WalkAMile

Walk a mile in my shoes…

Before you judge me...

Before you try to tell me how to do my job...

Before you criticize my work...

Before you disparage me...

Before you marginalize me...

Before you offer suggestions...

Before you try to "fix" me...

I’ll do the same for you.

Limits

When taking Calculus in college I learned the concept of limits. The notion goes like this:  Imagine yourself standing three or four feet from a wall.  You take a step toward the wall, covering half the distance between you and the wall.  You take another step, again covering half the remaining distance between you and the wall.  You continue this process, each time covering half the distance between yourself and the wall.  Regardless of how long you keep this process up, you’ll never really reach the wall (in theory), because you’ll always have half the distance yet to cover.

We can use this idea of limits in our thinking about continuous improvement.  The goal is to gain some ground every day in improving ourselves or our organization.  We should assume we’ll never “get there.”  There will always be some distance yet between us and perfect performance, so tomorrow we try to close half that distance again.

In thinking about getting constantly better (whether personally or as an organization), we must view it as a process, not an outcome/event.  Excellence is certainly a worthy goal, but it is as elusive as perfection itself.

Move toward the target.  

          Assess.  

                    Modify.  

                              Adapt.  

                                        Move toward the target. 

                                                  Repeat…………………forever.

Reign Of Error

I recently read Diane Ravitch’s Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools (2013).  The best word I can use to describe the book is “provocative.”

Ravitch skillfully traces the history of public education in America, shedding light on numerous important points of inflection in the evolution of the institution.  As a servant of the U.S. Department of Education under two different presidents (of differing parties), she has a perspective that is unique, to say the least.

Some of Ravitch’s basic premises:

>  Public education is a core governmental responsibility in a democracy.

>  Most low-performing schools have two fundamental commonalities: high poverty rates and predominant minority racial segregation.

>  School reform can only happen if driven locally.

>  Achievement gaps cannot be closed without a societal commitment to amend the antecedents of poverty.

>  Standardized testing does more harm to schools than good (especially the schools that struggle the most).

>  Non-academic learning is at least as important as the academic content (yet it is ignored in the high-stakes testing regime).

>  The national agenda of what she calls “the reformers” is motivated more by desires to privatize, re-segregate, and make profit than it is at serving the best interests of the country.

In admirable form, Ravitch powerfully uses data to support her positions and propositions.  She does not stop at simply pointing out the problems, but also posits a list of substantive solutions to the problems.  To her credit, she rightly acknowledges the high price tag associated with her proposed solutions, but counters that our society pays an even higher price by not meeting those standards. 

My favorite quotation from the book:

“Whatever the tests measure is not the sum and substance of any child. The tests do not measure character, spirit, heart, soul, potential.” 

(To that I say, “Amen”!  Neither do they measure the full impact of a quality teacher.)

To my friends who are educators, I recommend Reign of Error as a primer on American public education.  It will become, I think, a seminal reference for you as you debate and discuss our craft, and consider policy decisions for the future of public education (both at the macro and micro level).

To ALL my friends (non-educators and educators alike), I recommend Reign of Error for this reason:  It will generate deep reflection about the role of government, the demarcation lines between federal, state, and local responsibilities, and your position on the degree of value brought to the republic by a commitment to educate equitably ALL its children.

To be sure, Ravitch will provoke you.  To be sure, she will make proposals with which you strongly agree and/or disagree.  To be sure, she will challenge you to think about your position as to the need, viability, and sustainability of public education, and its import to you, your family, your community, and your country.  This book will challenge you to get off the fence.

BadThings

Several years ago I encountered one of the young men I coached in high school (I’ll call him Gabe).  We had had no communications since his graduation several years earlier.

As Gabe and I reminisced about “the good old days” we recalled a number of the games and experiences we shared while he was playing football on one of the teams I coached.  We might have even added a few embellishments.  As well, we caught up on each other’s lives since he had graduated and "moved on."  Gabe had gotten married, become a father, and was doing quite well for himself in the profession he had chosen.  His evident success and happiness made me proud.  I stated as much.

Gabe told me that he had relied often on one of the “speeches” I would regularly give in those tense pre-game moments before the team heads onto the field.  My mind quickly rushed back over the numerous admonitions and encouragements I would deliver in those moments of pre-game closeness (one of my favorite parts of coaching was the "brotherhood" involved).  I was never sure if the players heard a word of my blatherings just before kickoff.  

With a bit of apprehension, I asked Gabe which “speech” he was referencing.

Gabe fixed his eyes firmly on mine and reminded me of this oft-delivered counsel: “Bad things are gonna happen tonight, men.  The team that emerges victorious will not be the team that escapes adversity.  It’s the team that most effectively responds to the bad things that will be successful in the end.”

I can’t tell you where I first heard those words (might have been my high school football coach), but they obviously resonated with me.  In fact, now that I've spent almost six decades in the unpredictable and sometimes turbulent waters of life, those words ring truer now than ever.  

Bad things are gonna happen.  The only choice we get in the affair is how we react to them.  Thanks, Gabe, for remembering, and for the memory.

CultureWork

Much of the organizational literature provides guidance on “building” or “creating” culture.  

I don't believe we can “create” culture.  Culture simply exists, in all organizations.  It is an organic outgrowth of the dynamics and interactions of the members of the organization, all of which are influenced by the collective attitudes and practices of the organization’s members.  

Because culture is very much a self-organizing system, we do not have the power to simply conjure up the culture we desire.  The idea that we get to create the culture we want is a notion that is WAY too simplified for the realities on the ground, and it could even be described as downright naïve. 

Before you get indignant, here me out.

What I believe we can (and should) do is purposefully and positively influence the culture of our organization (whether it be a family, a softball team, a yoga class, a business, or a school).  How?  By our attitudes, our acts of commission, our acts of omission, and our treatment of others.  EVERY person within an organization exercises some influence on the culture of the organization.  And, the degree of influence is not necessarily tied to where one lies in the organizational hierarchy.

So, how can we influence our organization’s culture in positive ways?

• Insist on and model respectful treatment of ALL others.
• Notice and celebrate behaviors consistent with the organizational culture we desire.
• Be extremely purposeful when the opportunity to add new organizational members presents itself.  Design recruitment and induction processes that will unveil candidates with the attributes that will positively influence the organization.  To quote Todd Whitaker, “Don’t hire the people that fit your organization; hire the people you want your organization to become.”
• Communicate often and in many ways the kinds of behaviors, beliefs, and values that represent the desired cultural norms. Folks will both over- and under-achieve those desired norms, but they’ll at least know the aspirations if the desired outcomes are clearly articulated. 

It is important to remember that organizational culture is dynamic in nature.  It is constantly being flexed, stretched, altered by changes in membership, by changes in circumstances, by changes in the external variables.  

I'm sure you’ve heard this before, but the only thing you can control is how you act and react.  Be cognizant of the fact that each of those actions and reactions will influence the culture of your organization.  

By the way, you’re influencing your organization's culture right now.  On purpose?