By Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt
The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.
How to Manage Through Crisis
“Educators are slowly transitioning from face-to-face environments to online settings.” - Pam Baker
Educators are going through a rapid transition due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this week's episode, Pam Baker and Cindy Hunt welcome their special guest, Dr. Rick Vandermolen, as they talk about how to manage through a crisis.
Dr. Rick Vandermolen is an experienced/former Principal with an emphasis on systems design, leadership coaching, observational practice, educational sustainability in school reform, E-Learning, K-12 Education, Lesson Planning, Assessment, Instruction, and Educational Technology.
He is an experienced education professional with a doctorate focused on Educational Leadership from Eastern Michigan University.
Part One of ‘How to Manage Through Crisis’
When we think about learning loops, we think about situations we're familiar with. Particularly our comfort zone. In situations where we're uncomfortable, we call that a discomfort zone. There's also the outer layer of that, which is fight or flight.
Most people right now are out of their comfort zone. They're in that zone of discomfort. If you look at the theory behind this, when you are in your discomfort zone, it's stretching your understanding of your environment. We have a real strong sense of what needs to happen. We can talk about where we need to go because it's very familiar to us in the discomfort zone.
These days, we are experiencing some situations for the first time. We may have dabbled in them a little bit. But they were not something we were required to do. So, we went back to our comfort zone and left them to the side
“Make sure that you're taking care of yourself so that you can motivate the people around you.” - Cindy Hunt
The thing about the discomfort zone is, it's imperative for us to recognize that we're new to this. There are people in situations they've never been to before. Being at home 24/7 because of stay-at-home requirements. We now have learning loops that we need to be cognizant of.
If we look at what is happening with teachers in schools, we could identify immediately at least three to four learning loops. Particularly, kids are learning how to interact with each other or their teacher for the first time in a virtual setting.
A lot of schools have not innovated. They’ve stayed inside their comfort zone and educated the way that they're most comfortable with. Because of COVID-19, educators are in a situation that requires them to teach virtually. The challenge is how to interact with students and get them engaged in virtual learning.
We have principals who have previously only led in environments on a person to person basis. Now they have to figure out how to communicate and lead from a position that's mostly virtual, with no physical, face to face contact.
The last learning loop is related to parents. They're dealing with job situations that they're worried about. They've got kids at home all day, every day. They're trying to structure their home so that it's functional. Where there’s a place to do their homework.
They've got to stay sane. We're all just adapting to this new environment. That’s the idea behind learning loops. When we are pushed into a situation that's new and novel or authentic, we’ve got to be cognizant of the learning loops. Then, we can ensure that we're putting people in a position to be successful.
Part Two of ‘How to Manage Through Crisis’
How do leaders address learning loops when they're out of their comfort zone, and everyone's working routines have changed? We need to attend to our psychological needs by being cognizant of what it takes to be a leader, whether virtual or face to face.
Ask yourself what you're psychologically motivated by. What do you need in your life to function at a high level? Ready to encourage those that you're leading? If leaders don't take care of themselves, then they're going to have a problem motivating and encouraging others that they're leading.
“Learning loops is about building people's capacity so you can accomplish the vision that you've set for the organization.” - Dr. Rick Vandermolen
Learning loops are about building the capacity of people. If you can get your organization motivated to build their capacity, you're going to accomplish the vision that you've set for the organization. Leaders need to be able to do what they're asking their organization to do.
In other words, if they don't want their organization to take a twenty five percent productivity hit, they must demonstrate how to do it better. Let’s say you're in a leadership role. You want the educators to establish an online presence with the students. If you're not actually modeling the behavior that you want the teachers to do, then you're not going to see good results.
That's not motivation. That's not motivational to the people that you're trying to lead.
Another thing that needs to be emphasized from a leader's perspective is the essence of culture. Right now, we're all working remotely. For some of us who need face to face interaction, we need to establish a culture where we can have those interactions.
As a leader, you have to create conditions that allow people to get back to comfort. This will enable a culture to develop where they're able to continue with their productivity. If you don't attend to the needs of your employees, you are probably not going to get the productivity that you want.
Which speaks to why virtual happy hours are now actually a thing. When we bring folks to the table to take care of everybody's needs, it addresses some of the challenges. Which serves as a great lesson that we can learn from this time of great change.
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The podcast currently has 14 episodes available.