Monika Lewis Wiggins Differentiated Leadership COLLAPSE
With the readings and videos for this week, we learn how to effectively deal with the potential negative reactions of others to our innovation plans. The first, and most effective, way we learn to do this is by self-differentiating ourselves. Self-differentiation is an emotional process of regulating ones own anxiety (Bardwell, 2010). It is, in essence, our ability to stay cool, calm, and collected in the midst of potential workplace resistance, sabotage, and noncompliance. Developing this emotional balance within ourselves will help us in our own innovation journeys by diffusing anxiety within our organizations and allowing them to mature and develop into ones that function in a healthy way (Bardwell, 2010). At my current campus, I can already see how this will be a much needed skill for me to develop once I get my innovation plan approved by administrators. This is because there are several veteran teachers who are resistant to any type of changes on campus, particularly when it comes to technology. Their lack of familiarity with technology in general as well as current trends in educational technology makes them not understand the need to go away from traditional practices in educating students. It will be my job to be a model for maturity during the change process by maintaining my focus on the innovative implementation and remaining non-responsive to any emotional triangles and sabotage (Bardwell, 2010). The second way we learn to deal with the potential negative reactions of others to our innovation plans is by learning how to properly conduct crucial conversations. Crucial conversations are conversations between 2 or more people where stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong (Callibrain, 2015). The purpose of these conversations is to get everyone’s input on a topic in order to get unstuck and progress forward in an overall mission (Vital Smarts India, 2010). As I learn more about the crucial conversations, I can see this being very beneficial in my initial proposal to my administrators. In my current district where there is a very singular view of how instruction should be conducted, I am preparing to receive high opposition from my administrators. Therefore, during our proposal meeting, I will need to create a safe, purposeful, and mutually respectful environment that allows myself and the administrators to feel safe sharing all relevant information (Callibrain, 2015) that moves the innovation plan forward rather than wastes time on emotional sidetracks (Vital Smarts India, 2010). REFERENCES: Callibrain. (2015, August 20). Video Review for Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/EFaXx3pgaxM. . Mathew David Bardwell. (2010, November 10). Friedman's Theory of Differentiated Leadership Made Simple. https://youtu.be/RgdcljNV-Ew Vital Smarts India. (2010, February 10). Crucial Conversations Explained in 2 Minutes. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ixEI4_2Xivw.
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