Facilitation Idea: Quotes about Equity

Barb Novak contributed this post. Click here for more of Barb's thinking.

Click here to access the document above, 

which includes five quotes about literacy and equity.

Facilitating equity-focused professional learning is difficult. It's challenging to find the "right thing" to say. Equity-focused professional learning can be uncomfortable, and it's difficult to decide how far and how hard to push people's thinking. 

I've used this "activity" in a couple of recent sessions focused and equity and decided to share it for your adaptation.

1. BEFORE THE SESSION: Select a few quotes (fewer might be better - maybe four or five quotes) that are related to the goals for the session. Prepare the quotes on a handout (digital or paper).
2. Provide participants with time to read and annotate the quotes.
3. Assign each quote a "place" in the room.
4. Invite participants to move to the part of the room assigned to a quote they want to talk about.
5. Participants choose someone to talk to at their selected quote. Participants can move around the room, as desired.

This works, I think, for a few reasons:

• Participants have choice.
• Conversations are non-threatening because they happen in duos or triads.
• The activity involves some movement.

You might consider repeating the activity again at the end of the session (or the beginning of the next session) to focus on how thinking about the quotes changed as a result of new learning and/or application.

What to do when your team loses its purpose….(no really, I’m asking...what do you do)?

Carrie Sand contributed this post. Click here for more of Carrie's thinking and writing.

Last year, our district leaders determined that this school year would begin a district-wide writing initiative. The leaders in our buildings created a survey which demonstrated our staff was willing and interested to take on this venture. From there, a district committee was formed to work together throughout the summer to create a multi-year plan. This committee actively searched and found training and resources which we hoped would provide a solid foundation of understanding for all committee members. Throughout the summer, we dove into our work. We read specific chapters from Regie Routman’s Read, Write, Lead and met twice to discuss the ideas they sparked. As a team, we also attended UW-Madison’s Literacy by the Lakes conference and loved it!  From these experiences,  we were able to develop a three year timeline to roll-out to staff. Our year one goals included articulating shared beliefs about writing, exploring what best practices in writing mean for our school district, defining different types of writing by creating shared vocabulary, and conducting environmental writing walk-throughs. We felt good about having a plan, invigorated by our learning, and excited to head into the new school year with a laser like focus on writing.

Cut to five months later and our progress has come to a screeching halt. We have had one meeting since the school year began and that was to plan the one inservice we had available to us as the year’s “writing training.” (Yes, a whole year’s of writing training in a 2 hour afternoon meeting.) We have not read any new chapters, engaged in any further writing discussions, or collected any new writing data. We are all overbooked and frantic and already running on empty with no extra room in our brains or schedules for our wonderfully planned writing focus.

So that’s my reality as I reflect on the first half of the school year and stare the second half right in the face.  As a district literacy leader, I’ve spent the last couple of days  wondering “Now what?!” Do we drop the team totally and wait for a year or two when the conversation will inevitably come up again and someone will wisely suggest “Hey, we should have a district committee for this!” Do we carve out some precious time and rededicate a second semester to writing even though it might the initiative that breaks the teachers’ backs? Do we gloss it over, say we “pretty much” met our year one goals (you know, because we DID do a 2 hour afternoon inservice on writing), and think about how much better we will do next year?

After drafting the first part of this blog, I spent a few more days reflecting and reading. I picked up Elena Aguilar’s book The Art of Coaching Teams: Building Resilient Communities That Transform Schools, which I’ve had for about a year, but haven’t read it as closely as her book The Art of Coaching. Using the quick chart she has in the front of the book, I skipped ahead to Chapter 4 which talked about “defining purpose, process, and product.” As I read the chapter, I felt good about many of the steps we had taken in the summer. We had a common vision; we kept student learning in the forefront of decisions; our team functioned well and did not have conflict. And, as I read the section on writing goals, I realized that while we had the year long goals, maybe we just needed to redefine those goals in smaller chunks. In the last few days, I had been thinking about this writing initiative in absolutes. How could we reach all of these goals? How could I ask all staff members to do all of these things? The ideas in those ten pages wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it helped me take a few steps back and recommit to this writing purpose. Is it worthwhile work? Yes! Will it take time? Yes, but how can that time be spread out manageably in the course of the next sixteen weeks?

The reading and reflecting help me redefine my questions about this writing team. Instead of thinking: “What am I going to do? How will this ever work?” I’m wondering now: “What are the small steps we can take in January and February that might help us reach those large goals at the end of the year?” and “Who can take on different roles and responsibilities with this initiative?” Maybe not everyone, even those of us on the committee, need to be involved in every step or component of the year one goals. I’m hoping that recommitting to my writing team goals by using small steps will help me redefine the overall purpose and outcomes of this team. Now, it’s just taking the next small step!

Offering Professional Development Based on Choice

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here to read more of Heather's thinking.

We all know how powerful choice is- whether that choice be in the classroom or for our own learning. Choice is the powerful tool that leads to ownership.  When I plan professional development sessions, I always try to keep in mind choice.  Sometimes that is easier said than done.  I find a few factors play a role in this problem: time and capacity.

A few months ago, my school’s curriculum and instruction team put together some literacy-focused sessions and people signed.  The time piece was not as much of a factor as the capacity piece.  We needed to make sure all of our instructional support teachers would be available to facilitate the sessions we picked (instead of being a part of collaboration at one of their many other schools). Of course, teachers would be powerful leaders for the groups too, but that depends if there is a teacher is willing and also has the knowledge in the area of focus.  The feedback after, from the sessions, was positive and people requested the format again.  There were some sessions they wanted to attend, but had to make the choice of which one.  It is important to know teacher’s time is well-spent.  

As I was sitting down planning my next professional development time with my school, I kept thinking about the focus and how choice would fit in.  The focus for session was to look at student writing. Everyone was to bring in writing samples from their classrooms.  We had done this a few other times using a protocol the district provided.  The protocol was optional, and so I began to think about what I might do instead, so I could tie in choice.  I know my teachers are in different places when it comes to looking at student work and even providing opportunities for writing in their classrooms.  I felt the protocol was not meeting some of their specific questions or needs for collaboration to help writing instruction.

I decided to create a list of different topics (with the help of blogger and co-worker Lisa Weiss), a general protocol, and have teachers pick the topic they wanted to focus on.  I am very excited with the list and see the potential for great discussions to happen based off what the teachers want to discuss.

Click here to view the survey.

Click here to view the protocol.

How do you provide choice within professional development?

‘Tis the Season for Leading PD

Carrie Sand contributed today's post.

In my past blogs, I’ve been reflecting on the variety of roles and responsibilities a literacy coach encounters throughout the course of year. For whatever reason, I’ve personally found that the winter months become synonymous in the coaching world with leading different groups through various types of professional development. While some of this PD is mandated and some is by choice, I’ve recently realized that my approach to preparing and implementing professional development is centered around certain guiding principles. After examining my core beliefs as a literacy leader, I created a personal “gut-check” list. Below are the questions I’ve found to be useful when thinking about planning for any type of PD:

1.Am I bringing my authentic self?

Approachable, knowledgeable, passionate, real, professional….

If asked, these are some of the characteristics I would want others to use to describe me as both a person and a professional. When presenting professional development, it is my goal to bring these same qualities to my presentation. Part of this is intrinsic and done without much planning or thought; however, I also believe in the power of preparation. For example, recently, I thought through some the of following questions prior to leading a professional development training: How can I prepare for a professional development in an area where my experience might be limited? What do I do when a colleague is creating a negative environment for learning? What language (both verbal and body) do I use to interact with and respond to the workshop participants? By preparing for a variety of situations, I believe I am better able to be more present and authentic in the moment.  

2.  What can I do to be sure that my presentation is purposefully planned?

I’ll admit that I am an organization nut, and in all honesty, disorganization gives me a bad impression. Because I know that I carry that preconceived notion, I try to demonstrate my commitment and respect to my PD participants by being well planned and organized. While many situations arise that require us to “think on our feet” and quickly problem solve, I can’t think of many scenarios when I personally advocate “just winging it” as a solid PD strategy.

3. Does my PD “practice what I preach” in terms of best practices for instruction?

It seems logical to instruct adult learners in the same way we know instruction works best for kids, but how many times have we attended trainings that are “sit and get” or direct readings of slide after slide on a large screen. To me, I think of PD as a way for teachers to “observe” best practices in action. I am in charge of the “mini-lesson” and from there I plan for opportunities to allow teachers time for interaction and collaborative conversations, practice with some guided instruction, and reflection. I may take a formative check prior to my inservice, but I definitely take many formative checks for understanding along the way. I share objectives in my opening and closing so that I can maintain a purpose throughout the course of the training. By using the same techniques I advocate and look for in classrooms, I am able to not only get in a quick demonstration (maybe using a new technique or strategy that I hope someone will steal), but also I provide learning that is specific and hopefully transferable to a variety of classroom settings.

4. How would this feel from the other side of the table?

We are busy people in the educational world and one of my biggest pet peeves is leaving a meeting feeling like I just wasted my precious minutes. Therefore, as much as possible, I try to think about how the PD will feel as the recipient rather than the presenter. For example, I always want my PD to be relevant to what teachers want right now….(If we just adopted a new curriculum, do my teachers really want training on a this other really cool new resource I just discovered?)... and scheduled during a time that is not stress inducing (Is an after school meeting the day before report cards are due really my best day?). If the development is one where I can not control all the factors,  I think about the angles I can take or the connections I can make to give the topic a feel of  relevance and timeliness? Other questions I usually think through are: Am I providing real life tools and ideas that teachers can implement right away? Am I respectful of other’s time by being punctual with both my start and end time? Do I include all members in attendance regardless of grade level or content area? By looking at the presentation as someone  on the other side, I feel better able to provide training that gets implemented not forgotten.

5. What feedback will I ask for to help inform my follow-up?

It is a cruel truth, but professional development is only as effective as what happens after the participants have left the training. By thinking about what feedback I will need to collect, I am already preparing for the next steps I will take as a coach in order to support and extend the learning. While, we as the presenter, can walk away with a certain feeling about how things went, it is always good to collect honest feedback. In this way we can make informed decisions about how we proceed.

In my career, I’ve sat through some really good professional development and some really bad professional development. In all honesty, I know that I’ve led some really good professional development as well as some bad professional development. Part of my passion as a coach is to reflect and grow in my practices; using the guiding questions above allows me to do just that when thinking about PD!

Team Personalities

Sharon Seely contributed today's thinking.

Image Source.

Last week, waiting at the copy machine, talking about upcoming meetings with another teacher, I said that at an earlier time in my life, I had chosen to be very quiet and to not contribute to conversations at meetings. The teacher looked at me and said…that’s hard to believe, I can’t see you just sitting there and not saying anything.

I thought, "Wow! I have changed." Years ago, I didn’t contribute because I both feared there would be rebuttal from someone saying I was way off base or didn’t know my material and I questioned my own experience/knowledge.

This prompted me to think about teachers meeting and their sharing with their teams (grade-level, building-level), how are they feeling about sharing?  In the Leadership and Coaching training, I learned about team design. This began with understanding how we all contribute and communicate within a team.

One method is called the True Colors Personality Test.  The True Colors Personality Test is an inventory to help understand your own personality style/type and the personality style/type of your teammates.  This method promotes an appreciation of individual differences and the unique blend of the four styles.  There is no good or bad color and a wide individual variation does exist within each color. At a glance personalities are grouped into four colors:

• Gold – “Be prepared and organized!”
• Green – “What’s the Big Picture?
• Orange – “Just do it!”
• Blue – “How does that make you feel?”

What can we learn about ourselves and others from this personality test?

• How we direct our energy
• How we make a cohesive, effective team
• How we solve problems
• How we deal with conflict
• How we build on strengths
• How we coach and lead

When we did this at the training, the colleagues I attended with and I were three very different colors/color combinations; blue, gold/green and orange and we continue to function well as a team.

What color are you?  What colors are your teammates?

Be Better

Andrea Reichenberger contributed today's thinking.

As a fairly new member (and huge fan) of the Fox Valley Writing Project (FVWP), I love that I am able to connect with teachers who are excited about learning from their colleagues, want to learn, and want to be better. One clarification, the FVWP isn’t just about writing; in fact, as part of the National Writing Project, it refuses to define itself as any ONE THING.  It’s about learning, sharing, reflecting, and honoring teacher leadership.

After some great discussions at our gathering last week, I was saddened to hear about my Fox Valley Writing Project peers’ struggle to drum up interest from their colleagues. It is difficult for me to grasp as I as so thankful to be exposed to such a wealth of knowledge together in one room at the same time. Our rich discussions and sharing of ideas have been invaluable. Basically, we’ve created our own true Professional Learning Community.

Reflecting always leads me to questions, many of which I struggle to answer, but apply to many districts in which I have worked or consulted.

• Why wouldn’t we model ourselves as learners for our students? What is our ultimate reason for choosing this profession? Who are we here for?

• Why don’t ALL teachers want to learn and be better?  What are our excuses for not trying to learn?  What’s getting in the way? How can we remove any obstacles?.

• Did we begin to abuse the label of Professional Learning Community (PLC) (as we often do with other labels in education) and cause the term to become meaningless? Is it now a cause of contention in some of our schools? If so, how can we change that?

• Who should we trust as the experts? How can professional learning communities be used to honor and develop educator expertise (as labs for action research) instead of turning to other experts (or kits and scripts) to tell us what to do?

• When we recognize that our teachers are struggling, how do we, as instructional leaders, help coach and lead them toward success with the right tools and resources to improve their instruction? How do we send the message that it’s okay to struggle and that we are here to help you? How do we provide meaningful and appropriate feedback?

• How can our system promote the need for and allow teachers the time to have professional conversations, create common assessments, dig into the data, or just to learn from and plan together?  When we start to take this step, will it rebuild the trust we used to place in our teachers?

• How can we be more patient?  Change takes time and persistence; however, some changes are more urgent and not making them can do more damage than good.  How do we prioritize?

• Does being too comfortable lead us into to deeper chasms that put us further behind rather than move us forward?

• Are we promoting the mentality that because this the way it has always been done is a good enough reason to keep doing what we are doing?  Do we just want to be good enough or do we want to continue to strive to be better?

Unfortunately, I don’t have the answers--only more questions.  The ultimate question being: what can we control? We CAN control and communicate the message or vision, but the vision needs to have a clear purpose. We can also control the expectation. We can model our own learning and inquiry from investigating, listening, and asking the questions. We can control making the effort, providing the resources, and being willing to have the crucial conversations. We can seek out and create experiences, such as the Fox Valley Writing Project, or form our own PLC.  We can control whether or not we want to be better teachers for our students.

Setting Norms

Meghan Retallick contributed today's post.

Maybe I missed an important piece of information along the way, but it was seven years into my career as an educator before I attended a meeting where norms were set.  Why is this?  

Is it because, as adults, we assume that we already know the standards and expectations of working as a team?

Is it because we are teachers that constantly ask high standards of our students during collaboration, so naturally we know them in our own collaborative settings?

Is it because it is uncomfortable to suggest that our colleagues’ behaviors would take away from the effectiveness of a meeting?

I’m still not sure why my previous experiences didn’t include norms for the teams on which I was a member, but I do know now that the process of setting norms is essential for effective teamwork.  

First, for those of you that may be feeling as clueless as I was about this, Webster’s dictionary defines a norm as “a principle of right action binding upon the members of a group and serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior.”  Knowing the expectations is something that all of us enjoy.  Whenever I am asked to participate on a team or group, knowing the purpose and what to expect from my fellow team members makes me a more comfortable, confident, and productive participant.

So what does this mean for teams in school settings?

I’ve recently attended two meetings: one where norms were written by the facilitator  and one where norms were set with all group members having input.

For the sake of time, I won’t go into the details about each meeting, but I’d like to help give you insight to the atmosphere of each by sharing their norms:

Meeting #1 (facilitator determined norms):  

1. Timekeeper will notify the facilitator when it is time to move to the next agenda item.
2. Keep conversations related to the current topic.

Meeting #2 (team determined norms):

1. Problem Solving Conversations/Focus
2. Active Participation
3. Be Positive
4. Outcome Oriented
5. Build Trusting Relationships

Just from looking at the norms, which meeting would you rather attend?

For me, Meeting #2 is the team I can’t wait to work with again!  The process they used for determining their really impressive norms is a protocol called “Affinity Mapping” created by the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF).  The basics of the protocol are that each team member individually brainstorms ideas for norms on sticky notes.  Then the sticky notes are posted on the wall for all to look at.  In silence, team members categorize like sticky notes/ideas.  The team then determines the norms from those categories.

Find this protocol and more on the NSRF website.  (Shout out to Casey Gretzinger at CESA 9 for introducing me to this resource and the power of norms!)

And so, my great take away for the week is that the process of setting norms is just as important as the norms themselves.  Using a protocol like Affinity Mapping begins the process of building trust in the team because all members can share their thoughts in a safe way.  Purpose is set, along with guidelines and expectations for team behaviors, and ownership is built from the very first team activity.  

What are the “must haves” for effective teamwork on your norm list?

Righting Wrongs

Lisa Weiss contributed today's post.

Last year I blogged about the transition of changing our 6-12 district goals to writing goals. I shared the process, the successes, and challenges of the plan, and that is where I want to begin this year: writing about how I intend to address the fatal flaw I made last year--ignoring the importance of the culture that teachers build in their classrooms.

Last December I had Fox Valley Writing Project teacher leaders from most content areas come into the district  to model how the gradual release of responsibility looks when you model writing. I needed the 6-12 teachers to be engaged in the process, like students would be, in order to see first hand what the teacher role looks like, as well as to feel how the natural scaffolding of the GRR worked for students; I wanted teachers to experience the GRR. After teachers saw and felt the power of the GRR in their individual disciplines, I walked them through some simple steps for planning their own model of writing, using GRR, and then set some expectations for teachers  to engage students in the process so we could begin to have some conversations focused on student writing.

My phone was forever ringing, my inbox bursting with emails, the literacy coaches in my ears. The message were all the same: teachers were uncomfortable modeling writing in front of their students. Teachers did not see themselves as a writers, and modeling the messy work of thinking and writing (live) was pushing teachers into disequilibrium, and not the good kind where one can be reflective on a messy process, and walk away with new understandings. This disequilibrium was on that was causing two responses: refusal to model the writing that was being assigned, and challenging the people who were there to support those efforts.

I did much talking, thinking, and writing about the situation, drawing the conclusion that the fear of modeling a messy process in front of kids is about the culture of the classroom. I also acknowledged that a secondary problem playing into the issue of culture was the thinking that I don’t know how to teach writing. But first things first…

How do I “fix” this? How do I go into fall of 2015, backing up to address culture? How do I teach teachers to build a culture of (literacy) learning? Does it start with principals, and building expectations? I still have many of these questions, but I had to start somewhere. I chose to start this year by sharing the identified problems, as well as some possibilities for moving forward as building leadership teams consider how much time needs to be devoted to building a culture of (literacy) learning in each building, department, and classroom.

I set up building leadership teams including technology, literacy and instructional coaches, along with principals to consider the use of the following resources as they consider how they might approach building a culture of learning:

Our writing data from last year 6-12, to revisit the “why” behind the efforts directed at the purposeful and explicit teaching of writing.

Our OASD belief statements

Student & Teacher surveys (as suggested in Eric Jensen’s Teaching with Poverty in Mind, or any developed one that elicits responses from teachers & students regarding the culture of the school and the culture of learning that exists).

Readings or activities that include information about mindsets, for both teachers and students.

Chapter 7 from Subjects Matter: Exceeding Standards Through Powerful Content-Area Reading, Second Edition, Harvey Daniels & Steven Zemelman

Possibly assessing the school’s capacity to support systematic literacy development by considering the use of one of these tools: http://nationalliteracyproject.org/rubrics/

It has been interesting to learn about the similarities and differences that building teams have taken in order to begin having open discussions about what it means to foster a culture of literacy learning, but more on that next month.

A Reflective Practitioner: What Have I Done to Provide Effective and Efficient Coaching?

Carrie Sand contributed today's post. Read Carrie's previous posts here.

In my November blog, I posed the question... “Small District + Big Goals = Varied Roles for a Literacy Coach: How to provide effective and efficient coaching when time is tight?”  Throughout the course of the year, I have used that guiding question as the foundation for much of my work and professional development as a literacy coach/ interventionist/ teacher. In addition, I have used this work as the inspiration for my blog posts, a place where I shared experiences and took time to reflect on my process. This mantra: “How to implement big change when time and money is tight?” has helped me focus my coaching process and initiatives. As the year concludes, I thought that this blog post would be a good opportunity to review and reflect on that process as a whole.

When trying to “Bring Back the Book Club” (January), I realized that any professional development works as long as it is timely and appropriate to your staff needs. It also helps to have a really great text that teachers want to read. For my staff, I have found that they enjoy books that are quick, easy, “how to” reads that provide short chapters, quick explanations, and ideas for easy implementation. Some of the tried and true favorites have been:

• Elementary: That Workshop Book by Samantha Bennett and Choice Words and Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• Middle School: Text and Lesson for Content-Area Reading by Harvey “Smokey” Daniels and Nancy Steineke and Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson
• High School: Developing Readers in the Academic Disciplines by Doug Buehl and Write Like This by Kelly Gallagher

Even using short chapters or excerpt as focus points helped guide our conversations and expand our knowledge base.

In thinking about initiating more purposeful PLC and coaching conversations, I addressed the need to give teachers a more academic language in “Centering Curriculum Conversations Around Learning Targets” (February).  From this initiative I learned that much in the same way we provide students with academic vocabulary to take part in the discourse of our content areas, coaches must do the same for teachers. Introducing the concept of learning targets and providing resources and development about learning targets helped to accomplish the goal of fostering  meaningful conversations centered around student learning.

Much like giving teachers accessibility to engage in rigorous discourse,  I thought about how to continue work with disciplinary content reading and writing at the secondary level. I modeled the professional development for “Disciplinary Literacy-A Science Focus” (March) around the Doug Buehl term “Discourse Outsiders.” Within his book Buehl claims that students in our content areas often feel like “discourse outsiders.” This phrase refers to the idea that many students come into our classrooms without the vocabulary, concepts, or experiences to proficiently interact with the content of our curriculum. Therefore, as the classroom expert, teachers must find the strategies to help students engage in our curriculum by, what Buehl calls, “bridging the gap.” By using this type of language with content area teachers, it helped them see the need for reading and writing instruction as part of their curriculum rather than in addition to their content area curriculum.

Finally, last month I thought about leadership and how different strengths can create different types of leaders (Utilizing Leadership Strengths for More Effective Coaching). In a small rural school where everyone has multiple roles in addition to their teaching assignment, I thought about how I can continue to use different strengths to create different literacy leaders in multiple buildings. This is something that I will continue to focus on next year, as fostering literacy leadership continues to be an important topic in my school district. In addition, I am thinking about other ideas I would like to focus on next year. Ideas like: common protocols at the high school for productive group work norms and how to maintain a focus on best practices in reading but also bring a renewed attention to best practices in writing. In fact, these ideas on my to-do list will probably be the place where I start to shape my next year’s focus as a coach. 

It is the never ending to-do list that helps keep me passionate and urgent about my work, and I am thankful that this blog has helped me to be a more reflective practitioner. I look forward to a summer where I can continue this reflection and begin sketching implementation ideas for next year!

Q: What terrifies you?

Q: What terrifies you?
A: Teaching aerobics

I was recently deep in an amazing kind of professional conversation - the kind that gives you the strength and energy to continue doing difficult work - with a favorite and inspiring friend and colleague. 

We were talking about a school goal that, despite careful planning and support, has not yet been embraced by the entire school.

I tried a few different questions to better understand the situation:

• What is keeping your colleagues from moving forward with this goal?
• What do those who have moved forward with the goal have in common?
• What might those who aren't moving forward not be telling you?

We arrived at fear as a thing that could be preventing people from moving forward - not just general fear of change, but fear related to this specific goal.

I started to think about something that is totally terrifying to me:

teaching aerobics 

If I was part of a school whose data demonstrated that teaching aerobics for five minutes at the beginning of class on a daily basis would increase student achievement, I'm not sure there is anything that could be done to get me to participate in implementing that goal.

It wouldn't matter how much I read about teaching aerobics or if I practiced in a small group or if I watched videos or if a coach came in and modeled for me or if I was offered a financial incentive to teach aerobics. This idea is something that makes me feel so insecure that I'm not sure I would ever be able to actually do it. Maybe I would put on a YouTube video of someone else teaching aerobics while I sat in the back of the room and graded papers. 

And, I don't think I would ever admit that my resistance had to do with fear. I would make a million excuses. I would have a bad attitude during meetings. I might lie. I might even say terrible things about the people asking me to implement the change.

Why is this important?

Imagining myself teaching a room full of kids to do aerobics helped me better understand the incredibly legitimate reasons our colleagues have for choosing not to do something. It helped me reframe what is sometimes called resistance as something much more complicated. It helped me develop some empathy.

It helped me think about all the things our colleagues choose to never say aloud. As a coach, I might ask, "What is holding you back?" or "What obstacles are you facing?". I never before considered that people probably don't answer questions like these entirely honestly. Time, supplies, or people to collaborate with are easy answers. Fear, insecurity, or anxiety might be honest answers.

So, next time you are wondering why your colleagues won't just __________________, think of yourself doing something that really, really terrifies you. What is causing that fear? What would it take for you to move past that fear?