‘SYSTEMS THINKING’JEFF HERZBERG

PRAIRIE LAKES AEA

YOUR LEARNING GOALS FOR TODAY?

‘SYSTEMS THINKING’

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

AGENDA

9:15-10:15 INTRODUCTION10:15-10:25 BREAK10:25-11:30 STATEWIDE INITIATIVES11:30-1:00 LUNCH 1:00-2:10 YOUR WORLD 2:10-2:20 BREAK 2:20-3:30 SHARING &

LEARNING

GROUND RULES

• BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED…THIS IS ABOUT YOU• BE RESPECTFUL OF OTHERS…EVERYONE

SPEAKS ONCE BEFORE ONE PERSON SPEAKS TWICE

• ENCOURGE DIVERSITY OF OPINIONS AND IDEAS…WE CAN LEARN SO MUCH FROM EACH OTHER

• PUSH ONE ANOTHER…AT THE SAME TIME WE MUST GET OUT OF THE “LAND OF NICE”

• OTHERS YOU ALREADY MAY HAVE AS NORMS?

SYSTEMS THINKING

(Helps us understand two things)• First, that all the parts of a system

are interconnected; • Second, as a consequence, change

in one part of a system has unintended repercussions in other parts of the same system

SYSTEMS THINKING• …encourages us, through the exercise

of data, to see the patterns and interconnections in our systems, to look for root causes rather than surface-level issues (although one can lead us to the other), and to understand our own role in problem creation.

• …can also be used positively and proactively in order to reap the benefits of interconnectedness and synergism – the understanding being that the whole is more than the sum of the parts.

THE LANGUAGE OF SYSTEMS THINKING

• CONNECTEDNESS• UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES• CONGRUENCE/CONGRUITY• SYNTHESIS/HOLISM/PATTERN

RECOGNITION• SYNERGISM• SHARED VISION• COGNITIVE DISSONANCE• GAP ANALYSIS• ALIGNMENT

WE CANNOT DO IT BY OURSELVES

THIS IS DIFFICULT WORK

DATA, DATA AND MORE DATA TO HELP FOCUS

GETTING TO KNOW YOU…• GO ‘ROUND IS TO GIVE ME A GLIMPSE OF

WHO YOU ARE, WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM AND WHERE YOU ARE GOING…

• FOUR SLIDES WITH QUOTES REGARDING SYSTEMS THINKING (SENGE AND ELMORE ARTICLES)

• READ, REFLECT AND REACT…TRY TO HAVE EVERY PERSON SPEAK ONCE BEFORE ONE PERSON HAS SPOKEN TWICE (NOT EVERYONE HAS TO SPEAK ON EACH QUOTE)

• READY?

‘85% SYSTEMS ISSUES AND 15% PEOPLE

ISSUES’

PROBLEMS IN ORGANIZATIONS…

ELMORE ARTICLE

“So relying on leaders to solve the problem of systemic

reform in schools is, to put it bluntly, asking people to do something they don’t know how to do and have had no

occasion to learn in the course of their careers.”

ELMORE ARTICLE

“If public schools survive, leaders will

look very different from the way they presently look, both in who leads

and in what these leaders do.”

ELMORE ARTICLE

“…DIRECT INVOLVEMENT IN INSTRUCTION IS AMONG THE LEAST

FREQUENT ACTIVITIES PERFORMED BY ADMINISTRATORS OF ANY KIND AT ANY LEVEL, AND THOSE WHO DO ENGAGE IN INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES

ON A CONSISTENT BASIS ARE A RELATIVELY SMALL PROPORTION OF

THE TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE FORCE.”

BREAK

“Any attempt to plug the rural brain-drain and rebuild small towns must first acknowledge the basic truths of the process. Small towns invest far too heavily in the young people who are most likely to leave and who, once they build a new life elsewhere, are unlikely to return to Ellis for anything but an occasional visit. Abandoning the sifting and sorting system might seem to deny a fundamental mission of schools and communities to provide young people with the best possible start in life.”

Hollowing Out The MiddleThe Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America

by Carr & Kefalas

“But the reality is that the current system relies on an unequal and profoundly illogical allocation of resources that produces self-defeating outcomes for young people and the community as a whole. The time has come for towns like Ellis to reimagine, radically, what is best for their young people and their community. If they don’t, the harsh truth is that these towns will, with time, simply disappear. The process has already started.”

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

• http://www.iowafuture.org/• http://www.edutopia.org/• The Global Achievement Gap by Tony

Wagner• Drive by Daniel Pink• Schools Cannot Do It Alone by Jamie

Vollmer• Hollowing Out The Middle by

CARR/KEFALAS

STATEWIDE INITIATIVES

• VIRTUAL LEARNING• COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION

(ELIMINATION OF THE CARNEGIE UNIT)

• STANDARDS BASED/REFERENCED REPORTING

• INDUSTRIAL MODEL OF EDUCATION

• ‘PROJECT BASED LEARNING’

STATEWIDE INITIATIVES• AS THE ADVISORS TO DE DIRECTOR GLASS, IT IS YOUR JOB TO

RESEARCH ONE TOPIC, USING WHAT YOU KNOW AS WELL AS ANY RESOURCE AT YOUR DISPOSAL (WEB, TWITTER, COLLEAGUES, OWN KNOWLEDGE & BACKGROUND, ETC.) - IN YOUR GROUPS

• YOU HAVE 20 MINUTES TO PREPARE A BULLET LIST OF TALKING POINTS WITH AMPLE SUPPORT INFO FOR DIRECTOR GLASS TO CONSIDER AS HE GETS READY TO MAKE A SPEECH TO THE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS OF IOWA IN AUGUST ON YOUR TOPIC, BEING SURE YOU APPROACH THIS FROM A ‘SYSTEMS’ PERSPECTIVE

• EACH GROUP WILL HAVE 3 MINUTES OF TIME TO PRESENT TO DIRECTOR GLASS YOUR TOPIC AND SUPPORTING POINTS AS YOU TRY TO CONVINCE HIM TO INCLUDE YOUR INFORMATION IN HIS SPEECH OR IN HIS FUTURE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

• THE REST OF THE COHORT WILL TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK…PUSH EACH OTHER ON ‘SYSTEMS’

STATEWIDE INITIATIVES• VIRTUAL LEARNING• COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION

(ELIMINATION OF THE CARNEGIE UNIT)

• STANDARDS BASED/REFERENCED REPORTING

• INDUSTRIAL MODEL OF EDUCATION• PROJECT BASED LEARNING

email to: jherzberg@aea8.k12.ia.us

PROCESS ACTIVITY #1

LUNCH

SENGE’S LAWS OF SYSTEMS THINKING

• TODAY’S PROBLEMS COME FROM YESTERDAY’S SOLUTIONS

• THE HARDER YOU PUSH, THE HARDER THE SYSTEM PUSHES BACK

• BEHAVIOR GROWS BETTER BEFORE IT GROWS WORSE

• THE EASY WAY OUT USUALLY LEADS BACK IN

• THE CURE CAN BE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE

• FASTER IS SLOWER

SENGE & ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY

“As the world becomes more interconnected and business becomes complex and dynamic, work must become more ‘learningful.’ It is no longer sufficient to have one person learning for the organization, a Ford or a Sloan or a Watson. It’s just not possibly any longer to “figure it out” from the top, and have everyone else following the orders of the ‘grand strategist.’ The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization.”

IS YOUR ORGANIZATION A LEARNING ORGANIZATION?

EINSTEIN

“THE SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS WE FACE CANNOT BE RESOLVED AT THE SAME LEVEL OF THINKING WE USED

WHEN WE CREATED THEM.”

YOUR WORLD

GO ‘ROUND:

AS IT RELATES TO A SYSTEMS APPROACH, WHAT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN YOUR SCHOOL, DISTRICT OR EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY? (WITHOUT NAMING NAMES OR RECOGNIZABLE POSITIONS IF POSSIBLE)

YOUR WORLD

• YOU HAVE 20 MINUTES TO COME UP WITH A PERCEIVED PROBLEM (GRADE LEVEL, DEPARTMENT, BUILDING OR DISTRICT) AND COMPLETE THE TASK AS INDICATED ON THE HANDOUT

• YOU WILL THEN SHARE WITH 1 OTHER PERSON/GROUP FOR 3 MINUTES (TOTAL OF 6 MINUTES) TO GIVE & RECEIVE FEEDBACK

• YOU WILL THEN HAVE 5 MINUTES TO FINALIZE YOUR SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS & PREPARE TO SHARE WITH THE LARGE GROUP AFTER BREAK

BREAK

YOUR WORLD

• THE LAST PART OF OUR DAY WILL BE SPENT LISTENING, REFLECTING, AND PROVIDING AS MUCH FEEDBACK/FEEDFORWARD AS POSSIBLE ON THE INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP’S SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS TO AN EXISTING PROBLEM

• I WANT YOU TO LEAVE WITH SOME SOLID ACTION THAT YOU CAN TAKE TO PRACTICE YOUR SYSTEM THINKING AS WELL AS SOLVE A PROBLEM IN YOUR WORLD!

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

• http://twitter.com/• RSAnimate• Your AEAs - PLAEA tv• 2 Million Minutes – a documentary• Skype (or Tokbox)• Educational Summit – July 25-26

PROCESS ACTIVITY #2

Utilizing Google docs spreadsheet if everyone can get to their email

YOUR THOUGHTS ON SYSTEMS THINKING…