Giant: Richard Sheridan
“if I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
1675 letter by Isaac Newton:
Note: I will reference Sheridan’s two books, italicize direct quotes, and add my experiences. I recommend you get both books. There are many more ideas, stories, and practical applications than I can present. Better yet, attend one of Menlo’s workshops.
Retiring from being middle school principal in Minnetonka, MN a parent invited me to dinner. As I was leaving, I paused at the door, and saw a book on the credenza titled, Joy, Inc. I couldn’t NOT read a book with this title.
After finishing the book, I called Menlo Innovations in Ann Arbor, MI to request spending a day with the CEO, Richard Sheridan and author of the books. The person who answered said they did tours. HA. I said I want to spend a day with the CEO because I can’t believe what I read is really happening. She responded that I needed a minimum of four people. Not to be denied, Art Costa, Skip Olsen, a superintendent of schools in Michigan, and I met in Ann Arbor to spend a day with Richard Sheridan.
What an experience! Menlo was everything Richard wrote about and more. Sheridan has helped schools implement some of these strategies and policies. Here are some of the things I learned from Sheridan’s two books, his correspondence, and attending a few of his workshops. A question I ask is, ‘how do we bring JOY back to schools?’
Joy, Inc.
I love the mission statement. Our mission is to end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology. My question is ‘how do we end human suffering in schools and prepare students for life after high school?’ If a student leaves the school, we (staff) have no influence on their future.
For Menlo, building a culture of joy was simple: we wanted to create a place where we were excited to come to work every day. How do we, in education create a place where students are engaged and learn relevant knowledge and skills to be successful after high school.
“The only sustainable source of competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than your competition”.
PETER SENGE, The Fifth Discipline
So, how do we, as educators, learn faster, smarter, and more creatively for a more diverse population? Educators who have the most repertoire and learning processes have more influence on a wider group of students.
Menlo is a software development company, they don’t use email. If you want to talk to someone, get up, walk to their workspace and talk to them. The following is in the book.
Voice – The hardware comes preinstalled: vocal cords, body language, tonal inflection, eyebrows, and facial expressions. Similarly, the receiver comes with tympanic membranes and cleverly designed auditory nerve stimulation of the brain.
Try talking to each other. Emails can limit clarity, stack up causing increase response time, and reduce strong relationships. Communication improves, relationships improve, and a dialogue generates co-cognition. Try it, you will like it.
When I asked Richard what Menlo’s hiring process was, here is a response from the book.
A résumé [can be] full of vague titles, employment periods, compliance ratings, university degrees, and the illuminating “skills sectionis pretty useless for the all-important culture fit imperative, so we don’t read very much of it. It really comes down to: Do they play well with others?” Yes, I realize certifications are necessary for educators. AND, how are we creating the cultures where people want to stay and contribute?
Here are some questions the interview team is asking themselves during the interview process:
- Would I like to pair with this person for a week?
- Would I be able to support them, and would they listen if I did?
- Would I learn something from this person?
- Would they help me grow?
The first question is important since every project is done in teams. One computer, two people, you must collaborate.
Another effective process we observed is ‘Hey Menlo.’ About 45-50 form a circle. They pass around a Vikings helmet. (no offense to the Packers or Lions). Since they work in teams, the partners grab one horn and present the answers to three questions:
- What are we working on?
- What are we learning?
- Where we need some help?
This takes about 20 minutes. When finished, participants will share their ideas with each of the other members. IT IS THE BEST PLC I HAVE SEEN IN ACTION! We can do this in schools. Leaders, teachers, and staff members can help and support each other. Nobody has to learn alone.
If you try to build any product or service to make it work for everyone, it won’t work well for anyone in particular, and you will get killed in the market. Best practice works for some students. Machines and technology are excellent for repeatable, predictable results.
In schools we work with humans. Humans are messy and unpredictable at times. This is why adding a repertoire of learning strategies is extremely important to engage multiple students from diverse backgrounds. STAR = Save Time, Add Repertoire.
We cannot hope to create a sustainable culture with any but sustainable souls.
DERRICK JENSEN
So, how does leadership encourage, sustain, and retain the best talent? Leaders help create the best learning environments. As record numbers of talent people are leaving education, the above quote becomes even more relevant for the future.
Chief Joy Officer
I love this term he wrote, “extreme people development.” This is what leaders can model, provide guidelines to encourage people development, and everyone benefits. As a long-time principal and professional developer, I learned early in my career, ‘you don’t have staff development without people development. It is the task of leadership.
Another term he presents is being a ‘Cultural Custodian.’ The Cultural Custodian: This is the person that manages the space, schedule, cleaning, maintenance, day-to-day (business, and culture of the organization. Good leaders are servants of their communities. As leaders are we being good custodians of the organization and the colleagues we work with? Are we the guardians of the good that makes a great place to work?
Richard shares a story about Ele’s Place. The activity is a mask where you write on the outside what people see. What they write on the inside is what people don’t see. Our hopes, dreams, doubts, fears, etc. This process touched me deeply. I think sharing the inside of our masks is the hardest part of authenticity, especially for leaders. I have often said, ‘what we think divides us, what we feel unites us.’ We all know what mad, sad, glad, rejection, etc. feels like. It is the heart of leadership.
Another great quote for us educators. Teaching is an inherently humble act—focusing first and foremost on the development of others. Those who say anyone can teach are wrong. Stand in front of 30+ moving targets with sweaty palms and then tell me you can teach. It takes preparedness and courage.
AND, another quote Richard says, “Run the Experiment.” In other words, if you have an idea you think will work, try it and see what happens. I advocate the Reverse Las Vegas Effect. If it works, tell everyone. If it doesn’t work, tell everyone. Learn from as many sources as possible and share it. That is the genius of ‘Hey Menlo.’ Sharing so people learn from each other.
I have used the following quote is a few articles. “Fear does not make bad news go way. Fear makes bad news go into hiding.” This epitomizes why psychologically safe organizations are so critical to learning. Safe environments make sharing viewpoints, diversity of beliefs, inclusion, etc. possible without hiding out and keeping ideas to yourself.
The Wisdom of an Eight-Year-Old – Did you learn something today about “Yeah, Dad,” she replied. “You are really important.” ‘ I asked. “What did you see “Well, what I saw is that no one here can make a decision without asking you first.” Sheridan shares this experience and is a perfect segue to why organizations want to develop leadership, not just leaders. The more leaders, the better. Nobody with positional authority can make all the decisions. Total Command and Control might have worked in some places in the past. As organizations move toward collaboration and shared decision-making, safe places to work is paramount.
Here are three more quotes that struck me
- If You Want a Culture of Leaders, Build a Culture of Systems Thinkers
- LEARNERS ARE READERS.
- Our leaders and aspiring leaders must be active learners
The greatest competitive advantage in our modern economy is a positive and engaged brain. Shawn Achor
At one of Menlo’s workshops, Richard shares an organizational strategy based on flying. Since I was a physics major in college, this made good sense to me. Feel free to read what I learned at: https://learningomnivores.com/rules/leadership-learn-to-fly/
Learning about organizations, seeing the results from positive structures and relationships, proves it can be done. It is being done at Menlo Innovations. If we can introduce some of these concepts to education, I think learning will increase for the students and the adults.
I know I am better because of the modeling, guidance, and support of Richard Sheridan. I am extremely grateful. Thank you for helping me grow and learn. Go Blue