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The #WolffWay

W- Work ethic

O- Off time

L- Lead with integrity

F- Find your passion

F- Find a way

I love me a good rally. A successful rally falls under the F—Find a Way Wolff Way principle.

Merriam-Webster defines a rally as "to muster for a common cause."

Recently, I’ve witnessed two great rallies for a common cause. Before we dive into those, I’d like to share one of my favorite rallies of all time.

From 2000–2003, I was the Freshman Boys’ Basketball Coach at West Scranton High School. In local hoops, you typically face each league opponent both at home and away. One year, our team faced a particular opponent at their gym in the first game, and we lost by 48 points. Our team was clearly upset by the loss. We activated our work ethic and improved as the season progressed.



When the opponent came to our house, we were fired up. We were laser-focused. We got knocked down, but man, did we get back up. In the second game, after several clutch performances, we won by 3 points. We rallied and produced a 51-point turnaround. It was such a great experience for our kids. Our team showed resilience and grit.

Recently, I’ve been a part of two great rallies.

As the Director of Human Resources for the Scranton School District, I initiated a STEP IT UP competition during a stretch in the winter. The friendly competition pitted the West Scranton High School community against the Scranton High School community. Staff members were required to log and submit their steps.

Since winter months in Northeastern Pennsylvania can be trying on people's mental and emotional health, I wanted to get people moving. The thought process was that if we increased our daily movement, it would produce a number of benefits. Increased movement would (hopefully) improve the mental and emotional health of staff, improve our instruction, and keep our buildings clean. It would also improve culture and morale for our staff.

The Scranton School District community logged over 8,000,000 steps in the first two years. I set goals for our community. The Scranton School District rallied. To date, with about two weeks left, our staff has logged over 3,600,000 steps. If you convert steps to miles, we’ve logged over 1,830 miles. We may double our total number of steps from the first two years in this year alone. Impressive.

The second rally I’m currently involved in is with the Borough of Dunmore, PA. Wolff Learning worked with the local community center to secure a site for a K–3 basketball camp. Parents and family members have rallied to get their children moving and learning more about the game of basketball. Along with help from the Scranton community and others, the camp in Dunmore sold out in two days. There is now a waiting list. I received a text from a parent who said, "Once Dunmore heard about it, everyone wanted to go." The Dunmore community is renowned for its ability to rally. The desire to support their children is on full display.

As leaders, it can be difficult to get a group to muster for a common cause. It can be a challenge to get team members all "pulling on the rope in the same direction." But when the cause is positive and driven by the right reasons, it becomes easier. People activate their work ethic. They find a way. I've been very fortunate to be a part of many rallies, most recently with the Scranton School District staff and the Borough of Dunmore.

I love me a good rally.

Keep after it out there.

#wolffway