Tag Archives: kaizen

Creativ!ty on the Ides of March

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“Beware the ides of March.” In this case, though, the ides of March brought no foreboding to Julius Caesar, but a hopeful foreshadowing of “warning” about what we need more of in schools (my direct and personal  interpretation and application). And the triumvirate in this case is – openness, process, and persistence. What in tarnation am I talking about? On March 15, I enjoyed the privilege of being a TEDxAtlanta: Creativ!ty attendee! If you are not familiar with TEDx events, I encourage you to get familiar. This was my third live TEDx event, and I tune in regularly to live streams from other TEDx venues. The events at TEDxAtlanta just keep getting better and better! Here is an outline of the Tuesday’s TEDxAtlanta: Creativ!ty (with some added hyperlinks for further exploration)…

Check-In/Lunch
12:00 PM — 12:25 PM
Unboundary

Session 1
12:25 PM — 2:30 PM
TEDx: Opening Video
India.Arie & Idan Raichel: Open Door
Tod Martin: Welcome
Victoria Rowell: The Mentor
Bonnie Cramond: To the Different Ones
Michael Ouweleen: The Day I Became Funny
Sally Hogshead: How to Fascinate
Q&A with speakers

Session 2
3:00 PM — 5:00 PM
Margaret Baldwin: The Power of Dialogue
Elizabeth Turk: The Construction of Emotion
Armin Vit: Think Stupid
Viktor Venson: No Right Brain Left Behind
Q&A with speakers
Linton Hopkins: Creativity vs. Chaos

If you are a Twitter user, you can review the tweets from the event by searching the hashtag: #Creativity2011. And videos by Definition 6, capturing the speakers and their messages, will be posted to TEDxAtlanta.com ASAP. They are ALL worth the watch.

In fact, while each TEDx talk was remarkable in its own individual right, the “magic” of a TEDxAtlanta event, and I imagine the magic of other TEDx and TED events, is the interconnectedness of the talks. Magic because the talks are not coordinated in a prior fashion – beyond being of a common topic, in this case “Creativ!ty.” Throughout the day, the ideas of openness, process, and persistence echoed louder and louder for me. Many of the speakers touched on or focused on the importance of being open to ideas and diversity of perspective. What one person labels as “weird” or “strange” can just be a mis-label for creativity (see also Sir Ken Robinson’s The Element). Yet the connotations of the labels are vastly different. We need to be cautious, skeptical in fact, of placing labels on people. We are complex creatures with the potential for a rich diversity of thought and being. We should nurture that diversity of thinking and shun the human tendency to place people in boxes of “strangeness.”

All of the speakers were woven together by the thread of process. FAILURE is expected…a good thing even. Stupid ideas should be pursued, bad jokes should be made, poor writing should fill our pages and pixels. For out of experimentation comes progress and development. Prototyping creates the opportunity for buds of ideas to become blossoms of great possibility. We have to fall down to learn to walk. We have to get bruised and scraped to learn to ride a bike. We have to talk gibberish to learn to talk. But we will learn, if we concentrate on the process of getting better…of practicing…of persisting.

Persistence is required for creativity. We are ALL creative. We were born creative. However, many of us lose sight of this fact when we let others label us as weird or strange. Others lose sight of this when we think that drawing or painting or writing is a God-given talent alone. That which we practice, we improve upon. That’s the key to creativity. Staying open to ideas and saying YES to possibility rather than NO to crazy-sounding stuff…valuing the process as the art – even more so than the finished product or results…and persisting through failure, which is simply a name for early and consistent attempts at improvement.

On Tuesday, TEDxAtlanta: Creativ!ty was a FORUM for THE GROWTH MINDSET! Want to be creative? Commit to and develop a growth mindset. That’s it in a nutshell. Like most things, creativity is about learning, much more so than about already being. It’s about learning!

A few more Mindset resources:

Powerful Communication

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Dan Pink continuously talks about the power of story. The Heath brothers articulate that “sticky” messages have certain attributes. In Tribes, Seth Godin emphasizes the critical, fundamental importance of communication.

For the last 18 months, one of my tracks of personal learning has been focused in the area of communication, presentation, and idea story telling. Dan Pink, Dan and Chip Heath, Edward Tufte, Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duarte have been a few of my virtual teachers.

Recently, Nancy Duarte delivered a TEDxEast talk (below) and several blog posts about presentation and communication.

Our 7th graders are currently studying the god-teacher archetype. Do you see the connections? Here’s to the kaizen of our presentations and communications.

Bringing into Focus: Work at Unboundary

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This week, through some email exchange and a face-to-face meeting, I was able to adjust the focus ring and sharpen my view on my sabbatical work at Unboundary. By splicing together a few of the email threads, I explain here a bit more about my intentions and excitements regarding this amazing sabbatical opportunity I am afforded.
 
Thank you. And thanks to all of the team that is helping this happen. The re:purposed plan sounds ideal! Here is my bullet summary/restatement to make sure I am on same page…
* my primary “internship” will be around Unboundary’s evolution work. [Tod: The modification would be that, as appropriate and possible, I’d like to involve you in the work going on around the evolution of Unboundary itself. I think engaging with that work, combined with what you’ll observe of our work with clients, you’ll get a sense of how Unboundary is harnessing design thinking to help companies and organizations rethink their purpose and pursue higher trajectories.]
 
* my secondary work will be around TEDxAtlanta – Creativity. [Tod: Jenn Graham will know to pull you in on TEDxAtlanta, as will Dawn Gahan. I think you know Jenn well from your time on the TEDx stage; Dawn is our central nervous system — Traffic Director — and knows everything that is happening in the office at all times.  Three people will share the lead on “immersing” you: those people are David Cannon, who is  executive director of creative intelligence; Chuck Reece, who is creative director of content; and Jamey Aiken, who is creative director of design.]
 
* the one other variable in the mix is Logan Smalley’s work on TED ED.
In three short weeks (my other sabbatical time will be spent researching and visiting other schools), I think this is a great portion size on my plate. Further, I think the learning in these two domains may prove perfect for what I hope to exchange among Unboundary, education and Westminster.
[Screenshot of Unboundary website:]

Feedback – the entire, transparent loop

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Every year, I engage in a “360° review” as part of my annual evaluation as a principal. As part of the review, I invite hundreds of faculty, parents, students, and administrators to contribute to a survey which solicits feedback about various aspects of my job performance. In short, I want to learn and grow. I think I do good work with considerable effort, but I hope I am not yet the principal that I will learn to be. When we stop growing, we stop. And more mirrors on the bus provide a deeper, richer view of what’s around us.

Collecting feedback is not unique. However, I always share the results of this particular survey. Certainly, this survey data is not the only feedback I get. However, it is the most formalized way that I collect feedback from a large set of constituents and people who deserve to share a collective voice in my learning and growth. Interestingly, sharing out the results seems to be a rather unique practice. For me, it seems natural to complete the loop…to connect the dots…to round out the circle of community.

This week, I sent the following email to all those I invited to participate in my formal feedback collection (the survey):

On Feb 7, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Bo Adams wrote:
Dear All (BC field):
 
On Jan. 6, 2011, I invited you to take part in providing me with formal feedback about my job performance as principal of the Junior High at Westminster. Thank you to the many of you who chose to participate. Of course, I welcome feedback from all of you, at any time; the survey was just one method for feedback.
 
As has been my practice for all eight years of my principalship, I like to share the overall survey results with you. Here is a link to a PDF of all 37 pages – a summary from Dr. Clarkson and 36 pages of the survey monkey results.
[link was here.]
 
Overall, I found the feedback to be very positive and encouraging, and the various voices all give me good things to think about as I continue to learn and grow in my work to serve the Junior High School and Westminster at large.
 
Thanks,
 
Bo
 
Approx. 50% of JH faculty responded [37 of 80]
Approx. 10% of JH parents responded [42 of 400 sampled]
Approx. 25% of Admin responded [7 of 30 sampled]
Approx. 60% of Synergy 8 students sampled responded
Why do I feel so strongly about sharing out the results of my feedback and evaluation?
  1. I believe it helps those who participate to “calibrate” their feedback with the whole…the collective voice.
  2. I believe it shows that I have nothing to hide – I value all the voices who contribute for one reason or another. I am the principal and/or colleague for 100% of the people from whom I solicit feedback…not just the ones with whom I agree.
  3. I think networked (three-way) feedback is stronger than mere two-way feedback.
  4. Sharing solicits more feedback and conversation. Already I have received 12 follow-up emails, 4 phone calls, and 6 drop-by visits. We get to interact with the feedback so WE can continue to understand each other better, each person’s perspectives better, each person’s work better.
  5. I ask my faculty to share their student-course feedback with me. Shouldn’t I model a reciprocal respect by doing the same? Shouldn’t I be cautious – nay, resistant – to doing something to/with others that I would not do to/with myself?
  6. It’s about learning!

Held Accountable

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Principals, other school admin, teachers, educators, and other learners…STOP! and READ! Bill Ferriter’s The Tempered Radical blog post “What I’d Hold YOU Accountable For.” From the perspective of this principal teacher, Bill’s tweet and post are right on the money…they certainly do NOT rub me the wrong way. May I strive to live and lead by his recommendations!

Are we creating the conditions necessary for innovation in schools? Are we leading learning innovation?

In an effort to complement Bill’s post, I offer these supports, suggestions, and examples:

  1. Tear down the walls that exist between teachers and rebuild an infrastructure that provides for a powerful community of learners. The PLC infrastructure is well-researched, well-documented, and well-utilized (in many places). At the Junior High at Westminster, we have adopted and adapted an aggressive model – replace a class in the rotating schedule with an opportunity for regular, job-embedded PLC work. Our teams meet four days per week, for 55-minutes each day…just like our student learners meet for math, English, science, etc. Additionally, we use a co-facilitator, teacher-leader model, and we rely on a PLC structure to support the facilitators of the various teams. As a facilitator PLC, we meet one day per week for face-to-face time.
  2. Tear down the walls that exist between teachers and leverage social media to provide an “anywhere, anytime” PLC/PLN. For the past month, a growing team of teachers at Westminster has been engaged in the “20 minute experiment” on Twitter. Take a look…
  3. Tear down the walls that exist between teachers and implement a faculty assessment plan that holds growth and development more dear than evaluation. Let’s conduct “physicals” rather than “autopsies.” We are several years into this process at Westminster.
  4. Tear down the walls that exist between teachers and promote innovation, creative thinking, and project-based learning. Find ways to highlight the experiments, innovations, prototypes, and trials of an amazing faculty of lifelong learners.

And, in conlusion for this post, to put the proverbial cherry on top, be sure to watch this Jay McTighe video…
http://jplgough.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/learning-habit-assumptions-experience-practice-and-empathy/

It’s about learning…and learning is all about prototyping, which is just a pretty euphemism for trying, practicing, failing, and trying again.