Have you ever been in a meeting and it seems to be going nowhere? Everyone is spending so much time discussing the problem or looking for some grand fix that “if we had the money, the resources, or that staff” we could do something about the PROBLEM.
Admiring the problems, instead of looking for innovative solutions.
In the Book Building School 2.0, the authors explained, “The solution is simple: decide not to admire the problem anymore.” When you are in a meeting, take a minute occasionally to take notice of the discussion mood, see if ideas are moving forward, or are people just admiring the problems. It is very easy to get caught up in all of the issues that are present that make change impossible.
How to stop the admiration of the problem?
- Spend some time at the beginning of the meeting on what vision you as a team have developed for your students and school.
- Look at what has been happening to meet the vision.
- Be open to other people’s ideas and see what kind of impossible made possible that we can mix up.
Remember that when meeting with a group of individuals that we all have our set of hopes and desires that are not entirely wrong, but may not be quite right for everyone.
“Innovate Inside the Box”
Reading Innovator’s Mindset has led me to believe time should be allotted to the dreaming, but we cannot focus all of the energy on what could be if we had. Time needs to be spent inventorying our strengths, our weakness, the resources we have, and devising a plan to make things happen despite the PROBLEM or the budget. The answers could already be there; we just aren’t looking at it from the right perspective.
When we have a clear picture of our vision, our strengths, and our current resources, along with an open-mind focused on making things happen for our students, the impossible is suddenly possible. Let’s walk out of meeting inspired by the possibilities not bogged down by the obstacles.