Author Archives: Sandy Wozniak

Golden Nugget Series: How to find more opportunities to facilitate

September 13, 2018

Good process facilitators understand that using process can get us better results, but often there are organizational or cultural barriers that can get in the way.  An unfocused approach can lead to premature conclusions, revisiting the same issue again and again, dead end paths and wasted time.

Experience has taught us a lot of great ways to overcome these barriers- which we will share as a series: “TregoED’s Golden Nuggets of Process Wisdom,” in both video and blog format.

Our first Golden Nugget will address:

Barrier # 1:  Lack of opportunities

When leaders say they do not get enough opportunities to use process, they may need practice identifying situations where process can be used or they need to be reminded or made aware of the benefits of process use.

Here are some things you can do to cultivate opportunities and increase staff awareness of how, when, and why using a process is a good idea:

  1. Practice identifying which process might be the most helpful to apply to issues you face– and then apply at least 1-2 steps.
  2. When process is used, share results and benefits from work that you or others have done. Use process forms from your own work to demonstrate how decisions were made, how plans were developed, status of work being done, etc.
  3. Use TregoED website and materials as reference to provide ideas and refresh your thinking.
  4. Be persistent! Continue to use process, share results and make yourself available when opportunities arise!

How to Make a Big Decision

September 13, 2018

In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, the headline reads “How to Make a Big Decision-Have no fear. An emerging science can now help you choose.”  In fact, the science of making better decisions emerged in the 1950’s when Dr. Charles Kepner and Dr. Benjamin Tregoe, while working for the Rand Corporation, discovered that “successful decision making can be taught by using a logical process to gather, organize, and analyze information before taking action.”  The tools that they developed have continued to evolve and be taught by Kepner-Tregoe, the company that they started in Ben’s garage (the now-typical starting place of so many brilliant ideas).

TregoED – a nonprofit founded by Ben Tregoe was started to get those same skills to children and school leaders.  Our tools to help people make better choices incorporate all the research-based practices brought out in the article:

  1. Collaboration:  Bringing in different stakeholders can help you see the situation from new perspectives “to imagine new possibilities and to weigh your options with more sophistication.”
  2. Generating different alternatives: Our tools helps leaders go beyond either/or- including finding alternatives as a step in the decision-making process and encouraging you to think outside the box.
  3. Doing the math: Our process includes giving objectives a weight (because not all criteria are considered equal) and using that weight to evaluate each objective against the alternatives with simple math to find the best score!
  4. Avoid group think and confirmation bias: Including other perspectives and imagining or determining the flaws or risks of each alternative is included in the process to enable that you can see the decision from “fresh angles.”

Our training is based on the fact that “research shows that you can get better at making [decisions].”  We are proud to have been providing these skills to school districts and agencies for over 20 years.

Effective Listening: A Simple but Profound Skill

August 14, 2018

 

New parents instinctively understand that a toddler’s loss of a teddy bear (or ice cream cone or favorite blanket) is a earth-shaking experience for them.    We try to empathize and not belittle their feelings – even while their reaction may work our last nerve.    But for some reason, when our kids get older, many of us begin to think it’s our job to provide advice.  Rather than just listen to our child’s pain, fears, hopes, etc., we feel compelled to offer solutions, ideas, suggestions.  We can see so clearly (we think) what they should (or should not do).  We become so intent on communicating our opinion that we sometimes forget to let them know that we really hear and understand them.

Are you listening?

It is way too easy (perhaps even easier) to make these same mistakes in a work environment.  Have you ever attended a meeting where the facilitator

  • Invites comments but inadequately listens or acknowledges them – or even starts immediately refuting them?
  • Selectively writes down some input and not others?
  • Totally changes the meaning or intent of someone’s input by rewording it?

We all have had the experience of not feeling heard or acknowledged or understood – it is uncomfortable and frustrating whether it is happening to us or others.

Productive Hearing

Just because we have “grown up” doesn’t mean we still don’t need to be heard – and the same is true for our colleagues.  Feeling heard and knowing someone understands what we are trying to communicate – even when they don’t agree with it – is satisfying and essential for productive communication.

In a group setting, writing down what someone says – in their own words – is a simple yet powerful way to show someone that they have been heard – that their words matter.  It demonstrates commitment to hearing what is said – no matter how difficult it is to hear or say.  It is an equalizer – it shows everyone’s issues matter.

“Hearing Aids”

Here are other simple ways we can validate others:

  • Mirror back to them what we have heard to ensure we have heard them correctly
  • Make it visible -it can be powerful for people to see their input included with everyone else’s
  • Use their words – don’t try to make it sound “better” or different. If you summarize, check to be sure you have accurately captured what they meant.
  • Ask more questions – these demonstrate interest and help ensure understanding
  • Resist interjecting your own opinions or suggestions – unless invited to.  Not everyone is looking for a solution, but everyone does want to be understood.

Validation in any context is empowering and encourages future collaboration.  As you move forward with your communications, how will you let others know you have heard their concerns?

PD that Makes Sense for Everyone

August 3, 2018

The same professional development for your whole staff?  Can PD really take a one-size-fits-all approach? If we believe that collaboration increases our opportunities for success, what organization would not benefit by everyone in every position having the increased capacity to make better decisions and work through complex situations?  Even if the decisions or problems are widely different, learning some critical steps and key questions can help anyone in your district conduct or actively participate in effective critical thinking and decision making.

By giving all your people the skills and trusting in the capabilities and talents they were hired for, you can help them excel in all that they do and ensure better results for children across the board.  Providing a modern critical thinking strategy can help you develop a common language and trusted approach within departments (think Special Education – administrators, data managers, coordinators, psychologists, specialists, teachers, aides, etc.) or across departments (nutrition, transportation, facilities, IT, finance, school leaders, C&I, etc.) and outside departments – including community and board members.

Think of the benefits of providing a common approach using proven critical thinking processes like Decision Analysis, Situation Appraisal, Problem Analysis and Potential Problem Analysis to your entire staff:

  1. Hearing all ideas –Letting people’s input be heard, recorded and considered not only increases success by opening minds to different ideas, but increases trust and support for solutions.
  2. Agreeing on a clear path to proceed – having a process that people are familiar with and understand, gives them the confidence to lead and/or become active participants.
  3. Getting a clear understanding and agreement on the problem or decision you are working on – Respect people’s time and expertise by keeping the focus on the problem at hand.

And that is just the beginning! Training your staff how to think critically is the one set of skills that can benefit a wide variety of staff and job levels and the children we serve.  Building systems of thinking as the “way of doing business” in your district will increase success, save time and money, gain the trust and confidence from staff and community and ultimately benefit students.  Can you think of any other professional development that will have the same impact across the board?

Drowning in Data-Starving for Knowledge

June 27, 2018

Nowadays we often have a surplus of data – but do we know what the information means -can we make sense of it? Often there is so much of it and it may or may not be in a usable form. Rationally, we know good data is essential for good problem-solving – but can’t we have too much of a good thing? How do we convert data from numbers to knowledge – from a series of facts into something that helps us build understanding?The sense of today’s data overload is not in our imagination.

Consider the following:

  • One week of today’s New York Times contains more information than the typical 18th century person would be exposed to in a lifetime.
  • More new information will be generated worldwide this year alone than in all of the previous 5,000 years.
  • In 1965, a mechanic needed 500 pages of manual to fix any car on the road. Today, he/she would need 500,000 pages to accomplish the same feat.

No wonder we can be left feeling paralyzed and overwhelmed! In the face of such a huge and growing pool of available information, how do we access and use data effectively? Gone are the days when experts knew all there was to know about a subject. Nowadays there is just too much to learn – and what we know changes too rapidly. In fact, the estimated half-life of an engineering graduate today is four years—half of all they learned in school is obsolete after four years.

So how do we cope with this rapid explosion of data – and its rapid obsolescence? We can’t possibly absorb all available information, but we can be equipped with powerful questions that help us sort through, organize and make sense of data – no matter the situation. How would we describe the problem that we are having? What results are we looking for? What could go wrong? Effective questioning is at the heart of TregoED’s research-based problem-solving processes. These processes help us turn data from numbers into knowledge.

Joe Guarino, Superintendent of New Brighton (PA) Area Schools, and his team were using process to examine a student achievement problem. As he summed up later, “we have always had lots of data to work with. Picture that data like the static on a radio. Using process helped us make that one small tweak of the dial that made the answers come in loud and clear.“

Process helps New Supt. Dig In for Successful Referendum

June 11, 2018

Pelham (NY) Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ is not new to planning for complex situations or making big decisions, but she is new to being a superintendent.  She gained valuable experience as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum in the Sewanhaka Central High School District – and valuable skills from the collaborative and strategic leadership processes she learned there from TregoED.  These skills proved transferable to her new job and valuable from day one in her new district.

At the board meeting approving her as superintendent, Cheryl watched the architect’s presentation on a variety of project options and quickly learned that she would need to hit the ground running. She needed a clear understanding not only of the content of those projects, but also of the board’s and community’s understanding of the projects and their ramifications.

To gain that understanding, Cheryl immediately turned to using Situation Appraisal to keep issues visible and prioritized.  She began with a series of retreats with the board and a listening tour with other stakeholders of the district.  People were invited to come in and have a cup of coffee and discuss issues important to them.  Stakeholders saw that they had a voice and that their ideas were valued and recorded. By modeling transparent and attentive leadership, Cheryl gained the trust and confidence of her leadership team, the board, and community members.  Cheryl was also able to use the expertise of the community to enhance communication of the bond issues and options as they were formed.

As they began to fully comprehend the options, it became time to select which options were going to be moved forward as part of a bond referendum. Some options were controversial as they involved repairing or replacing an entire building. Again, Cheryl turned to process to help them make the decision in a clear and transparent manner.  Using Decision Analysis, the board evaluated eight options against well-formed, agreed-upon criteria, including: capacity, disruption to the learning process during construction, supporting our educational program, safety, preserving flexibility for new programming in future years, predictability during construction, fiscal stewardship, value added to the community and life quality features.   Ultimately, the Board put forward a bond referendum which included a new school, renovations to two buildings, upgrades to safety and ADA accessibility, roof replacement and masonry repairs and a second proposition (only implemented if the first proposition is approved) improving fields, tennis courts and irrigation.  As a result of the hard, collaborative work put into the decision making process, the board was lauded for their transparency and both bonds resoundingly passed.

While this is only the beginning, Cheryl’s use of process helped her get off to a great start in her new district – and process will help tackle the new work that comes with the execution of these new plans.  She is excited about the future and credits her surrounding administrative team with providing the support and expertise to maintain all of the good work that happens every day in the district while this became a large focus for her in her first year.

 

 

Meet the Challenges of Change Head On

May 22, 2018

Whether it be “Superintendent churn” or the challenges of change, transitions in leadership are never as simple as handing over a baton. Large urban districts, where school boards deal with substantial amounts of money, strong teachers’ unions and parents from diverse neighborhoods with differing needs are often prone to leadership churn. Small districts, where new leaders often go to gain experience, parents have a lot of power, and school boards are easily accessed by friends and neighbors also often face  quick turnover of leadership. In fact, districts of all sizes often experience a lot of administrative flux as developing leaders look for new and different challenges.
No matter what scale you are on, recognizing and planning for the challenges of change can help ensure a smooth transition.

Challenge # 1 – The First Impression

The old adage “you never get a 2nd chance to make a first impression” rings true. New district leaders have often been charged to “hit the ground running.” Sometimes they are brought in the middle of unfinished business, initiatives, etc. and are expected to carry on and show results. Other times, they are brought in to take a district in another direction. How do you, as a new leader, hit the ground running, show respect for the current culture, and meet the demands of the board? Your first step should be to take the time to take the temperature. Meet with representatives of all stakeholders to determine what the current issues are and make sure they “see” that you are listening by taking notes, making charts, etc. Show respect for their time and input by closing the loop when things are considered or dealt with. New leaders that come in and hack away at staff, programs, etc. without collaborating with current staff will never have the trust and confidence of the people they are working with. Even if those “hacks” are necessary!

Challenge #2 – Developing Trust

No one likes change. Meeting challenge #1 can go a long way in developing the trust that you will need to move in a new and/or different direction. But trust and positive change do not happen overnight. Depending solely on your previous experience can only take you so far. Making sure that you include stakeholders and leaders in collaborative and transparent decision making using a visual and consistent process can go a long way in developing the trust and confidence of the education community you are leading.

Challenge #3- Having Patience

It can be problematic if board members or stakeholders are expecting immediate results. It can also be problematic if decisions are made behind closed doors and forced upon the masses. Demonstrating that you are carefully considering input following steps that provide support and documentation for decisions made, can help demonstrate that you are moving forward with thought and care – not just blindly implementing someone else’s agenda. It is always worthwhile to take the time to do things right and avoid quick failures that can take you back to Step 1- a poor first impression.
The bottom line is that using deliberate, collaborative critical thinking processes that are flexible enough to work in any situation, can help you experience a smooth transition in a new position and reach your goals with confidence and success.

Ask the Right Questions to Ensure Continuous Improvement

April 27, 2018

Some of you may have heard that TregoED’s analytic processes – “help us do the right things well.” But what are the right things? How do you know what initiatives are worth continuing to invest in – and which should be scaled back? As Ben Tregoe, Founder of Kepner-Tregoe and TregoED, used to say “if we are headed in the wrong direction, the last thing we need is to get there faster.”

Questions for Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement helps ensure that we do things better – that we are tweaking and making changes to what we are doing to produce better results. But what if we shouldn’t be doing those things at all? Sometimes we need to step back enough to ask, “what things should we be doing – and how do we know?” We can’t answer this question without data – and the courage to perhaps jettison initiatives that might not be worthy or fitting.

Take a Closer Look
One district took a fearless look at their Special Education initiatives and programs. This can be difficult as inevitably dollars, time, and other resources have been invested in each one. Favorite initiatives may have anecdotes and passionate champions – but not necessarily correlating results. When district staff looked hard at specific data, they realized that:
– Some services were duplicative
– Some were much more effective than others
– There were some emerging and existing needs that lacked services at all.

Think, Plan, Act
This clarity helped the district eliminate duplications, determine which services to keep and improve, and add missing services. Without this more global and clear-sighted look, the district might have spent time and resources trying to make everything better while missing some needs and duplicating efforts of others. Sometimes we need to step back enough to be sure we are first doing the right things – then that we are doing them well! What does your district do to ensure the focus is in the right places?

Ensuring student safety takes more than locking the doors

April 18, 2018

In response to recent school shootings and the cry for increased safety measures to be put in place, many school districts are re-evaluating their procedures, practices and protocols to build an understanding of where there might be gaps or cracks in their current safety and security plans. Safety in our schools encompasses issues well beyond the watchman at the door. Ensuring the safety and security of our students should involve issues as wide-ranging as social-emotional learning to facilities.

Recognizing the depth and complexity of current events and the reality of emotionally-charged nationwide responses, members of the Sewanhaka Central High School District leadership team led by Superintendent Ralph Ferrie, worked with TregoED’s Kathy Blackburn to determine and clarify key issues that need to be addressed. They used the framework of Situation Appraisal to involve key stakeholders in their initial evaluation of the present state of their security measures. The process helped them develop an understanding of the issues and prioritize what needed to be done in a timely and effective manner.

Breaking Down the Issues
Their first steps in attacking this problem was to begin to break the problem down into manageable pieces. They chose to divide the problem into three main areas, asking 3 probing questions:

• Security of district facilities – “What are the issues and barriers we need to address to optimize security of district facilities?” Unique issues were broken down to gain an understanding of the complexity of the problem. They looked at unique needs of the facilities breaking issues down into physical infrastructure, financial needs and community access. Looking deeper into these areas, it became clear that ensuring the security of facilities would have to be a collaborative effort.
• Social and Emotional Safety – “What are the barriers preventing all students from feeling socially and emotionally safe at school?” In this area, the discussion centered around staff knowledge of mental health issues and determining and finding additional resources to support the social emotional needs of the students that they serve. Actions to address these issues included surveying students and staff, planning for comprehensive professional development, and setting strategic goals around enhancing social and emotional health.
• Safe School Environment – “What practices, procedures and processes prevent us from ensuring a safe school environment for all students, visitors and staff?” Discussions in this area focused on several areas including developing clear and consistent entry, attendance, and security procedures and a communication plan to ensure that all constituents are getting the same accurate message in all schools and the community at large.

Transparency is Key
Obviously, each school and district have their own unique issues and actions, however, using a transparent process to determine and clarify those issues, prioritize and develop action items is a universal way to deal with those issues. TregoED processes started the Sewanhaka Central High School District on their way to developing a comprehensive plan for the safety and security of their staff, student and communities. Their leadership’s deliberate and thoughtful approach is a model for all school districts who wish to do the same.

Approach People Problems with Transparent Processes

March 27, 2018

It is sometimes (but not always) easy to quantify the cost of mistakes – purchases or investments made that did not pay off, initiatives that were poorly executed, budgets that are underfunded. But what about the very real – but often less evident – costs of people-related problems? An article in the Harvard Business Review discussed results when managers were asked to estimate the time wasted addressing various people-related problems.
Conflict costs money
The most costly and pervasive people-related problems?
• Putting the wrong person in the wrong job
• Working with stakeholders to find mutually beneficial outcomes
• Wasted time and resources in unproductive or poorly-run meetings
• Leaders who do not inspire or lead
Also high on the list were:
• People ignoring critical problems in-order-to avoid conflict
• Putting off or being afraid to make critical decisions
• Failing to creatively consider other solutions – just sticking with familiar options

It is clear that conflict costs money. The article cites another study of American companies that found that it costs industry approximately $359 billion/year in paid hours to address conflict. They found 25% of employees reporting that conflict at work has resulted in sickness or being absent and 10% reporting that conflict has led to project failure.

Dealing with conflict can save money
Conversely, it is equally clear that dealing with conflict effectively can save money. Using clear-cut transparent processes and the input of key stakeholders can help you:
• Make sure you have the best possible candidate that fits your criteria
• Include stakeholders and address conflict in a meaningful and beneficial way
• Run productive meetings, resulting in clear-cut action plans
• Use a clear set of steps to tackle decisions with confidence
• Proactively identify and address problems
Using a research-based problem-solving process can help combat conflict or provide an alternative way to address each of the issues listed above.

How do you address your “people-problems?”