Rules

Skunk Costs, Creative Thoughts, and FeedForward

What does ‘sunk cost’ mean? Sunk costs refer to money that has already been spent and which cannot be recovered. Think about gambling, investments that went sour, and scams that are currently going on via technology. I am using an expanded view of ‘sunk costs’ to include emotions, time, and energy. Left to perseverate, emotions, time, and energy become ‘skunk costs.’ They ferment, smell, and take away from our creativity and positive actions.

Most people have invested money in business ventures that didn’t work out. Many of us have invested emotional resources in students, colleagues, and/or organizations without good results. Many of us have given time and energy to ideas that didn’t seem to pan out. Andy Hargreaves once said, and I paraphrase, that burnout isn’t as much as overload as it is expending tremendous amounts of energy without seeing results.

Unfortunately, the more money, time, energy, etc. we have put into an idea, the less likely we are to abandon it. This keeps us locked in to one solution. Our limited thinking actually narrows our options. We can be our own worst enemy.

Sometimes we look at results and say, ‘this wasn’t worth it.’ Probably true based on feedback. At the same time, if we hadn’t tried something to correct a problem, we might not have learned from the experience.

One idea that may help is from David Richo (2005), “Five Things You Can’t Change.” The five are listed below:

1. Everything changes and ends
2. Things don’t always work as planned
3. Life is not always fair
4. Pain is part of life
5. People are not loyal and loving all of the time

I don’t particularly like this list and have experienced every one of these in my life. So, what do we do when ‘sunk costs’ happen? One option is to brood about it, which takes emotional energy away from doing other work. Another is to be cynical and become a “negative Ned,” putting cold water on every idea you or others express. Yet another option is to bottle your emotions and thoughts. And, sometime in the near future there is an explosion of feelings.

Here’s another possibility–get over it. As my friend and colleague Jane Stevenson used to say to me, when I was pouting over something, “How long are you going to be mad about this?” She knew me well. The sooner I accepted the situation, the sooner I would get into the creative mode and start generating solutions.

Moving Beyond Sunk or Skunk Costs
John Gardner (1990) said, “A leader needs a circle of associates who are willing to be both supportive and critical. Pity the leader who is caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.” Not easy when our emotions are running wild. Very important to consider when making critical decisions. Thank you Jane, Art, Diane, and Skip. These are my critical friends and friendly critics. Who are yours?

So, can we move to creating thoughts and actions that might lead to better solutions? YES. In the 2014 book “Essentialism,” Greg McKeown suggests the following using your wardrobe as an example.

1. EXPLORE AND EVALUATE – Is there a chance I will wear this someday in the future?” Then you ask more disciplined, tough questions: “Do I love this?” and “Do I look great in it?” and “Do I wear this often?”
2. ELIMINATE – Clothes are divided into piles of “must keep” and “probably should get rid of.” But are you really ready to get rid of the stuff?
3. EXECUTE – Just as with your wardrobe, you will need a regular routine for organizing. Once you’ve figured out which activities and efforts to keep–the ones that make your highest level of contribution–you need a system to make executing your intentions as effortless as possible. It may be helpful to think of this in terms of the Pareto Principle: 80 percent of the results come from 20 percent of the effort.

Here is the final killer question: “If I didn’t already own this, how much would I spend to buy it?” Anytime you fail to say “no” to a non-essential, you are really saying yes by default.

Think about a solution that didn’t work out even though you put a lot of time and energy into your solution. How long do you stay stuck? Who can help you think about possibilities? What do you read and who do you talk to? Angeles Arrien, in a workshop asked, “Who do you hang around? People who zap you and energize you or people who sap you and suck your energy?”

There is a Maori Proverb: “Never spend time with people who don’t respect you.” Most of us have jobs where we cannot ignore people who don’t respect us. As a long-time principal, you can reduce the time you spend with these people. When I get pulled down, I walk into a classroom and watch a teacher teach and kids learning. Ah, re-energizing. This reminds me why I work in education. What do you do to re-energize yourself when life gives you a negative experience?

McKeown says, “Protect your assets.” The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves. If we underinvest in ourselves, and by that I mean our minds, our bodies, and our spirits, we damage the very tool we need to make our highest contribution. Good advice.

Peter Drucker believed that “people are effective because they say no. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” My definition of a friend is, someone I am glad to see and they have no plan for my immediate improvement. I can just be Bill.

My last suggestion for dealing with ‘sunk costs’ is an idea I learned from Marshall Goldsmith in an article from 2007. Many times feedback has a negative association with being judged. Yes, understanding what may have contributed to the results of a solution is valuable. But the goal of FeedForward is to focus on what you want and how to get there; it means focusing on suggestions for the future; not giving feedback on the past.

We can’t change what happened. As a principal, whether working with staff or community, people want to tell me what they don’t want. In trainings I have told attendees to track how much time you spend listening to people tell you what they don’t want. Your job as a coach, friend, colleague, etc. is to help clarify what they want. If you can’t define the goal, you can’t make a plan on how to get there.

What we do have control over is what we do going forward. Creating possibilities for moving forward is more positive and productive than wallowing in the woulda, coulda, shoulda. Creating actions to take builds momentum to get things moving again. Who helps you be more creative? Who do you spend time with that helps you generate ideas?

Barbara Cartford was a Spanish teacher in a high school when I was an administrator. She came to my office one day and said, “I want 30 minutes of your time.” Yikes. I asked why? She said she needed ideas for her class. I responded that I don’t speak Spanish, I don’t know the way to teach Spanish, and I don’t think I would have any good ideas for her. Barbara responded, “all I know is when we have these coaching conversations I come out with more ideas.” I said, “have a seat.” She is the expert teaching Spanish. Helping her to move forward, I can do. Thank you Barbara for having confidence in me.

Yes, learn from the past. Focus on what we do now. As Lynch and Kordis (1988) said, you can’t control what happens to you, but “you must take responsibility for how you respond to what happens to you.” So, focus on the future, plan with FeedForward, and get moving to action.

References

Gardner, John. (1990). On Leadership. New York: The Free Press, Inc.

Goldsmith, Marshall. (2007). “FeedForward.” www.marshallgoldsmith.com/articles/1438

Lynch, Dudley, and Kordis, Paul. (1988). Strategy of the Dolphin. New York: Fawcett Columbine Book.

McKeown, Greg. (2014). Essentialism. United Kingdom: Crown Publishing

Richo, David. (2005). The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them. Boston: Shambala Press

My goal for this rule is to advocate to prepare all kids to be successful for an uncertain future. I believe we need to get better at teaching and preparing students who may have fewer resources than other children. Every child is born with a brain. Our responsibility, as educators, is to help prepare that brain for solving problems and have a quality life.

Yes, Black Lives Matter AND Black Minds Matter. I am troubled by the resistance, on the part of white people mainly, to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. I have not heard anyone who supports BLM say, “ONLY Black Lives Matter.” It seems to me that BLM’s goal is to stop killing black people who are unarmed by armed white people. BLM also wants society to start respecting and valuing the lives of people of color as much as they do the lives of white people.

What if the reverse was happening with the same frequency? There would be no limit to the resources used to stop the killing. Continuing to kill people of color, the poor, and those in under-resourced communities is not only an example of inhumanity. This is a faulty short-term strategy.

The willingness to do jobs few want to do is filled with a high percentage of people of color and the poor. I do not see a huge number of white people ready to go to the fields to cultivate our food. The fact is people in positions of power and control are the benefactors of those who are doing the hard labor.

From my experience in schools, for over forty years, when people quit talking, they tend to get physical. Physical pushing leads to aggressive action and devastating consequences. A rule I developed over the years is, ‘never confront someone on something they can’t change in fifteen seconds.’ Being black, a woman, or gay is not something people can change.  Being a jerk is something people can change. See a previous post on bullies and bystanders. 

I will never be black or a person of color. I will probably never be a woman or gay or many other things. I do have white privilege. That is why it is important for whites to stand up for people of color, men to stand up for women, and straights to support gay/lesbian issues. I still can’t understand how my friend who is gay is causing me a problem.

A strategy that is worthwhile is asking questions. This gives me the chance to learn, rather than make judgments about people and cultures that I have not personally experienced.

After reading “How to Be an Antiracist” and “Beyond Ally,” I asked two black people to explain microaggressions to me from their perspective. I was shocked by what I heard. None of that would happen to me. I was educated by their willingness to teach me from their experiences. This is another rule I have tried to follow is instead of making judgments, ASK QUESTIONS. In other words, keep talking to understand rather than making assumptions about people or events.

And as Kendi points out, people who want to combat systemic racism, should stand up against any policy or behavior that continues or promotes racist experiences.

There are some hopeful signs. Watching television I see more people of color in successful situations rather than portrayed in negative roles, more representation of biracial couples and children, and models of intelligent decision makers being represented by people of color.

So, looking ahead at the demographic reality, there will continue to be a decrease in white people as a percentage of the U.S. population. There will continue to be an increase in populations of people of color and mixed race families. Those who believe the future will be like the 50s, where segregation, abuse, and a caste system were firmly in place, are wrong. I also believe they do not see the tremendous potential of diversity, ingenuity, and embracing a world that is focused on making the planet a place that is life-worthy. Edward O. Wilson, a biologist said, “diversity strengthens.”  Let’s embrace the diverse intelligence that exists.

To the goal of helping America and the world become a better place, physical safety is primary. Every credible researcher I know cites physical and emotional safety as necessary in order to learn. As an educator, I know knowledge, skills, and collaboration will be required to use all the intellectual horsepower we have to solve and manage issues. I started thinking about Black Minds Matter. I googled the terms and found there was a book by that title.

In “Black Minds Matter: Recognizing the Brilliance, Dignity and Morality of Black Males in Education,” Dr. J. Luke Wood (2019), focuses on the culture of schools and organizations which are not inviting to kids and people of color. Being a professor, he gives some suggestions on how to improve relationships, engage students differently, and create safe environments.

I would like to focus on how to engage, energize, and expand the minds of our youth, especially Black minds. Once physical and emotional safety is in place, our challenge for PreK-12 (and beyond) is to prepare young people to deal effectively with the current and future realities. We need prepared minds to deal with an uncertain future. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Our future depends on giving our young people the knowledge, skills, and thinking processes to prepare for a more complex world.

Ignoring this intellectual challenge will not serve any one of us well. America, and the world, will be dependent upon how well we teach Black students–and every color of student.  There is an African Proverb: Not learning is bad, not wanting to learn is worse. If we ignore dealing with teaching ALL children, we do so at our own peril.

Actually, we know how to do this. The real issue is whether or not we will take the necessary actions to assist our students.  It is being done in many locales. I don’t want to hear, “it can’t be done with these kids.” First, they are our kids.  Second, it is being done with all kinds of kids somewhere.

Here are some of the resources that have been helpful to me. I know there are others. Please let me know what you find most useful so I can learn more.

Saphier, Jon. (2017). High Expectations Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press

To deal with emotional safety, this is a must. Jon has provided fifty ways to help kids know they are smart. Once students believe they can learn, they learn.

Wagner, Tony & Dintersmith, Ted. (2015). Most Likely to Succeed.  New York: Scribner

Tony Wagner has written extensively about what we need to close the Global Achievement Gap, Creating Innovators, and this book with Ted Dintersmith.

Dintersmith, Ted. (2018). What School Could Be.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Here are examples from every state in our country where programs are succeeding.        This is a rich resource for possible ways to engage students.

Costa, Arthur & Kallick, Bena. (2009). Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum:  Practical and Creative Strategies for Teachers.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD Publications.

These 16 habits are research-based behaviors that good learners and leaders have identified as important as they continue to solve problems.

Duckworth, Angela. (2016). Grit: The Power and Passion and Perseverance.

New York: Scribner.

This research has demonstrated a positive relationship between ‘Grit’ and successful learning. Here is one of her theories.  Talent x Effort = skill. Skill x Effort = Achievement

Jackson, Yvette. (2011). Pedagogy of Confidence.  New York:  Teachers College Press

Yvette is part of the National Urban Alliance and does training in high engagement strategies. Many districts have Yvette providing professional development for under resourced students of color. 

Wolfe, Pat. (2010). Brain Matters. Alexandra, VA:  ASCD Publications

There are brain compatible strategies, gleaned from research, to help students learn. This resource provides several ways to engage students and increase retention.

In Closing

I heard the following quote over fifty years ago. In the late 60s, as a college student, I had the great fortune to attend a talk by a young black Congressman from Georgia. His name was Julian Bond. He concluded his talk by saying to the student body, who was mostly white, your Social Security, at the present time, is being supported by Tom, Susan, and Robert. Social Security in the future will be supported by Juan, Ming Li, and Abdurrahman. Teach everyone for a better future.

Students all over America are waiting and willing to give us, educators, one more chance to engage and ignite their learning.  Let’s not blow it. Let’s get to work for our future and theirs.

References:

Akbar, Maysa. (2020). Beyond Ally. Hartford CT:  Publish Your Purpose Press.

Kendi, Ibram X. (2019). How to be an Antiracist. New York:  Penguin.

Wood, J. Luke. (2019). Black Minds Matter.  San Diego, CA:  Montezuma Publishing.

“Execution beats luck
Consistency beats intensity
Curiosity beats smart
Kind beats clever
Together beats alone”

Shane Parrish

This is the third in the series of Marshall Goldsmith’s assessment of who would be coachable.

As a review, here are the three qualifications for the best results in order to coach a person or a group as defined by Marshall Goldsmith.  The first two have already been posted on ‘New Rules” at learningomnivores.com

1. Courage – ruthless honesty in confronting reality
2. Humility – being willing to listen to others and learn from and with them
3. Discipline – follow-through. Making sure there is implementation

The third question a coach might ask to assess prior to accepting a coaching relationship is ‘will this person or group have the discipline to follow through and implement agreed-upon plans?’

If follow-through is an issue, administrative supervision and evaluation may be necessary.

Agreements only have value if we see follow-through. Without follow-through we never know whether or not the intervention, program, or procedures will work.  Once there is follow-through, we can discuss results and make adaptations.  If there is no follow-through, we can’t assess success or failure.

As Bossidy and Charan (2002) state, “You cannot have an execution culture without robust dialogue – one that brings reality to the surface through openness, candor, and informality.  Robust dialogue makes an organization effective in gathering information, understanding the information, and reshaping it to produce decisions.  It fosters creativity – most innovations and inventions are incubated through robust dialogue.”

There is another possibility to consider.  The Dip.  I don’t mean a person.  Seth Godin (2007) wrote a book called The Dip.  The quick lesson is when we try anything new, we become less skilled.  Ever take a golf or tennis lesson?  Have you taken a Spanish lesson or piano lesson?  How skilled are you after the lesson?  We tend to dip in our initial performance until we adapt to our repertoire. Sometimes we quit, not following through, too quickly before we see results.

“I never decide if an idea is good or bad until I tried it.”

Rick Rubin

Record Producer

To really understand getting better, I suggest reading the book Peak by K. Anders Ericsson (2016).  Ericsson has since passed but his work is foundational about ‘deliberate practice.’ The book summary is posted  at  https://learningomnivores.com/what-were-reading/peak/

Think about a time when a new curriculum was brought into a school or district.  How good were you at first?  Experienced teachers played with the new way to teach, adjusted, and probably got better results eventually.  It takes a while to get good at something. At the same time intelligence is knowing when to quit.  Godin says, “STRATEGIC QUITTING is the secret of successful organizations. Reactive quitting and serial quitting are the bane of those that strive (and fail) to get what they want.”

Godin goes on to say, “Quitters never win and winners never quit”  is Bad Advice.

Winners quit all the time. They just quit the right stuff at the right time.” This is why discipline to follow through first, then make a decision, based on data and results, whether or not to continue.

Seth offers SEVEN REASONS YOU MIGHT FAIL TO BECOME THE BEST IN THE WORLD.

1. You run out of time (and quit)
2. You run out of money (and quit)
3. You get scared (and quit)
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit)
5. You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit)
6. You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard)
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent)

By “you” I mean your team, your company, or just plain you.

Ernest Hemingway cautioned us to “Never mistake motion for action.” In many organizations people are busy.  I hear this all the time, “I don’t have time.”  There is an old adage, ‘I don’t have time to do it right but I have time to do it over.’  The question becomes, ‘what are people busy doing?’  Are they doing the right things or unproductive things.

We learn about the Pareto Principle from Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian civil engineer.  The Pareto Principle offers the 80/20 rule.  The rule says that 20% of your activities produce 80% of the results.   Of course that also means that 80% of your activities produce only 20% of your results. If people are saying they have too much to do, guide them by asking a few questions:

1. What are the activities that are producing most of the desired results?
2. What are the activities that don’t add much value to our positive results?
3. What can you stop doing that has limited impact so you can spend more time on actions that  increase  your results?

The reason execution fosters creativity is because when we follow through, we find out whether or not it works.  If it works, keep doing it.  If it doesn’t, admit it and change the procedure. We need the communications in the organization to have candor.  That is why courage to have conversations around the reality are so important. That is why we need humility to keep creating options when something doesn’t work.

I have heard the quote attributed to Nelson Mandela, and I paraphrase “Everything is impossible before it’s inevitable.”  There are many schools and businesses struggling because of COVID and other barriers.  At the same time there are schools that are being more successful even with these new barriers.  What are they doing differently? Find Out.  Technology allows us to search for ideas quickly.

“Leadership is Action, Not Position”

Donald H. McGannon

Past President of the National Urban League

References:

Bossidy, Larry, and Charan, Ram. (2002). Execution:  The Discipline of Getting Things Done.

New York: Crown Business.

Ericsson, K. Anders & Pool, Robert. (2016). Peak: Secrets from the New Science of

            Expertise.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Godin, Seth. (2007). The Dip. New York: Penguin Books

“Humility is really important because it keeps you fresh and new”

Steven Tyler

Humility is the second requirement Marshall Goldsmith recommends in order to decide who will benefit from coaching.  In the last ‘New Rule’ I posted, I was focused on courage. https://learningomnivores.com/rules/caring-takes-courage/

As a review, here are the three qualifications to look for in a potential coachee for the best results:

1. Courage – ruthless honesty in confronting reality
2. Humility – being willing to listen to others and learn from and with them
3. Discipline – follow-through

As Donald H. McGannon, Past President of the National Urban League, said, “Leadership is Action, Not Position”

I have found coaching those who know everything are not candidates for coaching.  Think about it.  If you know everything, why would you want input, suggestions, or have questions of accountability being asked of you?

Some of the questions I ask to assess humility are:

• What are you working on?
• What is it that you want to do better?
• What is not happening that you want to have happen?
• What is happening that you don’t want to have happen?

In Stakeholder Centered Coaching I ask people the leader trusts for honest feedback:

• What are the leader’s strengths?
• What are the leader’s challenges?
• If you were God/Empress for a day and could change one thing about the leader, what would that be?
• Anything else I should know for background?

When creating themes and sharing the data from the stakeholders, I find out very quickly how they received feedback.  Are they accepting? Rejecting? Defending? Wanting to change their behavior? Etc.

For the questions above, I ask for specific behaviors or dialogue that gives examples of the stakeholder’s concerns.

What I am listening for is responsibility.  Does the person being coached take any responsibility for the results?   Rare is the case that someone else is 100% causing problems.  If someone is 100% the cause, offer an improvement plan or part company. That is more a supervisory decision.  Coaching, of course, may be part of the improvement plan.

Marshall Goldsmith (2007) wrote ‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’.  When someone doesn’t see a pathway to get from where they are to where they want to be, a coach might be the answer. Learning means continually acquiring more repertoire for their own improvement from others who probably have good suggestions and/or workshops to deal with new and uncertain issues.

Another indicator I listen for is for the person I am coaching to say, ‘I want to know how to…’ or ‘I’m not as good as I want to be in this area’  Once the person can identify a behavior they want to work on, coaching can move more quickly.  This shows vulnerability and a willingness to work on new or modified behaviors leading to more positive results.

Whether teaching classes on leadership or coaching leaders, my belief is to be successful leaders they have to be able to make two statements with total authenticity.  These two statements are:

• “I’m Sorry”
• “I don’t know”

As a leader, I guarantee there will be times when both of these statement will be needed.  The question becomes, do people believe the leader? Humility and honesty create trust.

The more humility, the more learning and more quickly learning will happen. This is because the person will be willing to considering more options. Here is a quote by Edgar Schein (2013), Professor Emeritus, MIT, from his book Humble Inquiry:  “Humble Inquiry is the fine art of drawing someone out, of asking questions to which you do not already know the answer, of building a relationship based on curiosity and interest in the other person.”  Remember, you never have all of the answers and by asking the right questions we can all learn, grow, and find new answers.

Some additional thoughts from Schein’s book are:

• Effective help occurs when both giver and receiver are ready. …
• Effective help occurs when the helping relationship is perceived to be equitable. …
• Effective helping starts with pure inquiry. …
• It is the person being coached who owns the problem. …

Here are a few sources of information on humility that can support reasons to check on humility as a state of mind prior to accepting a coaching assignment.

Hargreaves and O’Connor (2018) state, “Research shows that when leaders express humility, teams engage in more learning behavior.” This is another reason to help leaders build more successful teams.  In my next book, which is in process, I spend the majority of time collecting resources to Create Talent Density by Accelerating Adult Learning.

Maysa Akbar (2020), in her book Beyond Ally writes this about being open to understanding cultures, “I encourage you to enter into this journey with humility, an open mind, and a loving heart. It is OK to be a student and to learn the right way.”  Since I will never be a woman or a person of color, to begin understanding I have to ask questions and be open to learning.

Amy Edmondson (2019), in The Fearless Organizations gives the following viewpoint. She asks the question, ‘In what ways can you become a more humble person?’  That is a great start.  Edmondson continues, “Situational Humility is a learning mindset, which blends humility and curiosity, mitigates this risk. A learning mindset recognizes that there is always more to learn.

Humility is the simple recognition that you don’t have all the answers, and you certainly don’t have a crystal ball.”

Genuine humility is about knowing we have ideas to contribute, none of us knows everything. The following quote should help remind us of this.

“Every person in the world is better than someone else, and not as good as someone else.”

William Seroy

Writer and Philosopher

The last attribute  the Marshall Goldsmith recommends for determining readiness for coaching is discipline or follow-through. This will be the subject of the next ‘New Rule.’

References

Akbar, Maysa. (2020). Beyond Ally.   Hartford CT:  Publish Your Purpose Press.

Edmondson, Amy. (2019).  The Fearless Organization.  Hoboken, NJ:  John Wiley & Sons

Hargreaves, Andy & O’Connor, Michael. (2018). Collaborative Professionalism.

Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press

Schein, E. (2009). Helping – how to offer, give, and receive help.  San Francisco: Berrett-    Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Schein, Edgar. (2013). Humble Inquiry – the gentle art of asking instead of telling.

San Francisco:  Berrett-Koehler.

Sheridan, Richard. (2013).  Joy, Inc.  New York:  Penguin

Sheridan, Richard. (2018). Chief Joy Officer.  New York: Portfolio/Penguin

“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.”

Gordon A. Eadie

This will be the first of a three-part series on answering the question, ‘do I coach this leader or not?’  Here is the reason why I, as a leadership coach, want to answer this question first.

I accepted an assignment, in a large district, coaching ten principals.  Halfway through the school year I quit coaching four of them.  Why? First, there was no follow-through.  Whatever we agreed upon, within two weeks, a follow-up phone call was made.  Nothing was done.  This pattern continued for months.

Even though they listen and seemed open to strategies, there were always reasons there was no progress. In the final analysis, there was a feeling of ‘getting along required going along’ or there was no courage to confront processes that kept the school from making progress for student and staff learning. It seemed unethical to continue to receive money for coaching when it wasn’t making a difference.

To be fair, these four principals were outstanding and made significant progress embedding strong programs to help kids and colleagues learn.  Two made moderate changes that did help the school.

Yes, relationships are important. AND implementation and execution are important.  The courage to identify personal and professional values and being willing to stand up for those values is paramount in making necessary changes.

Leadership is not for the faint of heart.  Speaking truth to power, managing up, articulating strong and authentic values, making timely and tough decisions are at the heart of leadership.  Marshall Goldsmith, voted the top executive coach in the United States and in the international community, wrote “let’s work with people who want to be a leader.”

As an educational leadership coach deciding who to work with is critical. The first attribute to look for is ‘courage.’ The leader has to care enough about the people and the organization to see reality and help.  They must see what is, not what they wish it was. The leader must have the courage to confront problems and honor those who are doing the hard work every day.

Marshall Goldsmith has three criteria for deciding whether or not to work with a leader. I have found this to be a great guide.

1. Courage – ruthless honesty in confronting reality
2. Humility – being willing to listen to others and learn from and with them
3. Discipline – follow-through. As Donald H. McGannon, Past President of the National Urban League, said, “Leadership is Action, Not Position”

Goldsmith (2007) wrote a book titled, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There.  How many  think what has always worked in the past will continually work in the future?  Not us.  I think real leadership will require continually acquiring more repertoire to deal with an uncertain world.  How many of you saw COVID coming? History is littered with surprises.  The future will  be no different.  So, strap on your seatbelt, it might be a bumpy ride.

What determines your level of courage?  It is usually grounded in your values.  Stan Slap (2010) has an activity in his book, Bury My Heart in Conference Room B. The activity involves identifying your values. He starts with fifty and you pare them down to about three.  These values will help determine what you will stand for and what you will not tolerate.  Then the second question, “how did you get those values?”  The answers are always about a parent, teacher, coach, clergy, etc.  Someone taught or modeled those values.

The organization you lead must have psychological safety in order for people to do their best work.  See Amy Edmondson (2019), Fearless Organization, for more on that topic. Here are some behaviors to watch for:

• If you make a mistake on this team, it is often held against you
• People on this team sometimes reject others for being different
• It is difficult to ask other members of this team for help

Positive Behaviors to encourage:

• It is safe to take a risk on this team
• No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts
• Working with members of this team my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized
• Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues

Another key element of courage is choosing the ‘Right Fight.’ One thing that has been learned in over forty years in education is that you can’t fight every battle.

• Check your values
• Determine whether or not you have any control over the situation
• If you have some control Stand Up and Take Action
• Otherwise, Let It Go

Choosing the “Right Fight” is critical in developing people and systems. There are courageous leaders out there. For example, in Kendi’s new book, How to be an Antiracist, he posits it is no longer enough to declare you are not racist.  BTW we all have biases so get over it.  Kendi’s point is that we must take actions that will confront and take action on policies and procedures that keep racist, sexist, etc. issues in place, actively recruit and mentor a diverse workforce, and boldly lead the organization to eliminate cultures that keep status quo or actively keep negative stereotypes supported.  I highly recommend Kendi’s book.

Again, if whatever you are doing isn’t working, try something else. Do you have strategies to do “hard things?” There are two resources that might help. 9 Professional Conversations to Change Schools: A Dashboard of Options presents multiple conversational patterns from open reflection to ‘I don’t know where you are going to work next year but it isn’t going to be here.’  I have only had to relieve four educators in forty years during the school year. Sometimes that is what is needed.

The other resource is Responding to Resistance: 30 Ways to Manage Conflict.  As a leader our days can be filled with conflict between different groups; student and student, student and teacher, teacher and parent, leader and community, site leader and central office, etc.  How do you feel about dealing with conflict? I didn’t ask if you liked it.  The question is do you have strategies to deal with conflict?  If you are a leader, you will face conflicts.  The more repertoire, to deal effectively with conflict, the more competence and confidence you will have to deal effectively with differences.

Ben Horowitz writes, “There’s no recipe for really complicated, dynamic situations. There’s no recipe for building a high-tech company; there’s no recipe for leading a group of people out of trouble; there’s no recipe for making a series of hit songs; there is no recipe for playing NFL quarterback; there’s no recipe for running for president; and there’s no recipe for motivating teams when your business has turned to crap. That’s the hard thing about hard things – there is no formula for dealing with them.“   With more complexity, the more you need repertoire and the agility to use those strategies.

Horowitz goes on. “What’s the secret to being a successful CEO?” Sadly, there is no secret, but if there is one skill that stands out, it’s the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves.”

As Mary Catherine Bateson said, “life is improv.” This is why we recommend taking Improv classes.  Check out Stevie Ray at stevie@stevierays.com for information on classes.  They are worthwhile and help with thinking on your feet.  As a leader we need all the skills we can get.

Courage sometimes requires to us step up and into messy situations.  Ben Horowitz (2014) said, “if you are going to eat S%&t, don’t nibble.”  The longer you wait, the harder it gets.  Sometimes the more sleep you lose.

A Story from Suzanne Bailey

The Buffalo on the prairie knows

When he sees a thunderstorm coming

If he turns and walks away from it

It will last for a long time.

The Buffalo also knows

If he turns and walks toward the thunderstorm

It will pass more quickly.

Courage is turning into the situation when our fears might want us to turn away.  Not easy and necessary if you are going to be a leader.  The reason it is so important, as a leader, you model acceptable behavior.  There is a French Proverb:  “Children need models more than critics.”  We have found that is true for staff as well.  Staff is not going to do what the leader refuses to do.

Here is a metaphor for COURAGE:

C – Character & integrity

O – Overt Actions to support words and ideas

U – Uncertainty abounds in this world

R – Relationships are important

A – Agility to create plans & actions

G – Guts to follow through, standing up for what is right

E – Efficacy, I can make a difference

“It takes no courage to chronically complain.”

Angeles Arrien

References:

Edmondson, Amy. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Goldsmith, M. (2007). What got you here won’t get you there.  New York: Hyperion

Horowitz, Ben. (2014). The Hard Thing About Hard Things.  New York:  HarperCollins.

Joni, S. & Beyer, D. (2010). The right fight.  New York: HarperCollins

Kendi, Ibram X. (2019). How to be an Antiracist.   New York:  Penguin.

Slap, Stan. (2010).  Bury My Heart at Conference Room B.  New York:  Penguin.

Sommers, William and Zimmerman, Diane. (2018). 9 Professional Conversations to Change                      Schools.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press

Sommers, William. (2020). Responding to Resistance: 30 Ways to Manage Conflict.                                   Bloomington IN: Solution Tree.

This rule is inspired by a friend and colleague, Frank Wagner, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching expert and former professor at UCLA.  When Frank was teaching his last summer class at UCLA, I attended his workshop on Situational Leadership, a model developed by Paul Hersey.  I have edited this model for simplicity

Hersey’s work basically looked at groups in terms of readiness.  And, based on the readiness, what leadership styles were best suited to work with the group. I have used this in the past in my leadership and coaching to assess individuals and groups.  If you are in a leadership role, whether it be formal or informal, this may help to facilitate learning and increase effectiveness.

Why is this important? Here is Peter Senge’s quote: “The only sustainable source of competitive advantage is your organization’s ability to learn faster than your competition.”  I think about this in terms accelerating adult learning.

• What increases learning for adults and students in your school or organization?
• How can I, as a leader, contribute to creating a culture which increases learning?
• And, personally, how can I accelerate my own learning?

So, are you, and others ready, willing, and able.  This readiness graphic looks at two axes.  The ‘x’ axis is about willingness.  Does the person or group demonstrate a willingness to learn?  Do they do what they say? What do their actions indicate? The ‘y’ axis is the current ability level.  Does the individual or group have the skill level and the repertoire necessary to increase the learning of themselves and others.

After reviewing the graphic above (Figure 1), assess the readiness level that best describes an individual, your school or organization.  Now, review Figure 2 and determine which leadership style you need to move from to the top right corner.  Upper right is our goal.

In this post I will provide one strategy that I have implemented over the years.  In my book, which is in process, I will provide at least five leadership applications for each quadrant.

Let’s start in the lower left corner of Figure 2 above.  These individuals or groups may be new to teaching, a new hire in your company, or just inexperienced in working collaboratively.  Yes, they may have book learning and content knowledge.  Working toward common goals with colleagues is another level of complexity.

• How do you leverage everyone’s intellectual knowledge base?
• How much did you learn about teaching students in your first year in the classroom?

There is a quote by Joseph Joubert that says, “to teach is to learn twice.” I knew how solve physics and math problems.  But, that is not what I was hired to do.  I was hired to teach others about physics and math and to solve problems.  That is a big difference.  Being responsible for thirty moving targets in high school is different than being a student teacher with the master teacher in the back of the room (if you were lucky).

If you are new to a work group, most colleagues and supervisors want to know what you can do.  Experience certainly is a plus but not everything.  New hires bring new ideas to our work group.  New hires, in most cases, do not possess experience with long-term results nor the political savvy to make things happen in a timely manner.  The right environment can make that transition much better.  It is a collaborative process.  How do you bring new people into your organization?  What can you learn from new hires?  Read Liz Wiseman’s book (2015) Rookie Smarts for some suggestions.

In the lower right column of Figure 3 is low ability and high willingness.  The positive about this quadrant is there is energy and desire to learn more.  The individual or group is working hard at what they know.  They tend to be very social and want to work together.  From a leadership style we want to leverage the desire to get better and provide additional instructional repertoire. We want to provide psychological safety to create a climate of learning, not self-protection.

The upper left quadrant of Figure 5 below has been one of the toughest groups for me to deal with as a leader.  The individual and/or group are highly qualified, knowledgeable, confident, and know how to teach.  The downside is they may want to work alone.  A statement that identifies this group for me is, “I am doing a good job.  Give me the kids, they will learn, and don’t make me go to meetings.”  The problem is they are good and we don’t get to learn from them.  It models the Las Vegas motto of ‘what happens here, stays here.’

Using the acronym SCARF to assess what they respond to can help you, as a leader, make connections to them, provide some of what they value, and hopefully bring them into sharing what they know.  I call this the Reverse Las Vegas Strategy.  ‘What goes on here, leaves here.’  If it is helping students and staff learn, let’s share with everyone.

So, the goal is to leverage their knowledge and skills so others can learn from them (Figure 6).

Remember, the goal is getting these highly skilled professionals to share their knowledge, skills, and applications so more of our staff can expand their own repertoire.  This group can be great mentors with one caveat.  They have to be able to be conscious of the instructional strategies.  I have worked with, what I call ‘Magicians.’  You would want your child in their classroom.  However, they can’t tell you specifically what they do.  They are picking up cues and reacting so seamlessly, they do not recognize the small reactions they make in a nanosecond.  I recommend not having them as mentors.  I do recommend having them work with kids.

And the final quadrant Figure 6.  I call these ‘learning omnivores.’  You can’t feed them enough learning.  They are always, yes always, looking for more learning opportunities for themselves, their students, and their colleagues. They can’t wait to tell you about the latest thing they are learning, how they tried it out, and what the results are.  For this group, DON’T GET IN THE WAY.  Give them as many opportunities to learn and apply as possible.  Ask them what they are learning?  Let them talk.  You will learn a great deal.

I have observed the ‘Hey, Menlo’ process at Menlo Innovations, Ann Arbor, Michigan, many times.  Forty-five people go around the room in about twenty minutes.  Once they finish, staff finds the person who mentioned something that might help them.  The transfer of knowledge is amazing for the short period of time.  It is the best PLC I have witnessed.  Kudos to Richard Sheridan, CEO, for implementing this.  I am grateful that I got to learn from him and Menlo.

OK, Ready, Set, Go.  Assess readiness, choose a leadership style, and try it out.  If it moves learning ahead, great. If not, try something else.   Let’s accelerate our own learning which, in turn, will accelerate the learning of others.

“Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up.

Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.

 If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.”

Ed Catmull, CEO, PIxar

References

Catmull, Ed (2014). Creativity, Inc.ˆ New York:  Random House.

Coyle, Daniel. (2018). The Culture Code. New York: Bantam Books

Drago-Severson, Eleanor. (2016). Tell Me So I Can Hear You.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit.  New York:  Random House

Edmondson, Amy. (2012). Teaming.   San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass

Edmondson, Amy. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Goldsmith, M. (2007). What got you here won’t get you there.  New York: Hyperion

Grant, Adam. (2013).  Give and Take.  New York: Viking

Hargreaves, Andy & O’Connor, Michael. (2018). Collaborative Professionalism.Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press

Hersey, Paul. (2004). The Situational Leader. (4th ed.)  Escondido, CA: Center for Leadership Studies, Inc.

Herzberg, F. (2008). One more time: how do you motivate employees? Boston:  Harvard

Johnson, Barry. (2020). And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma.

Volume One.  Sacramento, CA:  Polarity Partnerships.

Kim, W.C. & Mauborgne, R. (2017). Blue Ocean Shift.  New York:  Hachette Books

Lencioni, Patrick. (2016). The Ideal Team Player.  Hoboken, NJ:  Wiley & Sons

Pentland, Alex. (2014). Social Physics.  New York:  Penguin

Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R.  (2000). The knowing-doing gap: how smart companies turn

knowledge into action.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Rock, David. (2001). SCARF: A Brain-based model for collaborating with and influencing others. Sydney, AU: NeuroLeadership Journal

Saphier, Jon. (2017). High Expectations Teaching. Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press

Saphier, Jon, Haley-Speca, Mary Ann, & Gower, Robert.  (2018). The Skillful Teacher (7^th ed).       Boston: Research for Better Teaching.

Schein, E. (2009). Helping – how to offer, give, and receive help.  San Francisco: Berrett-   Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Schein, Edgar. (2013). Humble Inquiry – the gentle art of asking instead of telling.San Francisco:  Berrett-Koehler.

Scott, Kim. (2017). Radical Candor. New York:  St. Martin’s Press

Sheridan, Richard. (2013).  Joy, Inc.  New York:  Penguin

Sheridan, Richard. (2018). Chief Joy Officer.  New York: Portfolio/Penguin

Slap, Stan. (2010).  Bury My Heart at Conference Room B.  New York:  Penguin.

Sommers, William & Zimmerman, Diane. (2018). 9 Professional Conversations to

            Change Schools.  Thousand Oaks, CA:  Corwin Press.

Sommers, William. (2020).  Responding to Resistance: 30 Ways to Manage Conflict

            In Schools.  Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree

Sutton, Robert, & Rao, Huggy. (2014). Scaling Up Excellence.  New York: Crown Publishing Group

Wiseman, Liz. (2010). Multipliers.  New York:  HarperCollins.

Wiseman, Liz. (2015). Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of

            Work.  New York:  HarperCollins

I attended a workshop in the 90s where Bob Hallett introduced me to Lawrence Miller’s work.  I knew it then and know it now that this progression of organizational change happens in business, education, and nonprofits. COVID is changing the world.  Even though it seems like forever, the changes may be short-term and organizations have to deal with the post COVID future.  See if the graph below and explanation fits with your view of history.

Think about innovative companies, educational practice, and social institutions that have come and gone.  It seems like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and a few others are able to continually evolve and stay on the edge of learning.  I will address how we might respond later in the article below.

The graphic below is based on the book by Lawrence Miller (1989) Barbarians to Bureaucrats

Organizations go through a cycle.  Miller’s book has seven stages.  I have shortened his model as you can see above.  See the book summary for a fuller explanation –  https://learningomnivores.com/what-were-reading/barbarians-to-bureaucrats/     .

The blue line is what happens in the organization with initiatives and/or new processes.  It is a leading indicator.  The green line signifies the results e.g. profits, test scores, people we help, etc.  It is a lagging indicator.  Results usually show up after the change in practice or policy.

A prophet appears with a new great idea.  The prophet is excited and draws others to the idea.  Once enough people accept the idea and join in, the organization starts to change behaviors. This could be with a new invention or a way to teach and/or a leadership strategy, etc.

In the next stage, barbarian, has total commitment to this new idea. They pick up the banner and keep the fire burning.  As you can see from the graphic, the results start to show positive results. The barbarian is a believer, is passionate, convincing, and doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.  A prophet and a barbarian are many times the same person. What makes barbarians so effective is when in battle, they are the first ones on the front lines.  They lead by modeling, congruence of word and deed, and will advocate at every chance to anyone who will listen.

Staying in status quo is not what prophets and barbarians want.  They feed off of new ideas, new possibilities, and a chance to change systems for the better.  As they get focused on new ideas, managers take over.  The results are still showing positive gains.  Managers try to create systems, policies, and procedures to keep getting the results they see.  The problem is that the prophet and barbarians know there is a half-life to most ideas and they want to create something new.  Managers, seeing results want to keep things going as it is.

Ah, the bureaucratic stage emerges.  The bureaucrat’s role is to say ‘no’ to changes.  They have seen results.  The results have peaked. The bureaucrat doesn’t see the intellectual horsepower has gone on to learn about new ideas.  Some have left the organization.  Bureaucrats don’t like risk and believe what was successful before will continue in the future.

Trammel Crow said, “there’s as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something.”

How many times have you been in a workplace or meeting when a great idea surfaces.  And, the reception of the new idea is lukewarm at best.  The ‘dirty dozens’ are voiced telling the person why it won’t work.  Meanwhile the energy for ideas goes down and the profits and/or results with it.

Enter the Aristocracy phase.  The knowledge, creativity, and energy of the very people the organization needs is gone.  The results are bottoming out.  The aristocracy’s role is to build armies to protect them.  Sometimes in business golden parachutes are given to remove leaders.  In education, leaders are sometimes removed (No golden parachutes).  OK a few superintendents get buyout packages.

So, what is an answer?  Notice I didn’t say ‘the’ answer.

In times of change we need multiple pathways to solve problems.  Business has quicker feedback loops than education.  It is called profitability and staying in business.  In social institutions e.g. education, there is a longer, and sometimes more dangerous, feedback loop because of the increased time of the delay.

Another book that helped me understand one way to deal with this natural cycle of organizations is “Break-Point and Beyond” by George Land and Beth Jarman (1992). A quote, “For those willing to move ahead with conscious awareness of the natural laws of change, the future offers unparalleled opportunity to reshape our lives, our organizations, and our world into what we want.” As I remember the graphic in the book, just past recognizing the decrease in results, look for new prophets and barbarians to initiate a new cycle. See the Red line below.

So, here are a few questions you might want to think about in your organization:

• How do you identify and listen to the prophets and barbarians?
• How do you increase talent density in your organization?
• What might you do to prepare during the management stage for the future?
• Do you try pilot programs to see if a new idea might work?
• Is there enough psychological safety in the system to promote and hear diverse ideas?

In Miller’s book there are ways to identify people in each stage, how to get along with people in each stage, and how to lead people who report to you.

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”  John Shedd.

In the past, staying in safe harbor, learning basic skills, was enough for a stable future.  NOT NOW.  Whatever your situation as a student, teacher, vocation, military, etc. you will need to continue learning.  You will probably need to learn at a faster pace as technology, environment, and job requirements change and accelerate.

Ah, back to the red line. George Land’s Theory of Transformation – most leaders get stuck in a phase of growth that no longer serves them.  They don’t know how to integrate the new and different which was previously excluded.  I liked what he wrote in 1992 as a new job title:  Vice-President of the Possible.

Creativity will continue to be a vital attribute in the future. Land and Jarman write that a second breakpoint is where we see connections from similar and dissimilar issues rather than advancing what we already know.  These quantum jumps in thinking abound if you are open to looking for them.  Think of the effect Uber has had to the taxicab business.  Digital technology changed developing film for photographs. (OK you young people don’t remember waiting several days for film to be developed).  Amazon and bookstores.

As I think about education, COVID is changing and will continue to change the way we deliver learning.  I think that when we finally get a handle on the virus, some think we will go back to the way things were.  I say, “bullfeathers.”  I don’t think we are going back.  We educators, myself included, should start thinking about the red line. What is the next iteration?  What is needed for my grandkids future?  Tell me the basics of 2030 and I am your guy. Land and Jarman write “CREATIVITY IS NOT ONLY A NATURAL PROCESS; IT’S THE NATURAL PROCESS.”  Nature adapts.  This reminds of Peter Senge’s quote in The Fifth Discipline.  “Nature Bats Last.”

Here are the traps posited in Land and Jarman’s book.

Trap Number 1:  Measurements Become the Mission

Trap Number 2:  Past Assumptions Go Unquestioned

Trap Number 3:  Embedded Investments.

Trap Number 4:  Blaming Others

Trap Number 5:  Maximizing Profit

Trap Number 6:  Information Filtering

Trap Number 7:  Tight Control

Any of these traps ring a bell? Richard Pascale (1990) Managing on the Edge wrote “Nothing Fails Like Success.”  I think that is what Miller’s work indicates.  Success tends to dampen the need or desire for change.  We get complacent. One of my favorite quotes is by Karen Clark – “Life is change, growth is optional, choose wisely.”

I just finished reading No Rules Rules by Hastings & Meyer (2020)  In education there are limitations that business does not have.  However, this book is full of creative ideas that can be adapted.

One is ‘Increase Talent Density.’  How do we attract and retain the best talent.  What I read currently is that experienced teachers and leaders are leaving education, especially if they can retire.  That means less experienced staff will continue to be a higher percentage of educators.  How are we developing these new to the profession?  How are we supporting them in schools or wherever we share learning?  Are our systems in place to share repertoire from experienced staff and share new ideas from less experienced staff?

A second idea is to increase candor.  Educators generally are really nice people.  When I was living in Minnesota we called it ‘Minnesota Nice.’  OK, we can be nice AND we need to talk about real issues, real data, real learning without fear of being labeled an outcast or a crazy maverick.  How do we develop our environment to listen to and possible learn from mavericks?  They might have workable answer.

When consulting or coaching leaders, I often say “talk to your new people.”  If they trust you, they will tell you what the culture feels like and ask questions like, ‘why do you do it this way?’  Once people have been in a system for a couple of years, that’s the way we do it here.  It may be time to challenge the way we do things and how might we do it differently and better.

I strongly suggest reading Amy Edmondson’s work on psychological safety in The Fearless Organization (2019).  We want a culture for adults to learn from each other without blame and shame.  We want a culture for students so that mistakes can be learned from without fear of being ridiculed.  I heard Tom Peters once say, ‘the chance of a new idea is inversely proportionate to being shot.’  NOT literally, but figuratively in the culture.  Question – does your culture support new ideas or work to suppress them?  Do your committee and leadership groups support expanding repertoire or put roadblocks in the way of innovation?  Does the staff read from outside education looking for different ideas that might generate creativity?

As Austin Kleon said in Steal Like an Artist (2012), “Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.”  My suggestion is the reverse Las Vegas Effect.  Whatever goes on here, tell everybody.  The more you tell, the more people tell you.  Learn from anywhere, anytime, from anyone.  We will need all the ideas we can read about, get from workshops, and steal.

Go get ‘em.  Change how you do things and change the results.

References

Edmondson, Amy. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Hastings, Reed & Meyer, Erin. (2020). No Rules Rules.  New York:  Penguin.

Kleon, Austin. (2012). Steal Like an Artist.  New York:  Workman Publishing

Land, George. & Jarman, Beth.  (1992).  Break-point and beyond.  USA:  Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich, Inc.

Miller, Lawrence.  (1989).  Barbarians to bureaucrats.  New York:  Fawcett.

This rule was inspired  by Richard Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations and author of two books, Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer.  His article is posted in the ‘What We are Reading’ section  https://learningomnivores.com/what-were-reading/joy-of-heights-and-distance/ ‎

As a former physics teacher, when I heard Rich present this model, it made sense to me.  We want students and staff to be able to fly with their knowledge, skills, and applications to solve real world issues.  Yes, we have to deal with the day-to-day issues on the ground.  When we fly we can see a bigger picture which is more expansive.  Many times our view is limited from the ground and do not consider what is the destination.  Ultimately, we need both/and, on the ground reality and a vision of what we are working toward.

Let’s look at each of the four forces on an airplane and the four forces on cultures of learning

1. Weight (Down) – this is the force of gravity. It tends to be the force of status quo.  Newton’s first law is a body remains at rest unless it is acted on by an outside force. Think of the    The good news, bureaucracy can keep an organization stable. We need centralized systems for payroll, benefits, building and grounds, etc. The bad news, it can cause resistance to new ideas.  New ideas that might unleash creativity and accelerated learning
2. Lift  (Up) – the air rushing over the wings provides lift. Consider lift as human energy, intellectual capital, and creativity. Lift can help students and staff accomplish goals they may have not thought possible. A colleague, Jamie Crannell told me why he taught.  “I want kids to do things they didn’t think they could do.”  Put him on my team.
3. Drag  (Back) – what holds the individual, grade level, department, school, district from positive results. Many times it is fear.  Does the person or the system exhibit fear or trust?  Trust unleashes energy and efficacy. Fear will decrease sharing of repertoire and/or staff go to their rooms and work behind closed doors. Fear causes silence.  Learning is NOT Las Vegas.  What happens here, tell everybody so we all learn.
4. Thrust (Forward) – vision pulls, it doesn’t push. If the vision is aligned with individual values motivation is less of a problem  If someone pushes you, how do you react?  Most push back or hunker down.  When your values and vision are the same as the system, going to work can release joy. Is the purpose of schools and organizations LEARNING?

So What?  In the present situation of COVID 19, things have and will continue to change.  People will react differently depending upon their emotional and behavioral inner resources.  Our organizational culture can help or hinder people and results.

Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. Weight – several leaders see removing barriers as a primary function of reducing the downward static force of the organization to make it easier to move. Streamlining systems making the organization more responsive with energize people and begin to gain momentum.  In physics, momentum is the mass multiplied by the velocity.  More movement, more momentum.  Just make sure the movement is in the positive direction.
2. Lift – as the trajectory of the student and staff learning increases, the lift will increase. In math terms, x = y is a good direction.  X = y² is even better.  Through Positive Deviance (Sternin) or ‘Hey Menlo’ (Richard Sheridan) processes, the learning can get better, faster and build collaboration.
3. Drag – there are several ways to reduce fear. Authenticity and transparency is the short answer. I suggest looking at the following works of Marshall Goldsmith, Stakeholder Centered Coaching, Ray Dalio’s strategies in his book Principles, and Kim Scott’s Radical Candor for behaviors that help build trust.  Keep in mind that Trust is a combination of being trustworthy and trusting.  Again, Richard Sheridan in his publications identify transparency as a key in building trust in the organization.
4. Thrust – what gets you to bring your best self to work that contributes to the organization? In my experience the more aligned a person’s personal values are with the organization’s values, the better it feels getting higher contributions. When beliefs and values are aligned, a person’s identity is honored.

In Dolly Chugh’s book, The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias makes a great analogy. “It takes as much as forty minutes longer to go from New York to Los Angeles than the other way around because when a plane is traveling west, it faces headwinds, which slows it down.”

People who have to overcome barriers to accomplish their goals contribute more for the organization in the long run. “it means that they faced headwinds. I (Chugh) call them “Jets”: they flew faster, harder, and smarter than other kids. They are the type of people I want in my team, my organization, and my life.” In the last two paragraphs, the quotes are from the book Inclusify by Stefanie Johnson.

So a question you might ask is, how do I hire as many “jets” as possible?  They have faced barriers, worked through (under or around) problems, and have more confidence and competence as a results. Do the hiring practices encourage identifying and hiring “jets?” Dealing effectively with adversity can be as valuable as SAT or GPA scores.

I am grateful for my continued learning from Richard Sheridan and can’t wait to learn more and incorporate those things into my leadership repertoire.  I recommend www.menloinnovations.com as a source.  Rich and his team write a newsletter called Menlo Bits which is free.

Instead of the the Tyranny of “OR,” How about the Possibility of “AND.”

Have you noticed that thinking in binary choices is sometimes a trap ? Binary thinking is that a solution to a problem is either/or.  No in between or negotiated solutions. It is a win/lose decision. We should use this kind of thinking, when it is a problem to solve not where both points of view are worthwhile. An example of a problem to solve is no guns, knives, or drugs in schools or in the workplace.  Most of the either/or decision involve safety or accepted practices like financial or ethical standards.

However, when dealing with humans, policies and procedures can get messy. Life gets in the way.  Aldous Huxley once said, “The only completely consistent people are dead.”  Humans and life provides challenges to equally applying some of our rules and regulations to people who are not equal or have equal circumstances.  On one hand we need contracts, employee handbooks, and common practices to guide our organizations.  On the other hand, what happens when a really good employee or a family member comes down with cancer or some other illness.  Do we strictly apply every rule without some compassion or flexibility?  Most people will help a colleague who is experiencing difficult life problems.

Most organizations adapt policies to accommodate unusual circumstances that life offers. Equality means everyone gets treated the same.  Equity is treating others based on what they need.  I know this is messy and I know unequal treatment can lead to litigation.  I also know we and are humans, are concerned with colleagues. That can lead to external or internal conflict. For some options to leverage these conflicts see my new book, Responding to Resistance:  30 Ways to Manage Conflict at Solution Tree. https://www.solutiontree.com/responding-to-resistance.html

One school, where I was principal, had an attendance policy that said, if the student missed a certain number of days they would not receive credit.  If they were failing too many classes we would kick them out of school. Then, I worked with a student who had been kicked out of his house, was living in a car, brushing his teeth at a soda machine, and working so he could eat.  I think the kid deserved a medal, not to be shunned by our school. Because of this we started a ‘Beat the Odds Award’ given out at our spring awards assembly.

There are people and families dealing with unimaginable barriers, even more during the COVID 19 crisis.  Maybe there is another way to look at troubling issues.  Maybe some of the problems are polarities meaning there are two valuable points of view to consider. Treating polarities as problems lead to more problems.  We need to manage polarities differently so we can leverage knowledge and skills of more people making the whole organization better.  Using strategies that I learned at Polarity Partnerships, we can minimize the downside of each pole and maximize the skills and values of both sides.

In the 90s I read Barry Johnson’s book titled Polarity Management. Barry’s work helped me reframe problems to solve and when the issue was a polarity to manage.  When writing my newest book, I included dealing with polarities as one of the strategies.  This led me to www.polaritypartnerships.com to update my knowledge, skills, and applications for working with leaders.

First, determine whether you are working with a problem to solve (either/or) and the alternative (both/and) where you need both poles working at their highest level to increase success for your organization.  An example from working with schools:

The school had a high number of experienced staff retiring.  The school hired a high number of new teachers to replace those who were retiring and to add staff for new curriculum initiatives.  Bringing new staff into an existing organization can create conflict. When new people come into the group, existing staff might be cautious to see if trust can be built.  A leader’s job is to keep the focus on the goal of the organization, LEARNING. To build trust, increase collaboration, and to create the conditions where there is psychological safety involves using all the talent available to increase adult and student learning. See Amy Edmondson’s (2019) work for more on psychological safety.

As leaders, please do not employ the “Bo Peep” style of leadership.  ‘Leave them alone and they will come home.’  Leaders are critical in building effective learning environments.  Treating the change of employees as a problem can create more problems. If we treat this as a polarity to leverage, we can get the best of both experienced staff and those new to the organization while limiting the downsides of both groups.

Here is a simplified example for a school.  To use the process for an effective description with action steps would involve a more complete document.

Highest Goal:  High collaboration sharing repertoire for learning

Values of Experienced Staff                                        Values of Newer Staff

Experience with programs & Assessment                  Wants to learn new ways of teaching

Political Savvy                                                             Likes new challenges

Relationships to the community                                Is comfortable with new technology

———————————————————————————————————-

Fears of only having Experienced Staff                      Fears of only having newer Staff

May not be as willing to coach/advise activities        Saying ‘yes’ to too many things

Attracted to status quo                                              Try things without seeing consequences

Do my own thing, it always worked before               Feeling rejected by current system

Worse Outcome:  Fragmented and isolated staff

So, leadership should be focused on staying in the top part of this organizer, on both sides, to get the best of both groups.  Of course, there are people in the middle of their careers as well.  Developing leadership of mid-career people will be critical for smoother transitions.

Leaders also must monitor when the organization slips into the lower half.  One of the strategies is to move diagonally.  If, for instance, the group moves to the lower right, leadership needs to help move to the upper left and vis-a-versa (lower left to upper right) to help correct possible more negative consequences.

Leveraging Polarities has many possibilities.  Think about the following polarities where both are important and picking one side is NOT the answer.  You can think about polarities in your own organization. Here are some of the more common polarities:

• Individual and Group
• Content and Process
• Centralization and Decentralization
• Short term and Long term
• Task and Relationship
• New Technology and Existing Technology
• Espoused Theory and Theory in Action

As we incorporate Leveraging Polarities into our repertoire of working with people, more options and possibilities open up  We can shift win/lose, when appropriate, to getting the best of both worlds for better results for our organizations and the people we serve.

Try it, you will like it.

References:

Edmondson, Amy. (2019). The Fearless Organization. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons

Johnson, Barry.  (1992).  Polarity management.  Amherst, MA:  HRD Press, Inc.

Sommers, William. (2020). Responding to Resistance: 30 Ways to Manage Conflict.          Bloomington, IN:  Solution Tree.

www.polaritypartnerships.com

I am always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to help students learn.  I am always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to help adults learn, me included.  Here is an organization worth checking out.

In a conversation, with a friend and colleague Barbara Dill-Varga, we were discussing how to engage students, especially in this VUCA world.  I mentioned my favorite African Proverb  “Not learning is bad, not wanting to learn is worse.”

Tony Wagner has been writing for years, and his twitters are timely, about helping students find their passion and purpose. Then incorporating reading, writing, math, etc. to facilitate their creativity, entrepreneurship, and curiosity  Jon Saphier has specific strategies in his book, High Expectations Teaching, fifty ways to teach students they are smart. These strategies help create more student confidence and competence.

Barb told me of an organization Wayfind led by Patrick Cook-Deegan.  I have included a short description below.  When talking directly to Patrick, he told me of a set of activities focused on ‘belonging’ along with the lessons on purpose.  Belonging is important for middle AND high school students. Wayfinder has print materials and are producing an app for thee materials that will be ready this fall.

Schools have always done more than teach content.  Helping students build self-directed learning skills, collaboration, embracing diversity, creativity, and the list goes on.  These are life skills that will always be necessary for future learning and applying to new kinds of work.  We may not know what jobs will look like but we do know it will involve continual learning and working with others.  ‘Learning to learn’ skills will outlive knowing specific content.  Knowledge is important AND insufficient.  Application of knowledge working with real problems has always been an outcome for teacher and schools to prepare our kids for an unknown future.

As I have reviewed the materials I will definitely pursue incorporating these two themes and the others Wayfinder has produced.  I am interest in bringing Belonging and Purpose into alternative and existing schools that I consult with.  Finding purpose has thirty lessons that would fit nicely into a weekly advisory.  Creating a sense of belonging can increase the feeling of community, being accepted, and increasing self-worth to contribute to the whole.

If the description below piques your curiosity, has application to help with our current distance learning models, and you see possibilities for student personal growth, check it out.  I am.

Here is a link to a general video about Wayfinder: What it Means to Become a Wayfinder Educator

Let’s commit to making school, community, and the world a better place for all, especially our students. 

Wayfinder’s Purpose:

Imagine if adolescent education was designed for all students to develop lives of meaning and purpose. In 2015 Project Wayfinder was founded at the Stanford d.school to answer this call. We partner with educators to design innovative learning experiences that foster belonging and guide students to navigate their lives with purpose. With our fifth academic year upon us, our Purpose Learning toolkits + trainings have journeyed to over 15,000 students, 1000 teachers, 200 schools across 25 states and 18 countries.

Vision: We imagine a world where adolescent education is designed for all students to develop lives of meaning and purpose.

Mission: We partner with educators to design innovative learning experiences that foster meaningful relationships and guide students to navigate their lives with purpose.