It seems simplistic, but understanding one's ‘why’ can be more challenging, yet more important than identifying ‘what’ it is that a person or organization essentially does. In the education sector, all too often I have seen the mind rather than the heart targeted, using external motivators to try and incentivize progress for both educators and students. While it mostly works in the interim it rarely ever works in the long term, and many times I have witnessed a decline in progress as the novelty of the ‘carrot’ begins to wear off. Listening to Simon Sinek’s TedTalk titled Starting with Why, drives home the point clearly, with a clear emphasis on the why and how great leaders are able to inspire change. The consensus? People will not buy into or support what you're doing if they don’t understand why you do what you do.
I’ve seen this same level of thinking and action at my current organization stemming from the work of various members, such as myself, that make up our Student Support Team (SST) as well as with the change in leadership with our Head of School. The SST is comprised of Grade Level Leaders, intermediates between teachers and students, a Socio-emotional Counselor, who targets the mental health and social well-being of students, and a Learning Support Coordinator, who serves as the liaison for students with learning, physical or emotional disabilities and deficiencies to ensure proper inclusion within their educational environments.
When I started here on campus in late September there was an air of distrust that surrounded my department, due to unexpected staffing changes in the critical roles of Learning Support and Social/Emotional Counseling at the start of an already stressful post Pandemic school year. As a result, it was clear that amongst some of the parents, teachers, students and staff, there were many that felt involved with the organization on the basis of its ‘what’ rather than its ‘why’. To top it off, the school underwent a major shift in leadership, so naturally there was a vast level of uncertainty and unfamiliarity. Surprisingly however, as the year progresses I’ve watched this quickly and consistently change and the new head of school is one of the driving forces being that. Our new Head of School made the vision of what we do more clear, as it relates to the many why’s of each of us involved in making that what a reality; this has been something that many more are willing to subscribe to.
For many, the passion for learning and teaching is the basis of our why, but how to achieve that becomes harder as the ‘what’ becomes clouded by years of external factors impeding growth. However, the new Head of School from Day 1 made it clear that what we do is help foster communities for learning and growth for our students and families that make people excited to be a part of this educational environment, but it's the individual and collective why we do this that is what drives the organization.
Simple right? Well, needless to say that clearly defining and articulating a “what” for the school, but drawing our attention back to the importance of the “why”, has helped begin a ripple effect of implementations across the organization that mirror these key concepts across all departments. Starting with my own team, where articulating our “why” to parents, teachers, and students, became a driving force and direct link to how this department aligns with the organization’s ‘what’. As the year progresses, and as I continue to help develop in my own role I will continue to remind myself that in order to change people’s minds about the school and various departments, I’ll have to appeal to their hearts first.
Leadership knew that the first appeal had to be to the hearts of our most valuable stakeholders, our students and their families, and that continues to help with the driving change that I get to participate in across my organization.
References:
Asacker, T. (2014, June 30). Why ted talks don't change people's behaviors: Tom Asacker at tedxcambridge 2014. YouTube. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jTZ-GP0N4&ab_channel=TEDxTalks
Kotter, J. (2011, March 23). The heart of change. YouTube. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NKti9MyAAw&ab_channel=Dr.JohnKotter
Kotter, J. (2013, August 15). Leading change: Establish a sense of urgency. YouTube. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yfrj2Y9IlI&ab_channel=Dr.JohnKotter
Maxwell, D., & Grenny, J. (2015, January 5). How to change people who don't want to change | the behavioral science guys. YouTube. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ACi-D5DI6A&ab_channel=CrucialLearning
Sinek, S. (2009, September). How great leaders inspire action. TED. Retrieved January 14, 2022, from https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en#t-4815
Comments