jdauria@teachers21.org @jdauria Teachers 21 1 John DAuria - - PDF document

Teachers21 1 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

jdauria@teachers21.org @jdauria

Teachers21 2 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org n Accountability has increased n The pace of change has accelerated n The knowledge & skills necessary go well

beyond content and pedagogy

n The complexity of our work demands

highly effective collaboration and continuous learning

Shifts in our field requiring adaptations

Teachers21 3 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

People must learn to be comfortable

– Not knowing – Not being right – Asking for help – Reporting mistakes – Failing – Disagreeing (agreeably) with colleagues & supervisors

– Adapted from the work of Amy Edmondson

In organizations that innovate and continually learn…

Steve Spear, The High Velocity Edge

Teachers21 4 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

We must muster the hearts and minds of our staff so that improvement, innovation, and adaptation are unending. Steve Spear-The High Velocity Edge

Teachers21 5 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

A Culture of Paradox

Leaders who want to foster innovation have to promote and model contradictory attitudes and actions. They live with paradox… a leader’s role in fostering innovation is to build a culture that is:

n playful and disciplined n chaotic and focused n full of experts and broad-thinking boundary-spanners n representative of high standards and tolerates failure

A culture of possibility.

n Edmondson, Amy C. (2013-09-05). Teaming to Innovate

Teachers21 6 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

What is Leadership?

n Setting Direction n Developing People n Developing the Organization

n Kenneth Leithwood, How Leadership Influences Learning

Levers

What are the significant levers you can use to assist, nudge, support members of your staff to grow and improve?

Teachers21 7 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Three Important Levers

n Communicating an inspiring picture of a

desirable future

n Modeling n Coaching and Feedback (Conversations) n Amy Edmondson-Teaming To Innovate

Four common leadership

• bstacles

n Undervaluing the importance of culture n Letting the problems of the moment move

the organization away from its strategic path to improvement

n Focusing too much on what we are doing

rather than the impact of what we are doing

n Underestimating the importance of skillful

practice

Teachers21 8 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Overcoming Obstacles

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Improved and Inspired Learning New Skills for a New Era

n Valuing conversations, particularly difficult

conversations, about matters of substance

n Learning from error and failure

Teachers21 10 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Dialogue-embracing conversations

Reforms only work when people who implement them are on board, engaged and valued. The great differentiator going forward, the place where school reform will find a new sustainable edge, resides in the area of human connectivity. What gets talked about from the boardroom to the classroom, how it gets talked about, and who is invited to join the conversation determines what will happen or won’t.

n

Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations

Teachers21 11 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Conversations not Monologues

n …in order to execute initiatives and deliver

goals, leaders must have conversations that interrogate reality, provoke learning, tackle tough challenges and enrich relationships.

n Scott, Susan (2004-01-06). Fierce

Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life One Conversation at a Time

The Need for Communication to Cross Hierarchic Boundaries

n NASA Challenger and Columbia Disasters n British Petroleum spill n Lowest ranking employees had critical

information that either was ignored or not passed up

Teachers21 12 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Anomaly

n Senior managers often express assurance

that they are open and want to hear from subordinates

n However, subordinates express that they

don’t feel safe bringing bad news to those same senior managers

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A Difference in Perspective*

% of Administrators who agree or strongly agree that teachers have avenues to deliver feedback to their supervisors about their performance % of Teachers who agree or strongly agree that “I have avenues” to deliver feedback to my supervisors about their performance

Strongly Agree 29% 16% Agree 46% 25%

* TNTP.ORG

Image Risks at Work *

(concerns that powerfully shape our willingness to speak up) n Being seen as ignorant

– Don’t ask questions

n Being seen as negative

– Don’t offer ideas

n Being seen as disruptive

– Don’t critique the status quo It is no different for kids and classrooms

From the work of Amy Edmondson

Teachers21 14 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

These image risks

• Block dialogue
• Suppress questions, and
• Scuttle the necessary arguments needed to

achieve commitment to improvement and innovation

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Fear Of Making Mistakes Fear Of Looking Like A Fool Fear Of Having A Weakness Exposed Fear Of Not Being Liked Fear Of Failure

FIVE BIG FEARS (students)

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Psychological Safety

To gain the power of collaboration and continuous learning, psychological safety is needed.

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From ¡the ¡work ¡of ¡ Amy ¡Edmondson ¡ Slide ¡by ¡Amy ¡ Edmondson ¡ ¡

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Psychological Safety is partly about Learning From Error

“School leaders and teachers need to create schools, staffrooms, and classroom environments in which error is welcomed as a learning opportunity, in which discarding incorrect knowledge and understanding is welcomed, and in which teachers can feel safe to learn, re-learn, and explore knowledge and understanding.”

• John Hattie, 2012

How Learning Occurs in Science

….more often (far more often!) experiments result in

• failure. Scientists can’t succeed unless they learn to

recognize failure as a step on the path to success. Recognizing this, the chief scientific officer at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly throws failure parties to celebrate clinical trials or scientific programs that were intelligent but that nonetheless failed. This odd ritual makes scientists more willing to take intelligent risks, but it also encourages them to speak up sooner rather than later.

n Edmondson, Amy C.

Teachers21 19 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

Increase Insights Reduce Errors & Uncertainty

See Reflection Sheet

Teachers21 20 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Accountability

Accountability is an attitude-a personal, private, and non-negotiable choice about how to live one’s life. It’s a desire to take responsibility for results and for that reason it cannot be mandated.

• Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations

n Leadership that demands accountability with top-

down mandates and oversimplified metrics, rather than efforts to effect engagement and connectivity, leads to a culture of blame and excuses. This results in people focusing on “not losing” rather than on winning. It becomes “us” vs. “them.”… Energy is funneled into tracking evidence to justify results rather than on

• vercoming obstacles and moving toward solutions.

n Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations 40

Teachers21 21 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Signs of Psychological Safety*

Educators can

§

disagree with peers and authority figures

§

ask naïve questions

§

• wn up to mistakes, or

§

present a minority view without fear of ridicule or marginalization (Communication that Crosses Hierarchic Boundaries)

*Edmondson

Achieving sufficient psychological safety doesn’t mean constant harmony….

Making it safe for staff to disagree & dissent Cross boundary talk

Teachers21 22 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Teachers21 23 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org Critical and urgent discussions around education reform are not producing the thought and action necessary to forge change…many of these conversations and debates create “us

• vs. them” cultures. Dialogue is focused on who’s right and

who’s wrong, who wins and who loses. Susan Scott, Fierce Conversations

Teachers21 24 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Moving from I’m right, you’re wrong to….

n There are multiple perspectives-some of

which I can’t initially see

Teachers21 25 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

THERE ARE 125 SHEEP AND 5 DOGS IN A

• FLOCK. HOW OLD IS THE SHEPHERD?

(From HOW OLD IS THE SHEPHERD? By Katherine Merseth) n Researchers report that three out of four

schoolchildren will produce a numerical answer to this problem1.

n A transcript of a child solving this problem aloud

reveals the kind of misinformed conception of mathematics that many children hold:

125+5=130...this is too big, and 125-5=120...is still too big...while 125÷5=25. That works! I think the shepherd is 25 years old

1Kurt Reusser, Problem Solving Beyond the Logic of Things:Textual and Contextual Effects on

Understanding and Solving Word Problems.

Teachers21 26 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

How Would You Answer the Question?

Look at the way the first two items are related. Then find an item that is related to the third item in the same way.

A

B C D E

Conflict Can Lead to Learning

“Conflict among collaborators can feel like a failure, but differences in perspective are a core reason for teamwork in the first place, and resolving them effectively creates opportunities.”

• Amy Edmondson

Teachers21 27 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Two foundational ideas

n Viewing Difficult Conversations as a source

• f learning and essential to effective

collaboration

n Understanding that innovation often occurs

when conflict is converted into insight

Teachers21 28 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

In Your Setting…

How is conflict managed at meetings?

Invite Dissent

“Gentlemen, I take it we are in complete agreement

• n the decision…Then I propose we postpone

further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to give ourselves time to DEVELOP DISAGREEMENT AND PERHAPS GAIN SOME UNDERSTANDING of what the decision is all about.”

• - Alfred P. Sloan

(courtesy of Edmondson)

Teachers21 29 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Five key (21st century)skills that can transform conflict into learning and innovation

n Acknowledgment of Feelings n Responding to criticism (and less than

acceptable results) with curiosity

n Balancing advocacy with inquiry n Disentangling impact from intentions n Abandoning blame and mapping the

contribution system

Teachers21 30 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

We Feel, Therefore We Learn

Research done by Immordino-Yang & Damasio: “When we educators fail to appreciate the importance of students' emotions, we fail to appreciate a critical force in students' learning. One could argue, in fact, that we fail to appreciate the very reason that students learn at all.” (p.9)

Teachers21 31 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

We Feel, Therefore We Learn

An adaptation When we leaders fail to appreciate the importance of educators' emotions, we fail to appreciate a critical force in the way

• ur organizations learn

http://psylelon.blogspot.com/

Important Leadership Domains

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Feelings are part of the vast reserve of tacit knowledge

Tacit knowledge also includes the many fragments in the subconscious that allow creativity.

Teachers21 33 John D’Auria jdauria@teachers21.org

Chris Argyris-Ladder of Inference

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Humble Inquiry

n Do less telling n Learn to do more asking n Do a better job of listening and

acknowledging

• Edgar Schein, Humble Inquiry: The Gentle

Art of Asking Instead of Telling

Meetings

n What % of meetings

– focus on matters of consequence? – engage all participants? – produce learning/insights/complicate people’s thinking?

68