Tag Archives: innovative leadership

It’s Possible

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Steve Betts

I heard this story on a motivational mix that I was listening to recently and thought I would share it (paraphrased).

Two young boys were skating on ice when all of a sudden, one of them fell through and got trapped under. His friend started to punch the ice in hopes of breaking it but could not get through. In desperation, the friend climbed a tree and broke off a huge branch, came back down the tree and started smashing the ice, eventually breaking it and miraculously saving his friend.

As emergency services came after the boy was safe, they sat in amazement and wondered how the little boy was able to break off the branch, smash the ice and save his friend. As they were sharing their amazement, an old man walked up and said, “the boy was able to do it because there was no one here that told him he couldn’t.”

Pretty powerful story for what we do in both administration and teaching. How many times has a great idea or thought been extinguished by simply telling someone that it wasn’t possible?

Building the Culture of an Empowered Mindset Towards Technology Innovation

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I have been having an incredible year of learning in my half-time role with Parkland School Division, along with speaking and consulting for other schools/districts. I have learned a lot from both positions and I feel that it is very valuable to be able to look at school cultures within your organization, while also looking at what other schools do from an outsider’s perspective.

In this work, I have realized how truly important the role of principal is in building, not only in creating a positive culture, but an innovative one. These schools continuously strive to understand the changes happening in our world to not only catch up, but to lead the way in providing amazing learning opportunities for our students. Often times, as the principal goes, so does the culture of the school. This is not to say that individual teachers can not be leading the way within the school themselves, but this goes back to the notion of “pockets of innovation” as opposed to a “culture of innovation”. It is unlikely for an entire school to be “pushing the edge” if the principal or administrative team is not helping to pave the way for their community as they learn alongside of them.

Due to the observations of the past few years, I have decided to create a visual that discusses the correlation of the school mindset on technology innovation in learning, and the alignment it has with administrator support, professional development, and the corresponding hardware/infrastructure within the school/classroom. Although what I have created is not an exact science, you will often see the overall belief of the school community align with many of these practices.

I have colour-coded the graphic so it is not confused with a rubric”, but more to show alignment between beliefs and practices. The graphic is below (first draft).

If you are interested, you can get the full graphic on Flickr, as well as access to the Google Document where it was created (thanks to Jesse McLean for helping to edit this!). Please feel free to share and use this within your own work or share any of your thoughts.

10 Ideas To Move Innovation Forward

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by -= Bruce Berrien =-

Through a lot of conversations on social networks, face-to-face opportunities, and reflection, I have been thinking about some of the things that I have seen to create new and better (innovative) opportunities for learning. This is not only in the context of student learning, but as well as opportunities for staff and their own professional development. Below, I would like to share some of my thoughts as well as some corresponding quotes from people both in and out of education. (I have written about this topic before, but I really wanted to focus on people specifically.)

1. Have a clear vision.

Although the term “innovation” talks about continuously developing new ideas, I really believe that it is imperative that the notion of risk-taking and continuously developing better learning opportunities for students. The other idea is that leaders should have some clear notion on what learning could look like in today’s classroom, not simply having a vision that is not clear. Once those ideas become clear to others, trust that those you serve will take off and make amazing things happen. Give them the autonomy to make the vision come to life.

“If you do a good job of teaching your values and mission to the people at the bottom of your organization, then once you give them control, they will do the right things with it.” Charlene Li

2. Model what you want to see.

It is really easy to go say, “do this”, but it is more important to say, “let’s do this together”. If you think about the way many run staff meetings, they often talk about “21st Century Learning” but do not model it when educators are present. People rarely change because they hear something, but are more likely to grow if they experience something. How are you making those learning opportunities something people experience?

“Meaningful change ain’t gonna happen for our kids if we’re not willing to invest in it for ourselves first. At the heart, it’s not about schools…it’s about us.” Will Richardson

3. Break it down into smaller steps.

When we have a giant vision of what “better” looks like, it often becomes overwhelming to people who are nowhere near an “endpoint”. To help people move forward, skill and confidence have to be built along the way. Every step closer to a vision, is great progress.

For example, if you want people to become more connected, show them ways that they can benefit immediately as opposed to focusing on all of the amazing ways they can bring experts into the classroom, help them find one single resource. Once they see the value of that, they are more likely to make the next step which could eventually lead to the giant leap.

“The path to success is paved with small wins. Even the grandest and most glorious victories rest on a string of modest but constructive steps forward.” Robert I. Sutton

4. Help people move from their “Point A” to their “Point B”.

Everyone is at different points in their learning journey. This is not just students, but educators as well. Too often we offer workshops and expect people to be all at the same point by the end, but is this really honouring where people are at? I really believe that once a teacher quits learning, they will become ineffective. It may not happen tomorrow, but it will happen. That being said, I can easily work with anyone that is wanting to learn and get better; they don’t have to be at the pinnacle. Start where people are at, as opposed to focusing on where you want them to be.

“Multipliers invoke each person’s unique intelligence and create an atmosphere of genius—innovation, productive effort, and collective intelligence.” Liz Wiseman

5. Work with people 1-on-1.

One of the best things that I have done this year (in my opinion), was offer “office hours” that gave teachers the opportunity to ask me about whatever they wanted to learn. Large group sessions give ample amounts of information, but can also be ineffective for many. Much of the time, teachers would come to me with questions of things that they were interested in learning about, and I led them to initiatives in our division that would help them. The big “light bulb moment” for me was this; it was not about what I wanted to teach them, but about what they wanted to learn. It is much easier to work from that point when helping others move forward.

“To sell well is to convince someone else to part with resources—not to deprive that person, but to leave him better off in the end.” Daniel Pink

6. Promote champions.

In education, no matter the level, it is never about “us”, but it is always about others. It would be really easy to maintain a space where you are always seen as the “expert”, but it is more important to build systems and capacity if we want long term growth. Sometimes, even when you know the answer, it is better to be a “connector” and show that you value the people who are already doing great stuff. A system should never be dependent upon one but should tap into many.

“…the world changes by dint of small groups of dedicated people.” Margaret J. Wheatley

7. Share, share, share!

“And then one day, you look up and realize that all those individual trajectories have turned into a wave.” Stephen Johnson

One of the neatest things about many of the initiatives that we have within our district is that we really focused on a few things to get to that transformative level in our work. When sharing became the default with many educators, we were learning from so many others and really pushing the limits of our work.

A simple analogy. Most people know that we do not use something simple like Microsoft Word past ten percent of it’s capacity (not the innovative type of software I am promoting, but the example is used for familiarity). What happens when everyone’s ten percent is different, but we all share? Our learning grows so much when we all share what we know with one another.

“The smartest person in the room is the room.” David Weinberger

8. Model and promote risk taking.

We often talk about “promoting risk taking”, but do leaders model it? People will not feel comfortable unless we openly share the things that we are trying to do to get better. Every time I write a blog post, I am taking the risk of looking stupid or saying something that someone would take offensive, yet I focus on clarifying my thoughts openly since I want our community to do the same. How can I ask it if I do not model it?

Once people see that you are doing this, they are more likely to try their own ideas and push what is happening in their own situations. Giving people license to take risks, will more likely lead to some amazing things.

“if you want innovation, it’s critical that people are able to work on ideas that are unapproved and generally thought to be stupid. The real value of “20%” is not the time, but rather the “license” it gives to work on things that “aren’t important.” Jonathan Fields

9. Find the balance of “pressure and support”.

I have talked about this to a great extent in my blog, but I think it is important to create a sense of urgency in our work while also ensuring that people are supported. If it is important, you will find money, and make time for people. This sense of urgency and support will help people to move when combined, much more than if there is an abundance of one and lack with the other.

“I believe that managing is like holding a dove in your hand. If you hold it too tightly, you kill it, but if you hold it too loosely, you lose it.” Tommy Lasorda

10. Always remember that we are in the “people” business”.

No matter how urgent things are, it never helps when we make people feel incompetent. We can have great ideas, but it is important to understand that we often do not know situations that people are dealing with in their personal lives, and what is happening outside of their work. Ensure that you show you value what they already do, before you start pushing where they should be. Once a person knows they are valued, they will go to much greater heights than if they never felt cared for in the first place.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou

Concluding Thoughts

As we continue to work on growth and change management, working where people are and caring about them, makes them not only more open to change, but eventually want to embrace it. It is a process that needs patience, but with each small victory, many get closer to the big goal.

“Rather than viewing change as a threat and something to be feared, we will find ourselves embracing change, recognizing its potential to drive us to even higher levels of performance…”John Seely Brown

“People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss…”

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by http://heretakis.com

A superintendent was in one of my workshops with his administration team, and he raised his hand and said the following:

A lot of what you are talking about and sharing is great, but where would you find the time?

My heart sunk immediately.

Hearing the lead of an organization say that in front of his staff made what I was sharing optional. What bothered me about the statement is that the work I was highlighting of so many teachers in our district, he acknowledged as being “great”, yet you could tell that it would never be something that he would see as a priority.

As an administrator, it is imperative that you have to be a “defender of time“, so you can’t do everything in your school, but if we were to take a look at a lot of the tasks that we do in school, do they lead to “great” or are they something we just do because we have always done it that way. If we want to get better, we should look at what we need to do, while also what we need to get rid of.

If you look at any person that has done something awesome, the question that always comes up from others is “where did you find the time?” It is not about time, but it is about an attitude and a way they live their life. Most people that are really fit and in shape, don’t find the time, they make the time. They know it is important and it is just what they do. That’s it. Is that any different from any endeavour?

Does every teacher have to be “great”? Not necessarily, but I believe that this is something we should all strive for to benefit our students. As I think of this notion, I heard this quote and it sticks out to me regarding this thought process:

“People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss. They fail in life, because they aim too low and hit.” (Unknown)

Thoughts?

When You Outgrow Leadership

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“Anyone can run away; it’s super easy. Facing problems and working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”Unknown

With the infusion of social media into our everyday lives, along with educators using to connect and learn from others, the expectations in our own circumstances has been raised. Through sites like Connected Principals (full disclosure…this is a site that I created and which many contribute), the role of principal and how it is done in other organizations has become increasingly transparent. People have access to what leadership looks like, and many want more guidance to reach a higher level in their own careers. In working with many “high-flyers” both in and out of my organization, one of the consistent things that I see in all of them is the craving for mentorship. They tend to be “sponges” and want to soak in as much as they can, learn from it, and lead because of it. Often though, this mentorship can be lacking in their own situation and leaves a person with a couple of choices; leave or flounder. I would like to hope that every principal and superintendent is amazing, but as in every field, there are those that are lacking.

Make your intentions transparent

Some want to become a principal and some want to stay in the classroom their entire career and be the best teacher possible. Leadership is essential in growing both, yet often our goals are not known by those that we work with. Simply asking for a time to sit down from your leader and talk about what you would like to do or where you would like to go is the first step in getting to your next level. We often assume that our leadership does not know what we need, but sometimes the reason is because we have never had an open conversation and shared our aspirations. It is hard to be on the same page if we have no idea the direction.

Empowering your leader

Insecurity can lead to serious issues in both our personal and professional life, and leadership is a tough position that can really exponentiate those feelings. It doesn’t happen with all leaders, but it does happen. We often want to feel valued by our leadership, but how often do we try to show how we value the person above us in the chain of command? Simply asking questions such as, “what do you think?”, or “what would your suggestions be to get to the next level?”, shows that you value their opinion. Communication and relationships are always a two-way street and we have to treat them that way no matter the hierarchy.

Find mentorship

Whether your are getting what you need in terms of mentorship from your own leader, an outside mentor is always beneficial. Not simply someone else in your building, but more important, someone outside. When we spend a lot of time in one place, we often become oblivious to the things that may jump out to others. A different perspective can help us grow and bring more leadership within our own organizations and be crucial in our own development. Asking advice, listening to stories, or sharing difficulties with someone else may help to open your eyes to new solutions that are not currently being brought into your line of sight.

Moving forward

I am blessed to have many great mentors within my own school division, but I often benefit from connecting to principals and superintendents from around the world to get a different viewpoint and to hopefully help my own growth. Many are not in my situation, but as we ask students to find solutions to their own problems, we need to do the same or ourselves. There will be no growth if all we do is complain that our current leadership is not cutting it; that is simply a waste of time. The best educators find a way to get the mentorship that they crave for their own growth in their current situation, or they leave and find it somewhere else. We always have choices.

3 Important Trends That We Should Focus On in Schools

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Esparta

In our world, parents and students now have access to the same information that educators do, and the hope is that this would improve the learning that happens in school. The reality of this is though, that educators have access to information outside of schools and we should be looking towards different organizations and industries, and what they are focusing on and improving their practice. Many educators are doing this now, and you will see things like Google’s “2o% Time” implemented at both the classroom and organizational level with great success. As educators, I really believe we need to look both inside and outside of schools to create the best opportunities for our students.

Here are a few focus areas outside of education, that we should be looking at in schools and make more explicit in our practice.

1. Research and Development

Having a conversation at a recent meeting, the presenter continuously talked about “R & D”, while many sat in the room curious to what the initials stood for. Why is that? Why do we put such little emphasis on “Research and Development” in schools, while others organizations put a much larger emphasis in this area:

“Anthony S. Bryk, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has estimated that other fields spend 5 percent to 15 percent of their budgets on research and development, while in education, it is around 0.25 percent. Education-school researchers publish for fellow academics; teachers develop practical knowledge but do not evaluate or share it; commercial curriculum designers make what districts and states will buy, with little regard for quality. We most likely will need the creation of new institutions — an educational equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, the main funder of biomedical research in America — if we are to make serious headway.” (From “Teachers: Will We Ever Learn“)

Obviously, research is a component of what we do in our classrooms, but are we creating from that process or are we simply reporting? Teachers should be continuous learners and active research should be a component of this (obviously administrators should be finding time to ensure that this happens), and we are more likely to create this experience for students if we experience this ourselves. Actively researching best, new and innovative practices, would only improve our schools.

We spend a lot of time having our students look back at the past, but how much time do we give them to create the future?

2. Entrepreneurial Spirt

The term “entrepreneurial spirit” is something that has been a focus for Alberta Education:

“Entrepreneurial Spirit: who creates opportunities and achieves goals through hard work, perseverance and discipline; who strives for excellence and earns success; who explores ideas and challenges the status quo; who is competitive, adaptable and resilient; and who has the confidence to take risks and make bold decisions in the face of adversity.”

Or their simple definition for students:

“I create new opportunities.”

I have seen many amazing things that have been created in schools only because I happened to be in the school. If students are able to develop an “app”, should they not also have some understanding of how to market it as well? This just not go for the “business minds” in school, but in any and every aspect. A student can be the most amazing artist, but if no one ever sees their work, could they ever end up doing this for a living? I am a firm believer that we should try to give opportunities for students to follow their passions and hopefully make a living from what they love.

Dan Pink shares his belief that all people are in some capacity need the ability to be able to “sell”:

“Physicians sell patients on a remedy. Lawyers sell juries on a verdict. Teachers sell students on the value of paying attention in class. Entrepreneurs woo funders, writers sweet-talk producers, coaches cajole players.”

If you think back to your own post-secondary experience in becoming an educator, were you ever actually taught on how to get a job? This is more important than ever with “digital footprints” becoming a large factor in how people in all areas are getting jobs.

We want our students to be able to create amazing things; how do we help them share those creations?

(Check out SCH Academy’s “Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership” to see a very innovative program that is really trying to push the envelope in this areas.)

3. Leadership Development

This is probably a no-brainer for many, but still something that schools need to focus on for their entire community. When I talk about “leadership”, I am not thinking of “being the boss”, but the ability to empower others and be a part in creating a positive culture. I also believe that leadership has to do with ownership, and things that we do in isolation also help us in this pursuit (Sir Ken Robinson is considered a “leader” in education but how many of you know of any affiliations that he has with any single organization?).

Developing leaders should be something that we continue to focus on, or the first two areas that I have discussed will end up being moot.

Although there are “electives” in schools in the above areas, should there not be elements of each in the work that we do everyday? As stated before, this is not just about students, but for it to be successful, these are initiatives that should be available to educators as well. Experience is the best way to create new learning, and if our staff does not understand this, how will our students? We should also look at what we do already in these areas and make some of these initiatives more explicit to our public. Changing the terminology from “staff days” to “Research and Development Day” (or whatever the time length), better communicates the work that we are trying to do, and perhaps creates a better focus for ourselves on what we are trying to do with our professional learning time.

Although a lot of these terms are related to “business”, I see them as valuable opportunities for learning and to create opportunities for our students, not only in their future, but also their present.

I look forward to your thoughts.

Some of My Favourite Posts From 2012

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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Jon Glittenberg

Many people are sharing some of their favourite posts of 2012 from their own blog, but I thought that it would be more beneficial to share some of the great reads I have found out throughout the year. The one thing that I dislike about the “blogosphere”, is that some of the best posts tend to disappear way too quick. This is my chance to bring them back for others to read.

The first one though I wanted to share though is very selfish though, yet it was probably one of my favourite days of the year. This post from Alyssa Lamshed, who I have connected with through her dad and blog, showed me the power of connecting online to create incredible connections offline. It was just a really cool experience to meet Alyssa in Adelaide and it reminded me why I do, what I do.

Here are some great reads from my year (in no particular order):

1. Overcoming Digital Dualism - A great post by Dean Shareski (who reads this blog all the time but won’t acknowledge it publicly) on digital dualism which is defined below:

Digital dualism is the belief that the on and offline are largely separate and distinct realities. Digital dualists view digital content as part of a “virtual” world separate from a “real” world found in physical space.

Dean has some great thoughts on our world today:

My struggle remains in helping people understand that our world now includes digital connections not simply as supplements to relationships but embedded and at times equal to or at least different from traditional non-mediated relationships. Like our computers today, we feel a need to label this and distinguish them as “technology” if only to understand their “newness”. Perhaps someday we’ll not point out these differences and see online connections as less meaningful. For now, I don’t know how to help folks get over that idea without them experiencing it for themselves. I also don’t want this conversation to be about making people feel like “I get this and you don’t”. That’s when the discussion becomes more polarized.

2. Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay – I could easily share all of Shelly Wright’s posts here, but this one stands out as a favourite. She makes a very simple yet compelling case on how you could include blogging as a component in your classroom:

I’m not proposing that you need to do things radically different. Teach whatever you teach for Language Arts, or other subjects, but include a blog component. So if you’re teaching sentence structure, teach your students to create complete sentences while blogging. Blogs, like traditional writing, need great structure. If you’re focusing on capitalization or punctuation, transfer this skill to blog writing as well.

Another one of my favourite Shelly Wright posts is “I Used To Think“. If you are ever looking for a speaker to show how much better it is to transform your teaching to focus on powerful student learning, Shelly is a solid choice. She has such a compelling story that resonates with many.

3. Everything you know about curriculum may be wrong. Really. – This is just a really powerful post by Grant Wiggins, that uses some simple analogies to talk about how curriculum (and learning experiences) should be designed:

In athletics this is very clear: the game is the curriculum; the game is the teacher. And each game is different (even as helpful patterns emerge). Knowledge about the game is secondary, an offshoot of learning to play the game well. As I learn to play, knowledge – about rules, strategy, and technique – accrues, but it is not the point.

So, it would be very foolish to learn soccer (or child-rearing or music or how to cook) in lectures. This reverses cause and effect, and loses sight of purpose. Could it be the same for history, math, and science learning? Only blind habit keeps us from exploring this obvious logic. The point is to do new things with content, not simply know what others know – in any field.

4. What it might be: Authentic Student Blogging - I have been watching what Jabiz Raisdana has been doing with student blogging this year, and I have just been amazed at how he has empowered student voice. As we embark on digital portfolios in Parkland School Division, I have been greatly influenced by what Jabiz has written on student blogging and love his advice:

If you want your students to blog effectively, give them the freedom to experiment and write about what interests them. Stay away from portfolios and forced reflections on their learning, at least until they get the hang of it. Wait until they find a voice, find an audience, and become involved in the conversations around ideas, before you push your agenda of meta-cognition and reflective learning.

5. What Leading With Vision Really Means - This is not an education piece, but its implications for educational leadership are obvious. As we have more access to information from different sectors, educators should be looking outside of the field to see what works for people and business, and then try to make the connection to what we do in schools. Visionary leadership is needed in our schools/districts so we (as a whole system) can do what is best for kids:

People also want to see that the leader’s farsightedness is based on a deep sense of what’s necessary, right, and good for the business and the team rather than what’s simply expeditious, popular, or self-serving. We want to feel that our leaders’ “far-sight” is focused on the greater good, that their vision promotes the group and not just their own selfish interests. A truly farsighted leader envisions a possible future that responds to and resonates with people’s aspirations for their individual and collective success. When employees or potential employees hear about the good leader’s vision, their visceral response is, “Yes, I want to go there too.”

In my travels, it is so apparent that schools/districts are a huge reflection of leadership and their success. With that understanding, schools/districts need to put more effort into developing the innovative leadership our schools need, not simply running the same programs with the same objectives of the past.

Here are some other posts I really liked as well:

5 Reasons Your Top Employee Isn’t Happy

The Five Percenters

Is Algebra Necessary

Teachers Should Change How They Teach Students Today

The Question Should be: Why are you not blogging?

Hopefully I have provided a range of great reading to start off your New Year! If you want more, please feel free to check out my Diigo Bookmarks. Also, the Edublog nominees for “Most Influential Education Blog Post of 2012” is another great place to look for some great reads.

I am constantly inspired by so many people and could share 100′s of posts so thank you to all that inspire me daily!

Have a great 2013!

Gladwell and Innovative Leadership

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One of the school boards that I spoke to this year (Sir Wilfrid Laurier), has an interesting focus on the objective of “Leadership and Innovation”. The description is below:

Objectives:

1. To promote, support, and increase the implementation of innovative approaches in teaching, learning, and problem solving through leadership

2. To recognize and celebrate innovative approaches

The first point to me is imperative, as in my travels I have come to believe that innovative schools or districts are a reflection of leadership. If the “leader” is not innovative or does not believe in challenging the way things “have always been done”, the ceiling for innovation is much lower. If leaders are not comfortable with the inherent risk that comes with “innovation”, that will be reflected in organizational practices.

As to what “innovation” is, I love the definition provided by Notter and Grant in their book “Humanize” (one of my favourite books I have read this year):

Definitions of innovation vary by guru, but they revolve around two words: change and new. Innovation implies change and doing things differently, but it has to achieve some new level of performance, or create some kind of new value. It is not enough just to be different; it has to be better. It is about creation, not copying.

As I talked about this notion with Jesse McLean as his school undertook “Innovation Week“, I thought back to Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point“, and thought about some of the key people that he describes that push forward “social epidemics”, I wondered how they fit into our notion of innovative leadership in schools. The three people listed by Gladwell’s “Law of the Few”, as described in this Wikipedia article, are described below:

Connectors, are the people in a community who know large numbers of people and who are in the habit of making introductions. A connector is essentially the social equivalent of a computer network hub. They usually know people across an array of social, cultural, professional, and economic circles, and make a habit of introducing people who work or live in different circles. They are people who “link us up with the world … people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”

Mavens are “information specialists”, or “people we rely upon to connect us with new information.”^[4] They accumulate knowledge, especially about the marketplace, and know how to share it with others. Gladwell cites Mark Alpert as a prototypical Maven who is “almost pathologically helpful”, further adding, “he can’t help himself”.

Salesmen are “persuaders”, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills. They tend to have an indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, which makes others want to agree with them.

As we are seemingly are at the “tipping point” in school reform, I wonder if leadership has to not only possess one of these characteristics, but essentially all three? If we are actually moving to a place where people don’t just accept change but embrace it (as change is always the constant), I see all three of those elements being crucial in school leadership. To effectively “promote, support, and increase the implementation of innovative approaches in teaching, learning, and problem solving through leadership”, those characteristics would be essential.

Thoughts? Obviously there are other essential characteristics that make a good leader (value on relationships and building trust being the most important), but where do Gladwell’s “Law of the Few” now fit in where a world is more social than ever?

The Need for Innovative Leadership

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I asked the following question today on Twitter:

If the mandate is for innovation, how much should “best practice” drive that?

This question has been stuck in my head from while I have been reading the book, “Humanize“, which has really challenged and pushed my own thinking on “innovation” and how the culture of social media should be a culture that is embedded into our organizations. Here is one of the quotes from the book that started to create that connection:

“Almost overnight, it seems, the world has become social, and the work world, too. Markets are conversations. Social media has enabled us to connect with individual people inside organizations and brands. We’re leaping over corporate hurdles imposed by PR and marketing departments and the chain of command; customers are being heard in ways that ignore traditional channels. Content is being created that blurs the line between the “professionals” and the “amateurs.” Rules are defied. People are demanding truth, honesty, transparency, and openness from the brands and organizations they deal with every day. The companies that are winning are those that are listening—and social media makes it easy to listen (though maybe not so easy to manage the work of listening and responding), so the rest have no excuse anymore. And why is all this so disruptive? Because we like it. A lot.”

So if we “like it” so much, why are many organizations struggling to import so many of these ideas into their everyday operations? Many talk of the notion of transparency, yet is the process transparent or simply the products that we share? As Clay Shirky discusses, we live in a “publish, then filter” world, yet are we comfortable sharing our ideas as they progress? There is so much that are able to learn from tapping into the wisdom of the community but as Notter and Grant share, many of our old mindsets are obviously stopping us from moving forward:

Organizations and businesses have mechanisms in place to stop progress, to stop themselves from evolving. Mainly because of an inherent fear of change and fear of losing control, they have an interest in maintaining the status quo. We feel strongly that such an approach is becoming increasingly less viable. Mark our words: If you think your organization is behind now, just spend a year or two treading water, and you’ll see how much ground there is to make up. There’s no time to waste. It’s up to you, if you care about your organization, to help it not only survive this transition but to also flourish.

As a result of an open world, more people are starting to question the “principal” position not only how it is done, but even if the position is need at all. My guess and gut feeling comes that some very innovative and forward thinking teachers that are coming into contact with principals and organizations that are not ready to truly move forward, although the terms “21st Century Learning” and “risk taking” often come into the narrative that administrators are sharing about their school.

While I have worked with many organizations that are keen to push “innovation” (or that is the word that is being used), through my travels, I have noticed again and again, that it starts and stops with leadership. As I have heard this quote attributed to Todd Whitaker, “If the principal sneezes, the school gets a cold.”, it is shown continuously that the principal or leader of an organization always has a huge impact on the culture, whether it is positive or negative.

So what now? First of all, if we are truly open to a world of innovation we have to be able to take risks not only in our learning but in our practice. Focusing on “best practice” is a way to look backwards, but is it an effective way to move forward? We can always learn from what we have done in the past, as there are many things that we have learned from our journey that we know we must maintain (the focus on the “whole child”, building relationships with the community). We can also learn from other schools such as SCIL and watch how they are embedding teacher research and innovation into practice. Still we know that something with many schools and education is just not working. Watching a student speak last night on a Ted Talk, discussing how school is not working for her, she said something that really stuck out to me:

“There is a direct correlation between our old fashioned system, and our scarcity for a love of learning.”

#Yikes

So as we move forward we have to truly be open in our practice, share the process, and be comfortable with the mistakes that we will make along the journey. We have to not only give permission for things to not work perfectly, we have to push and encourage our teachers to go out of their comfort zones to improve student learning based on the needs of today’s learner.

Currently in Parkland School Division, we have started an project called the “Mobile Learning Initiative“, where we give educators the opportunity to have an iPad for each student in their class, in hopes of transforming the classroom and seeing what can be created that you could not before without the device. Is the iPad the best device in this instance? To be honest, I don’t know. Through the process, we are more focused on project based learning yet we are seeing what the device can do through the eyes of the educators that will use them. Within our schools, we will be sharing this “cart” amongst our schools to give different opportunities to different teachers, while they actively share their learning, both the negatives and positives, with the rest of the school division and the world.

As I worked on this initiative with Jesse McLean and our Learning Services team, we explicitly told the first group to not worry if things “didn’t work” they wanted it to, but to see what the kids would be able to do with the device in their hand. Similar to SCIL, we want that active research while pushing the boundaries of innovation. I was extremely excited to read the initial installment of their research, I was thrilled to see what educators Jenna Wilkins and Brad Arndt wrote about the beginning of this project:

Understanding that this pilot project is about exploring opportunities the iPads offer to help further our learning, both inside and beyond the walls of our school, we are going to have to take some risks. We are not going to have all of the answers or a foundation of knowledge and experience to guide us, which is somewhat daunting when we think about handing the students their iPads first thing Tuesday morning. What we do know is that we are open and committed to the learning that we, alongside our students, are going to experience during this process. And it is just that, a process.

First and foremost we hope to inspire our students to reach beyond the boundaries of our school to access, use, create and share their learning in ways that they may not otherwise be able to accomplish without the constant accessibility of an iPad. Second, we as learners hope to gain knowledge and skills that will help us incorporate mobile learning resources for the benefit of our students through consistent reflection and sharing of the successes, challenges and further learning opportunities of the project.

The notion of continuous learning, growth, and taking risks is not only going to be experienced by our students in this project, but our teachers as well. As we continue to strive and grow in all levels of our organization, we are seeing that enthusiasm to take risks in learning happening with educators, which in turn will trickle down to our students.

As I read their statement regarding their commitment to learning and this “process”, I could not help to think that even if things don’t work out and the project “fails”, is there truly a lack of success when students, teachers, and organizations take risks to further their own learning? To have this happen though, it has to be modeled continuously and consistently by leaders to create an “innovative culture”.

“It is high time we start applying the principles of innovation to the way we run our organizations. Innovation is not just about creating new products (or new social networks, for that matter). It is about change, creation, and new pathways, so it is just as applicable to management and the way we run our organizations as it is to products or social media. Management, after all, is really just a tool—a technology we use to help run our organizations.” Notter and Grant

The Principal of Change

Stories of learning and leading