"You were there, and you were there..."

The whirlwind is real, we all know it, we all experience it. Most days we experience a multitude of never-ending tasks that metaphorically lift us into the air and spin us around like an actual tornado. Urgent matters keep approaching and we try to keep up with our checklists and sometimes we even see wicked witches fly past our window. Dun-nunt-da-nunt-da-nun-nun, dun-nunt-da-nunt-da-nun-nun…

A major problem in education is that so many things are classified as urgent; lesson plans are non-negotiable, accommodation paperwork is of legal importance, and the state requires various things from teachers such as attendance, evidence for evaluation, and growth measurement tracking. It is hard for any teacher not to see these things as urgent, and when URGENT and IMPORTANT compete, urgent always wins. When it comes to setting and pursuing goals, it's not that people are lazy or stupid, oftentimes members believe in the goals of their organization. The reason goals are not achieved is that people are busy.

One interesting cog in the 4DX model is the concept of clarifying goals, particularly the number of goals. McChesney (2012) argued that teams should have no more than 1-2 Wildly Important Goals at a time. This follows the Law of Diminishing Returns; if organizations have more goals than he suggests, the effectiveness begins to significantly decrease and those organizations can end up achieving nothing. I want to apply this concept to individual schools, using them as examples of an organization. Schools have so many different departments working in separate spheres in order to make the school successful (SPED department, Curriculum & Instruction, Technology Department, Social Services, Registrars, Student Health & Wellness, Behavior, Assessment & Accountability, and more). Now I want to insert myself into the mix. In order to lead organizational change when it comes to innovative learning via my innovation plan, I need to convince my school that out of all these departments and their goals, my is one of the top two that we need to focus on. I believe most people would say that learning is the priority of any school, however, we all know when the rubber meets the road, each department must make sure their own goals are being achieved. I must make sure that my innovation plan design and (MORE IMPORTANTLY) its implementation influences all departments and allows each of them to feel they are receiving direct benefits if they invest.

When I read through the four different disciplines of execution, goals, measures, and accountability all naturally clicked for me. However, the compelling scoreboard wasn't very compelling. As I dove deeper into the concept, even more doubt rose to the surface. To me, this seemed to conflict with the points made by Patterson (2013) in Influencer as he cautioned the nature of structural motivation and ability. He stated that offering extrinsic motivators to members could have a negative effect when trying to achieve the desired result. Keeping track of a score seemed like a prime example of competition and extrinsic motivation. According to the Strengths Finder inventory, my number one strength is competition. I am motivated by winning and enjoy the thrill of competing. If I were a teacher taking part in this innovation plan, the use of a scoreboard would only motivate me to try and advance further than the other participants and would not be about implementing true and lasting change. However, one point was made by McChesney that completely shifted my thinking. When speaking on the morale of someone in the workplace, he explained that the biggest contributor to morale was for one to feel like they were winning at work. Boom, enough said. This is one of the biggest revelations I have had in this program so far. I couldn't agree more with this statement and understand how effective usage of a compelling scoreboard can allow teachers to view small victories and stir momentum when attempting to achieve goals or results.

In summary, we do not have to be defined by the whirlwind, there are hope and strategies to move our organizations forward. However, it will take an effort to unite all departments and individuals under a common mission - student learning. Maybe this journey of innovation will take us all to wild, colorful fantasies. We will explore new places of which we've never seen and overcome the obstacles that come our way. When we complete our goals, we will come out on the other side as changed educators who work in changed organizations. Because after all, there's no place like home.

References:

Franklin Covey, (2012, April 19). Executive overview of the 4 disciplines of execution [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZR2lxm0QQE

Greeny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R, & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The new science of leading change. New York: NY: McGraw Hill.