Morning Motivation for Educators

In this episode, we dive into a discussion about the importance of effective communication and collaboration in the education field. Acknowledging the popular meme about meetings that could have been emails, we explore the concept of unproductive meetings while cautioning against completely neglecting face-to-face communication. While written communication, such as emails, can be efficient and sufficient for tasks like scheduling or progress updates, we stress the need to consider the purpose and goal of the communication. Is it for legal compliance, updates, or scheduling? Understanding the preferences of the other person is also crucial, as some individuals may prefer phone calls or in-person discussions. However, we also highlight the value of building relationships and connecting with others. Even if the outcome could be achieved through email, we prioritize the long-term game of relationship-building. We believe that there are potential benefits to having meetings, even if they may not seem necessary at first glance. In today's society, there's a strong focus on technology, productivity, and efficiency, all of which are important aspects, especially for those with busy schedules. However, we emphasize the value of pausing and connecting with someone, even if the meeting doesn't result in immediate outcomes or a significant amount of work accomplished. Sometimes, simply taking the time to connect solely for the purpose of building a relationship can be advantageous in the long run. Therefore, we encourage listeners who highly value productivity or work with individuals who do to shift their perspective and approach these situations with curiosity. Instead of thinking that "this meeting should have been an email," we invite you to consider whether there could be additional benefits or alternative ways to view the meeting.


Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan, and is a learning leader, SLP, and founder/CEO of Dr. Karen, LLC, a company focused on empowering therapists and educators to design interventions that support language, literacy, and executive functioning. Through her courses and trainings, as well as the De Facto Leaders Podcast, she shares up-to-date evidence-based practices, my own experience, and guest interviews designed to help pediatric therapists, educators, and aspiring school leaders design services that support social, emotional, and academic growth and set kids up for success in adulthood.

You can connect with Karen on LinkedIn here, and find all her episodes of De Facto Leaders on her website at drkarendudekbrannan.com/blog.

You can download her Executive Functioning Implementation Guide for school teams at drkarendudekbrannan/efschools

If you’re an educator or school clinician and you want to learn how to support students’ executive functioning skills in the K-12 setting, check out the School of Clinical Leadership at drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership. 

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