Leverage and Influence

As a professional developer in schools I'm finding myself ask two questions more and more often...

• LEVERAGE - What or who can I leverage to make change occur in a more effective and efficient manner?
• INFLUENCE - How do I influence these leverage points to create the necessary catalyst for effective change in the system?

I'm finding that in some of my more difficult schools and districts, it is actually finding the leverage points. I've finally conceptualized the full meaning of leverage - I visualize it as a light swtch or the old stick shift in my '68 VW bug. I remember back to high school science when we studied the simple machines. A lever is a machine that makes work easier and more powerful. Since there are so many factors and the work could be endless in many schools, it is critical to find those switches that are going to make the work more manageable. So a question that came to mind as I was in the shower this morning is this...How do we find the leverage points in a school building or system if none are obvious? And I guess there would be a follow-up question...Is it possible to be in a school or district where there are NO leverage points? As I am mentally and verbally processing my way through this question, I'm very quickly coming to the answer to my own question. Of course, there can be schools that are so dysfunctional that there are no leverage points. As I continue to puzzle over this, I then begin to see our job as beginning at the beginning. Do we then begin to work on developing those levers?

The question for the funders of such programs (because they all cost money) and for researchers is how do they see this happening? Just how far do we go? Can we make that kind of impact from the outside? Many secondary schools in our country are in tremendous difficulty. They are holding their doors shut with shoe strings (literally) and moving hundreds of kids so slowly through metal detectors that 2nd hour in all practicality is the first hour of the day.

Related to leverage, is the idea of influence. As a professional developer and instructional coach my job is to begin to influence what is happening instructionally in a school. Although I have not yet read The Influencer by Kerry Patterson, et. al., I am very hopeful to gain insight into these questions. I hope that my next post will have some reflections and insights to this dilemma. In the mean time, I would love to hear your reactions to what I'm thinking. Those of you who have worked in school reform efforts, how have you processed your way through all of this? I'm on my much needed Christmas Break for the next few weeks, and besides enjoying my family and friends, I plan to ponder these ideas and read this book that is the subject of a book study group this month and next.

ON ANOTHER NOTE...Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year to all of my friends and colleagues. I so appreciate the opportunity to learn and grow with you. May you have some time to enjoy relaxation and regeneration for a few short weeks as we move into a very exciting and change-filled new year. Blessings to all of you.

The Sense and FEELING of Urgency

When in an airport last week, I saw a book entitled A Sense of Urgency. It is John Kotter's newest publication. I knew of Kotter's change process, which he wrote about in the 1990's targeted more for the business world. Educational leaders have been reading and talking about much that is written about leadership and change from the business sector and trying to apply it to the educational realm. Since urgency is such an issue in the public schools that I deal with day in and day out, I wanted to know more about it. I certainly know what it feels like. I believe (especially after reading the book) that I feel this sense of urgency. It feels focused and relentless - always seeking to focus on what needs to be changed given the school I am in. What I really liked about the book is that it describes three states of being related to this idea of change and describes what each one feels like.

The three states of urgency (as defined by Kotter) are:

• COMPLACENCY - a feeling of satisfaction; things are "good enough"


• FALSE STATE OF URGENCY - a feeling of anxiety, anger, & frustration; frenetic activity; knowing that things aren't good, but not having a plan of attack on how to get better


• REAL SENSE OF URGENCY - a good feeling of knowing the target and working each day to move closer to it; purposeful action; "making every minute count"

Thinking about these categories gives me another lens when I go into a school. I would say that I work in schools at all levels of urgency. Certainly there is gray space between the categories - there are ranges between each. My hypothesis would be that leadership has a lot to do with how the school as a whole "feels" when it comes to this factor. In schools that are complacent, I've generally found a complacent principal. As a matter of fact, I was in a school recently where the principal said, "Everything here is just fine." This is a school that has seen its algebra scores decline for three years in a row. Granted, when looking at other schools, their algebra proficiency is higher than most. However, there seems to be a choice to look the other way in complacent schools. In some ways, they are in denial, and denial can certainly be destructive. This is another parallel with Good to Great by Jim Collins. In the great companies identified by Collins and his colleagues, the executives looked at the cold, hard facts. It seems that a characteristic of a complacent school is that they are not willing to look at the cold, hard facts.

Kotter talks about how important it is to turn a false state of urgency into a real sense of urgency. As I reflect and ponder about this, the question that comes to mind is - which is worse? which is harder to change? COMPLACENCY or FALSE SENSE OF URGENCY.

Kotter says that complacency is often a by-product of long standing success. As I think about schools, this seems to be a true statement. Very few failing schools are complacent that I've worked with. They seem to have urgency - either real or false. Kotter goes on to say, however, that since change is now the norm in our world, that the complacent will have a hard time surviving. Even in schools that are "good," the bar is being raised. Students are being required to attain higher and higher levels of achievement. I don't know of any public school that has 100% proficient students across the board. Jim Collins, in the book Good to Great, says "good is the enemy of great." Is this one of the reasons? Do "good" schools become complacent in their "goodness," and therefore don't strive to be great? Is 90% proficiency good enough? Can a school ever be legitimately complacent? I have my view on this...what is yours?

"I am my brothers' keeper."

Barack Obama said it last night, and he said it publicly. He said it forcefully, and he said it in front of an overpacked football stadium a mile high in the sky. He said it to all the main networks and not-so-main networks, and he said it to untold numbers across the world through satellites. The message was CHANGE. I got it, and I think that most anyone with a beating heart got the message. He definitely connected with me, and my guess is that for anyone who works in a service field, he certainly connected with them, too. I need to feel hopeful again for our country and our government. This nomination has made me feel hopeful in several ways. First and foremost, I never thought I would see the day that an African-American man would be nominated. I remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech back in the 60's. I am awed by the change that has taken place in a little over four decades. It makes me hopeful, and I believe that Americans are getting past discrimination and hate. It makes me hopeful that this man wants to lead with compassion and caring for our elderly and young. He said something to the effect that he believes government should be helping to alleviate problems and pain - not causing them. His entire speech was sincere, well-planned, and articulately delivered (in my opinion.)


Being a professional developer working in a lot of struggling schools (and many not so struggling) I get to meet and see people who believe and practice this principle of being their brothers' keeper. Almost all of these educators are spending their careers in schools in order to make a difference in the lives of our young people. However, what I have seen in the last 8 years is a beating down of educators. They have been made to feel like failures when what they are being asked to do is a Herculean task. We need to engage everyone if we are going to truly change the face of the American public educational system. Besides educators, we need to parents, community, and government to partner with us - not against us. When I see teachers who feel "on the edge" - teachers who are working well into the night because they have no technology in their classrooms - teachers who believe their school could be closed at any given moment even though they are doing everything in their power to help students achieve, I get angry. This happens more frequently than not. Good schools are being closed because the school didn't make AYP. Done deal! They must be punished! The mentality is "Let's close the school instead of assisting their efforts of improvement." What an overly simplistic view! It seems that the educational system has made the mistake that Heifitz and Linsky talk about in their book, Leadership On the Line. In fact, it is a great example of applying a technical solution (close or "reconstitute" a school) to an adaptive problem (an urban school where AYP has not been made.) Notice that I didn't say "failing school." Many schools that don't make AYP are not failing; in fact, many of them are doing great work.

This brings me back to where I started. There is a huge need for CHANGE in the public schools of America. I believe that "I am my brothers' keeper." I want my grandchildren to have the American dream if they work for it. I am supporting Barack Obama openly and publicly. Please carefully think about this upcoming election. There is so much at stake!

Counting Down to School Opening

It is August 12 already; the time has come when most teachers (and sometimes students) begin to get anxious to return to school. Days either become the "dog days of summer" or when we are really lucky, the days become crisp and cool - almost fall-like. That is what it has been the last few days here in Michigan. There is no need for air conditioning as we have our windows open to let in the cool, clean breeze. I'm sitting in my office, periodically looking outside at the scenery, trying to NOT procrastinate. We have a beautiful view of the lake that is relaxing just to look at. We often see deer, fox, and other small animals. We also have two Great Blue Herons that live on the perimeter of the lake as well as several pair of swans. There are always Canadian geese around, too. Did you know that geese honk all night long? I guess you could say I'm procrastinating now... It all depends on how you look at it. I have been wanting to start a blog, but never had the time. So today, as I was preparing for the next few weeks of intensive professional development, I decided to give it a whirl!


I've decided to document this year's journey with a blog. I will invite other SIM professional developers to tag along. I am involved in adolescent literacy projects around the country, and I am going to share my experiences. (At least some of them.) I would like to pose questions and get advice, and I would love to hear from other SIM professional developers and instructional coaches. It is sort of an experiment. We talk about about making our teaching public; let's make our professional development public, too! I also do a lot of instructional coaching, and I love the work of Jim Knight. You may want to check out his blog as well. You can find his blog linked to the Instructionalcoach.org website. Well, I better get back to work now. I have a full week beginning next week. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of next week, I am attending FUSION Professional Development to support many teachers in my three schools involved in the Midwest CLC Research Project. If you are not familiar with FUSION, it is a newer adolescent strategic reading program developed by Mike Hock, Ph.D., and Irma Brasseur, Ph.D. at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Each of the schools in this project will have at least one teacher providing an intensive intervention for students reading 2 - 5 years below grade level. On Thursday and Friday I am having an initial professional development session with a small, rural district in Michigan. In my next post, I will share a little about FUSION and my thoughts about how we will roll this out with teachers. What are you doing to get ready for the upcoming school year? Please check back in on me periodically. OK?