What Micheal Fullan can teach instructional coaches

 No author has had a bigger impact on my thinking about change and leadership than Michael Fullan . In his new book, The Six Secrets of Change he provides a great deal of food for thought for coaches and other leaders of change in education.

Below, I'll provide a few quotations from Michael's book on each of the six secrets, and then offer a few of my thoughts about their implications for coaches.

Secret One: Love Your Employees

Michael references many authors in the book, but in this section he includes several insights he gathered from a very interesting book, which I'll comment on in the future, Firms of Endearment.  Here are a few quotations:

"One of the ways you love your employees is by creating the conditions for them to suceed" (p. 25)

"Carl Cohn (2007) says 'empowering those at the bottom beats punishing them from top" (p.25)

"… lead with credibility and caring, invest in frontline leadership, hire and retain for relational competence, use conflicts to build relationships, bridge the work-family divide, create boundary spanners, measure performance broadly, keep jobs flexible at the boundaries, make unions your partners, and build relationships with suppliers"   ( pg. 32)

My comments

Coaching it seems to me, has a major role in "loving your employees."  First, providing coaching that significantly supports professional learning clearly is one way that administrators can love their employees.  Second, coaches, by engaging in respectful, compassionate conversation one person at a time, can lead culture change that creates more humane, respectful conversations.  Third, punishing employees, as opposed to loving them, is likely the kiss of death for a coaching program.

Secret Two: Connect Peers With Purpose

"Purposeful peer interaction, or perhaps I should say positive purposeful peer interaction, works effectively under three conditions: (1) when the larger values of the organization and those of the individuals and groups mesh; (2) when information and knowledge about effective practices are widely and openly shared; and (3) when monitoring mechanisms are in place to detect and address ineffective actions while also identifying and consolidating effective practices."   ( pg. 45)

 "… identifying with an entity larger than oneself expands the self, with powerful consequences."  ( pg. 49)

"When teachers within a school collaborate, they begin to think not just about “my classroom” but also about “our school.”   ( pg. 49)

My comments

Reading this chapter, and listening to Michael at the recent SIM Conference, have got me thinking about ways in which coaches can expand their role to include supporting, facilitating, and operationalizing (that is taking ideas and helping them be translated into action) peer interaction in formal structures such as Professional Learning Communities and informal structures such as social settings.  Coaches, I think, can do a lot to accelerate and amplify meaningful peer interaction.

But I also think that Web 2.0 can provide a mechanism for educators to share ideas, gain and provide support, and interact in other meaningful ways.  It may be that the web will be an incredibly powerful tool for fostering purposeful, peer interaction. 

Secret Three: Capacity Building Prevails

"Another way to love your employees is to select them well and then invest in their continuous development" (p. 57)

"One of the ways not to develop capacity is though criticism, punitive consequences, or what I more comprehensively call judgementalism. Judgmentalism is not just seeing something as unacceptable or ineffective. It is that, but it is particularly harmful when it is accompanied by pejorative stigma, if you will excuse the redundancy. The advice here, especially for a new leader, is don’t roll your eyes on day one when you see practice that is less than effective by your standards. Instead, invest in capacity building while suspending short-term judgment"     ( p. 58)

My comments:  

Well first, of course, instructional coaching is a great way to build capacity in schools. Also, the approach Michael refers to as non-judgmentalism, parallel's my own belief in the importance of what I call the partnership approach.  Finally, one of the things that I am occasionally troubled by is the failure of school leaders to see the short-sitedness of focussing on quick fixes rather than long-term capacity building like coaching.

Secret Four: Learning is the Work

In this chapter Michael includes many ideas from Liker and Meyer's book  Toyota Talent, another book I'll be discussing on this blog in the near future.

"the most important job of any manager is to teach workers to become more effective; “the biggest success of any manager is the success of the people they have taught (L & M, p. 313)”    (p. 87)

…”real learning comes from repeated practice with additional coaching from the trainer (L & M, p. 246)” (p. 87)

“The objective is not to identify whom to blame for a problem, it is to find out where the system failed (L &M, p. 289)” (p.88)     

“ 'If you want great people to do their best work, the logic goes, then you’ve got to create the right working conditions the moment they walk through the door' [from Taylor and LaBarre, p.261).   And then you have to keep creating cultures of learning every day that they are on the job .      pg. 89

My comments

My first reaction, is right on!, that is exactly the way we see it, but I as I think further about this, I want to add that we need to consider how Michael's comments apply to coaches themselves, that is, how can coaches ensure that they are doing excellent work, that they are continually improving.  Since coaches are central to any organizational learning effort, I think it is essential that they are continuously learning and focussing on best practices.  To put it another way, if the coaches aren't learning, ain't nobody learning.

Secret Five: Transparency Rules

"Transparency concerns assessing, communicating, and acting on data pertaining to the what, how, and outcomes of change efforts" (p. 93)

"Transparency is not causing teachers to become what my colleagues Dennis Shirley and Andy Hargreaves (2006) characterized as “data-driving to distraction.” It is insufficient to have strictly a results orientation; you also have to learn the processes and practices to achieve those desired results" (p. 93)

"Transparency involves being open about results and practices and is essentially an exercise in pursuing and nailing down problems that recur and identifying evidence-informed responses to them" (p.99)

"To move beyond mere transparency, we have to work on the conditions under which transparency can be used simultaneously for both improvement and accountability. We know that people will cover up and not report problems if the culture punishes them So one thing we need to work on is developing cultures in which it is normal to experience problems and solve them as they occur – exactly what the organizations we have been discussing do. In other words, effective cultures embrace transparency and the use of data as a core part of their work" (p.101)   

"in all cases of successful change transparent data are used as tools for improvement" (p.102)   

My comments  

Authors such as Joellen Killion and  Nancy Love have much to teach us about how coaches can support the meaningful analysis of data as well as support instructional improvements that are derived from that data.  Also, again, coaches should also use data to honestly look at and improve their effectiveness.  By analyzing and acting on data such as implementation rates, number of teachers worked with, quality of implementation, student achievement improvements, and uses of time can all help coaches improve their practices.  

Secret Six: Systems Learn      

Michael includes a quotation from Hargreaves and Fink:  "Discontinuity that is reversing a bad situation needs to be pushed with steadfastness over a long period of time, until it becomes the new continuity. While planned discontinuity can yield rapid results, its leadership needs time to consolidate the new culture, to embed it in the hearts and minds of everyone.   Repeatedly, planned discontinuity was effective in shaking up the schools in our study but not at making changes stick… Leaders of planned discontinuity in schools were transferred to struggling schools elsewhere long before their existing work had been completed. The result was a constant cycle of change throughout schools in the system but little lasting improvement in any one of them [2006, p. 69]" (p. 108)                                                                                                                                 

"The first task of Secret Six is to enact the first five secrets. By so doing, organizational members will feel valued and be valued (Secret One), be engaged in purposeful peer interaction that generates knowledge and commitment (Secret Two), build their individual and collective capacity (Secret Three), learn every day on the job (Secret Four) and experience the value of transparency in practice linked to marking progress (Secret Five). The net effect is a critical mass of organizational colleagues who are indeed learners. Because their worlds have in fact become enlarged through wider engagement inside and outside the organization, they have a broader system perspective and are more likely to act with the larger context in mind"  (p.111)

"Leaders who operate from a position of certitude are bound to miss something, are likely to be wrong more than their share of times, and almost certainly will not learn from their experiences"   (p. 117)

My comments:

Of course, coaching stands at the heart of secret six in that coaches empower others to be learners, and by facilitating individual positive learning experiences.  By ensuring that individuals are successful, and by letting others know about that success, and by facilitating networking and sharing of ideas, coaches can be important creators of learning cultures.

Andy Hargreaves' idea about discontinuous change also has implications for coaches.  If schools are in a merry-go-round of change, what I call, the Atttempt, Attack, Abandon cycle, they make it difficult for coaches to be effective simply because teachers in such situations are often suspicious of any new initiatives.

All in all, taking the time to think this through a little, I am impressed by how valuable Six Secrets of Change could be for a coach.  THe more coaches know about change, the more successful they can be, and the more they will indeed be able to lead positive improvements in their schools.

Next week I will write about Slide:ology, a new book about preparing presentations by Susan Duarte, president of the consulting firm that helped Al Gore create his Inconvenient Truth presentation.  If you liked Presentation Zen, you'll find this book very interesting.    

Update on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 at 12:33AM by Jim Knight

You can see an edited version of Michael Fullan's presentation on the Six Secrets at the CRL Learns website

Daniel Pink's Whole New Mind

Recently I received an email from a coach who asked me an interesting question. “Since computers and technology are becoming more and more powerful, don’t you think coaches will eventually be obsolete?”  

As it turns out, I just happened to be reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, and it seems to me the book does a good job of explaining why we’ll likely need coaches for a long, long time.   In his book, Pink makes the case that we are undergoing a seismic shift to a world in which right brain thinking will be dominant.   I had always been a little skeptical about right brain thinking, but Pink’s book, and the ideas on his blog are truly food for thought.

Pink says the following.  This new way of thinking will be “animated by a different form of thinking and a new approach to life – one that prizes aptitudes that I call “high concepts” and “high touch.” High concept involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning” (p. 3)

Pink identifies six “senses”, on which, he says,   “professional success and personal satisfaction increasingly will depend. Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.   Here is what he says about each of these:

1. Not just function but also DESIGN. It’s no longer sufficient to create a product, a service, an experience, or a lifestyle that’s merely functional. Today it’s economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging.

2. Not just argument but also STORY.   When our lives are brimming with information and data, it’s not enough to marshal an effective argument. Someone somewhere will inevitably track down a counterpoint to rebut your point. The essence of persuasion, communication and self-understanding has become the ability also to fashion a compelling narrative.

3. Not just focus but also SYMPHONY. Much of the Industrial and Information Ages required focus and specialization. But as white–collar work gets routed to Asia and reduced to software, there’s a new premium on the opposite aptitude: putting the pieces together, or what I call Symphony. What’s in greatest demand today isn’t analysis but synthesis – seeing the big picture, crossing boundaries, and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole.

4. Not just logic but also EMPATHY.   The capacity for logical thought is one of the things that makes us human. But in a world of ubiquitous information and advanced analytic tools, logic alone won’t do. What will distinguish those who thrive will be their ability to understand what makes their fellow woman or man tick, to forge relationships, and to care for others.

5. Not just seriousness but also PLAY.   Ample evidence points to the enormous health and professional benefits of laughter, lightheartedness, games and humor. There is a time to be serious, of course. But too much sobriety can be bad for your career and worse for your general well-being. In the Conceptual Age, in work and in life, we all need to play.

6. Not just accumulation but also MEANING. We live in a world of breathtaking material plenty. That has freed hundreds of millions of people from day to day struggles and liberated us to pursue more significant desires: purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.   (pps. 65, 66, & 67)

So what does this have to do with friends question about coaches becoming obsolete?   Well, I believe that many of that attributes Pink identifies, attributes that he says are things that computers cannot do, are precisely the attributes of effective coaches. That is, coaches need to be empathetic, craft stories, integrate ideas, simplify to create meaning, and heck, let’s play a little too.    I just don’t see the web being able to handle these human attributes, so until computers start to empathize and use the computer equivalent of their right brain, I think coaches will be needed.

Next week, I'll write about Michael Fullan's Six Secrets of Change

Presentation Zen

As you may know, I'm deep into books about presenting as I work on my book based on the research I did on Partnership Learning. You can actually download a Partnership Learning Fieldbook on the topic at the website. One book that I've especially found useful is Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen. Mr Reynold's main idea is that the powerpoint we use should be simpler and more beautiful, and we should use fewer words that convey core concepts. Garr also suggests we create separate documents to go with our presentations, rather than what he calls "sliduements" those simple prints of PowerPoint or Keynote that are usually handed out at workshops. If we create separate documents that have all the key information as a handout, then our audience doesn't need to worry about taking notes or reading their notes, they can foucus on the presentation that we are giving. Mr Reynolds has a sample presentation on his personal website, and his blog. I'll be posting a lot more information in the next few weeks on what I have been reading about presenting and dialogue

Bill Jensen--"What is your life's work?"

Bill Jensen

I’m a Bill Jensen fan. How could I not like someone who says his mission in life is "to make it easier for people to get stuff done"? I think his book Simplicity can be used by anyone who is or wants to be a coach. His book is filled with wise and practical knowledge about how to be persuasive, use time, clarify our thinking, and think through and implement important plans.

Here are a couple quotations from Simplicity:

“As I reflect back on all the breakthroughs I’ve seen, one thing was always present-unbelievable clarity. Not reduced to ducks and bunnies explanations…but the exciting, passionate clarity of ideas” (p.15).

“Our biggest limit is no longer the reach of our imagination. It’s now our inability to order, make sense of, and connect everything that demands our attention. We are failing to make the complex clear” (p.21).

Mr. Jensen has written two other books I like. Work 2.0 redefines the contract between employees and employers from the perspective of the employer, and as interesting as that book is, I am more impressed by his most recent book, What Is Your Life’s Work?

The book is a collection of letters that people have written to their children, parents, friends and enemies in which they define what really matters in their life. When I started the book, I was a little disappointed, too many “ducks and bunnies explanations…” over simplifications that might sound great in a convocation address, but not as templates for living your life.

As I read more of the book, though, I was hooked. The book has many life lessons that can be starting points for deep reflection about the important questions in life. I believe that to be effective as leaders, coaches have to begin by reflecting deeply about who they are and what they stand for. Here are some fragments from the book:

“As you move into the workplace, and possibly lead other people, I would suggest that you answer five urgent questions:
• How should I think and act when faced with defining moments?
• How do I resolve them in ways I can live with?
• Do I think I can lead/manage innocently?
• Who am I?
• What is my moral center?”
--Dennis Bonilla writing to his one-year-old daughter, Sophia Lillian

“My fear for you is not that you won’t succeed… my fear is that you will do nothing that gives you personal meaning; You will succeed at someone else’s life” Nancy Adler, speaking to an advertising executive

“Whenever we feel defensive, hurt, personally attacked, confused, or afraid, we have a choice—we can get very curious. Rather than saying, ‘I never would have said that,” we can say, “I wonder what these people heard me say? I wonder what their perception is?”

“In school, first you get the lesson, then the test. In life, it’s first the test, then the lesson.”

—Linda Stone, writing to “the many who filled her life with love and laughter”

“Beware of those who seek to rise or acquire at someone else’s expense. And never take credit for someone else’s work; eventually you will be defined by your lack of integrity. In the end it WILL catch up with you, and cost you your dreams and relationships. NEVER DO IT!”—Neal Sofian, writing to his children

“the secret behind everything is your work ethic—your attitudes, beliefs, and determination to stay focused on what is important”—Mark Servodidio, writing to his children

“As we try to improve, we are drawn to the large, dramatic, and splashy programs for change, but we are impacted more by the small and simple changes in our daily routines. We don’t change the world through epiphanies, but by doing lots of little things that add up to sustained transformation. Simple things are not always easy to change, but by improving one thing at a time, we make progress toward great things”—Dave Ulrich, writing to his great-great-grandfather.

“We live in both a wonderful and a horrible world. We each choose, every day, which part of the world we are from. To do wrong for a good cause is still wrong”—Rob Newson, writing to his children

“The greatest accomplishment in life is not to defeat or suppress your opponents but to prevail in an environment or under a system that may be holding you back or even oppressive to you”—Scarlett Hu, writing her 12-year-old daughter

You can read more about this book at ourlifeswork.com

Understanding by DESIGN

By one of those strange learning coincidences, I’ve encountered ideas that seem to be fitting together in an interesting if not entirely coherent way. I'm in New York City to work with teachers, but it happens to be Design Week 2005. School and design seem to keep getting mixed up in my mind today.

First, although I’ve looked through Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design, (1998) on a number of occasions, I’ve only just started to read it with the care it deserves. I’m struck by how the authors compare instructional planning and curriculum development to design:

“Teacher are designers. An essential act of our profession is the design of curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes. We are also designers of assessments to diagnose student needs to guide our teaching and to enable us, our students, and others (parents and administrators) to determine whether our goals have been achieved; that is, did the students learn and understand the desired knowledge?

Like other design professions, such as architecture, engineering, or graphic arts, designers in education must be mindful of their audiences. Professionals in these fields are strongly client centered. The effectiveness of the designs corresponds to where they have accomplished their goals for the end users” (p.7).

At the same time, I’ve been reading this month’s Fast Company, which features several articles on design. I’ve found the articles, so far, to be energizing and they make me feel, at least for the moment, that there is so much more to “designing” instruction that authentically engages our students.

Fast Company suggests several interesting websites on design, and I find them inspiring and confusing, so I thought I would put the sites on here in case someone else might make use of them:

www.designobserver.com

http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY

www.core77.com