are they successful? And we want to make sure we expose any leadership blind spots.

Those four frameworks by quarter will be the focus of my newsletters, and they will also guide our conversations here on the podcast. I hope that’s something you’ll be looking forward to. So let’s get in it.

 ▸ Let’s Define Engagement

Today, we’re starting the first quarter with engagement. Think about that: engagement that moves people.

Now, if you’re thinking about engagement — you know I’m an English major. I like to define things. I want to make sure I have an understanding of the term. So how will we define engagement?

Engagement is a psychological and emotional mindset where an individual chooses to actively invest, care, and contribute. Have mercy. A psychological and emotional mindset — where I choose to actively invest, care, and contribute.

That’s when our mind says, I want to do this. It’s intrinsic motivation. It’s the belief that I can do this, and I want to do it. And when we have that purposeful engagement, we’re going to have the effort, the creativity, and the long-term commitment.

 ▸ Participation and Compliance Are Not Engagement

Now, engagement is not the same as participation. Participation is showing up, attending — I’m present. But you don’t know what’s going on in my mind. You don’t know if I have actively invested, because the engagement isn’t visible — the participation is. So ask yourself: are you substituting participation, a physical manifestation of somebody doing something, for engagement? Because if someone is participating only, they are taking action. They’re present. You will have some involvement, you’ll have attendance — but there is no guarantee, y’all, that that person is emotionally or intellectually invested.

Now, let’s really talk about compliance. You may have people around you who are completely dedicated to being compliant — doing exactly what was asked. Usually out of fear, or a desire to avoid any type of consequence or conflict. And those people are thinking, I have to do this. It’s an “I have to.”

So when we talk about engagement this quarter, we are saying that engagement is deeper than participation. It is deeper than compliance. And it is definitely deeper than people simply showing up.

 ▸ What Real Engagement Requires

Because real engagement happens when people feel connected to the purpose. As we start our year — or if you’re not starting a school year and it’s just a regular calendar year — how are we ensuring people feel connected to the purpose? Do people know the why? What is the vision? Why are we here? They need to understand that, so each person can know what their specific contribution is and be emotionally and psychologically invested. I can’t do those things if I don’t see a larger goal, or a goal that is meaningful for me. That’s where intrinsic motivation kicks in.

That’s when I can decide: you know what, I care about this. Or: I feel like I can trust this space, because I want to ask questions. I want to be okay making mistakes, or sharing when my opinion isn’t aligned. That’s the second part of real engagement — people will experience emotional safety. Oh my. Yes, that emotional safety.

People also need to feel respected, uniquely needed, and valued. And if we don’t listen and integrate other people’s perspectives into decisions, it’s going to dig into that sense of belonging — and people will not be engaged.

And real engagement is also about people understanding what is being asked of them. So as you are planning, setting up to bring people back, or building new systems — whatever it may be — are you planning for real engagement? Or are you planning for people’s participation?

 ▸ Do You Have Attendance… or Engagement?

Your team showed up. Your team complied. They’re nodding. But if nothing’s changing — you got attendance. You don’t have engagement.

So ask yourself: where am I currently mistaking activity for engagement? Look around at your meetings, your planning sessions, your brainstorms, your think tanks. Take a look and see what evidence you find — engagement and conversation, versus activity, compliance, and participation. Because if you look, you will see. You will be able to discern the difference.

The activity is not the engagement. The meetings — I know we need to have them. The initiatives — they can all happen. But you can have not a single person leaning in.

If we don’t consider that connection to purpose, the emotional safety, the clear expectations, and people’s voices, we’re going the opposite way. We’re taking two steps back. Three steps back, really.

And compliance — I don’t want this to be about making people do something. People are on the job; we want our paychecks. So people will comply. They will comply. But don’t we want them to commit? You can’t make that happen. All you can do is set the stage and the environment so they feel that they can.

And let me tell you — this season, as we dig into this, because we’re going to be in this the whole quarter, we’re going to learn how to make engagement shifts. Just small engagement shifts, one at a time. And we’re going to make sure we start with us and move from the inside out.

 ▸ The Story: When One Question Changed the Room

As I think about this, I remember being with a school and their leadership team — after school, of course. And the principal wanted to spend the whole time on the work: we’ve got work to do, we have to look at the school learning plan, we have to make updates, what data do we need to look at, what do we need to accomplish in this next hour? And I just watched everyone take this deep inhale and let out the biggest sigh. It was visible. It was visible. Now, people were going to comply — absolutely. They were going to comply.

But I had the opportunity to catch her on her way back into the room, and I said: how can we anchor this data in some reality, so it’s not just numbers and spreadsheets and rows?

She went back in there, and she started the meeting with a success story — one student who really benefited from one of the interventions that was a goal in the plan. And she reminded the team members that every number represented a child and their progress through the year.

Oh my goodness, did that room’s tone change. They leaned in. Their conversations carried higher energy than those sighs and the way they had walked in. I heard more comments of vulnerability — people being open and saying, you know what, my math scores aren’t where they need to be, our grade level isn’t there, that’s on us — so let’s think about some solutions. It allowed the voices to be there, and to be heard.

That one thing. That one thing — making the opportunity and the space for commitment and reconnection to the purpose, versus just the task. I’m sure you have so many stories that are similar.

 ▸ Three Questions to Sit With

Before we leave, I want you to think about a few things. Where are people fully engaged around you? What are those circumstances? What are the situations? And maybe — just maybe — where might you be experiencing compliance and participation? And if you had to ask your people: what would your team say engagement feels like with your leadership?

I want you to think about it. You don’t have to go act on it yet — I just wanted to give you something to hold on to.

 ▸ Your Rise Action

Now, I’m going to implement an action. I call them Rise Actions in the blogs, and I’m bringing them in here. So: before your next meeting, write down your purpose. What is it, in one sentence? Or maybe it’s your mantra for the department — whatever it is. And think about what you want people to think, what you want people to feel, and maybe even what you want people to do differently. Then lead from that space.

 ▸ A Little Research — Because You Know I’m a Nerd

And I’m going to throw in — because you know I’m a little nerd — a little bit of research. Many of you know Amy Edmondson’s psychological safety research. It’s clear, and it’s repeated: high-performing teams thrive when people feel safe. That’s it. They can contribute more, they can ask questions, they can make mistakes — and the trust is high. Research also shows that employees who feel recognized are significantly more likely to be engaged.

 ▸ Until Next Time

So I hope you capture those questions. I’ve challenged you with that Rise Action. And when we come back together, we’re going to talk to my guest — I’m not going to tell you who yet! — and we’ll hear their thoughts about their leadership journey and this topic of engagement.

Oh my goodness, I am energized just from our conversation. Don’t forget — I want to hear from you. Reach out. Share your thoughts, share your stories, share your questions. You can reach me on social media. And hopefully you’re getting my newsletters — if not, go over to drkimleadership.com and subscribe. There is no cost. And if today’s episode resonated, there is a free resource waiting for you at drkimleadership.com, so make sure you grab it.

Thank you for tuning in, everyone — Season 3, Episode 1, which makes it Episode 26. Thank you for tuning in to real lessons, real stories, real talk. I’m Dr. Kim, and until next time: keep rising, keep leading, and above all, stay true to who you are becoming. Adios!

Rise Up and Lead

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