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WK12 - Consider your own context within your school and with your mentee. How can understanding of controlled disruption and coherence making impact your leadership of peers at this time, and at this level ?

Its my nature to be skeptical of an authors theoretical constructs around a particular topics in education, I began to wonder what makes their interpretation better than any other, and if I read their ideas...does this now cause some sort of unwanted dissonance in my own understandings? As I moved through the readings I was surprised to find many nuggets of wisdom that align with my own experiences and have enjoyed the Fullian narrative as it was written. For example this weeks reading is the close out chapter for our course talking disruption and its impact on our own leadership styles. Fullian talks about the dangers of “persistent coherence” and that as educational leaders one cannot get wrapped up in the need for equilibrium but in fact, that hard fought balance may be a precursor to death...yikes that sounds serious. (Fullian, 2019) The take away is that when “a living system is in a state of equilibrium it is less responsive to the changes occurring around it”. I see this played out in my place of work where ossified attitudes have become accustomed to a workplace that sees very little change and when change does occur its usually handled from a reactive position rather than a proactive one. This is a key focus of the learning design work I am doing to “disrupt” the “this is how we always do it mentality” as it kills creative growth for our programs. Fullian is clear to point out the difference between “disruption” and “chaos” as with the latter there is no control and the former at least a desired out come is sought. So how does all of this relate to mentoring peers in educational technology specific to myself. I plan to introduce some controlled chaos into the organization by standing up a new way for supervisors and employees to roll out training, self development, share and pass on knowledge to the next generation of employees. My choice of disruption has come in the form of procuring a new learning management system capable of a variety of disruptive ways to engage employees around development. Social learning being a centerpiece of this disruption in that I have co-opted an initiative of leadership around supervisory development and found a vehicle for it in the newly released “social learning” feature of the Adobe Captivate Prime Learning management system. I am huge fan of innovating ways to use the latest tools to build toward the vision and mission, as those are the fixed points we can innovate towards. The innovation is not driven from the “top down”  but from where I believe it counts most right at the ground level, because that's where the speed of knowledge is flowing fastest. When it comes to what's trending its usually not the CEO or Director of education who is tapped into what's trending. We look to them for vision and context but the real solutions are often crafted at the ground level by the educator, student, or employee.

References: 

FULLAN, M. (2019). LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE. S.l.: JOSSEY-BASS.

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Place holder until I submit the real article

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WK11- What is the role of knowledge creation and sharing in a healthy educational organization?

One of the aspects of Fullian’s ideas is that he draws parallels between the challenges faced in business and that of academia. I think chapter five really hones in on some of the key similarities, for example he quotes Brown & Duguid “Information is machines. Knowledge is people. Information becomes knowledge only when it takes on a "social life"(Brown & Duguid). This resonates with the work I am currently doing to build out a social learning network for potential and current supervisors. Often these job roles need the most support navigating tricky FMLA regulations and other administrative support challenges. This is not to say the knowledge does not exist within the organization its there, but extracting those knowledge resources needs a vehicle and a garage to park it. I recently researched and procured a Learning management system that will do each of these things to help create transfer of job specific knowledge form the tenured employee to new hires and less skilled. Fullian talks about of organizations spending on training and technology but missing the social aspects that create transfer of the training or learning. I could not agree more I am looking to connect this missing piece through the social learning tools built in the the Adobe LMS. One of the aspects of the “Knowledge building” Fullian refers to is the deeper understanding of the organization for all employees, this was called out by the leadership at AHFC as a goal of implementing an LMS. The CEO recognizes that different departments are some what siloed in their knowledge of what and sometime even who does what within the organization. The need was identified to break down the silos and create more cross collaboration knowledge of each departments core functions and how each related to the overall mission of AHFC. Very exciting time to be involved in learning and development with the organization! I would like to change gears a bit to discuss reading the ED camps article, after the reading it really has all the aspects of workplace professional development, creating accessibility to learning cool and relevant topics and ideas for practical use in the classroom. Similar to perhaps a professional conference but different in that it’s completely free of vendor sponsorship which has the underlying drive to market learning products and services. I like that it was organically driven by the educator themselves and the schedule was essentially created collaboratively in “just in time fashion” at the outset of a particular EdCamp. I really like that the top topics coming out of the EdCamps were things like; tech tools, instructional design and collaborative connections. As budgets get smaller and classes grow its professional development opportunities that are going to prepare educators to be able to work the magic with less resources.

Resources:

FULLAN, M. (2019). LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE. S.l.: JOSSEY-BASS.

Swanson, K. (2016, April 12). Why Edcamp? Retrieved July 27, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-edcamp-kristen-swanson

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WK10 - Explain and give examples to argue why the following statement is true or false: “Get the right people on your team, and get the wrong ones off.”

A key talent acquisition strategy of Apple founder Steve Jobs was to find and recruit A-Players. My gut reaction is to argue the truth in the statement but I have grown both as an educator and leader. I would approach a comment like this with a question: “Tell me more about why you feel this is the only approach?” what happens next would dictate next steps on providing support, coaching, process change or whatever. Fullan shared context from Lewin and Regine work on the importance of relationships as the building block of successful teams and the need for connection to something “When the individual soul is connected to the organization people become more connected to something deeper-the desire to contribute to a larger purpose, to fell they are a part of a greater whole, a web of connection.” I have had the privilege of managing high functioning teams at a popular technology provider and based on my own experiences I would say that people can fall into two categories...those who are able to see there own blind spots and open to improvement and those who are incapable by choice or perhaps learned helplessness. For example, I had a fellow manager having trouble with a team member spreading toxic behavior, rumors and attitudes amongst her team. Despite her trying to support that employee using a common language of support around the issue and behaviors, it became a career Staller and that employee was let go. As leaders talent selection is hard and we always want to make the best choices, as this makes it easier for everyone to do great work but when things don't pan out with a particular hire, I have seen managers go to the dark place to off board that employee as fast as possible with out the proper steps and documentation. I believe that “creating the right team” can be challenging and that's usually our greatest expenditure of energy as a leader and the difficult employees will always need more of our support. Going back to  the original statement is to look at the leader/ individual who is saying that and unpack their thought process “what is their definition for the right or wrong person” Is there moral compass aligned with that of their organizations HR Policies?

References:

FULLAN, M. (2019). LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE. S.l.: JOSSEY-BASS.

Lewin, R., & Regine, B. (2000). The soul at work: Listen, respond, let go: Using complexity science for business success. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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WK9 - How is mentoring adults different from teaching children?

One of my first jobs was as a water safety instructor teaching different ages of children swimming skill, mechanics and safety. Overall, I had a chance to work with hundreds of children from diverse perspectives, often for some it was from a deep fear of the water, others it was about performance or gaining a new swimming skill. I believe that where motivation originates can be different for a child vs that of an adult it can be personal to an individual or derived from somewhere else regardless, motivation is a key ingredient necessary in the mentoring process. One of the differences I have observed in both children and adults is the awarenesses of self in the mentoring process and being able to unpack the growth process or understand why or why not it worked. With adults the understandings as a mentee can become more complex with a need for validation, as well as processing what worked and what didn't. I also believe the chemistry between mentor and mentee can have a greater impact either strengthening a bond that could last a life time or creating a dysfunction that could stop growth process cold. As an example years ago I was part of a small cohort of trainers for our company participating in a work sponsored  “Train the Trainer”  one of the participants was pushed hard by the facilitator and broke down into tears. We all felt he had went too far but unsure if we should step in, The takeaway is the important question of “Who is driving the mentorship process?” Is it being pushed out from a mentor in check box fashion or is it up to the mentee to prove understandings and engage their mentor with displays of transfer? I think this is a pivotal point where the process differs for children vs adults, often the areas of improvement or goals are more complicated, time bound, or even tied to compensation/retention. For children the circumstances are not always so high stakes and this can flavor the mentor/mentee dynamic based on the nature and objective of the mentoring process. So the show answer is yes, but overall it depends on the individuals and desired outcomes.In conclusion on this EQ I would call out the engagement factor arrow points in the other direction when comparing the two age groups as often the pressure to create interesting content is more geared at children and dry didactic user manuals are what Adults get fed. That being said I would draw a venn diagram with engagement and fun in the center overlap. I believe these components must exist for success with any age group. See this link for more on Adult and children learning differences.

Reference:

Gutierrez, K. (n.d.). Adult Learning Theories Every Instructional Designer Must Know. Retrieved July 22, 2019, from https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/adult-learning-theories-instructional-design

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Are you a lone nut?

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WK8 - What strategies do you use that are related to your “moral purpose”? How do these contribute to your overall leadership?

I believe my overall strategy is to lead indirectly from the front by developing really great learning resources to better inform an individual to make their own best moral choices. People are going to do what they know and if I can impact  understanding of a challenge, perhaps I can effect a catalyst to inspire them to lead as well. Fullian explores the concept not of creating followers but more leaders as he states “moral purpose cannot just be stated, it must be accompanied by strategies for realizing it, and those strategies are the leadership actions that energize people to pursue a desired goal.” I interpret this as leading through inspiration and motivation. It reminds me of a former supervisor that would hold “fun fridays” for an hour every Friday. The entire team would come together and play “Geo Guesser” (most of the team were GIS geeks) and finish out by watching a Ted talk. The result would be an incubation of ideas, conversation and productivity that could be seen in real time. I distinctly remember watching Derek Sivers Ted talk on “How to start a movement” and how first followers can drive change. I believe morally all educators fundamentally want to improve student learning conditions but they/we can get lost in a variety of administrative rabbit holes and process pitfalls. A guiding strategy I have found is to change the conversation back to igniting the reason why we do what we do. Perhaps showing a ted talk, or reviewing inspirational case studies can unlock perspective. We have all heard the term “you are what you eat” I would also argue “you lead what you sow”. Ironic that the term “Lead” is spelled just like the earth element “Lead” which in humans is known to cause neurological dysfunction, diminished cognition and low IQ. So another strategy of mine is to be less like that earth element “Lead” and more like the leaders with the same moral compass that I follow. Fullian shares an excerpt about struggle of “moral purpose”  and the company Monsanto which sought to  re-define itself in the early 90′s. Today, it can be argued that the company has completely lost its way, doing more harm than good. It begs the question “Can any company with a growth mindset continue to expand and do no harm?” if so that growth inevitably must come with change if any chance of moral success it to be realized. Lucky that we have so many historical strategies that failed to help inform our developing new ones!

Reference:

FULLAN, M. (2019). LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE. S.l.: JOSSEY-BASS.

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WK - 7 Why are all five components of leadership necessary for success in leading through change?

There is a lot to unpack from Micheal Fullian’s book Leading through change. I will attempt to highlight some of the stand out parallels that I have witnessed having been part of major organizational shifts within institutions and /or corporations. To start Fullian speaks about attending to the broader moral purpose, I can share that having been part of many different types of leadership training and one thing that stands out to me is the need for a potential or current leader is... to know themselves, before they can affect any type of organizational change. Asking what type of leadership traits do I already possess vs those gaps I know that have as well. Typically doing some sort of myers brigs or situational leadership assessment will shed some light on the leader apps you all ready have built in. Understanding you own morality can impact your ability to reach people. Fullian states that “effective leaders are constantly working on developing relationships at all levels of the organization.” (Fullian, 2019) The second of the five components is “understanding change” Fullian cites various ideologies from Kotter, Kotter, Beer, or Hamel and ask “would you know what to do after reading any of these?” I like that he recognizes the uncertainty that exists when making a large organizational pivot and that any understanding that you thought you have can be called into question. The third component deal with building relationships and I would argue that this is the cornerstone of effect as the ability to influence others is what can drive the right kinds of changes. I worked for Apple for a number of years and admired Steve Jobs ability to influential his organizational relationships. The fourth competent Fullian shares is“Knowledge building” and this is important aspect of change management and there needs to be a common language for educators and employees to rally around. Leaders tuned into developing this knowledge base can rapidly move past resource draining alignment activities and fast forward to the key change driver goals. As an example I have witnessed a chaotic implementation of a very large technology company merger with that of a smaller company, the cultures were very different and as a result much confusion and lost productivity as a result. This is the perfect segway into Fullian’s fifth and last component “coherence making” which I see as a responsibility of a good leader to be the fixed point in the turbulence of change that can realign teams and mitigate distractions in the process. This is not to say that the leader would not use disruption as a tool of making coherence happen as gillian states “disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcome.” (Fullian, 2019) Having been part of some organizational change at the Anchorage school district, I have seen when creating disruptive dialogues ends up strengthening relationships and invigorating the stakeholders investment in the success.

FULLAN, M. (2019). LEADING IN A CULTURE OF CHANGE. S.l.: JOSSEY-BASS.

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WK 5

What does the way you play have to do with embracing change and how does this impact you as a professional?

Fundamentally for any educator embracing change is elemental to professional growth, building a skill set to lead through change can be powerful. Previously I had the privilege of working as a business analyst for the Anchorage School District helping transition to a new teacher evaluation application called MLP OASYS. It’s only been a few years and that system was purchased/absorbed by another and is now called Frontline professional growth. I have seen this trend again and again in the private sector and will no doubt increase in frequency.  So if change is the new normal how can we create opportunities in that? Thomas & Brown talk about with embracing change also comes the ability to be open with how that process developed, citing wikipedias ability to shared the process openly through contributor regulated moderation of arriving at the best answers. This reminds me of the scientific method and the endeavor for falsification...show me the money or in other words prove through a process! It could be argued that imagination is play or that you cannot have one with out some of the other. The authors draw a parallel between play and dealing with all the change spawned by technology, proposing this can be a the path to adapting to that change. This being said, is there a right way and a wrong way to play? Can methods of play be taught to maximize abilities to deal with change or paradox? I would argue yes, in that outside effects on learning, cognition, and behavior can augment or hinder the effectiveness of play as a vehicle of navigating change. The qualities of game strategy can be employed to deal with the ambiguity of change, the ESADE article identifies 8 gamer strategies that call out game like mindsets that can help with what's to come professionally.

“ESADE.” 8 Key Game Strategies to Embrace Change in Organizations - ESADE Knowledge, June 2018, www.esadeknowledge.com/view/8-key-game-strategies-to-embrace-change-in-organizations-172980.

Blackwood, Jo. A New Culture of Learning: Activating Change. National Foundation for the Improvement of Education, 1990.

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WK 4

How different is your current classroom from the one in which you learned when you were a student?

I am 46 years old. I remember lots of chalk boards (now smartboards), using Encyclopedia Britanica and National Geographic for my research papers (now we have Wiki’s and Google). Computing for myself began with the Commodore 64 and Vic 20 progressing to the Apple IIc (today any one can buy off the shelf or build their own). Yes there has been change but surprisingly many things have not changed student desks, certain curriculums, tardy bells. When I think about this weeks EQ in the context of this course my thoughts run to the methodologies and administrative changes that are present today and not available 20, 30, 40 years ago. There have been major cultural and economic steps forward (Lakritz, 2019) and this perspective is central to Douglas Thomas & John Seelys points in their book, the differences are way beyond the classroom and uses metaphors like “cultivation” and “arc of learning”. I really like how in chapter one they share stories of diverse learners in technology and the contrast on how they arrived at their knowledge level and big surprise...communities drive learning in new ways! In a previous post...possibly for another class this semester, I spoke about the outdated model of the teacher being the “regulator” of the learning and the student being the “regulated” this theme is explored in chapter 2 of “A New Culture of Learning”. Additionally the change around the language we use to describe learning environments must focus on what's possible moving from teaching about our world to engaging in it.

References:

Lakritz, Talia. “How Schools Have Changed over the Last 80 Years.” INSIDER, INSIDER, 6 May 2019, www.insider.com/old-school-vintage-classroom-photos-evolution-2018-5.

Blackwood, Jo. A New Culture of Learning: Activating Change. National Foundation for the Improvement of Education, 1990.