Schools are amazing places, in many ways. That includes "amazing" in the sense of, "can you still believe we think this way?!"
I am reading Creative People Must Be Stopped: 6 Ways We Kill Innovation, and the following paragraph resonated with me:
"In many organizations [schools], even ones with avowed objectives of supporting innovation, being "professional" means only doing work while seated at your neatly arranged desk. Being outside the office [school], even if you are working hard on a project, may not be considered a legitimate use of time. Informing a supervisor or colleague that you are going to a library to look for relevant information or to a busy café so you can do your best creative thinking generated the immediate query, "OK, but when are you getting back to work?" (32)
In some schools, this attitude toward work is changing, but I wonder what percentage of schools would prefer to subscribe to the equation that SxD=W (Sitting x Desk = Work)?
Posted at 05:00 AM in Culture, How We Do School, Learning, What I'm Reading | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
What to do when you come to a moment of doubt regarding a particular course of action? We all come to those moments more often than we'd like to, and they can be very disconcerting.
In schools, we're great at deferring, delaying, relaying, pushing it back to committee, etc.
Rarely do we simply proceed.
Does that say something about innate fears that we have? Or that we trust the herd more than ourselves?
Still Not Getting the Message
A Chronicle of Higher Education piece about a new report from Public Agenda, a policy research group in New York says that the title, "Still on the Sidelines: What Role Will Trustees Play in Higher Education Reform?", pretty much tells the story.
Posted at 05:00 AM in Culture, Governance, Leadership, Risk Management, What I'm Reading | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
The All-Devouring System
Organizational systems, organizational cultures, and organizational behavior fascinate me. We often talk about "fit" in the independent school world, and "fit" can sometimes point to a particular culture, but rarely does it point to a system itself. I would argue that it's easier to pinpoint a cultural misalignment than a systems malfunction, though both do exist in schools.
The organizational system is the subject of this post.
Were you an observer, looking from the outside in, of a good/functional organizational system, you would notice that the system enables good people (faculty, staff, administrators, etc.) to do good--even outstanding--work, by nature of its design. Plenty of entrants into the system can survive within it quite well and for a long time, thank you very much. There may be a cultural misalignment for the occasional teacher or staff member within a good organizational system, but, truly, such misalignment occurs infrequently. However, culture does not equal system, and we need to keep that in mind.
Were you an observer of a bad/dysfunctional organizational system, however, you would see something quite different. Such a system can devour good entrants and spit them out, while the insiders in the dysfunctional system wonder why such entrants don't "live up to their promise". Entrants who would perform well in a good/functional system find it exceedingly difficult (and, after a brief time, impossible) to do good work within the dysfunctional system.
To be sure, good/functional systems can benefit from continued improvements and advancements, but remember that such systems are building on a successful foundation, and therefore will continue to be functional.
Dysfunctional systems, on the other hand, are notoriously difficult to improve. One may improve a piece or two within the system, but, in a highly dysfunctional system, other pieces will swell with more dysfunction to make up for the "improved" pieces. The dysfunctional system is its own beast. It is not by coincidence that, in dysfunctional systems, we see high/frequent turnover (unless an abusive-style fear prevents such turnover). This system's design results in a negative politics. The only way to improve the system, most will conclude, is to leave it entirely. And they're probably right.
Questions: How might we (school folks) further the research on systems by looking at our organizations and their systems? Where does education/training on systems take place currently, in terms of school leaders learning about systems? Is it worthwhile?
Posted at 05:00 AM in Culture, Governance, Learning | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
To Keep Things Whole: Be Like Steve?
I'm typing this post on my ipad2, which I got the day after Steve Jobs died. I can't say I was inspired by his passing, as I already had placed the order. Similarly, Walter Isaacson's superb biography of Jobs came out soon after his death, on the previously set date. I would have read the book anyway, because of both the subject and the author. Years before Jobs had requested that Isaacson write the book, and he had amazing access to Jobs and many other people. Jobs wanted the book to be honest, and it certainly seems to be, given the complexity in which it presents him.
From Mark Crotty, HOS at St John's Episcopal in Dallas, TX. Thanks, Mark, for such a thoughtful post -- this is why I read your writing!
Posted at 05:00 AM in Heads Speak for Themselves, Leadership | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)