TregoED Sandy Wozniak, Author at TregoED

Good Leadership is Good Leadership

March 7, 2019

Back in the day, as union president, I had a few people come to me saying that the principal’s observations were not valid because he/she did not understand the content, for example, in a foreign language classroom. The principal’s response? “Good teaching is good teaching.” It is with that perspective that I started watching some of the videos highlighted in the blog “TED Talks: 5 Most Inspirational Videos on Leadership” which features leaders from all realms. After all, good leadership is good leadership- whether it be a Fortune 500 Company or a school district.

The processes that we use for decision making and problem solving are based on research done by Ben Tregoe and Charles Kepner and used by Fortune 500 Companies. Ben knew that the same leadership skills that made a difference for companies, could benefit schools and districts-and ultimately children. We have found that these processes and practices work well, no matter what the content.

The videos included in this “most inspirational” list all feature great lessons learned by strong leaders that are applicable to leaders in the education realm. “Forget the Pecking Order at Work,” was the one that struck me because it talks about a “culture of helpfulness” and “social capital” both easily recognized as important aspects in our classrooms, but that often do not carry all the way to the top.

Despite not using education content or jargon, each of these individual videos offers lessons that can help spark ideas, conversations and practices in educational leadership. As with many TED talks, they are truly “ideas worth spreading.”

Leadership Development – To what end?

March 1, 2019

Leadership Development brings out the best characteristics of leaders

Leadership development brings out the best characteristics of education leaders

It’s hard to argue with the abstract value of building more capable leaders, isn’t it? But what do we want our leaders to be able to do better – and why? Leadership development can help our leaders become more effective and efficient- but how?

What does effective leadership look like?
Effective leadership is not an end in itself. It cannot be identified – or defined – in a vacuum. It can only be assessed against meaningful organization results. But the reality is that in all organizations (including school districts) the further away we get from the “front lines” (work with students) the easier it is to lose sight of our overall purpose. When we get caught up in the immediacy and magnitude of current demands, priorities, and problems, the driving purpose of our organization and role can get overshadowed by the exigencies and demands of day-to-day operations. Sometimes, the further away we are from the classroom, the harder we have to work to maintain focus on our mission.

How do you measure the value of a leader’s work?
Can the value of a leaders’ work (e.g. solving problems, managing people and day-to-day activities) be adequately evaluated without measuring its impact on the bottom line – on results for students? Is it possible that we can competently perform all required leadership tasks – and even feel and be seen as a good leader – without making a difference for students? Unfortunately, when district, departmental, and individual goals, objectives and measures are not aligned and directed at results for students, it is possible.

Our founder, Ben Tregoe, used to say, “if we’re headed in the wrong direction, the last thing we need is to get there faster.” And conversely, when we’re headed in the right direction (when district, departmental and individual goals are aligned and aimed at positive student outcomes) we need to get there faster! High-quality leadership development can help.

Say Yes to Courageous Leadership

February 7, 2019

We often ask the children in our classrooms to step out of their comfort zones to learn and grow. It is not easy – working hard to understand, asking questions, asking for help, getting feedback. All of it can be a bit uncomfortable. Leaders that want to learn and grow need to be able to do the same thing. Are you willing to put in the hard work, ask questions, get help and listen to sometimes difficult feedback?

Peter Bregman, author of Leading with Courage, asks these two questions before he agrees to work with someone – whether coaching his son on the ski slopes or the CEO of a big company:

Do you want to do better?
Are you willing to feel the discomfort of putting in more effort and trying new things that will feel weird and different and won’t work right away?

All good leaders might easily answer “yes” to the first question. As the saying goes, “There’s always room for improvement.” However, the soft skills which are in demand today, like problem solving, decision making, communication and collaboration, often touch areas where leaders might feel discomfort or less confidence when trying something new. Some leaders do not want to risk “failure” or will not persevere and quickly scrap “failed” initiatives.

Courageous leaders recognize that learning and growth require hard work and, just like those kids in our classrooms, they may make mistakes, be frustrated or feel awkward. This feeling is often amplified because they have experienced great successes throughout their career.

“Are you willing to feel the discomfort of putting in more effort and trying new things that will feel weird and different and won’t work right away?” Answering yes, can open the doors to improving your leadership as you strive to do the best things for kids.

Analytic Process: Avoiding “Stupid” Mistakes

January 23, 2019

We may tell others there are no such things as stupid mistakes, but in our hearts, we know we ourselves sometimes make mistakes that qualify: e.g., sending an email to the wrong person, losing something important, making a simple but significant calculation error. As a leader, “stupid” mistakes can sometimes be compounded or magnified – so why risk them in the first place?
Adam Robinson, chess master and founder of Princeton Review defines stupidity as: “overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information.” He identifies 7 conditions that increase the likelihood of overlooking critical information and making stupid mistakes:
– Being outside our comfort zone or area of competence
– Being part of a group
– Information overload
– Being in the presence of authorities or experts (Including yourself)
– Being physically or emotionally exhausted
– Feeling rushed
– Being focused on an outcome
As school leaders, are we ever working on critical things without one or more of these conditions present? So, if conditions conspire to encourage stupid mistakes, how do we avoid stupid?
We can’t always (or even often) remove the conditions listed above, but we can decrease the likelihood they cause us to miss important information – and make stupid mistakes less likely by using analytic process. Analytic process provides the structure to ensure we gather, analyze and draw sound conclusions from the important information. What else might be possible to accomplish if we could avoid stupid?

5 Tools to Build your SPED Team and Reduce Turnover

January 8, 2019

Nowhere in education is the effect of high turnover and staff shortages more acutely felt than in special education. As states and local districts struggle to build incentives to lure educators into the realm of special education, it has become apparent that it is just as important to build the teachers and leaders that districts already have into a strong cadre well prepared to meet the challenges that are inherent in educating our exceptional children.

How does one go about building these skills? In a recent EdWeek article, Shortage of Special Educators adds to Classroom Pressures, Bonnie Billingsley, a professor of education at Virginia Tech, says that many special educators feel they do not have the support and tools they need to do their job. Providing tools that are both flexible and easily applied can help districts give special education teams the skills and confidence to meet these universal special education team needs:

Defensible decision making: Decisions in special education often come up against intense scrutiny and must be in strict compliance with the law. Using a transparent decision-making process that features visible steps and requires reasoned logic can help you increase success and buy in for the choices that are made in hiring, curriculum, program alternatives, placement, purchasing, etc.
Meaningful stakeholder participation: Processes that provide for and help manage diverse stakeholder (parents, team members, students, administrators, teachers and community members) input can help Special Education team members run more productive and satisfying meetings (IEP, faculty, admin, board) and remove bias from emotional (hot?) issues.
Problem solving skills: Organizing and analyzing data can prevent wasting time and money spent on solutions based on similar problems which may have different causes. Having a structured strategy can help ensure that you are addressing the right problem and applying the most appropriate solution.
Implementing change: Even the simplest changes and transitions involving our special ed population can have repercussions involving families, teachers, transportation, dietary needs, etc. Having a simple routine of examining potential problems and potential opportunities before implementing change can help you ensure the least amount of disruptions to your success.
Being prepared: Building skills helps prepare teams to better handle issues they face before they escalate. Giving your team a clear process to work through problems eliminates panic and stress and instills confidence that you have developed the best solutions.

Increasing the capabilities of the staff that you have through mentorship and professional development opportunities can help alleviate some of the pressure brought on by the scarcity of potential candidates and staff turnover. Providing support and simple tools to address the common challenges in the area of special education will empower your team to do what is truly best for the children you serve.

5 Leadership Practices to Ignite 2019

December 14, 2018

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! What better time to reboot, revisit, revise, reflect, restructure, re-imagine, reinforce, and re-ignite your staff in preparation for a new year and a fresh start? Making a few simple questions a part of your day to day practice can help you ignite a culture of trust and transparency and give you the added benefit of getting the best thinking of your stakeholders. Here are five simple question-based practices you can use to reinvigorate your staff, programs, initiatives, and culture:

Ask great questions and be a good listener: Embedding simple questions, like “Why?” or “So what do you think?” in the behaviors, systems, and practices of your education community can help you develop a culture of trust where those involved know that their thinking is valued. Demonstrate their value by listening, recording and asking for further clarification. Asking the right questions can help you get the best thinking of all involved. Embedding critical thinking strategies that are based on good questions can help you become a community of confident decision-makers and problem solvers.
Be courageous: In Daring Leadership, Brene Brown tells leaders “that you have to walk through vulnerability to get to courage, therefore . . . embrace the suck.” Unlike the “knower-type” leader, who is defensive and has to be right, be a curious learner, one who is not about being right but getting it right. A curious learner wants, needs and seeks out the input of others by asking questions. These leaders value stakeholder’s input and includes “naysayers” with an open mind to understand their position and issues.
Reflect and Assess: Ask, “how are we doing?,” examine the data and determine where you are in the plan. Identify barriers to success and areas where stakeholders should keep watching to ensure smooth implementation.
Improve outgoing communication: Timely, accurate, relevant, consistent and sufficient information is appreciated and helps build trust and goodwill. To ensure the right information gets to the right people at the right time and in the right way—and to encourage two‐way flow of information as appropriate to solicit stakeholder opinions, perspectives, feedback, as desired, you need to be deliberate in your communications. Key questions to consider include: The purpose of the message, when it should occur, who is the audience, what is the content of the message, what vehicle will be used and who will deliver it. Keeping people well‐informed and involving them when possible demonstrates value for them and affects their commitment to a district or organization.
Build Capacity: As you demonstrate your willingness to continually, learn, provide those around you with the same opportunities to learn and grow as leaders. Building the capacity of your team, can help them become better leaders and team members. Empower those in your community to work smarter for better outcomes for children.

The end of the year is a great time to plan for “what comes next,” assess where you are to date, and light the fires of those around you. Listening and learning builds the trust and transparency that you will need to move your district forward. Taking your team to the next level by incorporating these five practices into your culture will help you get the best thinking of your staff and give them the gift of increased capacity and confidence.

BBT Award Winners: “No Magic Bullets when faced with Achievement Issues”

November 30, 2018

“Without the ability to think critically and independently, citizens are easy prey to dogmatists, flimflam artists, and purveyors of simple solutions to complex problems” (American Association for the Advancement of Science, Project 2061)

We all dream of the “magic bullet” – a solution that is concrete, easily understood, easy to implement, and 100% effective. We see the drive for magic bullets in the number of wonder diets, parenting how-to’s, exercise fads and yes, even curriculum solutions. Often these simple solutions for complex problems are doomed to failure. But the promise of a magic bullet solution continues to tempt us.

New Brighton Area School District (PA) recognized that there were no simple solutions for addressing their flagging math achievement issues. District leaders could have thrown some magic bullets at the problem – new curriculum, math labs, blended learning, etc. Some of these things might actually help. But without knowing in advance, we risk taking ineffective action. Or we throw multiple solutions at a problem never knowing which actually did (or didn’t) make a difference. So, New Brighton rolled up their sleeves and applied TregoED process to really understand the problem and its true causes before taking action. In the course of their efforts, they discovered:

Hunches may or may not prove true – but any conclusions are more powerful when backed up with data, facts, and proof.
Having a process allows people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives to work effectively together – even when they disagree
Enduring, systemic change is a marathon not a sprint
In applying analytic process to solve one problem, other benefits may arise, e.g. a shared language and approach for future problems, tools to share with students and new populations, increased confidence in one’s own and others’ capabilities.

Because of their systemic use of process in tackling their student achievement issues, New Brighton deservedly won the Benjamin B. Tregoe Award for Strategic Leadership in Education. Strategic leadership requires maintaining focus on critical priorities and resisting the promise of magic bullet solutions that fall short and distract us from lasting change. Congratulations to the New Brighton team on a job well done!

Practice makes Culture

November 15, 2018

There is no doubt that education leaders are paying more attention to “culture.” Improving, changing, building, and driving school culture has become a much talked about subject – just take a look at some of the hashtags created around the topic #schoolculture, #edculture, etc. But what exactly are you driving and building? Culture reflects the values of your organization. It goes beneath the surface of taglines and inspirational posters. It goes deep into the soul of the school to what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected. Your culture has many facets that may be driven by lots of things such as results, caring, order, safety, learning or a combination of factors.

Components of Culture

To change or make a desired culture more pervasive, your culture must go deep into the “behaviors, systems, and practices” of your organization. According to Harvard Business Review) “A great culture is what you get when all three of these are aligned, and line up with the organization’s espoused values. When gaps start to appear, that’s when you start to see problems — and see great employees leave.”

How do these components line up in your organization?

Behaviors: Perhaps one of the most important aspects of culture is the behavior of its leaders. We expect teachers to set clear expectations in their classrooms, are you doing the same? How do you show that you honor and value the input of your entire staff? How do you respond to ideas and opinions? Do you reward behaviors that reflect your culture? If you do not walk the talk of your culture, people will see the whole thing as just an empty lip service.

Systems: The systems that you have in place in your organization should reflect and help you drive and build the culture that you desire. How is hiring done? Strategy and goal setting? How are employee assessments done? How do you determine and support professional development? How are staff rewarded? Each of these systems help support and define the culture of your district.

Practices: How do you run meetings? Do you have repeatable decision-making and problem-solving processes in place? Is work done collaboratively? How do you provide feedback? The saying “practice what you preach” comes to mind here. Your day to day practices speak volumes to the people you serve.

Each of these three components work together to create a great culture. As HBR states: “…if the time is spent (1) really understanding the behaviors expected throughout the organization; (2) identifying the systems and processes that will continue to help those behaviors be expressed and sustained; and (3) shaping practices that help employees and the organization become better, then you can close your culture gaps…” and create a great culture that people will want to be part of.

Band-Aids Won’t Solve Chronic Absenteeism

October 31, 2018

As schools strive for continuous improvement on key academic goals and to meet ESSA standards, attendance surfaces as an issue that may seem to be an easy fix at first glance. However, it is the “the scope of attendance problems that schools encounter and the depth and diversity of student needs” that make solving the problem of chronic absenteeism complex and difficult. However, no matter what the cause, in general, students who are chronically absent have worse education outcomes.

“No matter what the cause” is the matter!

In April 2018 Brookings, a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts in-depth research that “leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level” came out with a strategy paper for addressing the issue of chronic absenteeism, Reducing Chronic Absenteeism under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Their recommendation to tailor intervention strategies based on the circumstances and unique needs of the students, requires that districts understand what is likely to make a child chronically absent or a school to have a high chronic absentee rate. They see high stakes accountability (ESSA) combined with a school-level tiered approach as an “evidence-based strategy for increasing attendance and improving student outcomes.”

Sounds good. But the question you need to answer still remains – “Why are we seeing attendance problems in our school or district?” If the norm is to expect regular attendance, then a deviation from that expectation cries out for using a process to determine the root cause(s). Problem Analysis provides a framework which not only clarifies what information is needed but organizes the data, so we can make sense of it.

Problem Analysis Framework

The Problem Analysis framework is built on these steps:

State the problem: What is an acceptable level of attendance? What is the current level?
Organize the data: What data do we have about where we are (and are not) seeing attendance issues – by grade level, school, etc.?
Look for probably causes: What are some possible causes for the attendance problems we are seeing?
Vet Possible Causes: Do these possible causes account for the data we have – do they make sense given what we know about the problem?
Ensure that we have found true cause: Before we make changes, how can we validate that we have indeed identified true cause.

In order to increase attendance and improve student outcomes, for individual students or school-wide, you must get to the root the problem. Without ensuring solutions address root cause, you end up spending time and money on band-aids – not lasting and effective solutions.

“So, what do you think?”-A Simple Question with Big Impact

October 3, 2018

Sometimes one simple question can pack a lot of punch. “What do you think?” is that kind of question. Do you ask it of others? Maybe you ask it regularly – or maybe you don’t ask it all because you think you need to have all the answers. Maybe you ask it of a range of people – or maybe you reserve it only for a select few. Maybe you are genuinely curious about others’ opinions – or maybe you could care less. If you don’t ask it – or don’t ask it as much as we should – you are missing opportunities.

“What do you think” asking it accomplishes? It lets others know that you are interested in and/or value their opinion or assessment. This is how meaningful involvement and collaboration builds – we value and seek input from others – and others know their input is valued. In addition, by asking it you encourage critical thinking. “What do you think?” is different from “How do you feel?” Feelings don’t necessarily need justification – but opinions and conclusions do.

Peter Gasca explores the power of this question in his essay, “The One Question You Should Ask that Will Make You A Better Leader”. He talks about how this question helps move people from “problem finders” to “problem solvers.” Identifying problems is a great first step, but not sufficient. Problem-finding without problem-solving leaves the job undone. Imagine if problems dumped on your doorstep came with proposed solutions? Often “problem-finders” have lots of company but “problem-solving” is a lonelier pursuit. Asking “So what do you think we should do about this?” can encourage people to begin thinking about solutions.

Sometimes just the act of asking a simple yet elegant question communicates or accomplishes more than you know. So, what do you think?