Quote-A-Day: Day 359

Homes are designed to be conducive to living. Shouldn’t schools be designed to be conducive to learning? #QuoteADay #Day359 #edchat #satchat

Over the course of this year, our agency will be undergoing some design changes, culminating in a new roof, new flooring, and some changes to our conference room configuration happening this summer.

While this means multiple transitions for those of us who work here, it also means an opportunity to take a very innovative agency, and modify its design to match the forward-thinking mindset of its staff.

I’m excited for the opportunity to see this building in a new light.  Our physical structure certainly doesn’t match the power of the people within, and that’s a problem.

My family and I moved into a new home about a year ago.  We needed more space, and were ready to make the move from connected townhouse to stand-alone structure.  With the move came some growing pains (emotional, physical, and financial), but a year later, we’re happy with the new home we’ve designed.  It meets our needs and is conducive to living for my wife, me, and our two girls.  Form meets function; a house should be lived in, so it should be conducive to the process of living and all that goes with it. 

And yet, in my travels around to districts in the New York City suburbs, many schools are not conducive to the purpose they should serve: learning for all.  Despite the understanding that learning should happen within the walls of a school, our buildings are structured in ways that may have supported learning a half century ago, but no longer truly promote active learning and innovation.

While the response to this idea might be something along the lines of, “But, Fred, the changes you’re likely thinking of come at a price,” I ask you to consider the price that is already being paid by attempting to lead and learn in spaces that are no longer about leading and learning, but are instead about the status quo, and our immune response to changing.

Why do we tend to believe that innovative use of space must rest on an infusion of funds?  Why can’t we redesign the spaces we have with the resources already in our collective possession?  Or better yet, why not redesign a few spaces in a school at a time?  Innovation isn’t a linear process.  Updating our learning spaces doesn’t have to be either.

Regardless of how we get there, it is clear that change must occur.  School culture is more than just the people within.  The school speaks too.  What do we want it to say?

Quote-A-Day: Day 358

The best leaders realize they shouldn’t have to do everything they ask others to do. #QuoteADay #Day358 #edchat #edu #satchat #NYedchat 

I’ve been reading a book by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey called Immunity to Change.  In it, the authors describe how they’ve worked with a variety of leaders and learners to overcome their own natural immunity to the change process.  It isn’t so much that change is hard, but rather that our own bodies and minds are hardwired against it.

In reading one of the segments chronicling how a leader learned to deal with necessary change, I was struck by a comment made and how true it was (and how I often would tell others the opposite).

I used to say to those I worked with, “I would never ask you to take this on if I couldn’t do it myself,” or “I wouldn’t encourage you to explore something that I myself am uncomfortable with.”

This seemed to be an appropriate comment, right?  After all, it was meant to show that I wouldn’t ask others to do things that I didn’t vet first.

But, I believe I was wrong.

The way I now see it, the comment actually discourages delegation and the handing over of the leadership reigns.  Instead, it makes it sound as if every decision and step to take can only be along pathways that I would go down, and if creative thinking is contained by only what is comfortable to me, then I’ve failed those I’m being asked to serve.

A better way to put it would be, “I want you to explore those areas that best utilize your unique skill set.  I’m here to help you identify how you can do that.”

I know that I can’t do everything, much as I might want to.  And, for those things I can do, I fully understand that others can likely do them better. 

My goal?

To help focus others on what they can do best, build up their capacity to do what is currently a weakness, and use my skills as a leader to encourage others to push themselves further and therefore help us further innovate.

The moment we’re able to stop worrying about being the end all is the minute where as a collective group we can do all.

I’m not there, but I’m working on it.  Where are you?

Quote-A-Day: Day 357

The best #leaders understand that sometimes, they just have to let things go.  #QuoteADay #Day357 #edchat #edu #NYedchat #satchat #ASCDL2L

One of the most important lessons for a leader to learn is that there are no absolutes in leadership.  Anything can be on or off the table at any given point. 

While it is true that we need to hold true to our core values, we also need to make sure that we can be flexible enough to let things go that aren’t at the top of our priority list.

Life is a negotiation, in part, and as such, we always have to be willing to move on a continuum of what is acceptable, and what is not.

A wise leader taught me that a true negotiation is only successful when all parties leave with a small bit of frustration.  It is true that you can’t always get what you want.

Therefore, as a model to those we serve, and as a way to foster our own collaborative skills, we need to make sure that we are always reminding ourselves that some things need to be let go.  When there is room to move around a subject or a point, sometimes we just have to let that movement happen.  Negotiating is never about who is wrong or right, but always about whoever is willing to accommodate someone else.

The key?  To make sure that we have one or two structural cores to who we are as leaders.  These should emanate from us in whatever we do.

And these are areas around which we should not bend, nor break.

However, for everything else, we have to be comfortable changing course, seeing things through a different light, and letting our own grip on matters go.

After all, it’s better to share a hold with others, than to grip so tightly that no one else can get their hands involved.

Quote-A-Day: Day 356

We need to take time off so we can do our best with our time when we're on. #QuoteADay #Day356 #edchat #satchat #NYedchat #ASCDL2L

Tomorrow my wife and I are taking a day for ourselves.  My wife is now off for two weeks (she goes back to school on January 5th), and I'm taking a day off on Monday.  My wife and I are taking a one-night getaway; my parents have been gracious enough to watch our two girls for a night.

We're not doing anything amazing or spectacular, but we are going to enjoy roughly twenty-four hours to just focus on each other, and just as importantly, ourselves.

There is a need to take time off from the excellent work that we do.  Our minds, our bodies, and our relationships all need a recharge from time-to-time.  We're only as good as when we're at our worst, so we need to set the bar really high for our worst, if we're to be exceptional leaders and learners.

A large part of setting the bar high comes from having the energy and willpower to handle anything (or just about anything).  And to do that, we need to make sure we take enough time to recharge our batteries, and along with that, we need to take a little "I" time.  

There is nothing "wrong" or "unprofessional" about needing a break every now and then.  In fact, I would go so far as to say that taking time is a very professional move.  It shows an understanding of the human condition, and the importance of "disconnecting" from one's role at regular intervals.

When we take time off, we're actually providing ourselves with an opportunity to do our best when we're back on.

Quote-A-Day: Day 355

#Edreform is more than saying what is wrong. It means changing to find what is right. #QuoteADay #Day355 #edchat #satchat #NYedchat #ASCDL2L

I've learned throughout my career that being flexible is a key to success.  I've also learned that in being flexible, we also have to understand that everyone brings their own baggage, and because of that, we have to be open to thinking and actions that are very different from what we would have thought or said.

And all of this sits well with me.

What is more of a challenge for me, and tougher for me to be "okay" with, is when we talk about the need to reform education (or anything, for that matter), and stop there.

Education won't reform itself, and while talking about it elevates awareness about potential problems, talk can rarely fix or solve anything on its own.

To make a difference, we have to be willing to act, and that involves changing what we do so that we might replace what we believe is wrong with what could be right.

The challenge to just talking about change, is that it becomes very easy for us to throw the ball of change into somebody else's yard.

Blame for what is wrong is much easier than changing behavior as a means to searching for potential right answers.

Before we discuss the problems that exist anywhere, we should instead begin making a difference.  In this way, we can tell others about the changes we've made and what we've learned, rather than the problems that exist without found solutions.

Quote-A-Day: Day 354

It pays to lose ourselves, if only to have the opportunity to find ourselves anew. #QuoteADay #Day354 #edchat #satchat #NYedchat #ASCDL2L

While I admit that in most cases I like to know where I stand at all times, I’ll also happily admit that there are times when I gladly wander and get lost.  In these situations I’m happy to float a bit aimlessly, knowing that I can easily reel myself back in.

Here are two examples of when this happened to me, just within the last day.

First, I moderate a biweekly Twitter chat on the Next Generation Science Standards.  Yesterday, our topic was on tying the Next Gen standards to informal science.  I’ve been a formal science educator and curriculum director for my entire career; while I’ve taken part in informal science events and activities, I don’t have the lens of being a leader in this area.  This made leading the chat difficult, but incredibly fun and filled with learning.  My co-moderator and I commented to each other last night that we felt lost and unsure how to respond to some of the tweets.

And that was okay. J

This morning, I took a short break in between tasks to read up on the Southern Reach Trilogy.  I’ve heard quite a bit about it, but haven’t read much of the books or even the book flaps.  So, I read a quick intro to Book 1, and for about five minutes, I was transported to Area X, the reading was so gripping for me.  While I was in my office, I also wasn’t, and that momentary brain shift was exactly what I needed to dive into the next bit of work.

And that was okay. J

We need to provide ourselves with opportunities to lose ourselves. 

The reason?  Because once we find ourselves again, we’re often just a bit different, and regularly, just a bit better.

Quote-A-Day: Day 353

Turns out that when we give to others, we're actually also giving to ourselves. #QuoteADay #Day353 #edchat #satchat #NYedchat #HappyHolidays

Today is a day filled with giving for me.  In a few moments, my supervisor and I will be sharing holiday gifts with our program assistants.

Later, we’ll be taking out our department to lunch, along with three of the agency’s program administrators.

Then, our administrative unit will be meeting for a Yankee swap at the end of the day.

While giving often involves giving a lot of ourselves (energy, emotion, finances), we also get when we give.

It’s not a revolutionary idea, but it is an important one: When we give to others, we’re also giving to ourselves.

The act of giving not only makes those who are receiving happy but it also provides joy for those who are doing the gifting.  There is something powerful about both sharing and receiving a gift; in fact, despite the work and capacity involved in giving, the best leaders understand that only through giving is there ever anything that can be taken.

As you continue through the holiday season, realize that all that you give will come back to benefit you and those around you. 

When we give, we also get.