Top 10 education stories from 2012

The morning of New Year’s Eve is an excellent time to reflect on the top education related news stories of 2012. Here is my top ten in no clear order

1. The shooting in Connecticut
The shooting of elementary grade school children rocked the country. I still react with teary eyes when hearing the news reports on this tragedy. This incident is on the list for so many reasons. It has the capacity to reshape our countries relationship with firearms. It causes leaders and faculty to re-imagine our role in keeping schools safe. As important, it highlights the heroics, true heroics, of a group of administrators and teachers who sought to shield their students and died as a result. We should all hope to act so honorably in a crisis.

2. The MOOC
This was the year that the Massive Open Online Class rose to the national consciousness. It will likely be years (if ever) before this method of curriculum delivery becomes “respectable.” It will obviously shape future conversation and course/curriculum development. Any PhD program in education that is not adding coursework on the development of online content will soon be left behind. Any future educator who is not learning at least something about networking and software development should seriously consider another profession.

3. The invention of free
While some schools with VERY large endowments have offered free coursework before, 2012 was the first year in which some educational institutions seriously began creating business models around tuition free content delivery. Educational leaders should prioritize reading Chris Anderson’s book, Free: The future of a Radical Price.

4. The HELP committee delivers
their report on private sector education after a two year investigation. This exhaustive report has already delivered substantial reforms which have helped to shape an industry.

5. The budget crisis
Many states continue to cut budgets in local schools. Districts have eliminated staff, summer school programs, electives, music and art, school counseling programs, and other things. Space at state schools has shrunk to alarmingly low levels and we may be sacrificing America’s future competitiveness as a result. When will we stop funding schools on property taxes and lotto? When will we seriously look at the mission statements and make some solid choices about what these institutions can really do?

6. Teachers Union
The battle in Wisconsin has wide reaching ramifications. Limiting the role of the union and the passage of “Right to Work” legislation was not new, but redrew the discussion about the role of collective action and the role of teachers.

7. Teacher Evaluation
Several states have begun to look at evaluation of teachers. Academic freedom and tenure have long ruled in academia. As budgets strain, governments are seeking to test, validate and improve various accountability measures. This discussion will be ongoing.

8. Affordable Care Act
While this is technically a healthcare bill, it has wide-ranging implications on education. Most notably, it re-affirms most Americans belief that the free market is not sufficient to safeguard those of us who are the most vulnerable. This affirmation by one of the most conservative courts in modern history underscores this.

9. The nation decides
President Obama’s second term has wide reaching implications. Continued movement on immigration reform (Post dream act) will pose dramatic new challenges to education in this country. A focus on higher education affordability and outcomes is likely to continue. Gun control of some sort will likely be addressed. Finally as the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan continues more veterans will come into the school house.

10. The Changing demographic
One of the reasons for the Obama victory was the changing demographic in the United States. The increasing political power of Latinos/Latinas is unquestionable. How we will (and we will have to) respond to the needs of an increasingly bi-lingual electorate is to be seen. But as we know, politics is local. While Spanish language may be important in some districts, Hmong, Arabic, Ukrainian may be bigger issues in your area. How we address the new globalism will likely be the deciding factor which determines America’s greatness in the coming Century.

What to do when you don’t like a staff member – leaders I admire

Every now and then I meet a new leader who is struggling to work with one of their staff members.  It’s hard to be a new manager.  You have this image of what it will be like. You will be brilliant. Make fair decisions utilizing input from your team and they in turn will love and respect you. The reality is far more complex. People have odd biases that are difficult to change.  Sometimes you have a team member that you just struggle with.  Maybe they are really talented maybe they aren’t. Maybe they are hard working, maybe not. Regardless of how they are, you (for some reason) just don’t really like them.  It’s often compounded by the fact that they don’t really like you. It just isn’t what you (as a new manager) thought it would be like.

In time, managers will normally get through this. I have had team members who I didn’t really hit it off with, but they were so darn talented. You eventually get past it. I have had other team members who I REALLY liked, I thought they were funny and good natured…..and they were just in the wrong job. It became my job to help them realize it.  Often this works out so that everyone is happier – sometimes not. It is indeed a shame when it doesn’t work out.  That is the part of my job that I least enjoy.

But I learned something from a friend long ago that I share with new managers who have found that they really don’t like one of their team members (or one of their team members doesn’t like them).

Many years ago I had a friend named Kyle.  Kyle was the resident assistant in the dormitory I lived in at Indiana University. The floor had 60 men aged 18 to 22 living on it. Now resident assistants always dream that they will be the leader that everyone idolizes and looks up to.  Something I learned right away is that 60 young men will never all look up to the same person –especially when that person is in charge of enforcing university policies.

Anyway, one young man who lived on the floor really didn’t like Kyle and Kyle didn’t like him.  Kyle had broken up a party or two the young man was throwing and they really developed a dislike for one another.  Ultimately, the young man started doing things just to irritate Kyle. Kyle started monitoring the young man more often because he was hoping to get him kicked off the floor.

Then one day, Kyle said enough. He walked up to the young man’s room and knocked on the door.  He was invited in, and Kyle did something remarkable.  He took the blame for the entire situation.  Kyle said it was all his fault.  He said he didn’t want to do this anymore and asked the young man is he would have lunch with him the next day. Then they had lunch every Friday for several weeks. Now, they did not become best friends.  But they did start seeing a different side of the other.  They learned about each other’s families and their plans for the future. In a very short time, they began to accept each other for who they were. They began to respect one another.

This is the role of a great leader – to take the responsibility, to take the blame, and take the initiative to create the change. It’s unlikely that everyone will like us. But leaders like Kyle show that we can at least hope for respect and acceptance.

Recruited into leadership

I became an orientation assistant at the end of my Freshman year.  The job was to organize orientation week activities and then get new freshmen to attend.  The “training” was in my freshman year and the real work was the first week of sophomore year for the new freshman. I forget how I got involved.  Probably the fact that most of the orientation assistants were girls had something to do with it.  The other part was how bored I had been during my orientation week.  I wanted to help other shy people get to know others. I met fun people and helped to put on events and helped new students get off to a good start. Once orientation week was done, I thought I was too. 

But I had roommate sophomore year. Anyway, he ran for and was elected as our floor governor for student council.  He came back to the room one evening and said “Guess what, I told them you would chair the library committee.”  I was a bit taken aback, but not really sure how to say no. It was one of the best jobs I ever had.  Our residence hall had a small library and our budget was about $8,000 a year.  The librarian and I would go to a record store and a book store with a big check and buy whatever we wanted within reason. Back then a paperback cost about $2.50 so you could buy a lot. Same for the record store, $4000 bought a lot of vinyl. You could literally get anything that remotely interested you.  It is one of the ways that I developed my current love for world music and jazz fusion.

Later in the year, a knock came on my door.  The new advisors to next year’s orientation group were standing outside.  They needed an Orientation leader.  I was co-chairing with another OA. No problem. Great fun. I remember going out with my girlfriend to advertise for our recruitment campaign.  We were chalking sidewalks with any odd phrase we could think of: “George Washington OA slept here” on the sidewalk in front of Kellogg Hall. We had a great recruitment year and led a team of 30 or so OA’s.  

By this time, I was really having fun being a leader.  I never did any of this in HS.  I never felt connected there. The tasks in front of us never seemed all that important. When my best friend, Jim, at that time wanted to run for residence hall president, I suggested being his VP. So much fun. Our big job was running the boat dance.

The biggest thing I remember is that reservations for the boat (a big river boat “the Belle of Louisville”) opened for the year on one day.  You wanted to be the first to ask for your date. I remember getting up and starting to dial a rotary phone at 8am. Dial, busy signal, hang up, dial again. We finally connected at 1pm. Five continuous hours of dialing.  The tip of my finger had turned black from rubbing against the black phone…Finally got through, and our date had already been taken.  They suggested a second date.  I covered the mouthpiece and accidentally hit the button to disconnect the call.  All I heard was dead air and my own heart which was now in my mouth…..

Anyway, we dialed back and got through fairly quickly. The new date was set… By the afternoon, it was uproariously funny….

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I would never have done this on my own.  At each stage, someone else saw the potential of a shy and geeky kid and put me into situations which made me step up.  As we start a new year, what shy and geeky kid do you know that just needs a bit of a push to become a future leader?

Survived the Mayan doomsday

I cannot begin to express how excited I am that December 21^st came and went without the world ending…

I don’t know about you, but I still had several things I needed to do. My apartment was a mess and I had not completed my Christmas shopping. Facing St Peter at that moment would have been tantamount to going to the emergency room with dirty underwear.

St Peter: “Scott, I notice that your apartment is a mess and you had not completed your Christmas shopping when the world ended. A bit concerning…”

I can just imagine him pursing his lips, thinking about what to do. I start to get worried….. It’s ok, though. I was an executive. I was managing my time. “No problem,” I thought, “I have faced worse. Just clear my throat and start my pitch.”

Me: “Ah, well, yes Sir. I know that I was supposed to have gotten that done. But it’s just me in the apartment. No big deal. And really I just needed to go online a send a few gift certificates to family in other parts of the country….I was just going to do that Christmas Day.”

I finish with my most confident look. Eyes slightly narrow and a small nod of the head…The look that says “I have it under control.”

St. Peter: “I’m sorry. Just you in the apartment? Where do we find cleanliness, Mr. Sand? Ah, yes. It’s next to godliness… Remember that. And gift certificates? Did you know that you can order these early and select a later delivery date? He turns a page and runs his finger down the page. “Ah, yes. I see that you did know that.”

I hadn’t really thought that he knows everything. This is worse than Santa’s Naughty and Nice list. An all-knowing civil servant, my goodness.

St. Peter: “Well, thank you for not using the Lord’s Name in vain. Atleast you got that right.”

Ugh, he reads minds too.

St. Peter: “Anyway, you were just doing gift certificates? How much thought, generosity, and compassion does that show? Could you really not have done better for your family?”

I got ready to argue my case. They wanted the gift certificates. It’s easy. Allows online shopping so they could pick their gift. I opened my mouth to speak, but he wasn’t listening. He was turning to talk to someone at a desk to his right.

St. Peter: “Hey Gabriel…Any rooms in Purgatory????

I was in trouble. I was out of the conversation…

Angel Gabriel: “Ah, maybe. How long?”

St. Peter: “Depends on him and his ability to repent.” He looked me up and down. “But he is a manager, I would guess 100,000 years atleast before he stops blaming someone….”

Me: “St. Peter, I did get my Mom a birthday present on time this year.” Uh oh, the excuse escaped my lips before I even realized it. St. Peter’s eye brows raise, and he stares through me.

St. Peter: “Your sister e-mailed you so you wouldn’t forget….. Think I didn’t know about that? Gabriel, make that 200,000 years.”

Angel Gabriel: “All I have is a room by the ice machine….He’ll never sleep through the night. Plus this is the floor we dedicated to the HS seniors. Prom, you know….”

St. Peter: “That’s perfect, thank you Gabriel. Congratulations, Mr. Sand, we’ve decided not to send you to hell…”

Yes, yes. I am certainly glad the world did not end. I will try to be a better person this year. I am sure someone else predicted that the world is ending in 2014…Maybe the Mixtecs.

A concert of leaders

I recently attended a leadership seminar held by my organization and saw Roger Nierenberg, author of Maestro: A Surprising Story about Leading by Listening. His presentation, The Music Paradigm, was an excellent demonstration of the power of leadership and the consequences of what happens when we fail to lead.

The presentation itself was wonderful. Many of us have been to leadership seminar after leadership seminar and have heard pithy examples of leadership truisms: communicate more, reward and recognize more, listen to your team, show respect. These truisms are all things that we have heard and try to do effectively. What was different about this presentation was that it was able to show the veracity of the truism immediately and viscerally.

What happens when I signal the trumpet late or not clearly enough? What happens when I set my baton done and don’t lead at all? What happens when the first violin does his/her best and the others lay off a bit? What happens if I set my orchestra up in a way that they can’t see me as well?

The audience was interspersed with the orchestra and was able to participate in each experiment and hear the result immediately. Truly astounding. But it got me thinking:

There I sat in a group of almost 500 leaders all of whom were mesmerized by the conductor. I have been with this group on many occasions. Some of those occasions were with a less skilled presenter. During those presentations, I saw these same leaders checking their phones, holding side conversations, or dozing off. Watching them so engrossed in the presentation got me questioning what this group is called.

We have all heard about collective nouns. This is a noun which describes a group of something. Examples include: A Pride of Lions, A Gaggle of Geese, a Murder of Crows, a parliament of owls.

Watching this group made me wonder what the collective noun is for leaders? I googled it and was a little shocked by some internet suggestions: “an indecision of managers, an absence of leaders, a disappointment of leaders” Every suggestion I found was negative. Not-with-standing what this says about American Culture, it is (or at least should be) completely inaccurate.

One of the consequences of the Music Paradigm for me is that an excellent conductor took of room of 500+ people (each of whom is used to leading and wants to make their voice heard) and created an experience which motivated and unified this group. Perhaps there are two collective nouns for leaders. When poorly done, it is a cacophony of leaders, each participant raising their voice as high as possible until no one can be heard in the resulting din. When a skilled conductor is on stage, a concert of leaders occurs. A single theme which utilizes the individual voice of each member by interweaving them into a single transcendent moment.

Four questions for someone considering a bold action

I recently presented a workshop on using social media to a group of educational leaders. The response to the workshop was very positive and the group discussed how important the topic is. There was one additional piece of feedback that was almost universal among the participants.  The group said, “my boss (or my board) will never agree to this.”

This dichotomy of responses is really consistent. I have done the presentation a number of times and the response is always, “You’re absolutely right. This is why I came to the presentation. It probably won’t go anywhere.”

This presentation was on the use of social media, but this is a common response when new initiatives are being discussed. Often I wonder if I was truly persuasive. If I was, wouldn’t I have rallied them to move forward in addressing directly with the board? Other times, I think that we just prefer safe actions to bold ones. It is safer not to rock the boat. It is safer not to be seen as a trouble maker. It is safer to avoid bold or risky decisions.

The issue though is that all bold actions have risk to them. In fact, all safe actions have risk too.

When considering a bold course of action, there are a few things to consider:

1. What is the risk to non-action? There is risk to creating a comprehensive policy governing the use and monitoring of social media on campus, but what is the risk of inaction.  For instance, we know that cyber-bullying is a growing concern.  What is the risk to your organization if you fail to create a comprehensive plan and (heaven forbid) something horrible occurred on your campus? When placed into context, I will accept the consequences of trying too hard to protect the welfare of my students.
2. What is currently happening that affects the decision? If you are thinking of an innovation, your teams are likely already involved.  Finding out what is already happening often fuels your ability to pitch your idea for something specific. After all, the risk of a small social media program is likely far less than the uncontrolled chaos that is already being practiced throughout your organization.
3. What is the smallest action that I can get involved in and still move the organization forward? Given that many of your colleagues fear any action what-so-ever, even a small move forward may cast you in the light of innovator, thought leader, and pioneer. Starting small also helps to build a level of proficiency. This proficiency will be needed to manage the larger programs that may be needed in the future. If I am going to learn to drive a car, for instance, I want to start in a big empty parking lot. Once I have mastered that I will move onto the freeway.
4. How do I mitigate the risk (aka, what’s the right way to ask legal)? Every action and inaction has risk. Our jobs as leaders are to manage that risk and safe guard our organizations from frivolous lawsuits and concerns. Asking legal “Can I do this?” is an exercise in futility. Asking legal “this is what we want to do, how do we mitigate the risk most effectively?” produces amazing results.

Shouldn’t bold action be what we strive for once we have clarified that a project is legal, ethical, and organizationally sound. While we all want safe schools, we also want vibrant schools. I would assert that vibrancy only occurs when leaders seek out bold initiatives, mitigate risks, and motivate their teams.

“When you have to choose between an ethical or a business decision,

you choose the business decision.” That is what she said. A past supervisor of mine said that line in an open meeting with 30 team members.  My jaw dropped. I was even more surprised because her educational background was in religious ethics and we were in a non-profit organization. She had commented that she took her position thinking that she would be able to make highly ethical decisions, but was taken aback. She stated that her supervisor, the president of the university, had taught her a great many things, not the least was that she was running a business.

Even back then, I sat there thinking that this can never be a forced choice. When a good leader feels that they must choose between two paths, one ethical and one good business, they find a third path that is both ethical and good business. I am even more convinced of this today than I was back then.

Now I don’t think that  my supervisor was a bad person. I really don’t. I think she was a new leader with inadequate experience running a organizations. Ultimately, I think she mistook her role in three ways.

1^st. Leaders must make decisions which advance the organization over the long term. Making a business decision which lacks a strong ethical foundation may be good for the quarter or the year, but can doom the organization.  As Warren Buffett says, “a reputation takes a lifetime to build and seconds to destroy.” This is the lesson of the few misguided managers at Corinthian Colleges or ITT. They made unethical decisions which were great business until they were exposed. At that point, trust in their organizations collapsed as did the organizations themselves.

2^nd. Leaders must choose their words carefully. I have no idea really if my former supervisor really meant this or not. It may have been a mis-statement. It may have been something that she was wrestling with and needed to talk through. It may have been a theoretical issue that had not yet occurred in real life. Regardless of her motivations, sharing it with the team was a mistake. All of a sudden, I began to wonder: Had she asked me to do things that she considered to be unethical? Was I an accomplice to something? Had I unknowingly done things that could tarnish my reputation?

If a leader has ethical concerns over an action, then they must disclose and discuss them so the organization can come to a consensus on how to carry a decision out ethically.  I suspect though that she was talking an issue through as part of her own personal catharsis. If so, it was a mistake. Leaders don’t get to do that. Instead, leaders carry the burdens for the team. When we need catharsis, we should seek out a counselor, mentor, or peer (never our team).

3^rd. Leaders manage up and challenge their leaders. When we receive an instruction that we deem to be unethical, it is our responsibility to bring it up and talk it through. Our supervisor may not be aware of the ethical or legal implications. They may not have seen another (better) alternative which preserves the business outcome while remaining ethical. If our supervisor is aware of the ethical implications and still requires us to carry out the instruction, then we as leaders have another decision to make. That decision is whether or not to remain with the organization.

We must be brutally honest with ourselves when deciding on whether to stay or go. Am I just mad because my idea didn’t get chosen? Is this really unethical or just not quite what I want? Do I fully understand the reasons, implications and consequences? If truly unethical (or even if we believe that our supervisor is willing to make unethical decisions), then our course is clear.  We must as leaders of good conscience move on to another organization which values our partners, our communities and our social responsibilities.

Leadership in the first 0.8 seconds

 

I had a fantastic experience some time ago. I had been communicating with the local ROTC battalion out of Claremont McKenna College. First off, I have to comment on what a stellar group of soldiers this is. These are men and women who have committed themselves to the defense of our country and to the education of young people. They immediately commanded my respect and admiration.

In the course of working with them, I was invited to the final weekend of the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) race of the season. ROTC sponsors one of the cars and I got an invitation to lunch. I was able to meet the Lieutenant Colonel in command of the Claremont McKenna ROTC battalion, Major General Smith who commands the ROTC Cadet Corps and Ft. Knox, and the driver of their car (“The Sarge”), Tony Schumacher.    

Now, I have to tell you I am not really a racing guy. I was raised in Indiana and went to the Indy 500 time trials every year. That experience either burns racing into your soul or it strips all desire to ever see racing again out of your soul.  It was the latter for me….

At least, it was until I went to this event.  What I saw was premiere athlete and leader at work. Tony is the winner of 6 NHRA Full Throttle World championships. He operates a vehicle which goes 0-100 mph in 0.8 seconds. His fastest speed is 330.23 mph which he achieved in less than 3.8 seconds from the green go light. He works with a team of mechanics who are at the top of their game and can dismantle and rebuild in engine in about 15 minutes.  I would like to say that I saw them do this.  I can’t. I saw them start taking the engine apart; then I turned to finish a conversation thinking I had time. When I turned back, they had already finished…..

Tony spoke to the group and told us one of the reasons why his team was so successful. He asked the group to raise our hands as high as we could.  Everyone in the room raised their hands. Then he asked us to raise them a little higher.  All the hands went up by another inch or so.  That’s when he said that he looks for people who raise their hands as high as possible on the first request.  In a vehicle which goes 0-100 in 0.8 seconds, there is no time for the leader to ask a second time. There is no leeway for “I did a pretty good job.”  Pretty good jobs result in a blown engine, an accident, and death for the driver.

This is the epitome of what Collins talks about in “good to great.” It’s about getting the right people on the bus.

How would education be if each of us committed to raising our hands as high as we could on the first request? We would commit to total engagement in each moment with each student. We would commit to identifying students who are struggling and in need of motivation and deliver that motivation immediately. We would identify when our explanation in class fell short and rephrase until the class understood. We would never use the phrase “good enough for government work” again.

This needs to be our commitment: showing personal leadership and excellence in the first 0.8 seconds, getting it right the first time, and committing until the race is over.

Check out this elite athlete at http://www.nhra.com/drivers/top-fuel/Tony-Schumacher/

If I could only get this one staff member to be more productive…..

So some big changes for me in the past couple of months.  I moved back to Valencia CA.  It took me a bit to get settled again. The actual move. Going through boxes.  Then a longer commute… Anyway, I digress.  I was not silent the whole time though.  Check out my guest blog for The DriVen class…

 

http://thedrivenclass.com/2012/12/leadership/