Provision #711: Belief Matters
by Bob Tschannen-Moran
Laser Provision
Do you believe in what you are doing? Do you believe that you will be
successful? If not, then it's time to look again at your life and work.
Self-belief is what separates leaders from followers. Leaders not only believe
in the mission, we also believe in the ability of people to achieve the mission.
I know how this works. In less than a week, my wife and I will be on our way to
Asia for a whirlwind tour during which time we will be presenting on 14
different occasions in 4 different countries. Along the way, we will also be
attempting to conquer the summit of Mt. Kinabalu a high-altitude climb to
almost 4,100 meters or 13,450 feet. Sound crazy? It would be if we didn't
believe in the cause and in our capacity. This Provision explains the
connection.
LifeTrek Provision
If anyone ever tells you that there are too many books in the world, don't
believe them. That was my thought, at times, before my wife and I wrote
Evocative Coaching,
a book on how to transform schools through engaging in
better conversations with teachers and leaders. Since it's release last July, it
has been ranked highly at
Amazon.com in a variety of categories. For a moment, about two weeks ago, it
was the second best-selling book in both Education Theory >> Research and in
Management & Leadership >> Training. It was only ten back in the Human
Resources & Personnel Management category. Apparently there was room in the
world for one more book!
Yesterday, I learned that
Amazon.com
was out of stock on the book. I suspect, or at least I hope, that means
the book has been selling better than they expected. Not to fear,
however, the book will be back in stock on Tuesday.
It's certainly gratifying to think that significant numbers of people are
finding and reading the book. We did not write the book for commercial purposes;
we wrote the book because we believe in the process and because we think it can
truly transform schools, one conversation at a time. That's also why we started
the
Evocative Coaching Training Program. It's not enough to just read about the
principles and practices of evocative coaching. Without hands-on learning,
including plenty of trial and correction, there's no way to make the shift from
coach-centered, at-fault, and deficit-based conversations to the more evocative
person-centered, no-fault, and strengths-based conversations.
Our motivation is clear and sincere: we hope to make a contribution in the work of coaching
teachers and leaders. If that contribution takes hold and takes off, we are
confident that the vision of not only more effective but also more life-giving
schools will follow in its wake. Conversations matter. How people talk with each
other determines how we work together and what we accomplish. The more hostile
and demanding the conversations, the less we accomplish. The more understanding
and inviting the conversations, the more we accomplish.
Evocative Coaching
enables people to engage in more understanding and inviting conversations. And
educators tell us they appreciate the difference that approach has been making. That
reputation has not only helped to sell books, it is also part of what lies
behind our upcoming trip to Asia and the west coast of the United
States. People want to learn how to take what's in the book
and put it into a practice. A two-hour workshop or presentation will not, of
course, provide people with all the necessary tools. We have a hard-enough time
doing that in 20 hours of training! But it will give people a chance to practice
a few techniques and to see if they want to go deeper into the process.
Here is the crazy schedule we plan on keeping:
- 3 days in Hong Kong, working with educators through
Living Knowledge Communities in three different settings around
classroom learning, leadership innovation, and coaching leadership.
- 3 days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, working with university students and professional
coaches on the theme of "
Bringing
Coaching to Society."
- 7 days in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, facilitating six workshops with
international school teachers from 17 east-Asian countries at the
EARCOS
Teachers' Conference around themes such as trust building, stress
proofing, and evocative coaching.
- 2 days in San Francisco, California, presenting at the
ASCD
Annual Conference on teacher professionalism and evocative coaching.
Those seven days in Kota Kinabalu give us the opportunity to do two of our
favorite things: snorkeling and hiking. The snorkeling should just be relaxing
and fun. The hike will be a much bigger deal as
we make the trek to Low's Point on the top of Mt. Kinabalu. This is a
high-altitude climb of 2,229 meters or 7,313 feet. To put that in perspective,
in two days time that would be like walking down to the bottom of the Grand
Canyon, then walking back up again, then going down half way before turning
around and walking back up again. Only here we face the risk of altitude
sickness, since the peak stands 4,095 meters or 13,425 feet above sea level.
I walked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back, in 2+ days,
on the way to my wedding almost 35 years ago. My wife, Megan, has
never done anything quite like this before. Together with our friend, Lisa, however, we've decided
to give it a go and we have been training. The goal is to reach the summit before sunrise on the second
day, to have one of the more spectacular views available to mere mortals (as
opposed to trained mountain climbers). We've met people who speak of
the panoramic view from Low's Peak as being on their life-long bucket list, and I hope this is
what we will be looking at soon enough:
Talk about an adventure! I'm sure there will be plenty to write about in
Provisions after we get done with that climb, let alone the entire trip.
Which brings me back to the subject at hand: belief matters. One of our friends
and colleagues, who has been to Asia on many occasions, looked at our schedule
and just shook his head. Not because it was impossible, but because he couldn't
imagine going to Asia for such a short period of time and working so hard. "Why
are you doing this?" he asked. Belief matters.
We believe in the cause and we believe in the possibility that the cause can be
successful. Those beliefs are not unfounded. Take the Hong Kong trip itself.
That wasn't our idea. The head of
Living Knowledge Communities, Dr. Philip Hui, read our book and wrote to say
how much it touched him and how much it was aligned with his own philosophy and
practice with educators in Hong Kong and in poor communities of rural China.
Would we be willing to come to Hong Kong to expose some of the teachers there to
evocative coaching? It was hard to say no, even though it would add to an
already busy schedule, since we were going to be in the region
anyway.
Especially after Dr. Hui shared with us his life story. Here is an excerpt:
Philip Hui was born to a low-income family in Hong Kong. After completing
secondary education, he obtained his doctoral degree through self-study and
continuing education. In 1994, he joined The Hong Kong Institute of
Education, leading a stable life that most people admire. Yet, he did not
cherish a life like this.
In 2004, he participated in the World Banks International Conference on
Poverty Alleviation in Pudong, Shanghai. In the conference Premier Wen
Jiabao announced that China had surpassed the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals and greatly reduced its poor population. Premier Wen
contended, however, there were still many poor people in the country,
especially in remote provinces. When Philip Hui came back to Hong Kong, he
gathered a group of colleagues and friends from the Hong Kong Institute of
Education and the teaching profession and formed the
Living Knowledge Communities. He identified Jingchuan in Gansu Province to
be their project location. In partnership with the Northwest Normal
University and Jingchuan County Education Bureau, the
Living Knowledge Communities launched its teaching training project.
In Jingchuan, Philip Hui witnessed the struggles of the rural teachers. Not
only were the school facilities poor, the teachers professional competences
were also low. Teachers were underpaid and lacked teacher training
opportunities. Seeing their students limitations, yet they were aware that
they were not able to change anything. They could only teach half-heartedly
according to the textbooks. Since the contents were not always related to
daily life, many students hated learning, and some teachers hated teaching.
Dr. Hui has been working to change those dynamics ever since, and he sees
Evocative Coaching as being able to make a significant contribution.
He believes in it and we believe in it, so how could we say no?
Self-belief is like that. It gets you to do things. Whether that be facilitating
fourteen workshops in four countries in two-weeks time or climbing to the top of
a mountain, unless you believe you can do these things, you won't do them. And
once you believe you can do them, you must do them. Here's how Seth Godin
describes this dynamic in his book,
Tribes:
"The barriers to leadership have fallen. There are tribes everywhere, many
in search of leaders. Which creates a dilemma for you: without a barrier,
why not begin?
Simple example: ten years ago, if you wanted to publish a book, you needed
to find a publisher that would say yes. No publisher, no book. Today, of
course, you can publish a book all by yourself. Just visit
www.lulu.com and you're done. Without
someone to say yes, all that's left are unpublished writers who tell
themselves no.
Leadership is now like that. No one gives you permission or approval or a
permit to lead. You can just do it. The only one who can say no is you.
Leaders don't need to wait. There's no correlation between money, power, or
education and successful leadership. None. Waiting doesn't pay. Saying yes
does. Giving people stories they can tell themselves about the future and
change is what leaders do. Leaders believe in what they do and that turns
out to be a brilliant strategy when it comes to changing the world."
If we don't believe in what we are doing, and we are holding a position of
leadership, then we are taking up space. We are not leading and we are not
inspiring people to go beyond the paycheck. If we do believe in what we are
doing and in our capacity to get things done, and if we share that belief in ways that make people feel good, then
there's no telling how many places that will take us. Asia? Mt. Kinabalu? San
Francisco? Those are just the tip of the iceberg. When people get excited about
an idea and a community, they create movements and movements change the world.
Belief matters. Figure out what excites you and do that. Leadership no longer
comes just from the top of an organization. Everyone is a leader and everyone can
effect change. So make it happen. Believe in the possibility. Have fun. Connect
with like-minded souls. Then watch out: you may be surprised at where that will
take you.
Coaching Inquiries: What do you believe in? How do you put your beliefs out in
the world? How attractive is your energy? What stories do you tell about the
future and change? How confident are you that change is possible? Who is a part
of your tribe? What movements do you connect with? What movements would you like
to start?
To reply to this Provision, use our
Feedback Form. To
talk with us about coaching or consulting services for yourself or your organization,
Email Us
or use our
Contact Form
to arrange a complimentary conversation. To learn more about LifeTrek Coaching programs,
Click Here.
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LifeTrek Readers' Forum (selected feedback
from the past week)
Editor's Note: The LifeTrek Readers' Forum contains selections from the comments
and materials sent in each week by the readers of LifeTrek Provisions. They do
not necessarily reflect the perspective of LifeTrek Coaching International. To
submit your comment, use our Feedback Form or
Email Bob.
Keep up the Provisions! Even though my schedule does not allow more involvement
then reading your Provisions, they are very insightful and helpful. Thank you,
What a wonderful Provision on
Beauty. May you and Megan keep being beautiful and
treasuring each other and all the beauty the two of you create. Hoping and
working for peace and justice, such a beautiful world.
Judging from last week's reader replies, your Provision on
Jesus obviously
touched a chord. I really appreciated what you had to say. Thanks! Top
May you be filled with goodness, peace, and joy.
Bob Tschannen-Moran
President, LifeTrek Coaching International,
www.LifeTrekCoaching.com
CEO & Co-Founder, Center for School Transformation,
www.SchoolTransformation.com
Immediate Past President, International Association of Coaching,
www.CertifiedCoach.org
Author, Evocative Coaching: Transforming Schools One Conversation at a Time,
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Skype: LifeTrek
Twitter: @LifeTrekBob
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