Will reflect and include notes from my Adaptive Schools Training experience on March 8th, 2019.
This training was facilitated by Carolyn McKanders.
In this Adaptive Schools Foundation Seminar we learned about framing meetings as learning opportunities, applying structures for successful meetings, applying norms of collaboration, and increasing skills with mediative questions.
Reflection:
Carolyn = What. A. Boss.
She is so funny too. When people were not paying attention, or when talking about people in our meetings who are disengaged, she described it as: “they’re in Walmart” or “they’re at Macys, shopping.”
My favorite take-away: Knowledge is socially constructed.
That reminder again and again, on the value of developing relationships and trust through good communication was so key! Honestly, there are too many situations where we are stuck feeling threatened or “small” and the openness of communication (the vulnerability, as Brene Brown would say), it ends and sometimes for good. I appreciated the way Carolyn spoke about “the brain.” It is all scientifically-based, legitimate, and most certainly worth mentioning. Learning IS personal (UDL principle too! Engagement, representation, and action and expression much?) and when we acknowledge one another, we validate one another. Trust, like says, is confirmed. When developing trust, our survival brain is not engaged, we feel safe. This means we experience those feel good hormones that we love: serotonin and dopamine.
I appreciate her emphasis on the quality of our relationships with one another too, because this translates in our work and those we serve. I love how she says those we work with will not take our feedback unless we have rapport with one another, I like the way she describes this: “people won’t let you mess with them unless the relationship is there first.” Love. It.
Also: “We have to support people ‘in relaxing them.’” Support people. In it together y’all. She talks about cofacilitating, that everyone can function as a leader, and most importantly the principle: to grow people.
Informational to Transformational. That means we need to transform thoughts, hearts, and practices. Begins with us.
“Tiny events will disturb complex systems. Get started.”
Notes:
Carolyn emphasized the importance of paraphrasing when we communicate with one another. By acknowledging we can, as the listener, respond with phrases such as:
"You are concerned about.."
"You would like to see.."
"You feel badly about.."
"Paraphrasing is one of the most valuable and least used communication in meetings."
"Without paraphrasing you cannot have a true relationship with anyone. Relationship without understanding is a pseudo relationship."
When we are not understanding we can say:
"I want to make sure I understand you.."
"Let me see if I got you.."
And remembering to pause. Just for a second. "I want to make sure I understand."
Once you paraphrase, you have the ball.
If strapped for time: "Let’s talk about this more later," e.g. “I am to be present for you for one minute” or “I have one minute to be present for you.”
Learning is very personal
When we paraphrase, we are being present, and we are developing trust.
· Look for sign-off’s, like a nod “Yeah. That’s what I mean.”
When developing trust, the amygdala (the survival/longest existing part of our brain) can switch.
= Brain: Serotonin. Dopamine.
Validating. Trust confirmed
Brain does not care about literacy, etc – it cares about survival and it is always detecting threat. Brain wants to be physically and psychologically safe.
We have to support people “in relaxing them.”
The importance of 3 point communication and having a visual public agenda.
How to move meetings from being purely informational to being transformational?
That means to transform people’s heads, hearts, and practices.
Quality of relationships is important.
“People won’t let you mess with them unless the relationship is there first.”
Poor relationships “gives spotty achievement” for our students.
Poor relationships = poor morale.
Audience connection is about relationship and credibility.
Relationship first, and credibility is everything else below.
Credibility is “blown” without agenda. No agenda means no clear purpose.
NO agenda, is like a car without a steering wheel. You will hurt people.
Real talk. Talk real to each other.
Learning is a social construct. We have a social brain and that means we got to “talk about it” for it to be meaningful to us.
Stop every 5-6 minutes so that we interact with another.
Working agreements and their importance
Move away from saying “rules” (people will feel “policed”)
“How do you think these working agreements can be applied to the agenda?”
Creating agreements together: we make them up together, what the group feels needs to get done.
A social agreement so we can get our work done.
Ask: “What support might you need so that we can live by the working agreement?
The Seven Norms of Collaboration
Pausing
Paraphrasing
Posing questions
Putting ideas on the table (e.g. “one thought I have is..” or “here is a possible approach..”)
Providing data
Paying attention to self and others
Presuming positive intentions (Promotes and facilitates meaningful dialogue and eliminates unintentional putdowns & Using positive intentions in your speech in one manifestation of this norm)
Macys, Walmart, Kohls:
“Most people are in Macy’s or Walmart” = not mindfully present. They are shopping at Macy’s or Walmart.
How much do you care or how much do you dare?
With humility you can introduce new things to a system “I am just learning it too, can we try it out?”
“This work allowed to work together in a democratic way.”
Essential to have a leader that is open and willing to share power:
“I can’t do this by myself.”
“You are the hope for our students.”
When you learn better, you do better.
Beliefs, ideas, guidelines, and values: Our opportunity to surface and model positive practices
Practice the application of the principles
Principles guide application: actions and thinking
Principles laid in values = guide behavioral choices
Ask yourself:
“What principles are guiding your behavior right now?”
“What is behind your intentions?”
If not aware of principles, cannot repeat “a good performance.”
Skillful people are highly conscious about what they are doing.
Faulty principles = faulty practices
Keep everyone engaged - it is key.
We don't believe in unfacilitated meetings.
Facilitation is a role, not a person.
Principle is grow people, distribute leadership, and rotate facilitation.
Effective leader cofacilitate.
Everyone can function as a leader.
What do outcomes do for meetings?
Outcomes give direction
Think: WOW = Walk Out With
What are the three most important things about a meeting?
Outcomes
Outcomes
Outcomes
Clarify outcomes and display them.
Gives direction and focus to a meeting
Three Meeting Purposes: liken to spinning plates
Balancing Plates - You don’t pay attention to it. It wobbles. Do something or respin them or they crash and fall.
Task: the WHAT you need to get done.
Clear purpose (that defines task) - i.e. you spun the plate: “plan a field trip,” "what about the storage room,” third point prevents topic. Paraphrase “that is important, put on ___, we have 20 minutes to accomplish that” - this is an example of respinning plate.
Clear outcomes
Clear agenda
Process: what strategies and activities will you use to get meeting done (the second spinning plate)
Give clear directions for strategies
Go visual with strategies when you can
Every agenda item should be met with a strategy or two = means you will engage people.