In follow-up to my post: Transforming other educators, dave lee has insightfully proposed shining a "white hot spotlight" on the need for change-- in his post: getting others to follow.
To deal with these additional two factors, i'll add to tom's "vertical dimension" and "appreciative space" the need for a continued white-hot spotlight on the immediate realities of the workplace's true needs for learning. Finally, those of us who have been in the lead need to exert pressure on senior management to recognize the organic nature of organizational learning and to provide our colleagues with the tools and exemplars that will enable them to drive change from within.
Those of us blogging about the need of change are in the spotlight, see the changes clearly and call attention to all we're seeing. Those I characterized as "in the trenches" don't get it, aren't seeing it and are avoiding the necessary changes.
I wonder if the entrenched educators are in the dark or blinded by the light? Will a spotlight help or bewilder them more? Are they on the brink of changing and in need of convincing prod, or stalwartly determined to go down with the sinking ship? Will it help them to turn up the heat or are they already toast?
Nature is filled with examples where the obsolete organic system falls by the wayside as if it's cooperatively making way for it's replacement. It occurs at the level of cellular replacement, predator/prey interactions and vast landscape transformations. I've previously alluded to these dynamics as composting, winning without a battle, and replacing pioneer species.
There is so much glaring evidence that changes are required, that learning is organic and that enterprises thrive by learning from the changes in their contexts. How can so many entrenched professionals not take the hint, read the signs, or get a clue from their surroundings? Perhaps because they are not meant to catch on. Perhaps those who are changing are emerging with the next formulation and those who are not are getting obsolesced with their devoted structure.
When I proposed adding a vertical dimension to the experience of educators with one degree of freedom, the recipients are already making progress, taking action, moving forward. There are those with no degrees of freedom, stuck in their past, up against a wall of intransigent obstacles. Perhaps the white hot spotlight is meant for those "deer frozen in headlights".
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