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!

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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,

Yep.

There’s an ongoing tension between standardization and customization of our children’s education that will never go away. It’s a polarity–a system of values where each “side” holds a part of the truth that is incomplete without the other side. You can’t treat a polarity as a problem to solve, because the “solution” simply creates a different set of problems that are inherent in the pole on which you are currently focusing.

So…the pendulum swung toward the CCSS because the customization of standards in each state was creating all kinds of problems. And now that the emphasis is on standardization, we’re already seeing protests concerning the downsides of a common set of standards.

This kind of polarity thinking is the focus of my next book, Unleashing the Positive Power of Differences, due out from Corwin this fall. Either we learn to work together, focusing on understanding the benefits and fears of each side in these ongoing issues, or we are doomed to continued cycles of solutions that simply create new problems. Anyone willing to learn a new way of reasoning?

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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. Check what the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has to say about the essential nature of play.

And, the AAP also makes clear that students from lower-income families have fewer opportunities. They often attend schools where the curriculum has been narrowed to tested subjects, they may live in neighborhoods where parents are reluctant to send them out to play, and their parents may have little energy left for engaging in free play after working more than one job to make ends meet.

In fact, I’ll never forget one morning when we had to teach urban 8^th graders to play. We’d combined two classes because a teacher had come down with a sudden case of the flu. With nearly 70 students in a room, formal instruction seemed out of the question (long story—honest, it wasn’t possible to teach math that hour!!!). These students couldn’t figure out how to entertain themselves, other than by exchanging insults and wishing for their video games. So we taught simple paper-and-pencil games such as Dots and Boxes, team monster drawing (imagine adding a body to a head you haven’t seen…), tag team stories, and other non-tech past times. The result? Students saying, “Man, we need to learn how to do more of this!!” Yep, they need to discover that they are interesting beings all by themselves, with great ideas and engaging interests!

So what do we do?

What other ideas do you have? How can you incorporate play into learning?

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Direct Instruction? Sure, If You Don’t Want Einsteins! 

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.

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What’s In Your Handout? 

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 at Presentation Zen and at educator  Bill Ferriter’s site. Yes, sometimes slides need words, but if your audience is reading, they aren’t listening to what you’re saying. And if you’re simply reading your slides what’s the point of presenting? Just give them the handout!

If you aren’t aware of the true dangers of conveying too much information through slides, check out an analysis of how this behavior fed into (note I didn’t say cause…) the space shuttle Columbia disaster (I wish it weren’t so…)

What I often provide is a summary of my main teachings and the instructions for at least one activity so that participants can try it with their own teams. Sometimes, there’s a chart or a few slides containing key data. Occasionally, I’ll include images of five or six  slides rather than duplicate the information in another way. These handouts are pretty much what used to refer to as “proceedings.” I still have books of proceedings from conferences I attended in the 1990′s–before the widespread abuse of PowerPoint–and they’re USEFUL. People wrote actual papers worthy of reading. If you missed a session, you could read the proceedings to understand the main points of the session.

If you’re presenting at a conference, try it. Upload a handout that people can use whether they’re in the room or not. Of course, these tie best to presentations that actively involve the audience. I can generally tell people, “Ignore the handout for now, but all the key information is captured in it. You don’t have to really take notes, other than jotting down questions, connections, what-if’s, aha’s, or “yeah, but….”"

Check out a couple of my handouts by scrolling down on my resource page. There are several formats–which is the best way to capture the meaning of your session? Can you abandon printouts of slides and instead provide something that allows your audience to revisit and perhaps pass on the learning experience your session creates?

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 

Cultivating the habits of a scientist involve a rich, integrated, imaginative, engaging, rigorous curriculum.

These skills may be hard to test

They may be time-consuming

They may call for greater breadth and depth in how teachers are trained

They may take time away from memorizing scientific knowledge

But if we really want scientists, we need to a) make science as fascinating as it was for Einstein and b) give students a chance to develop ALL the skills science involves.

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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.

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.

If you teach math, you wouldn’t want most kindergartners working on problems quite like the above, even if the designers of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) somehow decided that they should master all of this at age 5 if they are to be “college and career ready” at age 18. You’d know that you can’t rush on unless they have these big concepts in their toolkit. You’d want to follow the lead of successful countries like Singapore, where kindergartners talk about objects and quantities in pictures and stories, learning to describe the world in numbers, rather than rushing to abstractions of word problems.

Last year I worked with a school where a majority of students weren’t at grade level in math. The teachers had been using intervention time to drill for tests. I suggested using the time for mastery of these big concepts. “You have to camp on them until students grasp them or these holes in their foundational understanding will block future progress,” I pleaded.

One of the special education teachers took my advice. She told the rest of the staff, “I stuck with the concept of combinations of five with one of my third graders for what seemed like weeks. And finally, he really understood. That day he was sitting with fifth graders. “What are they doing?” he asked. She gave him a copy of their assignment. And that third grader, newly confident that he could understand math, figured it out.

We can’t rush students through concepts. We already have a nation of math-anxious people and rushing will simply create more. Let’s slow down and seek mastery of the building blocks of math.

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.

Live More Slowly

IF your life requires a drastic slow-down, In Praise of Slowness  is filled with wisdom. Separate what is being done to you from what you are doing to yourself and pick a couple ways to reclaim life at your own desired pace.

My advice? Start small, with a change that interests you and that you know is doable. As you experience the space that slowness creates, use the bliss to motivate another small change. Here’s one of my favorites, just a tweak in how I think about my after-lunch square of dark chocolate.

At a seminar I attended last weekend, someone pointed out that eating chocolate (accompanied by coffee or red wine or milk, depending on personal taste) can be a mindful meditation experience. Pay attention to the now. How long can you make one little square last? How does it feel on your tongue? At what point does the solid turn liquid? Can you detect the hints of salt? Bitter? Sweet? Let the taste linger as you savor it, eyes closed.

Master Meetings

A friend called me recently to share how wonderful working from home had been while she was on a medical leave. “Not being sent to stupid meetings is so wonderful. I’m so much more productive!” Meetings simultaneously rush us through the day while often being unbearably long. Check out this article on taming meetings. If you don’t act on some of the suggestions it contains, or start the conversations around balancing meeting time and individual productivity, who will?

Become a Slow Reader

There’s a group of us over on goodreads.com, all prolific readers, who are reading novels by Charles Dickens slowly. Just one chapter a week. If you’d lived 150 years ago, that’s how you would have experienced their serial publication. Four chapters a month–and then a wait for the next little folio before you could learn the fate of Pip or Oliver or Little Nell.

Okay, all of us are English majors, English teachers, prolific readers, speed readers–and we are stunned at how these books morph into something totally different when we go slowly. Bleak House in a week for a college course is not the same book as Bleak House a chapter at a time. Ask to join our “Dickens as Writ” group. Check out our discussions to see the insights we’re gaining regarding the content and the process of slow reading. Or, on your own, see what Les Miserables or Middlemarch or even Moby Dick has to offer if you go slow.

And I’ll end on that note. What are we doing to students, employees, our children, our spouses, to those we serve, if we insist on going fast? Try it. Go slow. See what happens. If you’ve already slowed down, let the rest of us know what’s working!

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Intellectual Persistence? Let’s Model It!

Optimism, perseverance, trust that the 13-year-olds she led could keep moving through the mud without her at their side, and a spark of enjoyment through it all–she was modeling all of those as a leader.

But to model those kinds of priorities, one has to be intentional. and be aware that others are watching.

             If you’re involved in guiding anyone, you’re a leader

In The Truth About Leadership, Kouzes and Posner share their research that the biggest influencers in our lives are those closest to us. Our immediate supervisors, not the company president. Our teachers, not the principal (unless we’re the lead teachers). Our parents or other family member.

So, the question isn’t “Are you a leader?” but “Who are you leading?” And once you figure that out, the even more important question becomes “HOW are you leading?”

It’s easy to confuse using the tools of leadership–setting visions, goals, accountability measures, etc.–with being intentional about how you lead. People are watching HOW you lead, though, far more intently than they’re reading the strategic plan or listening to pep talks. Intentional leadership involves carefully selecting the priorities most important to your current situation, assessing whether you have the skills and knowledge to carry out those priorities, and then leading in a way that everyone can see what is important and where you’re headed.

And it gets tricky. Like navigating a mud hole with a canoe and a pack on your back. Because just about every priority you find easy comes with a paired blind spot. Optimists can be unrealistic. If you expect people to do more than they’re ready for, you not going to provide enough support. And so on. Besides, you can’t do it all. If that counselor had tried to take another pack, she might have sunk past the point of easy return, needing to jettison everything to crawl out of the mess.

A better plan? Be intentional in the first place. Have you figured out your priorities for your current role?

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