Deliberate Practice

By Val Cortes

Just found that Linda Booth Sweeney wrote a very interesting blog post as a response to the New York Times article “We Have Met the Enemy and He is Power Point”.  Please take a moment to read it:
Why We Should be Suspect of Bullet Points and Laundry Lists

Here is a taste of Linda’s post:

In his book, The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why (2003), cognitive psychologist Richard Nisbett reports on studies conducted by developmental psychologists with American children. American school children and college students tended to group objects (such as a cow, a chicken and grass) by their taxonomic category. Chinese school children and college students, however, grouped objects based on interrelationships. For example, American students would group a cow with a chicken because they were both animals whereas Chinese students would be more likely to put the cow and grass together because the “cow eats the grass”. Referring to a similar study conducted with American and Japanese children, Nisbett observes:  “American children are learning that the world is mostly a place with objects, Japanese children that the world is mostly about relationships.”

By Val Cortes

If we were to document the use of the word “collaboration” in our practice, we would soon run out of paper! In the area of student life, and particularly in student leadership development, everything is about collaboration. Here is an example of a mantra that we repeat over and over:

• Leaders are those who engage in a process of collaboratively working with others towards a shared purpose.

And an example of a learning outcome from the Division of Student Life:

• Students demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively towards a common purpose. (From the learning outcomes page)

Most Student Life Professionals at U of T highlight the importance of collaboration and are constantly looking for ways of collaborating with other departments and colleagues.

But do we really know what collaboration is?

Here is an interesting blog post (Collaborate only when necessary) that focuses on strategies for working together, just to give you a snapshot:

…collaborating implies the ‘willingness of organizations (or individuals) to enhance each other’s capacity for mutual benefit and a common purpose,’ i.e. they share risks, responsibilities and rewards.

Whether it is networking, coordination, cooperation or collaboration, working together is an art where trust and authenticity (amongst other values and attitudes) need to be developed, maybe knowing a bit more about definitions and thinking critically about them will give us a new perspective on collaboration.

By Asim Ashraf
Campus Groups Officer

Being a recent graduate from university and landing a full-time job, I began to think that I would no longer be able to spend a lot of time volunteering. As I quickly adapted to a new lifestyle of a job in a workplace, as opposed to the chaotic schedule of a student, I realized I dearly missed being involved in some way, shape or form in contributing to community.

When I sat down and thought of ways to get involved, I had to think of how much time I could commit, what area I would like to contribute too, would it compliment some of my own professional work, and is there something more attainable than raising money. I made a list and in reducing my options I came across the online searches and found a place that was really for me.

I am aiming to go into a field of counselling in higher education settings. I don’t really know at the moment what that means, but I want to exercise some skills I already have before I get into such a career. The best way to find out is to try something where I can practice my counselling, feedback and leadership skills. Future Possibilities for Kids was a great organization to do exactly this.

At Future Possibilities for Kids there is a program called Ready, Set, Goal! Children between ages of 9 to 11 years old are partnered with a coach, called a KidCoach, who are trained to develop the kid into completing a goal. The Goal of Contribution is designed by the kid to contribute something to their community and should not necessarily be about money. The KidCoach has the aim to instill leadership skills and self-confidence in the kid while the kid tries to accomplish their community-related goal. The program is free for kids to join, but the best part is kids develop a new perspective and habits that they’ll use for the rest of their lives.

Since October 2009, I was paired up with a kid. His name we’ll call just J. His application stood out for me because he reminded me so much of myself when I was younger: quiet, introverted, and friendly in a timid way. One thing I noticed in his application was that he knew exactly what he liked and disliked. He also had some goals that were down to earth, within his field of influence and things that he truly cared about.

After the KidCoach training, our weekly phone calls for many months and activity days, J and I spent many hours in conversation about his Goal of Contribution. After the four or five activity days where we got to connect in person, J and I learned about each other and what our personalities are like. We had planned out why he chose his goal, how he was going to accomplish his goal by developing a plan, how he would go about talking to people at his school or community, and ask others for guidance or help where he felt stuck.

J’s Goal of Contribution was to make friends with new students at school that had English-as-a-second-language and make them feel welcome by connecting them to people in and around the school. There were some rocky times in getting this goal accomplished. One was that a new student may not arrive at his school during the year, so we needed a back up plan. In addition, J was also terrified to talk to his principal. I, being a supportive and caring coach, decided to call the principal and just see if she’ll be receptive to hearing him out. How scary could the principal be? J was right, she wasn’t as friendly as I had thought – but I did get her to help J out without notifying him that it was me giving a boost.

Finally, just before our last activity day, J told me that there was a new kid! I was uber excited. I was previously anxious that J may feel he was the only one who did not complete a Goal of Contribution, that we would be sitting in some reject group at graduation night! The excitement resonated strongly in J’s own voice and new found confidence. The challenge here was that I needed to relinquish the Goal as his goal, and not mine. And, if the goal wasn’t accomplished, I would hope he had learned something.

J had learned more than something. J reported to me later, that accomplishing his goal taught him to be less shy, to be curious and look people in the eye when you talk to them. From my point of view, J has learned to take positive risks even when they are scary, that plans are always useful especially at times of need, and to learn to listen to what new people have to say to know what they need. J made a new friend who is struggling to fit in, but J is there every step of the way providing positive support where he knows he can as best he can.

What did I learn in being J’s KidCoach? Did I accomplish my goal to find a volunteering position that fit my interest, schedule and future endeavours? Probably. From J’s point of view, maybe he made a new friend and confidant in his KidCoach. From my point of view, I have learned that at any age and any stage of one’s life, we always have the possibility to give something back to our community. This is what Future Possibilities for Kids has taught me. We all have the capacity to share our experiences in order to foster the growth and development of others, be it Kids or us Big Kids.

by Val Cortes

The National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs has a new resource for users of the Social Change Model of Leadership Development. I recommend that the leadership educators out there sing up and contribute to this new community and check out the great resources available.

For those of you who are not leadership educators, you might want to read Lessons from Healthcare Reform: The need for a new leadership mindset. Just to give you a taste:

…the culture of heroic individuals is undercutting our ability to mobilize ourselves for large-scale change. We cannot approach systems-level transformation one leader at a time. We can reach more people and tackle bigger problems by investing our energy and resources in strengthening leadership processes that support organizations, communities, and networks to take collective action.

I came across this article from the Globe & Mail and thought it was an interesting read:

Frankly Speaking: Why it pays to tell your bosses what you really think of them

Passing feedback upwards isn’t always easy, and judging from the reader comments on this article, it doesn’t always work. I can’t help but think that it is still a worthwhile project to take on in one’s life. For me personally, the easiest way that I can create open channels for communicating about professional performance is by asking for feedback myself, and for digging deeper into the feedback I get to understand more precisely what works, and what doesn’t.

Being able to give and receive feedback – in any direction – is connected to my larger project of moving out of what always feels comfortable to engage in the world more authentically, more honestly and with an eye to the greater good of the work that I am doing.

~Kate~

Hello, everyone!

I’m excited to be contributing to Deliberate Practice this week. I hope you enjoy the post!

~Kate Bowers~

A good friend of mine recently posted on her blog a method she learned for acknowledging others:

“You say, ‘You are…’ and then you let a word tumble out of your heart.”

This formula for acknowledgment resonates quite strongly for me; I am simultaneously drawn to its ease and warmth, but also how it challenges me to speak to others (and myself) in an unfamiliar way: with nothing by appreciation and care, no constructive criticisms, no ‘buts’, no ‘next times’, just in-the-moment acknowledgment.

Acknowledgment also came up in a workshop I recently attended. In a small group conversation we were instructed to discuss an accomplishment for which we were proud. I spoke rather briefly about what it meant to me to graduate from university and how I felt looking back on my time in school. Another participant was quick to point out, in the kindest of ways, that perhaps there was still space in my life for me to fully acknowledge that accomplishment, to continue to celebrate. I was impressed with the accuracy of his comment, and the gentle reminder it served.

Sometimes it seems to me that modern North American culture is more concerned with our individual and collective weaknesses than we are with seeing what is right, what is working, and what we can celebrate about our work and ourselves. On this note, I’m reminded of a quote by Marianne Williamson:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

When I first encountered this quote, I was challenged by its premise but have come to notice that it rings quite true for me. I find it is always easier to downplay my accomplishments than it is to really step into them, to revel, and to cheer myself on. As a leader, this is a part of my journey; I am learning to open up to my own possibilities, my achievements and strengths, to take ownership for them and when someone says, “Good job!” to just say, “Thank you for the acknowledgment.”

Perhaps, too, this is a part of your own journey.

P.S. Interested in contributing to Deliberate Practice? Let us know!

Finally, after many months of encouraging my colleagues to contribute to this blog, there is a group of people who will be writing and contributing diverse ideas, styles and points of view to Deliberate Practice. (If there are any readers out there, please comment on their posts and welcome them).

This new phase in this blog reminds me of what Margaret Wheatley calls “andness”:

Andness occurs when you make a connection with something or someone -you are literally “anding” with it or them. When you “and” with something or someone, an exchange occurs, something is produced, new energy is created (Komives et al, 2007). Andness is about synergy, about accomplishing amazing things about connections, it’s about magic.

I look forward to having new energies in this space. Welcome, bloggers!

The Environmental Justice and Sustainability Unconference held at Hart House on March 11, 2010 followed a format known as open space technology. It is very participatory in nature and I would love to see it more often at U of T so I want to give more information about it:

The following information comes from the Co-Intelligence Institute

Its origins
Open Space Technology was created in the mid-1980s by organizational consultant Harrison Owen when he discovered that people attending his conferences loved the coffee breaks better than the formal presentations and plenary sessions. Combining that insight with his experience of life in an African village, Owen created a totally new form of conferencing.

How does it look like?
Open Space conferences have no keynote speakers, no pre-announced schedules of workshops, no panel discussions, no organizational booths. Instead, sitting in a large circle, participants learn in the first hour how they are going to create their own conference. Almost before they realize it, they become each other’s teachers and leaders.

The principles
The most basic principle is that everyone who comes to an Open Space conference must be passionate about the topic and willing to take some responsibility for creating things out of that passion.

Four other key principles are:

1) Whoever comes is the right people: Whoever is attracted to the same conversation are the people who can contribute most to that conversation—because they care. So they are exactly the ones—for the whole group– who are capable of initiating action.
2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have: We are all limited by our own pasts and expectations. This principle acknowledges we’ll all do our best to focus on NOW– the present time and place– and not get bogged down in what could’ve or should’ve happened.
3) Whenever it starts is the right time: The creative spirit has its own time, and our task is to make our best contribution and enter the flow of creativity when it starts.
4) When it is over it is over: Creativity has its own rhythm. So do groups. Just a reminder to pay attention to the flow of creativity — not the clock. When you think it is over, ask: Is it over? And if it is, go on to the next thing you have passion for. If it’s not, make plans for continuing the conversation.

The Law of Two Feet: “If you find yourself in a situation where you aren’t learning or contributing, go somewhere else.” This law causes some participants to flit from activity to activity. Owen rejoices in such people, calling them bumblebees because they cross-pollinate all the workshops. He also celebrates participants who use The Law of Two Feet to go off and sit by themselves. He dubs them butterflies, because they create quiet centers of non-action for stillness, beauty, novelty or random conversations to be born.

The following information comes from Open Space World

When to use it
Where conflict is holding back the ability to change
Where the situation is complex
Where there is a high degree of diversity
Where there is an urgent need to make speedy decisions
Where all stakeholders are needed for good decisions to be made
Where you have no preconceived notion of what the outcomes should be

Outcomes
Builds energy, commitment and shared leadership
Participants accept responsibility for what does or doesn’t happen
Action plans and recommendations emerge from discussions as appropriate
You create a record of the entire proceedings as you go along

Implementation

1. Select a focusing statement or question for your gathering. It should frame the higher purpose and widest context for your discussion in a positive way.
2. Invite the circle of people: all stakeholders or all the people you’d like to have in the room. Include the theme, date, place and time of gathering in the invitation.
3. Create the circle: Set up chairs in a circle or in concentric circles, leaving space in the center. Choose a blank wall for the Agenda Wall and label it AGENDA: AM, PM across the top. Set up a table for computers near a wall you label NEWS. Put blank sheets of news print (about quarter size of a flip chart page) and colored felt pens in the center of the circle. Near the Agenda Wall and the News Wall put masking tape for people to post papers on the walls.
4. To begin the gathering: Facilitator explains: the theme, the simple process the group will follow to organize and create a record, where to put things up and find out what is happening, the Law of Two Feet, and the Principles of Open Space. Then, facilitator invites people to silently meditate on what has heart and meaning for each of them.
5. Opening the marketplace: the Facilitator invites anyone who cares about an issue to step into the middle of the circle and write the topic, their name, a time and place for meeting, announce it and post the offering on the Agenda Wall — one sheet per topic—as many topics as he/she wants. They will be convenors who have responsibility for facilitating their session(s) and seeing to it that a report is made and shared on the News Wall (also called bulletin board).
6. When ALL offerings are concluded, the Facilitator invites people to sign up for what they are interested in and take responsibility for their schedules, using the Law of Two Feet.
7. People participate in discussions. The Facilitator takes care of the space. Reporters enter discussion reports in the computers and printouts are posted on the News Wall.
8. Closing Circle: all reconvene an hour before closing to share highlights, “ahas” and key learnings in a Dialogue format: simply listening to whatever people have to offer without discussion, or you can pass a “talking stick” for each person to hold as he/she is talking, or to pass along if the person doesn’t want to contribute anything.
9. Mail out whatever record is created and an address list to all who came.
10. If it is a several day gathering, do steps 3 through 8 daily.

Training
Please visit Open Space World: Facilitator Training to learn more

Other resources: Chris Corrigan on Open Space

Just a brief message to encourage folks to read the following post from the Leadership Learning Community:
A New Leadership Mindset for Scaling Social Change

To support the kind of leadership that results in transformational changes, we need to focus on how individuals and groups are supported in connecting, organizing, systems thinking, bridging, and learning as a dynamic leadership process that mobilizes action on the scale needed to address the inequities and injustices we care deeply about.

On Tuesday, the Centre for Teaching Support and Innovation at the University of Toronto offered a session titled Engaging Learners Through Critical Inquiry. Garfield Gini-Newman from OISE presented it. The two-hour session was great, format and content-wise.

I usually focus on format because as a curriculum-designer and a trainer I’m interested on the methods and the impact they have on participants. Garfield used a combination of small group discussions, images, video, self-reflection and technology. Not only he had a variety of formats, but also modeled through his presentation the application of critical inquiry.

When Garfield asked us to “detect the anomalous claim” after presenting a slide with statistics on the use of critical thinking, I was reminded of the student-teacher contradiction that Paulo Freire mentions in Pedagogy of the Oppressed :

• the teacher teaches and the students are taught
• the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing
• the teacher thinks and the students are thought about
• the teacher talks and the students listen — meekly
• the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined
• the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply
• the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher
• the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it
• teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students
• the teacher is the subject of the learning process, while pupils are mere objects

The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them. ~Paulo Freire

It was so interesting to notice how my brain took a couple of seconds to move away from that controversy where the teacher was asking the learners to challenge the content: “Incongruence-incongruence: What? the teacher is asking us to identify the anomalous claim? But wait, he is the teacher and his presentation must be flawless… oh wait… he’s modeling a technique! Congruence”.

I found the content of the session very useful. We looked at the tools that we can use to engage in critical inquiry, the types of questions that we can ask as well as the importance of understanding what critical means. Some of the tools that can be used to promote critical thinking are the following:

1. Critiquing the piece: Students assessing merits or shortcomings
2. Judging the better or best: Judge among two or more options
3. Reworking the piece: Transforming
4. Decoding the puzzle
5. Designing to specs
6. Performing to specs

As educators, there are different types of questions that we can ask. How to formulate questions usually reminds us of Bloom’s taxonomy:

To promote critical inquiry we need to focus on the top levels of the pyramid; formulate questions that require judging in light of a particular criteria (from the Greek kritērion, from krinein to separate).

Let’s look at the difference among these questions:

• Locating facts: What are the elements of situational leadership?
• Describing feelings: What is the leadership approach that you prefer?
• Making assessments: In today’s society, what is the most plausible leadership approach?

Garfield covered much more than what it is described here. I really recommend this session, I’m sure it will be offered again.