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Engagement When designing the Vista Innovation & Design Academy (VIDA), we sought to gather empathy from students and as a result made a poignant discovery: students, particularly those from poverty, felt that school was irrelevant to their lives. We endeavored to reverse this by design, and we knew that if we created a school that was more about their lives than “just school,” we could capture their hearts, and then we could get to their brains. Engagement became our first intervention. Engagement is not a one-way street: we cannot manifest this in our students if faculty don’t experience that same hope. It is nearly impossible for teachers to inspire and support “creativity,” “growth mindset,” or “risk-taking” in their students when those teachers do not have the self-efficacy in those domains themselves. As we contemplated how teachers can create genuinely-personalized and creative opportunities that will engage and inspire their students if they aren’t engaged themselves? Around the same time in our school transformation, Gallup came out with findings that only 30% of teachers nationally were “engaged” in their work. An “engaged” teacher was defined as “involved with, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work… They know the scope of their jobs and constantly look for new and better ways to achieve outcomes” (Gallup, 2015, para. 2). It leaves one to ponder how And as school leaders, how might we make our own teachers engaged in their craft?  Practically Speaking A priority for our school transformation then begged the question: how might we best engage teachers? One of the leading mantras for that effort came from a central frame of empathy that sought to honor their humanity. “What have you always wanted to do with students that you have never been able to do?” It is an easy question to ask, but once teachers gave their answers, we had to figure out ways to fully realize those answers. We worked to turn those lost wants into brand-new, specialized elective classes and/or other opportunities on campus to engage the strengths, interests, and values of teachers. School leadership aimed to foster the conditions that would make teachers jump out of bed, put both feet on the ground, and want to run to school each day. The theory of action was that this energy would bleed into the soul of the school and pump into the veins of its students. Why Talent Development Our next level of growth around teacher engagement has become Talent Development. It is deeply empathetic work, in part inspired by Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, when he wrote that “even the most optimistic workers will become discouraged if they are not being developed” (Nadella, 2017, p. 118). Often, when we mention Talent Development to school leaders, they default to thinking professional development. To be clear, this is not what we are referring to.  We foster Talent Development through supporting teachers to realize the best future version of themselves. If we have teachers working to achieve this feeling, they will genuinely support students to help achieve the best future version of themselves. We support teachers in first recognizing and defining their identities and then in refining and seeking the best stage for their talents to shine. How we are working on designing for talent with our faculty Talent Development is one of the most human concepts we infuse in our work on campus. Teachers seeking their own best version of themselves is contagious for the students they work alongside everyday. This work is about love, hope, and care. It is soul work and deeply human. It is work we tend to daily. An important note to leaders is that this is not something we were just able to dive into. To get to this point was built upon a strong culture of trust between teachers and administration.
3. Strengths: All adults take the StrengthsFinder assessment and are encouraged to share their Top Five Strengths via email signature and/or classroom poster, making it part of their functioning as a team on campus. Students take the Thrively Strengths assessment, and we are currently working to make these more prominent in students’ awareness and tying them to metacognition and reflection. 4. Interests: All adults take the Strong Interest Inventory to identify their Top Three RIASEC Codes. The follow up conversations have been profound. Everyone spoken to feels very connected to the results, leading to insights such as “I am in the perfect career,” “I am not sure why I am in this career,” or “I can be doing more within this career.” All students have access to the assessment, and like Strengths, we are in the process of better tuning this information into daily experiences. In addition, each year we offer parents the opportunity to take the assessment. 5. Entrepreneurship: This overlays our Design Based pedagogy and is a key component driving discussions and actions around “Identity and Talent.” In addition, Entrepreneurship helps develop the sense of craftsmanship for us all. This provides a platform for interested teachers with their own personal branding around “strengths” and “expertise” to provide added value to the organization while they realize and spread their influence as conference presenters, budding consultants, and more.  6. Flatten Hierarchy: Charon et al (2018) shared that “hierarchy can isolate and bury talent” (p. 8) and that cross-functional teams help to triangulate talent development as levers for improvement and growth within an organization. We have two standing leadership teams and a number of other pop up teams and councils. These pop up teams come together to perform a targeted task and then disband when the work is accomplished. This is also an effective way to build trust, allow other to see how the process works, and to create a sense of ‘we are all in this together.”
7. FedEx Day: We took a big risk here! On a district PD "day" -- which was actually just 90 minutes of time given to us, we did what Daniel Pink in his book, Drive, described as a "FedEx Day." It is where you provide total autonomy for people to explore, develop, and DO something. Something that excites and motivates them that may or may not actually relate directly to their everyday work. That is the key - we are looking for overnight innovation with talent. The rule? They had to publicly share at the following Monday Morning Faculty Meeting, we did a simple whip around (BECAUSE models/ideas from others BUILD creativity). The whip around protocol was to keep it brief & to the point. Just enough to inspire someone else and raise interest: Who did you work with, What did you work on, What are your next steps, Thumbs up or down? For those who were scared of too much autonomy, we worked on a curriculum piece together for the 90 minutes. What we found from those that took the FedEx Day? They spent WAY more than 90 minutes engaging, exploring, and working. We got more out of their "contract" time than those who stayed behind. It, in fact, may be one of the coolest things we have ever done. "Bad Ass" as some would say. Next Steps Empathy is something we are continually working to hone. It requires us to be vulnerable as users within our own system and to practice humility to not assume that we know all of the answers. We have found, time and time again, that we avoid many pitfalls faced by conventional organizations by being human-centered and designing both for users and alongside users. By being empathetic to others and seeking humility, we are mindful of the assertion in Talent Wins that “talent can never be about the ego fulfillment of leaders” (Charan et al, 2018, p. 166). Our school transformation is now in its fifth year, and like any good innovation, we know our edge is in our ability to continue iteration and evolution. Failure to iterate and evolve would lead to stagnation and mediocrity. Some of the things on our mind as we engage with this work are:
Resources: Charon, R., Barton, D., and Carey, D. (2018). Talent wins: the new playbook for putting people first. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press Gallup. (2015). Lack of teacher engagement linked to 2.3 million missed workdays. Retrieved https://news.gallup.com/poll/180455/lack-teacher-engagement-linked-million-missed-workdays.aspx Gallup (2016). First, break all the rules: what the world’s greatest managers do differently. New York, New York: Gallup Nadella, S. (2017). Hit refresh: the quest to rediscover Microsoft’s soul and imagine a better future for everyone. New York, New York: HarperCollins
2 Comments
2/24/2020 11:14:10 pm
I am really envious of people who have talent. I mean, life is just too unfair, and I hate it so much. There are people who are just naturally talented, and I cannot accept. I am someone who wasn't born with anything, and it is why I am so bitter. God has always been like this, and I know that I should stop complaining, but it is just so unfair that I do not have the talent that other people possess.
Kim Kriedeman
1/26/2022 05:57:41 pm
Designing engagement for teachers within a school creates teacher leaders and is one of the most significant gifts we can give to our students. Just as we give our students the opportunity to understand their interests and then utilize them as pathways to mastering standards and discovering their possible selves, so too will teachers who are encouraged to pursue a degree, lead professional development, or are included in shaping the direction of the school become people who are fulfilled and joyful. When students take inventories like the Strong Interest Inventory, their lights pop brighter when they see how their interests influence and run parallel to their performance in certain areas. Knowing how one's interests can shape their success is a treasure at any age, but to have this in middle school seems like a powerful advantage for the growing years to come. When I was given the opportunity to lead an entrepreneurial class at my middle school, I discovered that I am enterprising, as well as capable of helping students understand how to run a business. I never would have thought that as an English teacher one of my strengths would be that I am a talented business teacher and that students could use entrepreneurial skills not just to help a business grow but to find value in all areas of their learning. If my administrator had not given me this opportunity, my students would not have benefitted from their teacher growing and evolving right along with them. Leave a Reply. |
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