Sir Ken Robinson (TED, 2010) knows how to command an audience through his talking points and his presesentation style. I enjoy his use of humor to draw in his audience, but also his ability to connect on many emotions. I find myself drawn to his presentation style and having to rewatch in order to fully appreciate the message.
In this case, I did both simultaneously because the message resonated heavily with my current work experiences. I'm spending this week at my company's org-wide yearly conference. I've met and/or reconnected with colleagues that are passionate about what we do and why we do it. I'm also meeting a newer wave of employees that are here because talents matched a job description. While we need a passion in our learning, we also want to have that in our professional lives as well. When we have a passion, we tend to want to find ways to improve and innovate and, fortunately, many still fall in that category. We need the newer hires to find the love and passion for our mission and several of us are crafting a plan to work more cross-departmentally to help with this. Are we being paid more to construct this plan? No, but we know we need to ramp up our mission-driven work objectives and we need our people resources on board in order to do this. In our business model, the purpose model is always above the profit model, but we certainly need to have a solid product in order to continue moving in our purpose. Here are a few more details on my position and profession within Waterford.org.
We are working to bridge two groups within our organization: those that support educators, students, and the families that use our programs in school settings and those that support families and students using our programs at home. We would also like for those who work behind the scenes, such as tech support, products developers, artistic team, and curriculum developers to step outside of their cubicles and join my team when we visit schools and work with teachers and students. We know there is an emotional element that may be missing, when their experience doesn't include interacting with the end users. Simon Sinek introduced us all to the concept of our Why and now is the time to help my colleagues understand this even more closely, as I explain in this previous post.
Do I expect this to be easy? Not at all. I'm asking colleagues to step away from their comfort zones and inviting them into my world. Flip the script and if I were asked to create our software or troubleshoot and design our website, I'd certainly feel lost and anxious. I am pretty proud of what I've accomplished, so far, on my own ePortfolio, though, and the updates that have followed since beginning this journey. I've learned to add video links to some of my favorite context on my Home Page. I've learned to revise and edit text, especially after starting a new position at work, meaning my About Page needed additional details. My Blog Section has received several new posts including this one focused on the benefits of ePortfolios. Finally, I've built additional class sections in my ADL Program Tab. Now, when you come to this tab, all courses will be seen and the viewer can choose which they'd like to explore further. I'm playing with the ability to hide some and maybe only show the current courses, but for now, I like the full view to share with family and friends.
Overall, I full understand why our coursework started with a focus on cultivating a growth mindset. Initially, I hoped my team would be willing to step out of their comfort zones to improve our skillset. Now, I'm hoping additional departments will be willing to work beyond their cubicles and trust the process to improve our company culture. The ADL program has certainly helped me feel more confident in stepping into new adventures both online with my ePortfolio and in real life with my work plans...and for that I am grateful and excited.
TED. (2010, May 24). Bring on the learning revolution! | Sir Ken Robinson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LelXa3U_I
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