Provision #713: Learning Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
Laser Provision
Great leaders are learning leaders. We avoid getting attached to the first
idea that comes along or even to our own great ideas. Instead, we remain open to
possibility. We understand the simple truth that there is usually a better way.
We not only understand that truth, we innervate that truth with positive
emotion. Learning becomes an infectious part of our way of being and leadership
style. Learning leaders create learning organizations, and those are the ones
that stand to make the greatest difference in life. Does that sound like the
kind of organization you want to lead? Then read on!
LifeTrek Provision
As I write this we are making our way through our two-week Asian tour on coaching and
leadership. The tragedy in Japan has been painfully present in the awareness of
just about everyone. "Have you heard?" was the first question we were asked upon getting
off the plane in Hong Kong, one week ago.
Since that time, people have been mindful not only of the pain and suffering in
Japan but also of the implications of this tragedy for both themselves and for
the planet. While we were in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, we enjoyed a delightful tour of
the city with professional guides. At one stop, we were looking at a map of
Taiwan when Vincent, our guide, pointed to numerous points along the coast
where nuclear power plants are located.
He then observed that Taiwan also sits on earthquake fault lines and that it
could happen here as well. "The planet groans," he noted as he took a telephone
call on his tablet computer, "under the weight of our insatiable appetites for
energy. Global warming is taking a terrible toll. Payback is inevitable." There
was both resignation and concern in his voice.
We have heard this from many others as well. That's the way empathy works. As we
gain a respectful understanding of the experience of others, including their
feelings and needs, we stop pointing fingers and we start taking responsibility.
What is happening here? How do we feel? What does it mean? How can we help?
Empathy is a prerequisite for learning. Instead of playing the blame game, we
open our hearts and minds to new possibilities. Apart from empathy, all learning
is theoretical. With empathy, all learning is practical. It is based in
experience and invites new possibilities for making life more wonderful. Even
when those possibilities are difficult to imagine, empathy helps.
We have noticed the empathy effect in our conversations with people in Hong Kong and
Taiwan about the tragedy in Japan. Grieving the tragedy is awakening hope that some
good will come out of this mess. New safety measures. New backup plans. New caution
in plant placement. Less reliance on nuclear energy. New investment in green,
alternative energy. Hope springs eternal that human needs can be met without compromising
the needs of the planet.
Thank goodness for engineers! In addition to the moral and political learning
that comes from crises such as these, there is also the technological learning
that makes it all possible. It has been said, "Where there is a will there is
way." True enough. But the reverse is even more true: "Where there is a way
there is a will." The more we learn how, the more we embrace why.
The whole notion that learning should be action-based, related empathetically to
the experiences and challenges of life itself, has been a recurrent theme on our
journey through Asia and could well be described as a fundamental attribute of
great leadership. Great leaders learn from life. They don't adopt a
"take-it-or-leave-it" mentality; they rather come from a "find-it-and-learn-it"
frame. Great leaders are always open to possibility.
The people we have met on our travels and in our presentations have certainly
demonstrated that openness – with gusto! It has been thrilling to experience
their zeal for understanding and learning all that education has to offer,
including the evocative coaching process we have come to share for transforming
schools one conversation at a time. As challenging as it is to bring design
thinking into traditional cultures, there has been a palpable desire here to
learn the process and to see what it has to offer.
That was especially true of the university students we met in Hong Kong. With beautiful smiles and engaging questions, these students engaged
fully with our material and the possibilities they saw for incorporating it into
their life work.
Who knew that what we came up with on the banks of beautiful Queen's Lake in southeast Virginia,
USA could seemingly offer so much value to people here in east Asia! We are
deeply grateful.
But their enthusiasm is not about us. We have seen this before in Asian
countries, and you have perhaps seen stories about it on television or the
Internet: people here have a passion for learning. Their minds are sponges and
they seemingly can't get enough.
One person we had tea with in Hong Kong, a reader of LifeTrek
Provisions, confirmed our hunch: these people never sleep! They go from work, to
school, to study, to life without much downtime. At our conference in Kaohsiung
the participants received a note book with an imprinted message that summarized
this brilliantly: "Be busy but happy, and tired but joyful."
Whether that's healthy or not (our friend heads up a suicide-prevention hotline in Hong Kong),
their zest for achievement certainly comes through in their demeanor and attitude. Their
appetites for learning are as insatiable as our appetites for energy.
We also saw this enthusiasm in the youngest of school children, at the schools
we visited and on the streets. On Tuesday of last week, I was out running while my wife,
Megan, was walking on the promenade along the harbor in Hong Kong. There were
numerous school groups present, in spite of the light rain. One was sketching pictures
in their yellow raincoats. Others were interviewing foreigners, like us, to practice
their English. There were so many children, and their enthusiasm for interviewing people
was so great, that it made for a hard time running. I came back with more handouts than
sweat!
Fortunately, the two appetites – for learning and energy – are complementary. It will take
learning to get beyond our current energy crises and planetary predicaments; it will take
energy to get beyond our current limitations and constraints on learning. Working on
both together is the best way to go.
We had a funny exchange with our tour guide in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He wanted to
know what we do so we told him: we assist school leaders, teachers, and other
educators to transform schools through coaching. That struck him as odd. "Why
would so highly esteemed and prized a profession as teachers be willing to
accept coaching?" he asked. "Since teachers are at the head of the class,
what would coaches have to offer them?"
What a difference a plane flight makes! In the USA, educators have largely lost
the patina of high social regard. As test scores and international rankings have
fallen, teachers are increasingly taking the brunt of the blame. There has been
little empathy here. Fingers are pointing and no one is learning how to move
forward in an anxious scramble to reclaim top rankings in the world.
That scramble is part of why coaching in schools has become such a hot topic.
What better way to help educators improve their performance in the classroom
than to provide them with coaches who could assist with their professional
development and personalized learning. That was the original and has always been
the primary province of coaching. Athletes work with coaches to improve their
performance. Why not teachers?
The instinct is a good one. Done correctly, coaching can certainly have that
effect on teachers and other educators. That's why we wrote our book on
coaching in schools.
Evocative Coaching seeks
to make coaching more effective as a learning technology. Too often, people
become coaches without the requisite mental models and practical skills to do
the job well. When that happens, coaching can do more harm than good.
The dynamics are familiar to us all. When someone tries to help us learn
something, they often push their agenda more than our own. They become advocates
for doing things the way they think is best rather than catalysts for helping us
to figure out how to do things the way we think is best. When that happens, when
they "tell and sell" a particular solution or approach, such coaches often
provoke resistance rather than openness to change. Simply put, they interfere
with rather than contribute to learning.
That is not the way great leaders work. Great leaders ask questions more than we
provide answers. Instead of getting attached to one particular way of moving
forward, great leaders stay open to possibility. We love listening to and
learning from people. We enjoy brainstorming as many ideas as possible before
winnowing things down and designing experiments to prototype the most favorable
options. We welcome feedback and can hardly wait to make the requisite
adjustments.
That's the mark of truly great leadership. Great leaders are learning leaders
who create learning organizations. Everyone is swept up in the search for new
ways to move forward together. Coaching, in this context, is not so much about
teaching as it is about learning. It is about asking the right questions, in the
right way, at the right time so that the people we work with get swept up in the
learning enterprise.
What a difference this makes in life and work. When we become less agenda-driven
and more learning-oriented, all manner of things get unleashed. Gone are the
days of defensiveness, self-protection, and political games. Made good are the
promises of openness, transparency, and transformational conversations. Those
are the values that great leaders bring to the table, because those are the
learning values that matter most.
Coaching Inquiries: What kind of leader are you? Are you more concerned with
advancing your agenda or inviting possibility? How could you become more of a
catalyst for learning? How could you become less defensive and more open?
What might unleash this energy for you today?
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LifeTrek Readers' Forum (selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers' Forum contains selections from the comments
and materials sent in each week by the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do
not necessarily reflect the perspective of LifeTrek Coaching International. To
submit your comment, use our Feedback Form or
Email Bob.
I really appreciated your
Provision on Being. I so often focus my attention on what I am saying and
doing, that I often forget to think about who I am being. Thanks for the
reminder! Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
President, LifeTrek Coaching International,
www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
CEO & Co-Founder, Center for School Transformation,
www.SchoolTransformation.com
Immediate Past President, International Association of Coaching,
www.CertifiedCoach.org
Author, Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time,
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