This is part four of the series “Shifting to the Innovator’s Mindset,” focused on learning from the “Success of Others.” You can read all of the previous posts here.
Last week, I discussed how to handle both criticism and praise to move forward. Understanding when it is beneficial or not is key.
The series is based on the image from “Innovate Inside the Box,” which is a build-on from the table shared in the book “The Growth Mindset Coach” by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley.
For the next five weeks (this is week 4), I will write a blog post and share a podcast with insights on each “situation” and what it looks like when we move from a Growth Mindset to an Innovator’s Mindset. Moving from a growth mindset to an Innovator’s Mindset is going beyond “knowing” and shifting to what we can do with what we know.
Today’s focus is on the success of others and how we learn from what others have done to get to where they are today and use that to our advantage.
I am writing each of these blog posts after recording the podcast, so the ideas shared in each will be similar but with some differences 🙂
Here is a link to the podcast that you can listen to on Spotify, Soundcloud, or Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube.
Be Curious, not Judgmental – Learning from the Success of Others
I watched a conversation online criticizing people who speak to educators who a) haven’t been in the classroom for a while and b) haven’t taught for as long as the original poster would like.
Alright.
Now, I can understand the argument.
If I used to fly a plane years ago and hadn’t flown a plane in a while, I might not understand the latest technologies and how to utilize them. I could use this analogy for any profession.
This is why I stay away from talking about “teaching” and stay focused on the idea of “learning.” I don’t tell anyone how to teach, but as a learner, I share some of my insights on what matters to me and why. I don’t like being told what to do, and I understand how others have that perspective.
My hope is that I can provide ideas, but the people who work closest to students every day can create the solutions. I hope to provide perspectives, not mandates. Some of the best learning I had ever experienced as a principal was from teachers who were never in administration nor had any interest in pursuing that position when the advice was provided. To simply discount their ideas because they had never done that job would have made no sense. You can learn from anyone when you are willing to do so.
The funny thing is that as I watched this social media exchange discrediting those no longer in the classroom, the same person celebrated their excitement for a famous author coming to speak to their school who had never taught a class.
I thought about this and realized how easy it is to criticize those within the profession who share ideas and to elevate those who haven’t because they have a perceived success outside of education.
I believe that we can learn from both if we are willing to make the learning our own.
Do I depend on someone else to make learning relevant to me, or do I look inward and create meaning in any opportunity I have to learn?
Just something to consider.
So, going back to that idea we are sometimes harder on those who were once in classrooms rather than those who never were. Could this be because of our own insecurity?
I share this not from my own experience of feeling jealousy directed toward me but from dealing with my insecurities.
I have been guilty of having a teaching colleague go into school administration and saying, “Oooohhh…you went to the dark side!”
Why would I say that?
Not because I thought people who had attained that position all of a sudden hated students and teachers. But when I really dug deep, I felt that someone else’s change of circumstance lessened my own current reality.
Do some people go into administration and become obsessed with power and authority? Absolutely.
But that’s not what I was referencing. It was my own insecurity that pushed me toward that comment.
And it is not the only time, nor will it be the last!
I remember a teacher on my staff was named “Teacher of the Year,” and I knew he was incredible. My first thought wasn’t, “Good for him!” It was, “It should have been me.” This was not just someone I worked with but was a good friend. And my insecurity dampened my enthusiasm for his accomplishment.
This is an area where I am trying to grow.
Weirdly enough, on my fitness journey, I would follow accounts, look for advice from those doing something I had never considered, and learn from them. Instead of thinking, “Oh, they just have good genes,” I thought, “They might have good genetics, but there are definitely things they are doing that I can learn from and apply to my own life.”
It was much easier to look to people outside of my own profession for advice and learn from their success than it was within my own.
One of the statements I hate is, “You can’t be a prophet in your own land.” Why is that? Why are we more likely to praise people across the world but ignore people across the hall? In my case, it often made me feel like I was somehow “less” because why was I in the same place but not getting the same results as some of my colleagues?
As someone who speaks for a living, I have done my best to change this mentality. When going to conferences, I often go early and want to learn from others doing the same thing I do and see what makes them excel. I ask, “What do they do that makes them good, and how can I apply it to my own situation?” Or, sometimes, I realize the thing that works for them wouldn’t work for me. And that is alright as well. I am not trying to be someone else but the best version of myself.
My daughter Kallea is a few years into taking dance, and because of her August birthday, she had the option of going into a class with students older than her or her being the oldest. We opted for her to go into the class with older students. When she and I discussed it, I shared that being with dancers that are probably more skilled than she is at this time will probably make her better. But if she is the best in the other class, her progress will likely slow down. At first, she was frustrated with the initial placement, but it made sense to her when I explained it that way.
But we often give our best advice to others and ignore it ourselves.
When people are in the same space I am in, I know that my willingness to learn and grow from their experience will only accelerate my abilities.
If I expect my daughter to learn from that challenge and learn from the success of others, I better model it myself.