Category: appreciative inquiry

Approved for research!…Blog #82

On November 27th, at 11am, I received an email from the President of our institute that brought such joy and excitement I was stopped in my tracks! 

Dear Roberta, regarding your Proposal for an Extended Study Leave, I am pleased to advise that your proposal has been approved as follows:

August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2022, in Europe, for the purpose of conducting research that will examine what it takes to lead successfully in a new, uncharted context that has been coined a “new normal”.

It took quite a while to peel me off the roof, and needless to say, my eyes glistened with tears of joy. What this means, is that for a full year, I get to focus on an area I am very passionate about: remote work. My first research, conducted with my son Nathan, focused on Competencies for Success as Remote Workers. That initial learning introduced me to so many amazing people both in North America and Europe. 

Photo by Agnieszka Boeske on Unsplash

Since the publication of that research early 2019, our world has changed in ways none of us could ever have imagined. We all became remote workers, or more accurately, ‘workers from home’. In a matter of days, even hours, organizations had to do a whirlwind pivot. No time for preparation, no time for analysis, no time for decisions…the move was pretty much instantaneous. Being thrown into the deep end (so to speak), has the tendency to result in either sink or swim; sadly we have witnessed both. Many organizations made the switch with reasonable success, but others were devastated. And we are still transitioning. It’s no longer organizations who operate remotely vs co-located, but rather we are seeing a growth in a hybrid option for work. Working from anywhere has become a concept organizations are getting their collective heads around as both employers and employees have witnessed the great benefits of a move from traditional co-located workforces. The narrative around remote work has changed, and continues to change.

I have always felt strongly about the role of leadership. I take it very seriously, and highly respect those who take the posture of a ‘reluctant leader’. Psychologist Dan B. Allender authored a book back in 2011 entitled Leading with a Limp: Take Full Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness. For the past year, many leaders have realized the way they have always done leadership no longer works. They have found themselves leading with a limp. And I greatly admire them. They have had to hit the ground running, limp and all. These are the leaders I want to learn from, and thus am super excited to meet them, chat with them, glean from them, and then share what I learn with the myriad of individuals out there who find themselves leading in an era of continual change. 

Photo by CoWomen on Unsplash

As I continue to learn about Adaptive Leadership, Appreciative Inquiry, and Design Thinking, I want to once again take an approach that seeks to integrate evidence based research with stories and examples from industry…I want to hear your stories, stories of how you have transitioned from co-located to working from anywhere leadership. I want to learn what you have found to be effective, and what just doesn’t work. I also want to learn (and share) the why behind what works, and what doesn’t, in leading work from anywhere teams. 

Please, reach out to me with your stories, or to arrange a video call, via roberta@samisremote.com or linkedin.com/in/robertasawatzky to share your stories and experiences.

 

 

The Appreciative Classroom.

It is amazing how quickly 6 weeks goes by when you’re having fun…at least for the professor! I think the best way to sum up this recent teaching experience was that of appreciation; appreciation for the students, appreciation for the diversity they brought to the classroom, appreciation for the support they demonstrated towards one another, and appreciation for their appreciation!

Let me recap somewhat. I began this summer session with the desire to bring an appreciative environment and attitude into the classroom. In my previous blogs, Appreciating and Learning and  The Learning Continues , I expressed the challenges I was facing with an increase of international students in my class. In fact, I ended a previous semester rather discouraged and overwhelmed. In the process of researching appreciative inquiry, I made a commitment to not only change my attitude toward teaching, but to create a classroom environment where each student would feel valued and appreciated for who they are and for how they have contributed to the great moments in their learning journeys. Well, the semester is finished and I am excited about their feedback as well as my own learning.

Let me share just a few of the feedback comments shared with me by a few students:

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Results of a team activity.

* ‘I felt accepted, I was able to share my opinions without fear of judgement.’
* ‘Males from my own culture actually encouraged me to share my opinion…this is not the way it is at home.’
* ‘Students from different nations come here…professors respect this by not making the environment awkward for the foreigner.’
* ‘Our class culture is that of trust and acceptance; these are the foundations for establishing an environment in which students are empowered and comfortable. Because of this, students provide feedback to improve the classroom teaching and learning environment, which helps students to learn from their mistakes and gain achievements. Another element of the class culture was innovation; more ideas come from each students as we worked in a groups to solve the problems and teach each other.’

As already stated, I began this semester with the desire to experiment with appreciate inquiry in the classroom and it truly was impactful. Besides the incredibly positive manner in which the students responded, I learned some valuable lessons regarding cultural diversity in the classroom. Here are some highlights…

* Remember that our ‘North American’ approach to classroom facilitation can be both unfamiliar and uncomfortable for some cultures.
* Don’t make assumptions about everyone’s technical ability, no matter what generation they represent.
* Resistance to speak out in class, especially in front of the whole class, does not indicate lack of engagement…it can be an indicator of great lack of self-confidence. This lesson coming from strongly male dominated cultures.`
* Based on the previous point, small group discussion is appreciated by students and provides great opportunity to share from their own unique experiences.
* Provide opportunities for culturally diverse small groups…heterogeneous vs homogeneous.
* For many cultures, living in the moment overtakes the desire to get the work done…if a friend is in need, that overrides any other commitment, even to the point of personal failure.
* Making time to meet one on one with each student is time well spent! The time taken greatly enhances the ability to make the learning relevant…and builds trust between student and teacher.
* Speak openly about diversity…intentionally invite the sharing of opinions from various perspectives; and listen with respect creating a safe, enriched environment
* Don’t ever stop checking our own assumptions and stereotyping; don’t be afraid to ask students for clarity and understanding regarding cultural differences.

Each one of these lessons call for deeper reflection, in fact they compel me to imageruminate, to probe, to ponder, and to enter into meaningful dialogue to further explore the ramifications of each.

As I work through each, I then need to consider how these learnings will impact other aspects of classroom facilitation…evaluation being one area that comes to mind. In the past, team evaluations have taken the stance of deducting marks from those who did not equally contribute to an assignment…in other words, finding a practical way to deal with social loafing. What would a team evaluation look like if marks were awarded from the perspective of the great contribution each team member made to the outcome of an assignment? Would this appreciative approach help group members to focus on the strengths of their team mates rather than their lack of effort? Worth investigating!

This semester provided the platform for me to learn and experiment with one class made up of 21 students, representing 5 diverse cultures. Is it possible, or even realistic, to replicate and build on this with 4 different classes of 30-40 students each? I intend to find out and continue my learning journey. I love the idea of starting from a place of what works and building on that…appreciative classroom facilitation!

The learning continues…

I am committed to taking a positive approach to teaching and learning…join me in the journey?

5 classes are now finished, and I am very much enjoying getting to know my students individually, and applying what I’m learning to deliver a more effective learning experience for them.

As mentioned in my previous post, we began the first class with a discussion around positive learning experiences, and how they personally contributed to that learning.

The follow up to that activity was one on one meetings between the students and myself. The stories they shared were humorous, inspiring, emotional, and insightful; it was wonderful to see how positive their body language was, and how animated and excited they were as they reflected on the joy of those experiences.  I can’t stress enough how eye opening those 15 minute ‘chats’ were. Using the questions on the hand-outs as a foundation, the students shared information from their lives in their home countries, and how life has changed since they came to Canada (70% of this specific class are from countries other than Canada). Without exception, they love this ‘new world’ (this in no way minimizes how much they miss their families back home).

One topic we discussed this week was values…a potentially hot topic when dealing with cultural diversity; having 5 different cultures represented in the class it was inevitable that there would be varying opinions regarding what each holds close as a value or guiding principle. I’m happy to report that, once again, the class discussions were rich with mutual learning and respect. The class started with an exercise that dealt with one of my values…punctuality. Based on the various student arrival times to class, I was fairly certain that this was not a shared classroom value. Here is a brief overview of that activity.

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  1. As students arrive pass out coloured mini clothes pegs (one colour to those arriving early, another for those arriving just on time, another for those arriving late)
  2. Introduce the topic of values and the importance of understanding and respecting the values of those we work with (the context is a class of business students).
  3. Let them know that I have a high value of punctuality, but that I realize it may not be a shared classroom value.
  4. Explain the meaning of the different colours of clothes pegs, and have student divide into those groups.
  5. Stage one discussion is to dialogue around whether or not punctuality was a shared value, and how their opinion was reflected in their actions.
  6. Stage two, mix the groups up so that each group has representation from the ‘early arrivers’, ‘on timers’, and ‘late arrivers’. In these groups they are to discuss how they feel about the actions of others, and how they are impacted by other’s actions.
  7. The final instruction…I would not be in the room to facilitate the discussion. I explained that I didn’t want my presence to in anyway influence the discussion.
  8. After what I thought was an acceptable amount of time I came back in the classroom, but was immediately told that they needed more time! I was thrilled that the self-directed discussion was so energy filled.

The activity went well, I could hear laughter, the murmur of discussion, and also silence. The ah-ha learning? It appears that I was the only one that was really bothered by people coming in late. The collective opinion was that if you come in late and miss some of the learning, it’s your choice and the responsibility is on your own shoulders. The tension came when I asked how they feel when someone shows up late for a meeting or event that they have planned…would they be OK with that? At first I was faced with shrugged shoulders and comments such as, ‘it depends on the situation’. However, as small group discussion continued, they did agree that this would not be so favourable.

So, how are those perspective reconciled? I would suggest that the outcome is indicative of how truly values based we all are. In organizational behaviour we talked about stated values and actual values; perhaps this is an example of that being played out individually. It also made me consider how my values are lived out…in this situation, I needed to be willing to accept tardiness if I truly want the classroom to be about my students, and about shared values. I need to be true to my value of punctuality by showing up on time (in this case, early), prepared, and ready for whenever the students show up. I also need to honour those students who are punctual and start class on time…even if only 3 students are there! I think it’s also important to add that from experience, the cultural mix has an impact on the outcome of such a discussion. Students in other classes I have facilitated included punctuality in their classroom agreement (or code of conduct).  The learning for me? A reminder that every class is different and unique. What works for one will not necessarily work for another…even if the subject material is the same.

And so the learning continues…for me, and for my students.