Goals - Day 2

I somewhat wrote about my goals yesterday, and even started to outline a plan.  But I know there’s more in my about this.

What motivated me to start?  My goal of writing as part of my professional development and PR efforts for my company.  An interesting question came up during my mid-year review in regards to one of my long term goals.  I’d like to be A Leader in the field of Design for Education.  My colleague asked me, “what do you mean by that?”

What do I mean?  I mean, I want to be A Leader in the field of Design for Education.  I want to have a leadership role at Lionakis (or another company TBH, if that’s where my path leads me – not that I’m looking to change – but there have been some awfully unexpected things that have happened in the last few months, so I’m not holding my breath that I can know the future or control it!). 

Also, a ‘thought leader’ someone one the cutting edge of creating the best Educational Environments.  Pushing the envelope of the Next Best Thing, that really pushes the boundaries of what’s possible within the 100,000 other constraints that we’re tied to.  I want to be a designer, lead a team, that client seek out.  That we’re able to be choosy of what projects we want.  That we’re able to work on the project from the starting point that we outline, to the finish point that we outline. 

Fixing and helping processes to the design, the client interactions, the contractor relationships.  Building relationships with teams within the industry to keep improving upon what’s currently being done.

Building relationships with Administrators, Teachers, Staff, Students, where we can truly understand and relate to the struggles they deal with on a daily, weekly, semester, yearly basis, and do our part to improve.  Help them change the curriculum along with the building.  Show them all of the improvements that are possible in the early design phases and then show them all the improvements that they never could have imagined that we provided to them.  And I want those improvements to be useful solutions that improve the way they teach and learn and allow them to do their work in our spaces in the best way possible. 

I don’t want it to just look nice (though I truly do want that as well), I want it to function.  I want to teach others the improvements I’ve made, my team has made, and spread the knowledge. 

I want it to be scaleable.  So that school districts just trying to afford maintenance projects can find ways to take one small step forward without feeling stuck for years or generations of students.  Something can be done to improve – whether it’s better connectivity and technology, a phased approach, furniture solutions that start at a level that impact the most students and then span out as the community becomes engaged and supportive of change.  Or all the way up to the grandest scale – again within the limits of California possibilities – that new building projects are thoughtfully designed from start to finish, with admin support for the teachers and students, and every space is functional and has purpose.  Teaching moments, charging stations, flex spaces, and classrooms that teachers can call their own, and forget about needing to supply on their own, they can focus on the students.