{"id":953,"date":"2012-02-25T14:51:17","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T18:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2012-03-12T09:48:38","modified_gmt":"2012-03-12T13:48:38","slug":"kids-horses-teachers-and-other-living-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=953","title":{"rendered":"Kids, horses, teachers …and other living things"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hadn\u2019t thought about Monte Roberts for years, and that\u2019s why last week after seeing the Lincoln Center\u2019s production of WarHorse,<\/span> I was surprised to see in the Lincoln Center Review,<\/em> how much they credited him for the success and power of the play.\u00a0 It differs from the current film in that all the horses are full size \u201cpuppets\u201d controlled by actors inside them. But their behavior is so realistic that even living horses have believed they were real.\u00a0 How could that be?<\/p>\n

For those not familiar with his history, Monty Roberts became known for his revolutionary work with horses, Possibly because of a novel and movie by the name, many people refer to him as a “horse whisperer.\u201d\u00a0 But the actual title of his<\/span> book refers to a Horse LISTENER — <\/em>\u201cThe Man Who Listens to Horses<\/span>\u201d \u2013 and as it turns out it\u2019s the difference that makes the difference.<\/p>\n

Roberts and his approach to \u201cteaching\u201d has special relevance to me and the story of the Montgomery County Public Schools told on this site because in February 2000, I co-led along with Peg Howell, a leadership development course for the MCPS —\u00a0 “Boosting Productivity Through Coaching<\/span>” that drew on Robert\u2019s approach. (He since has gone on to apply it himself in teacher and leadership training for schools, and management training for business and industry.)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how, at the time, we described and used it to raise questions that would provide a different context for the content we would offer.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

The difference between a “Horse Whisperer\u201d and a Horse LISTENER <\/em>is the real power of what Robert’s work means for all of us who attempt to influence behaviors of living systems.\u00a0 How much of teaching is \u201ctalking\u201d and how much is \u201clistening?\u201d\u00a0 Think of the teachers who most influenced you.\u00a0 Was it the content they delivered or what they seemed to understand about you? \u00a0How, and where, are those two \u201cteaching skills\u201d connected?<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 Note that the key to Robert\u2019s success as a \u201cteacher\u201d was that first he listened and found out what the horses could tell him about how<\/em> they<\/span> learned<\/em>.\u00a0 Roberts\u2019 knew he always<\/em> was dealing with a \u201cwhole horse\u201d \u2026 that had a mind of its own.<\/em> And because he had figured out its learning process, he knew \u201cwhat it wanted<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

By going with the flow of the process already pre-wired in the brain he proved that changed behaviors can be effective, sustainable, and accomplished in far less time (from three-months down to 30 minutes) than any of the traditional way\u2019s people have used to teach (or \u201cbreak\u201d) horses.<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0How does his Join-up<\/span><\/em> process \u2013(first engage<\/em>, and establish trust<\/em>; then use that trust to support interaction<\/em>; and out of these interactions begin to develop an intrinsically-driven relationship<\/em> that becomes the support of all \u201cwork\u201d that may follow) — compare to what you know about effective teaching and coaching?<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0How does his \u201csimple\u201d logic — starting with the learner you have<\/em> with its already embedded learning structure, then reinforcing it, and using that capacity to develop what you don\u2019t have<\/em> — relate to the beliefs and strategies underlying other effective approaches to individual and organizational change?<\/p>\n

For instance, doesn’t developmentally-appropriate education<\/em> start with a similar “catch-them-doing-something-right” principle?\u00a0 And if you know about organizations and communities using OD approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry<\/em>,\u00a0Assets-based Community Development, or Positive Deviance” … <\/em>aren’t they starting at the same place? <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0How does this approach to intrinsically-driven changes in behavior relate to the management goal of \u201ccontinual improvement?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a0 In his book, one can see that to develop understanding and acceptance of his way of “breaking” horses, Roberts had to address several conditions that similarly get in the way of understanding these learning\/teaching processes in schools.<\/p>\n

The old ways still \u201cseem\u201d<\/em> to work<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They take longer and cost more though, and increasingly people are beginning to realize that they have “consequences.”\u00a0 For example, what is “broken” in traditional horse-breaking is not the horse, but its “will.”\u00a0 The consequence is loss of the horse\u2019s spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We may not be used to thinking of schools as will-breaking<\/em> institutions, but the structures and processes we ALL have accepted as the scope and nature of schools can produce that consequence.\u00a0 As Peter Senge points out:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe young child learns very quickly that school is not about learning. <\/em> School is about avoiding mistakes.\u00a0 School is about gaining approval and avoiding disapproval.\u00a0 These are the same lessons the first time worker learns.\u00a0 Don\u2019t screw up, do what you\u2019re told, if something is screwed up make sure you don\u2019t get blamed, at all costs look good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In these post-Littleton days more people are recognizing that children are largely disconnected from the two institutions that are supposed to engage and nurture their growth – the family and the school.\u00a0 And both lack a “join-up” process because the need for it hasn’t been seen as \u201cessential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most people don’t understand the nature of learning as a natural process<\/em>. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Until the advent of scanning technologies in recent years, we’ve had no way to “listen” to the brain.\u00a0 School structures we have all accepted, and continually try to improve, turn out to be like almost all other organizational structures — they require unnatural behavior<\/em> of consenting adults…and children.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, this new knowledge isn’t easy or natural for many people to accept because it requires a shift of fundamental beliefs. \u00a0Today, as the public and profession have been learning about how the mind learns — the fundamental truths about the \u201cwiring\u201d of living beings — it is primarily believed to be something that applies to children\u2019s<\/em> minds.\u00a0 Just another \u201ctheory\u201d that adults need to be \u201ctrained\u201d to apply.<\/p>\n

But if, like Oz\u2019s Scarecrow<\/em>, adults in schools discovered they too \u201chad a brain,\u201d how could this knowledge be applied to intrinsically drive needed changes in teaching and schooling processes?<\/p>\n

Support of credible “believers.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Roberts\u2019 book tells the fascinating story of the key role played by Queen Elizabeth in moving his concepts to the fundamental belief<\/em> level throughout a nation.\u00a0 One can\u2019t read it with out seeing connections to the types of resistance to educational approaches that derive from lack of acceptance \u201cat the top\u201d of a fundamentally-different way of seeing and understanding the problem.<\/p>\n

Importantly. the book also contains critical insights for overcoming that resistance. \u00a0Most relevant, \u00a0the Queen\u2019s transformation<\/em> \u2013 now there was no way she would allow any of her horses ever to be trained the old way — was \u201cresults\u201d-driven<\/span>.\u00a0 But, as opposed to education\u2019s focus on disconnected results, the Queen could see \u201cresults\u201d and<\/span> the consequences of the results.<\/p>\n

Yes, it also was important that the process was reduced from three-months to 30 minutes, with obvious cost savings, but the consequence for the horses spirit<\/em> provided the convincing data.\u00a0 \u201cProblem\u201d horses that had been sent to Roberts for \u201cremediation\u201d became World Class \u201cwinners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where, outside of schools today, can one find credible believers<\/em> to make the case for approaches whose consequences<\/em> are an integral part of the results being monitored?<\/p>\n

Which approaches today have consequences important enough to bring people to the leap-of-of belief<\/em> similar to the Queen\u2019s?<\/p>\n

How might they be mobilized to help schools and communities recognize the immediate relevance of these ideas for their children?<\/p>\n

************<\/p>\n

Re-reading these words and questions today, after twelve years watching that system of kids and adults exploring their own answers, I had some new personal ah-ha<\/em>\u2019s.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0 \u00a0While others have credited me with being a \u201csystem\u2019s thinker<\/em>,\u201d I had seen myself as more of a pattern-seeing, \u201csystem\u2019s see<\/em> -er because of the particular lens I had been peering through.\u00a0 Elsewhere on this site it\u2019s described as a Systemic Leadership and Management Lens<\/a> and referred to metaphorically as Alice\u2019s Looking Glass<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

But now I could see that, like Roberts, I had become a system \u2013listener<\/em>.\u00a0 My hundreds of pages of notes taken over the years were driven by two questions: \u00a0“What\u2019s happening here?…and Why?\u201d <\/em>And it was clear that the power of the processes they developed to support the work of learning and teaching were driven by their capacity not just to listen<\/em> to each other, but also to prove by their subsequent actions that they had\u00a0heard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0 \u00a0And recalling Roberts’ beliefs makes me even more convinced that the type of top leadership change that causes other school systems to default to traditional ways of doing their work isn\u2019t going to happen<\/a> in Montgomery County.\u00a0 Especially now that the new superintendent has initiated a series of community and school system wide \u201cBook Clubs\u201d aimed at developing the capacity to \u201clisten\u201d and understand what it is that \u201ccomes naturally<\/em>\u201d to children and adults.<\/p>\n

As an example, their first two books —\u00a0\u00a0Carol Dweck\u2019s Growth Mindset<\/span>, and\u00a0Daniel Pink\u2019s\u00a0 Drive: A Whole New Mind<\/span> – The surprising truth about what motivates us<\/span> —\u00a0share in common \u00a0the intent to develop a way of understanding required to be able to \u201clisten\u201d to human being\u2019s doing what comes naturally. <\/em>The hope, I surmise, \u00a0is for them use this understanding as a new way-of thinking to frame the work they do. And then, within that new “paradigm,” to develop better ways\u00a0to continually sustain and support those \u201cgiven\u201d intrinsic, natural<\/em> processes.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0 \u00a0And, thats why this new initiative might be on the way to finding an answer to the \u201cimpossibility <\/em>question\u201d that the guru of paradigm-shifting, Joel Barker, would often ask to help people understand the profound differences a different lens or paradigm could make on ways-of-thinking:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat one thing<\/a> is impossible to do today, which if it could be done, would fundamentally change your organization for the better?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the above “One Thing<\/em>” link for some of my old thoughts that suggest why MCPS may be on the edge of that possibility.<\/p>\n

So stay tuned\u2026 (I know I\u2019ll be listening<\/em>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hadn\u2019t thought about Monte Roberts for years, and that\u2019s why last week after seeing the Lincoln Center\u2019s production of WarHorse, I was surprised to see in the Lincoln Center Review, how much they credited him for the success and power of the play.\u00a0 It differs from the current film in that all the horses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":973,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}