The new NETS for Administrators are out, but I’m having trouble getting excited about them. While I could spend a whole blog entry writing about the espoused values in the NETS-A, I’m more concerned about different rules that school districts need to internalize immediately. I’ve seen how the NETS-T and NETS-S have not been embraced by administrators. Their conception of technology goes something like this:

(Click on image to view full-size…image source: anonymous)

You know what I mean, right? The NETS-A will be reviewed, considered, and work on adopting those might begin sometime in the next few years. The desired changes will happen slowly, if at all, because they face an entrenched culture of constraint and capitulation. As Quinn calls it, it’s how school district members deal with “slow death.”

According to the author of Deep Change, “old maps drive us into a state of great pain and frustration.” Educators are finding themselves in a quest for a new map, one that involves realignment to what is going on in the world. Failure to realign leads to what Robert E. Quinn characterizes as “slow death.” We face slow death because the “dominant coalitions in an organization” are seldom interested in making deep change. Slow death is present everywhere.

It involves a violation of trust as people leap from one job to another, to escape the environment. It means that we thirst for a vision, that we need change but no one is willing to engage it. Burn-out–and its resulting loss of energy–comes from those who choose slow death.
Source: Beginning

Peace and pay…People who choose this approach choose to NOT rock the boat and get their paycheck, rejecting the work of the organization, noting that it is “dying” and wrongly assuming they are not. When I fail to re-align my organizational reality to reality out there, I practice slow death. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the “outside reality.” The outside reality is banging on the windows, requiring us to not embody the principles of the organization but to embrace our own voice…and because the outside reality is there, ever-present, it becomes more difficult for that organization to question the cog that has become self-aware.

But what framework can the newly aware use to guide them? Some rules to consider include these rules for using social media, courtesy of Chris Garrett writing about Creating WOW Customer Service with Social Media:

1. Build a real culture that puts the customer first, rather than lip service and mission statements.
2. Take the risk that you can not control your message.
3. Empower your team to do what is necessary.
4. Consciously and proactively communicate with customers.
5. OVER-Deliver on your promises.

I love these 5 simple rules. They also mask the tremendous change that is involved in #1, of building a real culture in the midst of one that is crumbling. The two that I’ve taken to heart are #s 4 and 5. Unfortunately, #s 1-3 are difficult because they are determined, and actions are defined by the culture around you. Breaking loose of that culture can only go so far…or the system strikes back.

The more I read of reform efforts, the more I’m convinced that only the following can succeed in building a real culture that puts the customer first:

• Small organizations and teams that whose culture changes dramatically when new people come on board, a fresh reset with leadership that is willing to embrace the changes.
• Organizations that are start-ups who can evolve their culture from core values, connections and relationships rather than impose them on their staff.

In Meatball Sundae (Seth Godin) spends a lot of time on emphasizing the transformation inherent in #1, of what it takes to transform that culture…but he’s mostly reflecting on web sites and placing social media tools on education. For schools, it’s more than that. Can school districts really embrace the path counselled in the 5 Keys to Authenticity?

Be human. Be honest. Be aware. Be everywhere. Show your work.

School districts need to come under the tremendous scutiny businesses are under, right? I mean, if a school district got the 24/7 kind of attention businesses get, would they be more or less transparent?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure