TregoED tregoed, Author at TregoED

Just one more thing . . .

October 21, 2013

What a day!!!

First, realized my phone was charging in my car – at the airport parking lot in Ohio and I was on a plane for Philadelphia. Of course that just topped the fact that the plane was delayed, connection would be missed and (to add insult to injury) arrival found that the luggage was lost!!!

Does that in any way sound familiar? Maybe not the exact same details but so many things come crashing at you and the domino effect takes over. At school it can be a myriad of things – teachers out, parents upset, schedules under fire, on and on and on. So, what do you do? You have to figure out where you are at and what has to be done. And that is what we call Situation Appraisal! By listing all the issues I was dealing with and making certain each one was something I could take action on and then realizing which were the most important in terms of the impact on me, and others, and how urgent they were, I could get my arms around things that seemed way too overwhelming at one point to handle. Taking a few minutes to get some clarity and make order out of chaos is so worth the time and the effort. And, it is something you can do every single day – whether in a crisis mode or just getting your day – or your team – together and focused.

Next time you think you cannot handle it – reach for Situation Appraisal. It will give you that order to chaos. But,there are still some things you just cannot control. I am still waiting for my luggage . . .

Impactful Response: Facing the Common Core

September 19, 2013

It is raining and dreary this morning and my newspaper was delivered soaking wet.

Initially I intended to call the newspaper office and have our account credited.

But when my problem was heard with uninterested response from a seemingly disengaged employee, I surprised myself by saying, “Had the delivery person used a plastic sleeve…at a cost of one cent…my paper would have been fine and you would not be getting this call, However, since he did not…I want to return the favor. So…please have someone make a special trip here to bring a new paper … which will cost you way more than one cent.”

Hmmmm….that was probably not one of my finer moments in terms of “turning the other cheek”!

Or, maybe I just flailing out at something “bad” which happened …and I hoped I could exert a return impact that would be meaningful to people.

I think my call was neither significant nor impactful…alas.

Impactful responses are thoughtful, organized, meaningful and full of constructive possibility in terms of creating positive change in a situation.

Inefficient reactions are emotional, spontaneous, disorganized and likely only to assuage the raging emotions of the speaker.

The advent of a Common Core represents an opportunity for educators across the country to choose impactful response in terms of how they structure leadership for their schools, their staffs, and themselves.

TregoEd’s tools (situation appraisal, decision analysis, potential problem assessment and potential opportunity assessment) offer a roadmap for how to calmly and rationally mesh the coming national standards and expectations with the abilities, resources and culture of schools as they currently operate.

Had my newspaper carrier used the tools, he might have assessed the weather, made a better decision about whether to package the papers or not and avoided being called onto the carpet by his district manager!

Te stakes for our national schools are far more significant than having a newspaper delivered sopping wet.

However, the similarities are both clear and absolute…because good critical thinking frames and supports decisions in all walks of life…from delivering papers to facing the exigencies of the Common Core.

The Common Core is coming.

Railing and flailing about or against its impact on our lives is, ultimately, as futile as hoping that a wet newspaper will magically dry itself for a customer…thereby eliminating the need for a special and costly re-deliver.

We invite you to choose “impactful response” as you come head to head with the new standards. We encourage you to contact us for information about how our tools and training can simplify, clarify and help you make your decisions in a streamlined and significant way.

Think of TregoEd as the plastic sleeve for your newspaper! And…have a sunny day!

A Simple Who-When-How for Effective Involvement

September 6, 2013

Many people agree that effectively involving others in organizational improvement can build stronger solutions and enhance stakeholder commitment. However, we often see involvement as being superficial, disingenuous, or mishandled. Important questions an executive leader may ask are: Who should be involved? When should this happen? How do we structure meaningful involvement?

3 Key Questions for who should be involved

When the new Director of North Carolina’s Exceptional Children Division, William Hussey, recently began the process of building a three-year organizational improvement (i.e., “strategic”) plan, he used three simple questions to identify who should be involved:

Who will be impacted by this organizational improvement plan?
Whose expertise do we need in the plan development?
Whose support is critical for successful implementation?

When, in the planning process, do we involve others?

The Director involved his executive level leadership team in identifying the major goals and objectives, as well as indicators (measures) of success for each of the goals. External stakeholder involvement is broken into three areas:

Two advisory boards and school district clients (directors) will provide feedback on the major areas of emphasis…or the “what” (goals, objectives, success indicators).
The staff within each section will give their best thinking on the “how.” Each section will develop an action plan detailing the activities that need to be completed in order to accomplish the goals and objectives.
The staff throughout the division will provide their best thinking on the “what if.” After the organizational improvement plan draft is completed, staff perspectives will be gathered on the barriers to success with the implementation of the plan.

How do we structure meaningful involvement?

The executive leadership team was formally trained to use proven problem-solving and decision-making strategies so that there would be a common language and transparent approach for this collaborative process. Again, process questions are used to guide each group:

Advisory/client groups—What are your concerns/issues with these goals, objectives, indicators of success? Which concerns are most critical? Why?
Section staff—What needs to be done within each section in order to accomplish the goals and objectives and who will be accountable? When does this need to be completed? How will we monitor this?
Whole division—What are the potential problems with implementing this improvement plan? What can we do to prevent those problems—and their causes—from happening? What contingent actions should we have in place for “Plan B?” What potential opportunities should we plan for that would maximize the benefits of implementation of this plan?

Although effective involvement is complex, this real world example demonstrates that using transparent processes based on strategic questions can help you avoid superficial, disingenuous, or mishandled involvement and help build a stronger organization.

How do you ensure successful stakeholder involvement?

There is No “I” in Leader

August 23, 2013

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln

Have you ever had a colleague who, once promoted, morphed into an unrecognizable despot? Or watched someone use their position to pursue a personal agenda at the expense of others? Ever have a manager who missed “the forest” by micromanaging very capable subordinates?

Are these failures of character? Perhaps in some cases, they are. Certainly newspapers are rife with examples of politicians and other leaders acting in self-interested, sometimes illegal, ways. Many times, however, I believe the failure lies not in character, but in capability: in not understanding what makes for an effective leader – or how to become one.

I remember watching in horror as my kind, sensitive, easygoing 4^th grade son took on the leader role for a group problem-solving activity. He transformed into a pint-sized version of Genghis Khan. He barked orders, cut off discussion, and made decisions with zero input from his teammates. Where the heck did that come from? In debriefing the experience, my son explained that he thought that was what being a “leader” meant. He was only behaving as he thought he was expected to.

How many leaders in the workplace do the same? How many don’t take the time to collaborate because they are afraid it looks like they are not doing their job? After all, they are paid to provide the answers, aren’t they – not ask questions?!

Effective leaders are more focused on others than on self. Leaders who interpret disagreement as personal criticism, or involving others as an indication of weakness are doomed to failures of leadership. Effective leaders care about leaving people, teams, and the organization in a better place than they found them. These leaders believe in what others can accomplish given the right skills and support. And they are humble and wise enough to know that helping others excel and work together to accomplish important things is more valuable than making themselves appear indispensable. There is no “I” in “leader”.

If someone is absolutely unwilling to share decision-making, credit or opportunity, there is not much you can do to change that. However, for those open to the possibility of change, effective leadership can be learned. This kind of leadership lifts everyone – and the organization – to higher levels of capability, performance, and satisfaction. Imagine the possibilities!

Decisions in Special Ed Begin by Asking the Right Questions

August 14, 2013

by Guest Blogger: Pat Schwarber

There are all kinds of decisions facing special education educators every single day. Time is not the only pressure facing you. Outside forces, in many cases, create more pressure than the ever dynamic pressure of time. So, how do you make rational, transparent and defensible decisions?

Take a look at this actual scenario:

Robert, a district special education director, was receiving pressure from parents of a special needs student, who wanted their daughter re-assigned to another classroom because of a perceived lack of progress. The student’s teacher disagreed and was confident she was the best teacher to meet the student’s needs. The student’s principal was anxious to support his teacher. Robert does not want the school or district to succumb to undue parent pressure, yet he needed to do what was in the best interest of the child. He was brought in to investigate the situation and make the final decision.

What will the decision be? What will Robert do? And, more importantly – what would you do?

Perhaps the first step is to develop a common language among colleagues by using a process. Begin by asking the right questions:

What process will we use for shared decision making?

How will we communicate with each other regarding decision making?

And, what input do we need to make the best possible decision?

These are but a few of the questions we need to ask in order to make the kind of decision that is representative of the stakeholders, considers the most important criteria and the downside of any choice we make. In the end, effective decision making is about asking the right questions, getting the right input and considering the benefits as well as the risks. Sound simple? If everyone is on the same page it can be!!! You can get off to a good start by asking the right questions right from the beginning.

Back to School Game Plan—“Job 1”!

July 12, 2013

No successful NFL coach would start the season without making sure that the entire team had a comprehensive understanding of the “game plan”. Equally important, he would make sure that the players had the necessary skills to succeed.

Question: Do district leaders have a similar responsibility for assuring that the staff is in a position to successfully deal with their challenges?–That they know and have a “game plan” for solving problems and making difficult decisions. We know that the leadership team stands at the intersection of the change process. But, there are some key questions:

Do team members possess the essential skills to support the successful implementation of the improvement agenda?
Can team members resolve the “people problems” that will come with the expectations for change?
Do team members have the skills to simultaneously manage the new initiatives and to also resolve the daily crises that will inevitably occur?

Effective action comes from having the right people, applying the right information, to the right issues, at the right time. The case can be made that “Job 1” for district leaders is to ensure that the leadership team has the capabilities to be effective leaders. Some “sure-fire” ways to make this a reality include:

Give team members the necessary skills, tools and strategies and expect them to use them. Decision making is a learned skill. People must not only be taught strategies for making excellent decisions, they must be supported in using them.
Commit to a set of common processes and language for collaborative problem-solving and decision making. The entire organization should be working with the same goals, tools, and strategies. Collaboration increases the quality of the end result. If you think involvement takes too much time, quantify the time and resources spent “selling” or fighting opposition to an unpopular decision.
Remove barriers to excellent decision-making. Part of creating an organization of decision-making excellence involves knowing what gets in the way. Where are the breakdowns in systems and practices that prevent decision-making excellence? Find these and address them.
Create a culture of decision-making excellence. District climate and culture is a powerful and vastly underestimated influencer of behavior. Practices, systems and structures that emphasize collaboration and shared problem solving help develop inter-departmental relationships that foster trust, cooperation, and effective use of resources.

It can be argued that school improvement efforts do not generally fail because the staff lacks technical knowledge and know how. It is more often the inability of leadership to resolve the “people issues”. One key element in successfully dealing with dynamic change in the education environment is overcoming resistance. Equipping school leaders with systematic problem-solving and decision-making strategies which involve the stakeholders in the change process will provide a sense of ownership that lessens resistance. This in turn will give the stakeholders more confidence in the value of the changes, a greater commitment for implementation and helps them to become excited about the future instead of feeling like victims of the past.

“Passing the Baton” – Four Steps for Internal Leadership Transitions

June 21, 2013

There seems to be an unprecedented rate of turnovers in district leadership around the country. A changing of the guard, so to speak, can lead to consternation and anxiety within any organization. Ensuring a successful leadership transition is important not only to the stakeholders involved but, because the whole process can create instability, to the organization overall.

How does a new leader maximize the opportunities of the leadership transition and manage it effectively from beginning to end?

Internal Transistions offer Excellent Opportunities

During the late spring, there was a “passing of the baton” between the new director (who had only been on staff as assistant director for 9 months) and the exiting director of the Exceptional Children’s Program in the Alamance-Burlington School District in North Carolina. They gathered a group of representative leaders within their division and developed a transition plan using the following steps:

Identify issues that need to be addressed to ensure the effective transition of leadership.
Build an action plan to address the top priority issues. Also included with specific actions were staff responsibilities and timelines.
Identify areas of greatest vulnerability and opportunity with the leadership transition.
Develop a preventive and contingent action plan around key potential problems, and a promoting/capitalizing action plan around key opportunities.

The transition roll-out plan had a major emphasis on communication – internal and external (other district departments, schools, parents/community), building relationships and trust. With actions to be executed, there was a sense of clarity, consistency and accountability. Lastly, but so important, there was reduced anxiety among the leadership team members and confidence that the leadership transition was going to be successful. Kudos to this EC leadership team, who used a logical and clear thinking process, to ensure a smooth “passing of the baton” so that the new team could “run with it.”

How have you managed internal leadership transitions in your role as a district or school leader?

The Barriers to Decision-Making Excellence

June 10, 2013

Making an excellent decision is an often challenging—and sometimes elusive—pursuit. Many elements must come together to make this happen.

So, what’s stopping you?

Despite all the compelling reasons to use collaborative decision making, it typically is used less often-and less effectively-than it should be. In theory it sounds compelling. But in practice, it can be messy, frustrating, and sometimes downright disconcerting. Sometimes it just seems easier to do it yourself. The problem is that while it may seem easier, it is rarely more effective.

Two common barriers:

The Illusion of Experience: Many leaders over-rely on their own-or someone else’s-experience or expertise. While tempting to think that experience or expertise equips individuals with the best answers, research does not bear this out. In other words, we are often wrong. Michael Fullan states, “…the two greatest failures of leaders are indecisiveness in times of urgent need and dead certainty that they are right in times of complexity.”
Clumsy Collaboration: Involving others superficially or disingenuously can create a culture where people feel cynical, disenfranchised, disempowered and undervalued. Collaboration is far more than simply sharing information or sitting in the same room. Collaboration is a “process of shared creation” – producing answers or results of substance. Ineffective involvement produces suboptimal end results, lack of support, even open opposition.

Collaboration and Decision Making:

Effective decision making requires the ability to successfully involve people. In The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki explores the intriguing and well-substantiated idea that the collective judgment of many people is almost always better than the opinions of just a few-even the experts. Other people provide critical information, perspectives, ideas, and analysis which improve the end result. A collaborative approach to decision-making consistently outperforms an autocratic one.

So how do you overcome these barriers? The short answer is using a true process, making your work transparent, and creating a culture of excellent decision making in your district is a sure way to avoid these pitfalls. For more details on how this can be done you might look at “Creating and Sustaining Excellent Decision-Making” which this blog has be excerpted from.

How do you overcome these barriers?

The Unasked Question

May 17, 2013

In “The Road Not Taken”, Robert Frost pays tribute to the tantalizing possibilities presented by each of 2 diverging roads – and the consequences of having to choose just one. Decision-making can be a bit like that, can’t it? Making one choice means forgoing another.

Choices are often driven by the questions asked – or unasked. History is rife with examples of the consequences of the unasked – or unacknowledged – question. What affect might unusually low temperatures have on space shuttle equipment? What is our backup plan if the unsinkable ship actually sinks? What evidence do we have that consumers want a new Coke taste?

But asking the otherwise unasked question can be punishing. We risk having our questions misinterpreted as “negative”. When people are determined to make a certain choice, they rarely welcome anyone questioning its validity. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do. The next time you are assessing a possible choice, try one or more of the following:

What evidence do we have that we need to do something different?
What are we trying to accomplish?
What other options have we considered?”.
What can go wrong?
How will we tell if we have been successful?”

These are all great questions which can elevate the quality of decision-making – and its outcomes. And remember: the next time someone asks you a tough question, they may just be unwittingly throwing you a lifeline. Embrace the tough question – and go ahead and ask it.

Leadership Requires Clarity: 3 Steps to get Started

May 6, 2013

Clarity can Make or Break School Leaders

Recently, a colleague suggested that a major impediment to effective leadership was the interpersonal mush that existed in schools. All of us have experienced how the “mush” of hidden agendas, conflict, personal preferences, bias and the like can make the life of school leaders extremely complex and trying. Her main point was that leadership requires clarity: clarity from the leader about what they really mean and need. Clarity for the staff so that they are not anxious about what is needed and expected from them.

A Paradox

In a top down, command-demand style of leadership, clarity might be relatively easy to achieve. But, this style is at complete odds with the belief that supportive relationships are essential if a school is to be effective. This presents a challenging paradox: how do leaders initiate the bold and clear actions needed to improve school performance and at the same time maintain positive relationships with the staff and community.

Building professional Relationships

The ability to build strong relationships is essential if sustainable school improvement is to be achieved. But, few if any active or future leaders have an opportunity in their leadership training to learn and grow these relational skills. We hear a great deal about the importance and power of collaboration, but what are the skills needed by a leader to enable her to bring a diverse group of stakeholders to consensus about a sticky problem or difficult decision? You can start on the road to decision making excellence with three basic steps

3 Basic Steps

Start with the right people in the room. Andew Zolli, in his new book, Resilience, calls it “cognitive diversity.” Different perspectives can help you identify and clarify problems and possible alternatives.
Use a process. Sophisticated decision-making around complex situations requires a framework that enables true collaboration and rational consideration of all options.
Make a visual recording. A true decision making framework includes group collaboration. Maintaining a visual recording of your work allows participants and others to gain clarity regarding the path has been travelled and the thinking that supports it.

School leaders work in a complex network of relationships. Their success at mobilizing faculty and parents to do their best work depends on their abilities to grow and maintain honest, supportive relationships with and within that group of important adults. The above steps are just the beginning. For a deeper understanding, watch this short video or check out the white paper – “Creating and Sustaining Decision-Making Excellence.”