Shifting Thinking

So much of our work in school leadership is based on this idea of shifting the thinking of others - trying to get buy-in to the direction of our work or building capacity around the vision for our school. Since there is currently no technology that can allow us to upload our experiences and processes into those who work with us (I can definitely see how a Vulcan Mind-Meld would be a significant benefit here), shifting the thinking of others happens in conversation, reflection, re-direction, and clear visioning over time.

Clear visioning with new members of your team sounds simple, however, it is not about simply stating what the vision is. There are nuances and intracacies of what that vision may mean and it will take repeated reflection and practice in order to feel like it is truly a shared and supported vision. For example, in my school, we have built some common expectations around classrooms having tight routines and procedures in place and well practiced by the third week of school. We shared data to support the need for strong routines and procedures to be in place and built capacity around our shared belief in what routines and procedures need to be modeled, taught, practiced, and reinforced (all of them!), and then we built 8 week plans around how those routines and procedures would be laid out in real time in real classrooms. As school leaders, we have been "inspecting what we expect"(see last week's blog post) and giving feedback on where we are in terms of being tight as a school. This is where the clear visioning can be called to question - what if members of your leadership team have different perceptions of what it means to have "tight routines and procedures?" What if some of your staff has a different tolerance level around student misbehavior? What if your expectations of what it means to be tight in the cafeteria include everyone in their seat using a quiet voice and members of your staff are okay with students out of their seat as long as they are not fighting?

If you find yourself thinking that you would be better off if you had clones of yourself to work with, or musing that it would be so nice if everyone just did their job, then you have an issue with clear visioning.

Shifting thinking is a process. It involves purposeful planning and carefully crafted feedback conversations. If you want members of your team to share your vision for anything from classroom routines and procedures to student behavior to meeting deadlines, it falls to you as the leader to be clear about your expectations, check in on those expectations, and provide immediate feedback or course corrections in order to see progress. Back to the example of the tight routines and procedures, if I am not seeing from classrooms what I expect by week three, it falls to me as the leader to intervene, provide immediate feedback and allow for opportunities to put that feedback into action.

The next step to feedback is checking in. This is the difference between feedback and actionable feedback. If I have a conversations with a staff member about her clear signaling in her classroom and have an expectation that different strategies will be implemented in order to get student attention and allow for a culture of learning to take place in the classroom, then I must also follow up to check the progress. Because shifting thinking is not a one time thing, I should plan on this process happening repeatedly until there is clear progress in the classroom.

I know what you are thinking...who has time for this? If I have to check in with every person on my staff to ensure that their actions are aligned to the vision and give actionable feedback with follow ups, I will never be able to get my work done! I would try to shift your thinking around that (did you see what I did there?) because this is the work. Emails, phone calls, and meetings are not the work. Being in classrooms and making sure that the vision is alive in your classrooms is the work. Shifting the thinking of others so that they see how your vision lives in their students is what will allow you to answer emails and phone calls in a few weeks - once you feel like there is truly a sense of shared ownership and capacity.

So I would ask you to shift your thinking this week - clear your calendar to the extent that you are able and live in classrooms, in the cafeteria, in team meetings, and every place that you want to see your vision in action. Give immediate actionable feedback and follow up to see the progress. You will be glad you did.