I heard this from a student last year, following conference discussions about 21st century learners. His comment, “Don’t you realise that we are here now?” This reminded me that the changes needed in education are urgent, yet ongoing. We need to look to the future and get on with making changes.
This comment led to me facilitating two World Cafe events at the learning@school conference. The people who came to these sessions were ones who had been listening to the hype of 21st century learning, teaching and leading for some time and who wanted to challenge themselves and others to move forward. The World Cafe format allowed time to slow down, engage in dialogue and leave with some personal and professional ideas for the future.
Some of the overheard discussions during these sessions included:
Where is the expectation that things will change?
Just because we can’t do it doesn’t mean we should stop others from doing it.
I’m looking forward to being made redundant as a teacher.
If you believe in it you prioritize time.
I don’t think it’s written anywhere “Thou must do it alone.”
Schools should be laboratories for life.
Many of the comments focused around the need for changes in teacher practice and increasing the role of students in their own learning. If we really want to transform education we need to start with teacher change, otherwise students will not have a greater say. For teacher practcie to transform across an organisation school leaders must be committed to the transformation and lead by example.
One World Cafe participant jotted his thoughts clearly on a post-it, as shown below. I liked the quirky idea of a post-it on an iphone and also the call to personal action. I don’t think it is suggesting we will get change by riding over top of people. We know we need to build trust and gain commitment. We also know we can’t go at the pace of the slowest. The time for educational leaders to step up is now. We need to move beyond the rhetoric and start taking action. We could even involve students in the plan…
Many leaders proudly talk about the ease with which their staff can access them, but is this really a good thing? There are times when leaders need to get into ‘flow’ – to concentrate on projects without interruptions to thought patterns. So what is the balance?
Balance may be a personal choice. However great leaders understand that the team doesn’t have to be involved in every decision. If open door policy becomes ingrained in your organisation the open door becomes a revolving door and inertia results. If it is not addressed the door just spins faster and faster and all you get is the breeze.
Block out times when you are not available. Close your door, ensure your secretary guards your precious ‘thinking time’ or have some other way of indicating you are unavailable. Remind staff of the process and why it is important. Then when you are with staff you can give them your full attention. When you walk around your business or learning organisation you can do it on purpose, regularly booking time to be where the action is. This time should be sacrosanct if you want to have your finger on the pulse. Establish it as one of the ‘rocks’ that gets timetabled into your diary at the beginning of the week, then build the habit of sticking to your plan. Balance being on the balcony (working on the business) with being on the dance floor (working in the business).
Be clear about when people can see you and how this happens. Don’t make it too hard, just clearly articulated. Leaders need to be empathic, to build relationships and to do what they say they will do. Your way of communicating with others is vital – and part of this is the ability to listen really well and to consider the diverse strengths of your team.
When communicating with staff be clear about what you are asking them to do and how you will be making a decision. Consider the following four quadrants, from the work of Wilf Jarvis:
Quadrant One – I’ll decide.
Quadrant Two – We’ll discuss and I’ll decide.
Quadrant Three – We’ll discuss and we’ll decide.
Quadrant Four – You decide. Call me if you need assistance.
Develop your staff so they understand which quadrant is being used. This not only builds their leadership capacities and moves them towards interdependence, but also establishes clear expectations.
It’s as my mother reaches 80 that she begins to have the most profound of influences on me. In my early years I don’t remember her influence as strongly, but as she struggles with ill health and a body that doesn’t do all she would like I listen, and watch, and learn. Here are some of the key messages she is reinforcing for me as a leader and learner:
You need to stay positive and appreciate the things you can do.
Friends and family are important – giving and receiving are linked in a virtuous cycle.
Sometimes you need to find new ways of doing things because the old ways don’t work any more.
When you get worried or overloaded – write a list then check things off as you achieve them – little goals, big impact.
Exercise – know your limits but keep moving otherwise you seize up and get stuck on the couch.
Keep your mind active – read every day, puzzle over knitting patterns, do word finds, talk to people – keep interested.
Enjoy every moment of every day.
I have come to admire and respect my mother for her determination. She doesn’t give up easily and I think I may have learned this from her.
The Horizon Report 2010 suggests that ebook technology will develop rapidly over the next two years. Perhaps by the end of this year we may see the sales of ebook readers tripling and a 200% increase in the sales of ebooks. The technologies surrounding ebooks will improve significantly, with an exponential increase in e-friendly apps, use of touchscreens and the development of user-friendly interfaces.
This year I am launching a series of ebooks to explore these developing technologies. The first of these is a series on Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk. These are for educators who wish to use a learning walk process to develop their pedagogical leadership skills. Aspects of the Kiwi Leadership for Principals that are highlighted in this book include relationships (since these underpin learning walks) and the power of context. Leading change, problem solving, culture, pedagogy, systems and awhinatanga are also key strands throughout this book series. Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk also relates well to the Leads Other for Learning section of the ACEL Leadership Capability framework which you may also want to explore further.
Talking the Walk: Walking the Talk experiments with flip book technology, giving the look and sound of the pages of a book as they turn over. You can read it online or download as a pdf. Adding embedded audio and video will be the next stage in my learning. If you come across new ideas and tools that I could use please let me know. Ebooks are on the rise!
You will find more information about the content of my first ebook on the News! page and can place orders at the Store.
At the Pegasus Conference in Seattle recently we were lucky to have some school students attending. The discussion was about the needs of 21st century learners, learners of the future, millennial learners… One of the students made the point that they are learning NOW and so we should be focussing on the here and now learners as well as having an eye on the future. The urgency is now to push for the changes that we have been suggesting for some time, rather than something new, some radical change in the way people learn.
We know what learning is about so why do we persist with irrelevant testing, focus on sitting and listening, and teaching just in case? We are great at talking about learning needs but not so great about practising what we preach. So here is the challenge – go find a student, go find the youngest person in your business …listen to what they have to say about their needs, their experiences, their future. Be curious. Ask questions. Reflect on what they say and what this means for you and your organisation. I am off to do exactly that. Watch this space for further information on reverse mentors and how they can be a great catalyst for personal and organisational change.
Today I had the opportunity to share some of my reflections on my voluntary work in Cape Town, as part of the Rata Teachers Support group. I hope that those who came to listen could see what a profound effect my experience has had on me. It reinforced the importance of giving to others in order to help understand yourself. I had never been involved volunteering overseas before and all I could do was hope that I would have something to offer. The experience took me out of my comfort zone – and I believe that this is where real learning happens.
Margaret Wheatley says that hope propels us to action and that when hope enters the room fear is always by its side. That is because while hope looks to the future, fear is based on the past and the ‘what ifs’.
I have really become aware of the many people who are seeking to make a difference to others, throughout the world and for many different causes. They are driven by passion and commitment. They have high hopes that their work will make a difference and at times, fear that the difference is not great enough. They are not paralysed by this fear, but rather more determined than ever because it is worth the risk. One example is the Adonis Musati Project, based in Cape Town, yet another ripple of hope to help humanity:
I fear for a world where we cannot reach out and help others, instead focussing on greed and self interest. Is that not what got us to this place we are today? These are times for courageous leadership, for each of us to have a strong moral compass that compels us to lead ethically, driven by clear beliefs for what could be. Again, Margaret Wheately describes this profoundly:
We may not succeed in changing things, but we choose to act from the clarity that this is right action for us. People who endure and persevere for their cause describe clarity as a force arising within them that compels them to act.
I have been contemplating buying an iphone. Every time I meet an iphone user I gaze at their phone longingly, borrow it for a few minutes and check out what apps they have installed. “You mean it can recognise that song that’s playing right now? It’s got GPS? So where can we buy a pizza?” I guess it’s partly because I am a mac girl, but it’s really more than that. I long to have a more nomadic technological existence. Rather than carry my laptop everywhere I want to travel with an iphone and my livescribe pen. I’m sure my chiropractor would support me here.
But I’ve been procrastinating, and today I worked out what it was that was holding me back. It is all to do with the inability of New Zealand telecommunications providers to tailor a usage plan to meet my needs. I can buy an iphone at a cheaper price if I want to sign up for a two year contract. Trouble is this gives me a certain number of calls, texts and limited download capacity. Options are complex to interpret and advice slow. This model of customer service is so outmoded that I can’t even contemplate it. We live in flexible times. Times where we can tailor our own learning and where technologies change rapidly. So if providers can’t be responsive to my needs they have really missed the boat. Of course they can tailor the programme if I am a large corporate. But I’m not. I think there are lots of people like me who aren’t having their needs met. Collectively we are powerful. If we withdraw our support they will soon feel it.
The latest trendwatching briefing lists transparency of prices, opinions and standards as one of the most important current consumer trends. As they say, “reviewing is the new advertising.” So yes, I have been reading reviews, twittering for advice and researching the options.
What am I going to do? Within the next few weeks I will bite the bullet and buy an iphone. I’m not going to sign up to any plan that is not customised for me. I’m going for an option that I can change whenever I want and that is based on my needs. I haven’t quite finished my research – but I know what I don’t want. Nomads don’t want to be tied down.
Feedback is an important part of self improvement, especially in identifying our personal blind spots. Many people advocate getting feedback from all stakeholders, with information being fed back for discussion and setting of new goals. There are benefits in this, as long as change is made otherwise stakeholders won’t want to give feedback next time. So any new goals need to be explicitly stated and actively worked on. A mentor or coach can be useful to keep you on track.
The interesting question I am pondering at present is – should 360 degree feedback be anonymous or not? There are arguments for both: Anonymous
Allows people to express their feelings without fear of reprisal
Can help focus on the issues rather than the people Identified
Allows for follow up if comments are not understood
Encourages people to be accountable for their comments
Should surveys have room for a comment at all?
Do people speak out more if they can do so in focus groups?
If you have thoughts about this please fill in a short googledocs survey. I’ll share the results in a couple of weeks.
On a flight this morning I read a comment from Michael Hill where he says that good business people know “what’s happening in the most distant, least noticed sector of the company.” This really resonated with me because I see too many leaders leading from mission control. Sometimes in my work I talk about learning walks, or leadership by walking about. These are not new concepts. They are based on the need for leaders to be visible and to be where the action is. This involves entering in dialogue with staff about the key purpose of the organisation – listening, watching, inquiring, knowing.
Mission control leaders see things from their desks. They have not developed peripheral vision. They have abdicated responsibility to others. They rely on others to keep them up to date, receiving information about the organisation from second hand sources.
Visible leaders walk the floors and walk the talk. They understand what their business is about and seek to find out first hand what is happening. They talk to people throughout their organisation, not just those who report to them. They model from an ethical base rather than tripping over their egos.
Many years ago I completed a programme called “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. This had, and still has, a profound effect on my life. One of the key stories that I remember was of the goose and the golden egg. You know the story – the farmer has a goose that lays golden eggs. He becomes greedy and decides to cut open the goose to get more eggs. Alas the goose dies and the farmer gets what he deserves – nothing.
The goose and the golden egg
The key messages as they apply to us are:
effectiveness is not just about results. it also involves looking after our assets so the goose not only lives but thrives.
It is not enough to focus on things. People matter. Relationships are paramount.
I have been reflecting on this story as it relates to expectations placed on schools by their governments, school districts and boards. And I have a problem. Let me share this in the context of recent changes in NZ education. The new government of the day has moved to fulfill its election promise of introducing National Standards to schools. They have received feedback from the community and educators regarding the standards and will now proceed with indecent haste towards implementation.
I don’t have a problem with some aspects of standards, if they increase the accountabiilty of schools to improve student achievement. Trouble is I’m not convinced that you can measure some of the really important things that students should be achieving.
During my recent trip to South Africa I pondered the rigidities of curriculum and the lack of a focus on teaching students to think for themselves. The focus was on covering the curriculum whether the students were ready for it or whether it was relevant to them. Literacy (for the digital age) and numeracy remain indisputably important, but if people aren’t actively taught to think for themselves South Africa won’t move forward. Neither will any other country, including New Zealand. To even begin developing a future focused curriculum requires a huge amount of energy and the more we focus on testing the less we have for action.
If the implementation of standards is to be successful we need to learn from failed attempts in other parts of the world and this takes time. Feedback from teachers indicated that there were concerns with the extra workload the national standards would create. My concern is that it will take the ball off the implementation of the new curriculum and a wonderful opportunity to move the future thinking of schooling will be lost. That poor golden goose looks even more threatened. We are being implemented to death.
My plea?
Take another year to sort out what will work and how the golden goose (teachers and principals) can be supported, otherwise mindsets will stay the same, people will hunker down and students will be no better off.
Listen to the experts on learning – from within NZ (educators and researchers) and overseas (such as Andy Hargreaves). I mean, really listen rather than just watch their mouths move. I mean, ask inquiring questions and seek first to understand rather than be understood. Engage with them and mean it.
Think about education for the future not the past. Use the opportunity created through breathing space to develop ongoing systems of reporting that link into the use of web 2.0 tools and make the partnership between home and school based on a continual conversation between parents, teachers …oh and let’s consider even involving the students. Wouldn’t that be novel…
