Guest Vanessa Brazil
GuestForum Replies Created
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Toolkit resource developed from this Crowdsource Coffee conversation:
portico.inflexion.org
Creating Brave Spaces With Staff and Students: How to Build a Culture of Trust & Transparency – Portico
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With all the work I’ve been doing with the 5 Shifts, I was drawn to thinking of Shift 3: Get Busy on the Right Stuff while reading this chapter.
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I think balance between Portico’s purpose and our members’ purpose is key.
Since we have our own vision, maxims, etc., we need to establish some “ground rule purpose” for our gatherings. This not only ensures we’re meeting our own goals as an organization and remaining focused and true to our mission, but establishes core consistency for all our members. Otherwise, we run the risk of losing the sight of our purpose.
But to ensure engagement and relevance and ownership, etc., our community should also have voice in the purpose of their time with us.
So figuring out and establishing our own core purpose for the community as a whole (and gatherings generally) would need to come first, of course, as the foundation, and then the collaborative building of Copilot/Counterpart meetings’ purpose(s) can grow from that.
Intentionality is also key with all this. So that means revisiting the purpose each meeting (and ideally, at the start to remain focused, and at the end to stay accountable) to ensure the purpose is at the heart of the gathering. This also provides the opportunity for revisiting and revising the purpose over time because we want to avoid falling into routines and the trap of what we should do rather than what we could do (Page 8).
If something comes up that feels misaligned with the purpose, we can honor the purpose and our time by saving it for another meeting with a different purpose that it does align with. If it’s been clearly established that our meetings are purpose-driven, then those who are getting off-topic will hopefully be more understanding when their ideas are tabled for a different meeting. I know tension can arise when we feel like our ideas are being dismissed, so staying purpose-focused should help ease that tension – but we just have to make sure we do honor it by coming back to it with its aligned purpose.
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I think the series of questions at the top of Page 17 are worth us returning to as we think through this more. I know comfort and feeling “safe” are discussed a lot, and not that they’re not important in what we do and to build trusting/lasting relationships, but if we’re really going to drive significant transformation in education, then it’s going to need to get uncomfortable – we have to be willing to “stick our necks out a little bit,” and “take a stand,” and “refuse to be everything to everyone,” so the purpose of our gathering needs to do the same.
Her points about uniqueness (Pages 18-19) and being disputable (19-21) also resonated with me in terms of the mission of our gatherings and our why. The series of questions on Page 19 drive at these ideas more, too, and I think they could be useful for us to return to.
- Why is this gathering different from all my other gatherings?
- Why is it different from other people’s gatherings of the same general type?
- What is this that other gatherings aren’t?
Again, this comes back to creating a unique and valuable experience for our community members (that respects their time and commitment), but from an organizational perspective, it also ensures we’re setting ourselves (and our gatherings) apart from the competition, etc.
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Her insights into “the morasses [such great diction here BTW 🤓] of multitasking and modesty [not to mention alliteration]” (Pages 27-31) I think also factor heavily into our gatherings with our specific community as well. I think both these elements play a role in the professional lives of administrators in a way that almost feels baked into what it is to be an educational leader, so we have to remain hyper-vigilant in not allowing it to creep into our own gatherings, but we should also try to address it for our leaders generally as part of their leadership development.
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So not based on direct experience with Portico community members/leaders, but from experience generally with building relationships and specifically with professional leaders both in and out of the education field (my previous career was in management for a big mobile telecommunications company)…
Not a novel idea, but establishing common ground as PEOPLE and PARTNERS. So, yes, icebreakers are a means for this – especially given our time and virtual space barriers, but to Jessica’s points, not the ones that are there to just take up space because they’re expected. They need to touch on who we are and why we’re here rather than just getting to know each other for the sake of getting to know each other. There needs to be greater, more directed & specific purpose in this phase of relationship-building.
So, yes, starting with who we are apart from the space and profession we’re in (have fun, etc.), but it should be crafted in a way that naturally transitions into more purposeful icebreakers that directly relate to getting to know each other as professionals/leaders and why they’re HERE: What is their purpose as educators both individually/personally and collectively as a Portico community?
Hopefully there’s a connection that yes, we’re here for ourselves and to support our direct community (school/district & Portico), but that we’re also driven to help all students and education more generally = grander purpose = Portico’s Purpose.
OK, now I think this is also getting into Chapter 1 territory. 🙂
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Best whiskeys in the state, huh? That’s a work perk if I ever heard of one. 🙂
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I also heavily noted a lot through the section on specificity – including the quote you used. 🙂
Also along these lines, on Page 18: “Specificity sharpens the gathering because people can see themselves in it.”
I’m not totally familiar with Copilots/Counterparts in a detailed sense, and perhaps this is already the case, but if not, establishing the specific purpose not only for Copilots/Counterparts in general, but for each specific meeting I think is crucial for everyone feeling like they have a goal (and accomplished at the end since it’s then measurable) and, like you said, that their time was valued and was used in a valuable way.
I’ve said before that time is our members’ biggest commodity (as it is for most of us), so we need them to feel like time with us is time well spent because it will save them time later on (Portico is a wise investment) – focusing on a specific purpose will further this goal.
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WOW, Jessica. This is so powerfully insightful! Not to mention eloquently written. ♥this and couldn’t agree more!