#TheThreeMinuteChallenge: Passing Judgement

#TheThreeMinuteChallenge: Passing Judgement

by | Oct 9, 2019 | #TheThreeMinuteChallenge, Creativity, District Office Leadership, Learning to Lead

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh the thinks you think if you only try. ~ Dr. Seuss

Creativity Chart The real genius of any creative endeavor is that it requires action to become something tangible, something more than an idea, speculation, or plan. A willingness to try, to take risks, and to work toward an imagined reality are all necessary to achieve any desired result. However, success is neither binary nor linear. Just because we do  X and then Y does not guarantee that we gain Z. And the path toward our vision is always filled with twists and turns, highs and lows. It’s for these reasons, and many more, that creativity is a necessary component in every great organizational culture. That said, it’s rarely as explicit as it should be. We seldom see or hear of strategic plans with areas completely dedicated to creativity and innovation. Yet, breakthroughs and break-froms both require imagination and the type of unique thinking that moves us from the past and into the future. It’s why we must make changes in the way we lead so that we capitalize on creativity versus the mistakes we make when we squander it. The first low level leadership behavior we feature this month is passing judgment, which is unfortunately a common method to reinforce the behaviors, actions, and attitudes of our workforce. Undoubtedly, leadership and evaluation go hand-in-hand. But, great leaders are skillful in the nuances of positive reinforcement, both in celebrating what they want repeated and in using corrective action for the changes they want made.

Challenge Yourself–TPA: A Framework for Growth Through Reflection

Think - Plan - Act

Think: How often do I use praise versus criticism? Do I praise people enough for them to hear my corrective feedback when I give it? Do people feel psychologically safe in doing their best work?

Plan: Target specific behaviors that people need to exhibit that will reinforce their creative output–challenging the status quo, thinking outside-of-the-box, seeing new perspectives, valuing diversity, lifting others with compliments, using candor, etc.

Act: Verbally or in writing praise people as they engage in the above behaviors and attitudes at work. Provide praise any time you see or hear of someone who is acting in a creative way or supporting a creative culture.

Stay tuned for more challenges, reflection questions, leadership models, podcasts, and more by following dereka206.sg-host.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. Joe & T.J.
#SH302: Low Level Leadership—Three Surefire Ways to Crush Creativity

#SH302: Low Level Leadership—Three Surefire Ways to Crush Creativity

by | Oct 6, 2019 | #SH302, Creativity, Learning to Lead

Be Creative

Sarah Jenkins was 17 minutes into teaching her lesson when Mr. Simmons, her supervisor, took a seat in the back of the room. Molly, an eager and energetic 7th grader, was reading a short passage: “My parents told me to stay away from Betty, but they had not told me to avoid Andy. He was a bully for sure, but I meant to ask him about the belfry and the taut-wire across the path.” Mrs. Jenkins stopped Molly and proceeded to ask the whole class a few questions. After a few responses, Sarah quickly divided the class into their specific learning stations. The students moved around the room and eventually got to work.

Mrs. Jenkins loved Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. The fact that it dealt with the difficult topic of bullying set the stage to have “courageous conversations” with her students, and it was set in rural Pennsylvania, just miles Northwest of Sentry Middle School located in North Wilmington, Delaware. Throughout this reading, she was using learning stations to ensure differentiated instruction after a short whole class discussion. She broke the reading into chunks and then gave the students tasks for both summarizing and extending their thinking.

Just a few short hours later, Mrs. Jenkins was completely disheartened when she received an email from her supervisor suggesting that the transition to the stations could be less disruptive. His feedback was limited only to the classroom management aspect of what he saw during his visit.

Sarah didn’t necessarily disagree with her supervisor’s comments. In fact, she had already reflected on a better way to move students into groups for the next day. There was no mention of the stations and the quality and rigor of the tasks at each. Sarah planned extensively, and the activities for this lesson were diverse and engaging. She simply couldn’t help but feel resentful regarding the feedback. It was shortsighted and unfair.

Regardless of the organization, whether private industry or education, every leader wants their employees to “think out-of-the-box” as innovators. Schools desire classroom teachers who stoke curiosity and fuel creative thinking for students. Despite their appetite, and the common rhetoric that we value risk-takers, too often the leader’s actions do not align with their thirst for a creative output from employees. In fact, the opposite is true. Instead of supporting imagination and ingenuity, they stifle it. Instead of feedback being supportive, even when it’s corrective, it all too often only communicates a one-sided viewpoint. Instead of choosing to champion creativity, we crush it.

When the leaders’ behaviors aren’t aligned with the desired outcomes, we actually contradict the culture we want. This couldn’t be more the case when we include aspects of worker satisfaction, like engagement, creativity, and decision-making. “On average, fewer than two in 10 employees strongly agree they can take risks to be creative” (Gallup, 2018). For organizations to thrive, we have to support the people who are willing to take a leap. We have to create psychological safety, collaborative environments, and a willingness to take risks. As the leader of your organization, don’t fall into the following three common traps.

Three surefire ways to suppress creativity and manage people to mediocrity: 

  1. Don’t pass judgement without supporting and celebrating the work. Sarah’s supervisor focused on one need for improvement without honoring the other great aspects of the lesson, which deflated Sarah regarding all of the other thinking and planning that went into what he saw when he was there. Instead, he should have used a 3:1 or even a 5:1 ratio for specific praise to corrective action. He needed to build psychological safety, but he destroyed it. 
  2. Don’t over-prescribe recommendations based on the limited scope of what can be observed in short blocks of time. Unfortunately, Sarah’s supervisor focused on only one aspect of her lesson. It’s as if he didn’t see anything else that happened before, during, or after the time he was there. Instead, he should have asked reflection questions to prompt dialogue about what he didn’t see and what she already knew needed to be improved. He needed to collaborate, but he shut her off from wanting to share. 
  3. Don’t limit risk-taking by overlooking new ideas and efforts. Sarah’s boss totally overlooked the station work and the rigorous tasks. Instead of rewarding the risk that she took with a new idea in the classroom, he simply ignored it. We need more rebels in our organizations, not passive compliance.

Choose to Champion Creativity, Not Crush It

Creativity Chart

That’s this month’s model for organizational creativity. Stay tuned for challenges, nuggets of wisdom, reflection questions, and more. Follow us at dereka206.sg-host.com to join thousands of others who get alerts, resources, 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.

Joe & T.J.