Thinking Back Over the Last Few Weeks

I can hardly believe that the last few weeks have passed so quickly, I could easily continue learning and reading about technology and leadership for another eight weeks.  One concept from the previous weeks that has stayed with me is the replacement of routine jobs with automation and a return to more creative endeavors.  While many people may be concerned about this shift, I am looking forward to the removal of mundane parts of my job that can be automated.  However, I am not sure that the education field is as ready for that shift as it should be.  As I look around the classrooms in our building and think about how many of the assignments encourage true creativity, I wonder if we are preparing our students appropriately.  

A colleague and I facilitate a project-based learning class with 31 students that we call our leadership group (They have named themselves Wilbur Workshop).  Currently, most of us are in the library computer lab working on about seven completely different projects, because the students pick the activities and do all the work.  They think up new things to do or learn in committees or groups, and get approval from us, or our principal if necessary.  One group is creating/designing Christmas Cards to give to the staff; another is creating a video for the school website of the Cocoa at The Curb activity they completed earlier this week.  One group is putting together an online poll for the students to vote on their favorite school lunch; another group is setting up an elf on the shelfie-selfie drive next week for students to submit pictures of themselves with the elf photos hidden around the building.  Because of the nature of the last two projects, the students had to make an appointment with the principal, propose their activity, and get approval, all of which happens without our help.  When we undertook this class at the beginning of the school year, it was just about a way to help students to take more initiative around the building and help promote leadership skills.  Thinking about how automation will limit rudimentary jobs and allow for creation of jobs that require more creativity, it seems this experiment might help to model what creativity and career skills might be like in the future.  It is a rather small pond example, and we are not held to specific curriculum, but any teacher can allow for more creativity in performance assessment with a little planning.  More importantly, allowing students to interact with other people and ideas on the web helps them to become literate members of the digital universe and not only consume information, but contribute as well.  

As a leader, it is important to allow for new ideas and advancements to improve your situation whether it is professional, production, morale, or personal improvements.  While many technological improvements can be made, it is important to also be open to any idea that presents itself.  Often the good that technology can bring to our organization is not the technology itself, but the opportunity for new knowledge, collaborations, and an influx of fresh ideas from outside our organization and sometimes even outside our specific field.  

The graphic included in Martin’s blog serves as a self-check of your own personal readiness for the ways work has changed. As I evaluated myself looking at the needed skills, I was happy to see that I am somewhat ready for the challenges in workplace, but there are still some areas that I need to focus my goals for personal growth. As most  of us chose an online learning environment for our doctorate for a reason, I would assume that many of us are constant and self-directed learners. To be able to complete our literature reviews we all need to be able to search well, decide on the quality of our sources, and communicate how the previous research all fits together. One area that I want to look deeper into is using networks for public problem solving. I have to admit that I often do not seek outside of my immediate network for solutions, and hence am not allowing access to many possible alternate solutions. For personal research and project solutions I usually seek outside my regular sphere, but looking back, I have not been as widespread in my professional solution seeking. While I have a rather diverse professional network, I have not always made the best use of it and rarely went beyond the known network.  As a classroom teacher I was always exploring and seeking new sources, but it seems my time has become more limited and the time it takes to seek out, vet, and develop new connections was no longer such a priority.

As leaders we must always seek to expand our knowledge base and adapt to new ways of thinking, collaborating, and working if we are to thrive.  Michelle Martin’s concept of social artists rather than leaders is an interesting turn of phrase and it emphasizes the creative nature of the future workplace.  I for one am excited about the changing nature of work and look forward to the next twenty years as an evolving leader.