TregoED Sandy Wozniak, Author at TregoED

4 Steps to Prepare Schools for Covid-19

March 6, 2020

Prepared A new coronavirus disease, now known as Covid-19, has infected over 110,000 people world-wide and killed more than 4,000. The majority of cases and deaths continue to be in China, but now we are seeing a significant jump in cases in Japan, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and the United States. More noteworthy, last week, schools in a number of areas are being closed. In addition, California and a number of other states have just declared a state of emergency. So, what steps can you follow as an administrator or teacher to prepare for Covid-19?

Be ahead of the game

A recent article from CNN, 10 Lessons from Asia, suggests #3 as “Be ahead of the game.” But what does that mean for you and your district? If you have ever attended a TregoED Strategic Tools for Excellent Problem Solving Workshop (S.T.E.P.S. 1), you might go find your yellow Potential Problem Analysis Card – which features 4 steps to help leaders plan for tough situations.

If you are unfamiliar with TregoED’s strategic Potential Problem Analysis Tool (PPA), TregoED would like to offer free assistance in developing your risk management/mitigation plan using our 4 steps to prepare schools for Covid-19.

Potential Problem Analysis steps to help you plan for and mitigate potential problems

Minimizing Future Problems

If you have taken the workshop, you are more prepared than most people to deal with the virus. Your ability to get ready stems from using Potential Problem Analysis to develop a PLAN. Your customized family, classroom, school and district’s plan will be the quickest and most efficient way to help you structure and manage your activities as you prepare for Covid-19. And most importantly, you can do something right now to avoid and/or minimize future problems from this virus.

Using PPA

Just last week, TregoED used PPA with a client to begin that important work. Their plan started with an Implementation Statement: “Plan for the impact Covid-19 could have on the district.” They began by breaking the large group into four smaller and more manageable teams focused around Operations, Finance, Facilities and People.

Here’s how it works

4 Steps to prepare schools for Covid-19

Step 1: Each group identified what could go wrong in their area of focus by brainstorming Potential Problems. Next, they prioritized each potential problem by identifying the probability that this problem will occur and if it does occur what is the seriousness? They used a simple scale for probability and seriousness of High, Medium and Low.

Step 2: They took the most significant potential problems which were identified as having a high probability and high seriousness and developed “Likely Causes” for each of these potential problems. Each group identified likely causes for all the HIGH/HIGH and HIGH/MEDIUM potential problems on their lists.

Step 3: They developed Preventive Actions for each likely cause. This helped them understand the many things they can do to keep each likely cause from happening. In addition, they determined who in the district will be responsible for each preventive action and how soon it must be ready.

Step 4: They developed a list of Contingent Actions for each potential problem. The contingent actions will be started when a potential problem occurs. These actions will identify what steps they can do when a potential problem occurs and how they will reduce the seriousness if it does occur. Again, in this step, they identified what needs to be done, who will be responsible and by when each contingent action will be in place and ready to go.

We are not done yet!

Finally, they identified what Triggers will alert them when a potential problem has occurred and will automatically initiate their contingent actions.

What at first seemed like an overwhelming and daunting effort was quickly addressed with a structure and format that guided their thinking and helped them develop very robust plans. The end result was a series of actionable steps that can be shared with colleagues, school leadership, the community and the Board. Not a bad day of work with the output as a visible, well organized, effective set of plans for dealing with Covid-19!!

Resources to Jump Start your thinking

But wait! You may ask “What happens if I already have my yellow card in my hand and I am stuck getting my thinking started?” Well, the CDC has a terrific website specifically for schools. This website does a nice job of laying out some preventive actions (Guidance for schools that do not have Covid-19) and then describing some contingent actions (Guidance for schools that have Covid-19) that can help jump start your critical thinking to address what has become a very scary situation.

With a plan built with your best thinking and using PPA, you and your district will be ready for Covid-19. Your efforts will significantly help protect your students, other teachers and your district against this deadly illness. With TregoED training in PPA you have a simple tool that is highly effective in helping you to take actions that will minimize the impact of future potential problems. If the virus arrives, you have clear steps on when to act, what to do and the support of your staff.

Would you like some free help in developing your plan using PPA? Please Contact Michael Curran-Hays at mcurranhays@tregoed.org.

Leadership Development Key to Effective Decisions

February 13, 2020

Education leaders have a lot on their decision-making plates. Many find decision making has become far more complex because of different levels of urgency and focus. Leaders routinely have to deal with issues as widely diverse as operations, instructional leadership, equity, and student safety. Bandura (2000), once stated “When faced with obstacles, setbacks, and failures, those who doubt their capabilities slacken their efforts, give up, or settle for mediocre solutions. Those who have a strong belief in the capabilities redouble their effort to master the challenge.” This is precisely why Dr. Jason Van Heukulem Superintendent of Winchester Public Schools (VA) believed that development of his senior and school level leadership capabilities could be key to more effective and efficient decisions. He had a “strong belief” in the capabilities of his senior and school leadership. He also knew increasing those capabilities around decision making could improve the pace, surrounding communications, and final outcomes of the decisions they face.

Fidelity plan maximizes results

With a staff that often wears many hats, Van Heukulem looked for ways to make decision making more manageable for them. To this end, more than 40 senior leaders including Superintendent, Cabinet, school‐based administrators, and instructional coaches were trained in TregoED processes. To maximize results of the training, WPS implemented a structured fidelity plan where each leader committed to facilitating each process in their area. They were also encouraged to share learning and insights. This commitment reinforced skills and improved results in all areas.

Processes helped district face budget inequities

As a result, “leadership gained a common language and process for decision making, leadership morale improved along with our effectiveness and efficiency.” These new skills allowed the district to confidently tackle a potentially delicate budget decision involving allocating money to support staff in their division. Faced with inequities based on job types, seniority, and market value-they knew they needed to have a transparent and data-based process to get the best possible outcome and support. Seeing the success of this budget process reinforced their commitment to using process across all departments, ensuring that key indicators, stakeholders and information are always considered.

Read more about Leadership Development

Success Story: District Tackles Tough Salary Issues Using Clear Process

Leadership Development – To What End?

Innovators in Education: Continuous Improvement

February 4, 2020

The great innovators in history solve important problems that the world faces once in a lifetime. The great INNOVATORS in EDUCATION solve important problems that student’s face on a regular basis. In teaching, innovators in education are curious, they look for fresh approaches and tend to see a bigger picture than just their classroom. They are always on the lookout for processes, systems or new ideas to cut through complexity, reduce time or combine many tasks into one. In effect, they are implementing design thinking at its best, incorporating “proven-effective teaching techniques such as self-directed inquiry and collaborative problem solving” into their planning at all levels. Ultimately great innovators in education’s work ends up being “of service” not only to themselves but to their colleagues, their school, their district and most importantly their students.

So, what do great innovators in education do?

Innovators intuitively follow a model that guides them as they craft new and creative solutions. In the beginning, they spend critical thinking time understanding what their students really need—not just today but for tomorrow. Using critical thinking processes, they:

SCAN their teaching environment to understand what is going on and identify and clarify opportunities. Then they prioritize each opportunity, so they are ensured of working on only the most important ones.
Next, they analyze the opportunities to get at the feasibility of the idea and what could cause it to happen. They critically think their way into solutions using Design Thinking which encompasses and promotes the use of other tools that capitalize and promote actions to drive implementation.
Finally, they SELECT the opportunity makes the most sense to implement by determining which is the most desirable for students, technically feasible and financially viable. This helps to ensure they are working on the game changers for their students and their districts.

INNOVATION Model
Venn Diagram of the Innovation Process illustrates that in order to innovate you need to understand the problem, analyze the problem and solve it.

4 Ways to Support Innovation

The Innovation Model needs four important supporting elements to thrive, flourish and succeed in each school district:

A leader with a coherent vision to modernize, old, out-of-touch systems, processes and people
Genuine collaboration between teachers, principals and administrators
Use of lean design methods to develop a minimally viable solution that is brought quickly to the classroom with agile implementation
Critical thinking processes which develop, nurture and support the innovations

Doing things Differently

In today’s rapidly changing classroom, those that use a model to shape their thinking and have these elements in the work environment and as a part of their culture do things differently. You have seen these teachers and leaders in your schools. Their innovation efforts start with a vision and a deep understanding for whom they are designing. They use their peers and administration to quickly generate and test new ideas. They think critically and collaborate their way into solutions. And finally, they rapidly prototype and relentlessly implement; constantly evaluating and refining the innovation as they go.

Creating great solutions is exhilaratingly difficult. But with this Innovation Model and four supporting elements, Innovation in Education can become the “way we think and work” at your school.

Read more about Continuous Improvement

How Teacher Leaders and Teachers can take a role in Continuous Improvement

Ask the Right Questions to Ensure Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement with 3 Simple Questions for Reflection

Top Blogs for Ed Leaders 2019

January 3, 2020

Our blogs are one way that we can share our experience in education and leadership and the great work that is being done districts by forward-thinking school leaders. Check out our most read blogs of 2019:

Initiative Overload: Part 1 Can You Really Do It All?

There is no shortage of worthwhile initiatives out there, but how many are too many? How do you determine which ones deserve the investment of limited time and money? Having a cohesive vision, overarching goals and a compelling why that ties them all together, can help you avoid the risk of disjointed initiative overload. Read more

Smaller Meetings Bigger Hotseats

Leaders often face big “hot seat” meetings- lots of participants, opinions, issues and controversy. Having a standard process can ensure that people are heard, information process and suitable actions taken. This same process is just as important in those smaller meetings such as IEP meetings or conferences where issues can be emotionally charged on a much more personal level. Read more

Guide to Data based Decision Making in Special Education

Special Education Departments face many big, costly decisions, which are further complicated by competing perspectives, lack of information (or information overload), legal and budget constraints, etc. What could go wrong? (And how to avoid it!) Read more

A Tale of Two Meetings

Is there any doubt that a leader influences the culture of a district, department, school, or other group? How you run your meetings is a direct reflection of the culture that you are nurturing. Tangible practices for positive practices. Read more

In Results We Trust

While we may have seemingly “fearless leaders” at work, tough challenges can bring out the fear in most of us. Rather than deny it, perhaps we should embrace it. Admitting fear or uncertainty may provide an opportunity for connection and trust-building. Read more

High Performance Teams

Special education departments, like many others, often start the year off with team building exercises –forging a strong foundation through personal relationships to move a group of people from individuals toward a cohesive working unit committed to a common purpose. How can a department (or Child Study Team) build on this foundation to become what is considered a “high performance team” – a team that is highly collaborative and innovative, and empowered to handle most of the issues that arise? Read more

3 Simple Reflection Questions for Continuous Improvement

December 18, 2019

End with the Beginning in Mind

–As we close out the year, we tend to focus on what lies ahead – the holidays, plans for a new year, whatever it is that’s coming around the corner. But do we remember to reflect on our original goals? New Year’s resolutions are famous for being broken and forgotten. Do we even remember last year’s resolutions – let alone reflect on what we did and did not achieve? Or do we just forge ahead and make new resolutions? Do we do the same for objectives and goals we have set in other arenas? Using what you learn from last years challenges can ensure that you continue on the path of continuous improvement.

3 Key Reflection Questions

It is easy to get caught up it in the holiday and “end of the year” rush. Many of us just want to close out this year (or project or meeting) and move forward. If so, we run the risk of repeating the mistakes of the unexamined effort. When we come to the end of some project or thing that matters, let’s think back to its beginning. Consider what we had hoped to achieve and ask:

How well did it go?
What can we learn from its successes and challenges?
What would we do differently next time?

These 3 simple questions set us up for more success in whatever we do next – and prevent us from repeating mistakes – in the year or project or whatever lies ahead. What questions do you ask?

Summary of 3 Reflection questions for continuous improvment

As you close out the year, we hope you are able to look back and feel some pride in your accomplishments, confidence in what was learned, and the passion to do even better next time.

Read more about Continuous Improvement

A New Year – to Think Critically

How Teacher Leaders and Teachers can take a role in Continuous Improvement

Ask the Right Questions to Ensure Continuous Improvement

Guide to Data-Based Decision Making in Special Education

November 20, 2019

7 Essential Questions

Does this sound familiar?

Your Special Education Department is facing a big, costly (in both time and money) decision for your district. You are also facing the potential mayhem of:
• Different/competing perspectives
• Lack of information OR Information overload
• Legal constraints
• Budget constraints
• Hidden agendas/Special interests
• Too many options/Lack of options
• Underestimating/Overestimating risks
• High emotions

What could go wrong? Without a clear process or strategy, the possibilities are endless. (Think Allstate’s Mr. Mayhem.)
What could help?
Using a defensible, data-driven, research-based decision-making process! By using a process that asks the right questions you can:
1. Establish clear criteria – Decision making with the “end in mind” asks first: What is it that you want or need in your solution? What would the optimal solution look like?
2. Effectively and efficiently use data/information – It is important to not only establish criteria but to weigh the importance of each “want” giving you a mathematically sound way to determine your best choice.
3. Strategically include multiple perspectives– giving stakeholders an opportunity to participate in the process of establishing criteria gives you a more well-rounded picture of a great solution.
4. Increase transparency – When you make your process, data, and thinking visible, stakeholders have a clearer picture of how and why a decision was made
5. Communicate rationale– With visible thinking it is easy to explain and communicate to the public and other stakeholders, including the board.
6. Consider and plan for risk – This all-important last step is important for planning and ensures that implementation of your choice has the best chance of success.
7. Build trust– When a standardized process becomes the norm for decision-making in the district, stakeholders understand the decision better and are more likely to support it.

3 Questions that special education teachers use for decision making

Typically, SPED decisions center on 3 essential questions…

Is it worth fighting for?
Is it defensible?
Are we united?

While a good start, there are other questions that can help enhance effective and defensible decision making in Special Education:

7 Essential Question for Effective Decision Making

What is the compelling reason for this decision?
Intentionally stating the decision and thinking about the criteria for a good decision before you think about options helps you avoid the pitfall of jumping to options before you have a good picture of what you want.
What criteria should we use?
Listing and evaluating criteria can give you a clear picture of what you want and need in a decision
What options should we consider?
Here is where you should be creative and open minded. Good ideas may come from stakeholders or advisory groups.
What are the risks of this choice and how will you guard against them?
This step is allows you to be proactive rather than reactive. Planning ahead helps you avoid implementation disasters and plan for opportunities.
Who should be involved and whose input should we consider?
Often involving “nay-sayers” and diverse opinions during the process results in increased buy-in and understanding at the end.
How will you implement and communicate this decision?
If your chosen option is causing change focus on the criteria and how the present-day system is working against that. Plan communication with clear rationale and your audience in mind.
What indicators will you use to assess success?
Based your assessment on the criteria that you have developed in the process.

Using these steps can help improve your efficiency when there are many options, effectively address multiple perspectives and viewpoints and help clarify the rationale for change. Most importantly it can help you avoid the mayhem of decision making based on emotion, politics, culture or tradition.
Read more tips on better decision making in special education:
Decisions in Special Ed Begin by Asking the Right Questions
Ensuring Defensible Decisions in Special Education Environments…..in the Age of the Squeaky Wheel

School Leaders: Better Decision Making is in your Grasp

November 11, 2019

Turns out you CAN fix stupid – even better, avoid it in the first place!

“Good people make good decisions and bad people make bad decisions.” Do you agree with this statement? Probably not – I’m guessing we all have enough life experience to know that good people sometimes make bad decisions, and vice versa. Even with this understanding, when things go wrong, we often start attacking the people involved and questioning their motives, capabilities, or experience. Why do we assume the fault lies in the person? When decisions go awry, the fault almost always lies within in the process or approach by which the decision was made.

Author, educator, entrepreneur, Adam Robinson, reflects on and defines stupidity:

Stupidity = overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information

Of course, oftentimes information is only “conspicuously crucial” when you are looking at it after the fact (think O-rings on the shuttle or the MCAS system on Boeing’s 737 MAX jets.)

Where does decision-making “stupidity” stem from? It usually comes from one or more of the following:

Using cherry-picked information – and ignoring conflicting information. Usually this is done to justify a desired outcome.
Not seeking the information we need in the first place – or when we do, not being able to distinguish the relevant pieces of data from the irrelevant – it all looks potentially important.
Failing to learn (i.e. glean information) from our mistakes and successes – our own and others’
Allowing ourselves to be overly influenced by certain stakeholders while overlooking or not seeking the input of other stakeholders.
Taking the path of least resistance and doing what’s easy vs doing what is right. There’s often more pressure to do something quickly than there is to do it well.
Neglecting to involve others – this deprives us from having the additional information, perspective, thinking, and ideas that they might provide.

So how do we avoid “stupid”?

Collaborate and involve the right people
Gather and use accurate, relevant information and data
Use a process so we are sure to cover our decision-making bases
Keep learning from mistakes and successes and experience – our own and others
Don’t be afraid when decision-making gets a little messy. Making tough, smart decisions is not necessarily easy. But when it’s important, doing it well is more important than doing it quickly.

A summary of tips to avoid making mistakes in decision making

For more tips on avoiding stupid mistakes in decision making, read:

Analytic Process: Avoid Stupid Mistakes

Making Decisions with Increasing Clarity

How Teacher Leaders and Teachers Can Take A Role in Continuous Improvement

October 17, 2019

Continuous Improvement (CI) is moving to the front lines of education. Many school districts have launched CI initiatives at the district-wide level and had great success. As a result, in recent years there has been a logical transition to push CI into the classroom. As these initiatives have fanned out to the schools it is a natural progression for teacher leaders and teachers to take on problems and make decisions as part of the CI efforts that affect their schools and classrooms and to troubleshoot root cause.
Now, it is becoming clear that teacher leaders and teachers need a fundamental set of CI tools and a robust understanding of “how to” use these tools to positively affect their schools, their classrooms and drive CI.

Continuous improvement initiatives are typically supported by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, a model based on the work of Dewey and Shewhart. This framework is an iterative, four-stage, CI model used for improving a process or carrying out a change through the interaction of systems, people, process and variation. The PDSA framework is often used to guide continuous improvement in district wide, school based or instructional improvement initiatives. It can be very successful, however, without the knowledge and use of a few fundamental, critical thinking tools, PDSA will be sub-optimized and most likely will not deliver the expected results. At TregoED, we work with teacher leaders and teachers in learning and applying the “How To” tools that enhance and help drive the CI initiative within a PDSA framework. These “critical few” tools focus on addressing and resolving complex issues, solving tough problems, making decisions, managing risk, and planning the projects that are a part of each CI initiative. The tools and where they can be used in PDSA model can be found in the diagram below:

“How To” tools for Continuous Improvement Plan-Do-Study-Act Continuous Improvement Process

Situation Appraisal (SCAN) helps understand what is going on and sorting out complexity;
Problem Analysis (SOLVE) helps understand why did this happen and find true cause;
Decision Analysis (SELECT) helps understand what is the best choice and identifies risk with each alternative;Potential Problem Analysis (PLAN) helps understand what could go wrong and guards against future trouble;
Project Management (Define, Plan, Implement) helps deliver the expected CI results in a logical, well thought out project.

In summary, more and more, teacher leaders and teachers are being asked to be a part of CI initiatives and are stepping up in CI roles at the school level. Teacher leaders and teachers are more frequently being asked to run CI events, document improvements and establish best practices. By empowering them with the “critical few” tools to lead CI events at the school level they will become more focused on the most difficult issues AND have the greatest impact where it counts…. on students.
Want to learn more? Read one case study and the results or send an email to info@tregoed.org.

Beyond Team Building: Developing High Performance Teams in Special Education

October 1, 2019

Do you have a high-performance team? Does your team:

Allow all team members to engage in leadership roles according to the needs of the team?
Use a clear, rational, effective decision-making process?
Use a common language, effective communication tools and channels?
Value a diversity of viewpoints and ask for and consider stakeholder input?
Trust each other individually and as a team?
Manage conflict openly and transparently – not allowing grudges to build up?
Have clear goals, commitment and engagement?
Have defined roles and responsibilities?
Support collaborative relationships – members coordinate their work to achieve efficiency and effectiveness?
Support a positive culture- open, transparent, positive, future-focus and the ability to deliver success

Providing a pathway to high performance

According to the New Science of Building Great Teams by Alex Sandy Pentland in Harvard Business Review, there are 3 main steps to empower teams to a high performance level:

Research shows that

Energy, engagement, and exploration in communication among team members was the most powerful indicator of high performance. Face to face communication was most valuable – email and texting, least valuable. Make sure that team members have the opportunity to work and talk to each other face to face.
Training is essential to address the needs of teams to move from good to great. Providing team members with leadership skills, such as decision-making and problem-solving processes will improve trust, collaboration, transparency, and results.
Fine tuning performance: determine the needs of individual team members and support opportunities for individualized professional development.

What does high performance translate to the Special Education world?

Efficient, transparent and defensible decision making focused on what’s best for each child.
Effective collaboration and inclusion of stakeholder input to increase transparency and trust in the education community.
Supportive, collaborative relationships, empowered teams and innovation within the department.

A Tale of Two Meetings: Leadership & Culture

September 16, 2019

Is there any doubt that a leader influences the culture of a district, department, school, or other group? While perhaps not totally responsible for it, the leader plays a large role in helping create or sustain it. That culture either works for or against you and your departmental or district goals and mission.

In Mary Alicia Lyon’s article on leadership from a teacher’s perspective, she identifies 4 types of “high-impact” administrators and contrasts them with 4 types of “difficult” administrators. In various ways, high-impact administrators differentiate themselves in the way they genuinely care and seek to understand people – and involve others in productive, meaningful, and worthwhile ways.

In my management consulting days, I worked on a number of organizational culture projects. Early on, we would meet with key staff – in a group and individually. This helped us “take the temperature” and identify critical issues, barriers, and areas for improvement. Typically, leaders would not be present in these meetings, allowing for freer expression – however exceptions were sometimes made.

I distinctly remember two different organizations where leaders were present in the group meeting. In one, employees had indicated that they were fine having the manager there and would prefer to meet as a team. Employees freely shared problems they saw, difficulties they had and even some minor frustrations with leadership style (with the leader present!). The employees clearly felt supported and valued by the leader and organization and had many good things to say about the opportunities they had been given. They were involved in critical decisions and projects and knew their contributions were valued. Individual meetings with the employees validated what we had heard in the group.

In the second organization, the leader had insisted on being in the meeting. It quickly became clear that his goal had been to control the narrative. He corrected people, disagreed with their assessments and monopolized the meeting. Employees started off participating but quickly disengaged. Their silence, eye rolls and pointed looks spoke louder than anything the manager actually said. Follow-up individual meetings brought to light how dissatisfied employees were. They felt marginalized, belittled, and undervalued and couldn’t wait for either their or the leader’s departure.

Interestingly, the people in either organization might have been interchangeable – certainly they were not differentiated by their intelligence, values, or abilities. The difference lay in how these unique qualities were valued and utilized – or not. And it was the leader’s willingness and ability to do this – or lack thereof – that made the difference in each organization. In one, the culture was marked by resentment, dissatisfaction, and minimal effort. In the other, the positive energy was palpable – people routinely exceeded expectations, produced meaningful results, and were willing to go the extra mile for the good of the team and its mission.

So, if a leader is so important in shaping a positive organizational culture, how do they go about doing it? This article describes some tangible things leaders can do – many of which pertain to how they interact with others and the example that they set. #10 is “They speak to their employees like human beings.” Seems like a no-brainer, but maybe it has to be spelled out for some!

We each have leadership roles of some kind whether professionally or personally or on a smaller or larger scale. What kind of leader do we want to be – and what kind of culture do we want to create and have as part of our legacy?