Three times this weekend, friends relayed tales of woe regarding initiatives, strategies or decisions that aren’t working. All in casual conversation.

All three of these situations are the result of two common leadership imbalances:

How might you slow down–or get your leaders to slow down–enough to find relevant data and aim first? Unfortunately, research shows that the kinds of “What if?” and other questioning that prevent “Ready, Fire, Aim” are often viewed as resistance by leaders. Carefully crafting a message, using a balanced model, is key to ever getting a leader’s ear. Check out Handout B.1, one of the free downloads for Creating a Coaching Culture for Professional Learning Communities. You’ll see it walks you through four distinct mental processes for decision making. Without such a model, we tend to spend over half the time available in our favorite process, and barely five percent in our least preferred process.

With “Ready, Fire, Aim” initiatives, you cover the following topics (note that the processes listed refer to Jungian type)

Sensing

• As we understand it, the goal of this initiative is ____
• We have a few concerns, based on the following facts

Intuition

• We can see the following potential in this initiative
• If the questions we raised aren’t addressed directly, we believe that the following unintended consequences may result or that outcomes may be less than desired

Thinking

• What might an objective person add to our perspectives?
• Let’s weigh the benefits and costs of this initiative, including what it might prevent us from doing or what might be delayed

Feeling

• Do you have commitment from those most involved in implementation? If not, how might this affect the achievement of your goals?
• How might the initiative benefit from a shared approach to leadership?

I’ve used this model in countless situations to help leaders–and teams–balance their own perspectives. It may not solve everything but it puts “Aim” back in its rightful place. If it looks cumbersome, compare it to the unwieldiness of initiatives gone bad!

Related Posts

Get Real: The Key to Leadership

Who Are You Leading?

Could You Slow Down for a Bit?

Let’s Exercise Caution When Taking a Stand!

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS)…once again educators, politicians, parents, and business leaders are taking sides on an issue. But is declaring “for” or “against” really going to help education? I mean, with which of these arguments for the CCSS can one truly disagree? Don’t we need

Did you say, “Well, yes, but…” to any of the above statements? For example,

Continue reading this post »

Children’s Flying Creations

When did you last play? How about your employees or your students? As Linda Stone pointed out in her blog A More Resilient Species, self-directed play (experiential, voluntary and guided by one’s curiosity) is essential for developing resilience, independence and resourcefulness, let alone creativity. She quotes scholar Brian Sutton-Smith, “The opposite of play is not work. The opposite of play is depression.”

This kind of play can’t be guided by adults—adult-directed soccer or chess club or playground games have their place, but they don’t build the same skills as exploring your own interests, or negotiating with other children as you form your own club or develop your own game or turn a tree house into a castle.

And this kind of play does not happen at the expense of time spent on academics. In fact, researchers are finding that creative play is essential to the kinds of learners we are aiming to create: scientists, innovators, inventors, creative problem-solvers, great writers, and more.

Continue reading this post »

Jill Chivers

Note: This is a guest blog from my dear Australian colleague, Jill Chivers, who excels at both speaking and leading workshops!

I meet many people who have attended a speaker skills training program and believe, or hope, that by attending a speaker course, they are now at least somewhat equipped to be a workshop leader.

In my experience, being a great speaker doesn’t automatically translate into being a great workshop leader or vice versa. Sure, speakers/presenters and workshop leaders both require outstanding communication skills – but they are not the same skill set.  Here are a few key differences:

Where the Spotlight Focuses.  This is one of the biggest differences between a speaker and a workshop leader – where the spotlight is focused.  When you’re a speaker, you’re often standing on a stage with a light or set of lights on you.  The spotlight is literally on you.  You are what we call “the sage on the stage” and the audience has its full attention on you.  Really great speakers know that even though the spotlight is on them, it’s always a dance with the audience but the fact remains that when you’re speaking, all attention is on you.

Contrast that with being a workshop leader.  There may not even be a spotlight, but if there is one, it’s definitely on the participants.  The most effective workshop leaders park their ego at the door and are in complete service to the participants.  It’s not about them – it’s about the participants.  In this way, workshop leaders are “the guides on the side” and their full attention is on the participants.

Energy flow.  In workshops, the energy flows between the participants, with the workshop leader providing guidance, input and support to that energy flow.   Contrast this with presentations, where the energy emanates from the speaker on the stage (and in the spotlight) out to the audience.

Another reason that energy flow is different in workshops as opposed to presentations is because of the purpose and nature of these two events.

Purpose.  The purpose of a workshop is for participants to learn a new skill and become more confident and competent in a particular area of learning.  This can sometimes be a measurable skill shift (they knew and could do X before the workshop and now, after the workshop, they know and can do X, Y and Z) but it’s a shift in their ability to DO something, whether it’s measured or not.

Outstanding workshops have a lot of participant activity in them – there are exercises and activities (with insightful debriefs to draw out the learning’s) and a whole lot of doing.  Workshops are not lectures where the students are passive recipients of information being dispensed from the lecturer at the front of the room – they are active learning environments where the participants co-create the learning experience through interaction – by doing.

In contrast, the purpose of a presentation is often to entertain, inspire or motivate, or perhaps lightly inform the audience.  The audience is often passive, or at least relatively passive in contrast to a workshop.  The audience is sitting, listening to and watching the speaker on the stage (and in the spotlight), usually not doing much, or at least nothing that is directly observable.  Perhaps they are nodding their heads, smiling and laughing at times, and hopefully they are thinking about what the speaker is saying.

In contrast to the highly active nature of workshops, presentations do not engage the audience in a highly active way (or at least, not for very long).  Most if not all of the action and activity is happening on the stage, being done by the speaker.

Specific vs. General.  Presentations and speaking gigs are often more general in nature – speakers often talk on topics with wide appeal with little specific information that is targeted to a particular or niche audience.  An example might be “how to have red hot relationships”.  This is a topic that almost anyone in any field of work and with any type of personal life arrangements, would find something of value or interest in.

In contrast, workshops are often very specific in nature.  Workshops are about exploring a particular topic and providing the participants with an opportunity to learn more about it and become more skilled in it.  Extending the example above an example of a workshop might be “how to improve your marriage” or “how to heal from painful past experiences”.

The People.  In a presentation, the people listening to the speaker are called the audience.  Audience is sometimes defined as ‘spectators’ or ‘those who watch and listen’.  There is a passiveness to the word audience.   This relates to the above point about energy and where it emanates from – the speaker on the stage (and in the spotlight).

In contrast, the people attending a workshop are called participants, meaning they participate in something – the action taking place in the workshop.  Participants are defined as those who ‘take part or shares’.  There is an activeness to the word participants.  This also relates to the above point about energy and where it flows from and to in a workshop – between the participants, guided by the workshop leader.

Summary.  Presenting is a wonderful calling.  Great speakers have the power to transform our perspective, temporarily or for a lifetime.  Great speakers are great storytellers who inspire us on an inner experience of thoughts and feelings which could take us anyplace.

Workshop leadership is another wonderful calling of a different nature. Great workshop leaders create the space for impactful learning experiences that engage and empower.  Great workshop leaders are great tour guides, holding the light and map steady for those taking the journey.

About

Jill Chivers is a speaker, writer, coach, creator, designer, professional facilitator and workshop leader and avid movie watcher.  She works with individual and groups, designing and delivering work that inspires real and lasting change in how people think, feel and behave. Learn more at www.jillchivers.com.

Related Posts

What’s In Your Handout? 

I’m just back from speaking at two conferences and getting ready to teach at another–and I’m Program chair for the APTinternational Conference this summer. The topic of making handouts valuable to participants is near and dear to my current life.

Part of my viewpoint comes from my methods of running sessions. I’m strongly opposed to “death by PowerPoint,” trying to convey information through dense text on slides that is better conveyed via other mediums. So my slides highlight main points, use images to convey ideas, state key quotes, and occasionally provide specific directions for group activities. A handout of my slide deck isn’t all that useful if you weren’t in the room. So I don’t provide it.

If you aren’t sure what great slides look like, check out the samples

Continue reading this post »

Last month’s edition of Educational Leadership was all about creativity. The article that struck me the most described how Einstein cited his secondary school training in using his senses during observations, practicing visualization, and exploring the construction of devices as a patent examiner fueled his abilities as a scientist. He also directly attributed his breakthrough on the theory of relativity to his ability to think musically, nurtured by his study of violin since the age of six.

What’s the so what? These are all skills. Einstein is talking about physical and mental skills and habits of mind. He didn’t cite memorizing theorems or formulas, but skills he mastered through purposeful practice. Take a look at the schools around you. Are students getting a chance to develop in nonbook-learning ways that scientists and other problem-solvers need? Ask yourself 

Continue reading this post »

Last fall, I did a tremendous amount of reading on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the uniform standards being adopted by nearly all 50 states in the US, in preparation for my newest book, Leveraging Differences, coming out from Corwin sometime next fall.

I’m not for the CCSS

I’m not against the CCSS

There are great arguments, with elements of truth, being made for both positions.

My position? I’m anti

In other words, I see merit in the CCSS. And some major reasons to be concerned about how they will be implemented.

Read through the comments on any number of blogs–Diane Ravitch’s recent post, for example. Can you hear how polarized people are, as if there is absolutely no merit in the other side? Can we talk reasonably about the merits of one set of standards (NOT one curriculum)? And can we listen to legitimate fears? And can we consider who might be helped and who might be harmed? With open minds? And only THEN figure out what to do?

Then the adults in this country would be modeling the 21st century skills that the CCSS are supposedly designed to teach our children. And I’m all for that.

A blog this week asked us to guess the grade level for which this math problem was written:

Kristen has four flowers. She gives some to a friend. Now Kristen has two flowers. How many did Kristen give her friend? Draw pictures to help you solve the problem.

It’s listed as a kindergarten homework problem.

If you teach math, you know this problem includes some of the biggest arithmetic concepts there are and you’re not deceived by the use of small numbers.

• Students need to understand hierarchical inclusion–that 4 includes 2
• They need to understand conservation–that the number of objects remains the same, no matter how they are arranged
• And, they need to understand cardinality, that the name of a number relates to a specific quantity–including the huge idea that “two” isn’t the second object, but a set of two objects. This is a major leap in knowledge, often hindered by memorizing names of numbers. Too often, students learn to count to 30 or 100 but don’t understand the concepts involved.

  Continue reading this post »

Have you in the past six weeks

A.  Complained about “so much to do, so little time…”
B.  Thought, “We should be spending more time on this…”
C.  Realized you rushed through a book, article, conversation, or ___, and aren’t sure what it was about…
D.  Felt a strong desire to sit still. Very still. Very far from that always-buzzing smart phone…
E.  All of the above?

While you probably don’t have full control of your life, you are constantly making choices. And those choices may be rushing you as well as those you teach or lead. Here are three good resources for slowing down just a little.

Continue reading this post »