Don’t miss this vblog on books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. We recommend three titles that are must reads on the topic of overcoming your hindrances.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or an email.
Our #ReadThisSeries is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Go to principalsseminar.com for details. Register today to save.
Ask me to play, I’ll play, ask me to shoot, I’ll shoot. Ask me to pass, I’ll pass, Ask me to steal, block out, sacrifice, lead, dominate, anything. But it’s not just what you ask of me. It’s what I ask of myself.
Success, achievement, and fulfillment, whether in your personal or professional life, demand an honest and thorough evaluation of where you are and where you want to go. The standards we set for ourselves impact everything that we do from our relationship with our family to our level of fitness. We often begin this journey of self-development with goal-setting, and although goals are important, we want to introduce an introspective process that should precede goal-setting, called the H-Gap Activity.
Turning goals into reality requires a level of commitment and dedication that include specific phases, which must be established and planned. Our four-part model below is proven effective as a critical aspect for getting from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. But it’s only the first step to success. Follow the model and then use the H-Gap Activity as well.
Phase 1: Set One Big Important Goal. Identify one goal that you are deeply passionate about. This can be personal or professional or one for both.
Phase 2: Bring It to Life. Write it down and visualize it.
Phase 3: Create a Master Plan. Identify the specific details and deadlines that will guide you to achievement.
Phase 4: Be Accountable. Find a friend, an accountability partner, to help you along the way.
This goal-setting model demonstrates the need for continuous self-improvement, accounting for specificity and accountability. But, prior to goal-setting, we need a different process that crystallizes not only where you are heading but what you need to do to get there. On a psychological level, we have to understand that we are really only ever driven by our why. Without this understanding, we end up chasing goals that leave us empty and unfulfilled. The process for uncovering our why requires time and introspection–a quiet space and place to clarify our thoughts and intentions. Headspace is one of our favorite apps that help us to achieve this state-of-mind.
Within organizations, the process is not much different. The team’s why must define everyone’s attitude, actions, and efforts towards a common goal that is aligned to the vision. This leads to an initial step of self- and organizational-discovery. This is where our Hinderance-Gap Model comes into play. Because life and work can seem complicated, with all of the “things” that either prevent or promote what we are trying to achieve, we need strategies to get past the hindrances. We can’t let bad habits, poorly written rules, and bureaucratic red tape stifle great ideas and a better future for all of us.
The H-Gap Activity requires you to identify where you are and where you want to be. This establishes the pillars of the H. After the pillars are clear, the next critical step is to determine what needs to be done to get from one pillar to the next, which serves as the bridge between the two. The bridge is the action steps, activities, and program of work that support your attempt to make a change. During that process, it’s also important to identify what you need to stop doing. These are the things that are getting in your way from making it from one pillar to the next. They surround the bridge, making the trek from one side to the next see daunting. The visual below illustrates the concept.
To gain a better understanding of how the H-Gap works, let us introduce you to Dr. Jennings, who is in her fifth year at Keystone Academy High School.
Her school has committed resources and energy to PSEL Standard #5: Community of Care and Support for Students. This effort was prompted by the demographics of the school rapidly changing over the last few years and the school determining that it needed to be more culturally responsive in order to best educate the students. Within Standard #5 is Principle F, which reads “Infuse the school’s learning environment with the cultures and languages of the school’s community,” which can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
In this instance, Dr. Jennings and her team decided that the steering committee should take a thorough look at the school’s curriculum, specifically within the English coursework that they offer.
The H-Gap process allows for an individual or group to work collaboratively together to determine the best method to move forward.
Where Are We Now?
Where Do We Want to Be?
What Do We Have To Start Doing?
What Do We Have to Stop Doing?
A responsive curriculum that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards but that has not undergone a thorough review to determine if it is culturally and racially responsive.
A curriculum that is aligned to the standards but that is also culturally and racially representative of the students who are learning from it.
Form teams to review the current curriculum and learning activities using a prescribed checklist.
Assume that the staff knows how to be culturally and racially responsive and that they know how to supplement the curriculum as needed.
Once Dr. Jennings employs the H-Gap Activity with her team, they can get to work on their path toward what they set as a goal. Notice that even if her team set clear goals using the model that we previously described, they still might encounter problems in making their change if they didn’t have the H-Gap Activity at the core of their process.
Leading change is always a challenge. Going from goal-setting to goal-getting isn’t easy. That’s why it’s imperative that we use models to guide our process. We hope that you’ll find our H-Gap Activity useful so that your team finds success with the goals that you set this month and beyond.
Stay tuned for challenges, nuggets of wisdom, reflection questions, technical tips, and the best resources for leading better and growing faster. Follow us at theschoolhouse302.com to join thousands of leaders who get our alerts, blogs, podcasts, and more.
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TheSchoolHouse302 is about getting to simple by maximizing effective research-based strategies that empower individuals to lead better and grow faster.
This blog post is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Click here for details. Register today to save.
You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.
~ Tony Robbins
Organizational change management is something that great leaders must master to be successful. The infographic below, 12 Common Types of Organizational Change, is a powerful visual that clearly demonstrates the complexities of change and how well-versed leaders understand, navigate, implement, manage, and lead change.
Regardless of the type of change we seek, it is always a process. The six step process that we created for leaders subscribes to the idea that change should be transformational, even disruptive, as our guest, 2017 NASSP Digital Principal of the Year, Jethro Jones, described. The challenge is actually leading the change so that it makes the desired difference. School cultures and norms are very powerful and can unintentionally absorb the initiative and reduce it to what the community can handle, limiting its impact. Too often change initiatives are so incremental that they don’t make a dent in the current culture of “what we’ve always done.”
This is why the 5th step in our process is so vital, which is the development of a Defined Focus. Once we know the proven research-based methods that best support our effort, we need to narrow them down to only a few or we’ll end up overwhelming our people and overburdening the system, which does the opposite of creating change by putting stressed out people in a position to defend the status quo. This refined approach in having a defined focus increases the likelihood of the change being embraced and,ultimately, having success in creating new outcomes.
Consider our current reality in education with many schools starting the 2020-2021 school year in a remote learning environment. Teaching remotely is a difficult skill to master and requires not only a keen understanding of the tenets of effective virtual teaching and learning, but also understanding how to use technology well and the associated platforms.
Let’s imagine a school that willingly embarked on instructional transformation last year by deciding to use highly effective strategies, like jigsaw, on a routine basis to improve student achievement. This same school is now faced with learning how to teach in a remote learning environment with very little experience. Early change efforts can easily be dismantled, but leading the change process effectively combines new efforts with the old. The focus now shifts to how to do jigsaw activities virtually. The teachers don’t have to determine what new strategies to use because of the virtual environment, but rather how to implement best practices, in this case the jigsaw, in an online scenario. This takes the idea of the Defined Focus to what people need to be able to actuate that focus on in practice: Solid Models.
Well vetted models accelerate learning. Continuing with our jigsaw example, there are a ton of resources to support its use, but in this instance we look no further than the work of Catlin Tucker.
Not only does she describe how to use the jigsaw effectively in an online environment, she also provides a jigsaw activity template. This becomes the model for both students and teachers to implement with success. Take the following challenge to ensure that your change initiative has the defined focus that it needs, including the models that support the focus in practice.
Reflect: Take time to reflect on a recent change initiative. Is there a defined focus filtered down to a few key practices that best support the work? If so, fantastic. Move to #2. If not, spend time narrowing down to a few focus strategies so that your efforts truly make an impact.
Identify: Identify models that support the focus strategies and share them with the expectation that they will reinforce the specific elements of the desired change. Do not reinvent the wheel but do give proper attribution.
Do: Don’t just communicate the models and share them widely. Of course, that’s important. It’s critical that leaders model the models. Use them in meetings and other online environments to demonstrate their usage. Show, don’t just tell.
Take a look at the questions in the grid below to ensure that your change initiative is following the six-step process on your way to a new future that’s aligned to the vision you have as a leader. Reach out if you need support: contact@theschoolhouse302.com. We love to hear from you.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or email.
This Challenge is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Click here for details. Register today to save.
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
~ Earl Nightingale
This month, we posted the six critical steps necessary to implement the change you seek to make. This week, we are uncovering the power in steps 3 and 4, which are literally the heart of the process. As humans, our heart is a magnificent organ, pumping blood throughout our cardiovascular system and providing us with life. Our hearts beat 100,000 times a day, delivering oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood so that we can be healthy and strong.
Change also requires a heart, a muscle that works to sustain and provide life in any organization. Well-developed and clearly enumerated goals along with the research-based methods on how to make progress toward the goals are the heart of any company or school. The goals serve as waypoints that provide clear markers of success, similar to how mile markers support the eager traveler along the way. But these goals must work together with solid practices that everyone embraces on the path forward.
The point is that clear goals simply cannot stand alone as the basis for change. In fact, well-intentioned change initiatives always fail without the support of research-based methods. Whether it is an unsuccessful business venture or schools that do not make necessary academic gains, by themselves goals are not enough. Yes, they may be invigorating, producing a burst of motivation for the people, but the goals need support mechanisms that are proven to be effective as the practices that garner the results that the goals seek to attain.
Similar to how the heart’s electrical system works perfectly to pump the heart, the work behind any goal must operate in harmony to provide the support needed for any level of achievement. Worse yet, goals that aren’t supported by proven strategies can end up being a waste of time, increasing frustration at every level and leading to cardiac arrest in the area that you lead. Take the challenge below to get to the heart of change in your organization.
The 6 step process of change is also an alignment tool. As you work through the change initiative and breathe life into it, all aspects need to function in ways that support the other component. At the heart of the model, we find enumerated goals with research-based methods.
Reflect: Does your school or district have enumerated goals to support the change initiative that is designed to enable the organization to reach its vision? Are the goals supported with proven research-based methods? If your answer is no, do the work to create goals along with the research to support how to achieve them. If your answer is yes, move to #2.
Identify: What are some current strengths and weaknesses with your methods? What research do you use to support the practices? Has that research been communicated as the why behind what we’re asking people to do differently?
Do: Communication is critical. Take the time to ensure that not only is the research-base clear to the people but that they are getting frequent updates about the why and the how in terms of making the change.
Pro Tip: Frequent communication can be tricky. More emails mean that fewer are getting read. Anymore, people practically expect a media format–video, podcast, social platform update. Take the time to evaluate your communication methods and update them to a format that works best for the people you serve. If you’re not sending weekly videos about your goals, start there. You’ll see an increase in clarity right away.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or email.
This Challenge is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Click here for details. Register today to save.
Don’t miss this vblog on books you need to read to lead better and grow faster. We recommend three titles that are must reads on the topic of leading change.
PS — If you have a topic you want us to cover or need recommendations on books to read in a particular area of leadership, just send us a tweet or email.
Our #ReadThisSeries is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Click here for details. Register today to save.
We are limited not by our abilities but by our vision.
Change is inevitable. In fact, it’s probably one of the only constant aspects of our lives. Despite this truth, we face two predominant challenges with change. One, we don’t like it. As much as we tout that we embrace change, recognize its importance, and work to accept it within our lives, we instinctively fight against it. Human beings, for the most part, enjoy predictability, assuredness, and comfort.
Although there isn’t anything inherently wrong with those desires, they can unintentionally limit our growth and, therefore, that of our school and district. This brings us to our second challenge with change–it’s often out of our control, #COVID19. Change comes in so many different untidy and unwelcomed ways, which are often outside of our grasp. Granted, effective leaders initiate change; albeit true, the negative impacts of change can hit the best of us without warning.
Our human psychology warrants mantras–personal statements that remind us how to think and be. Imagine a change-mantra such as this one: “I am ready and capable for the change and challenges that I will face today.” It may seem simple or silly, but when we hope for an easy day or for everything to go smoothly in any given circumstance, we are really unconsciously telling ourselves that we’re not ready or that we’re not equipped for the uncertainty that we know is a reality in life and work.
When we embrace mantras such as the one above, it’s likely because we have a clear vision and core values for ourselves and those who we lead. This marriage between our vision and values is central to success. Their symbiotic relationship helps to eclipse everything that is going on all around us, drawing our attention away from the efforts that we would otherwise extend to achieve our goals.
Our vision and values allow us to fight the cognitive dissonance that is often associated with change, especially change that is unwantedly thrust upon us. Yes, things may be in absolute disarray, but our predefined vision and values provide clarity. The best way to reconcile change within ourselves or our organization is to ensure that the vision is bigger than any challenge we may face and that our core values indicate the behaviors that will supersede any outside forces.
Clear Vision — This is a statement about what the future should look and feel like if our goals are met.
Core Values — These are our 3-5 guiding principles that ground the work. They should be inspirational, recitable, and action oriented.
One quick google search about “vision” will reveal countless ways to develop a vision statement. They’ve become incredibly common throughout organizations and are typically found on walls, screensavers, and, if done really well, even on magnets and other cool work-bling.
Reflect: Does your school or district have a compelling, yet simple, vision statement that clearly paints a picture of where the organization is heading? Are the organization’s core values aligned to the vision? Do people in the organization know the vision and the values? If the answer is no, focus your attention here. If your answer is yes, move to #2.
Identify: What are some current change initiatives that your school or district is enacting? These may be geared toward equipping teachers to effectively teach remotely or the purchase and implementation of an online reading series. Make a list.
Do: Once you identify the change initiatives at hand, write a special vision statement and core values for each. Be sure that they align to the school and district vision and core values. These statements are what will propel the work forward, faster than you imagined would be the case.
Pro Tip: Vision statements are only effective if they are compelling. We have to be mindful to move consciously past our cerebral understanding of what we want to achieve, digging deeper into the visceral side of our work. Doing so provides the needed balance between the head and the heart. The 5 Why Technique is a compelling and proven way to go beyond the surface, delving into the core of an issue before moving forward. You can find additional information here.
Stay tuned for more challenges, reflection questions, leadership models, podcasts, and more by following theschoolhouse302.com. It’s our job to curate, synthesize, and communicate so that you can lead better and grow faster. In a world plagued by nothing but noise, we help you by getting to simple.
TheSchoolHouse302 is about getting to simple by maximizing effective research-based strategies that empower individuals to lead better and grow faster.
This blog post is sponsored by Principals’ Seminar. Many schools struggle as a new principal works through the learning curve, and our hearts break for new principals who are overwhelmed with information and noise, frustrated by not having the time to build relationships with staff and walking around in a constant state of fear that they are missing something.TheThree in Three Principals’ Seminar is designed for new, existing, and aspiring principals and assistant principals who would like to gain 3 years of experience in 3 weeks, without the pain, risks, and time it would take otherwise. Follow the content at your own pace as you learn with others who are just like you. Click here for details. Register today to save.
