Do you actually do the work?
Have you ever been browsing through different school websites and thought to yourself: “They all seem the same”?
I remember thinking that a lot when I was last looking for a new school. So many schools copy each other. Who doesn’t have “the Four Cs” or “The 6 Cs” or very similar-looking Five Core Values these days?
It’s no wonder that it’s so tempting for our students to copy and paste; their institutions do it constantly. So how does this happen?
A school I used to work at formed a committee to create a new assessment policy. We were explicitly told: “We really like this assessment policy from xyz school.” That was code for: Please copy most things from x school’s policy but then change some words so it doesn’t look like you copied it.
Been there?
Copying someone else’s values or policy has a thin veneer of a “safe bet”. A very thin veneer.
Yes, it’s quick and it takes a heck of a lot less effort. But you create the metaphorical wolf in sheep’s clothing. Just like the veiled wolf, it’s a trap that proves to lure any actual authority and authenticity into a file never to be seen again.
Even if the original was really good, the simple action of the copy + paste distills any authority and authenticity the original thinking had into watery ambiguity. That’s because the original authors actually did the work.
As we approach a new school term, perhaps thinking about work that needs to be done, let’s think about how we might actually do the work.
The best work in schools happens when we listen to people. You might look at other schools for inspiration, but treat it as just another piece of research for the pile, not the scaffolding.
Taiichi Ohno is the mastermind behind ‘the Toyota Way’, a model of effectiveness and ingenuity that many have borrowed and adapted for other industries. He put it this way:
“The workplace is a teacher. You can find answers only in the workplace.”
One of the pillars of the Toyota Way is the idea of Genchi Genbutsu. A loose translation of this is ‘Go and see for yourself’. Ohno would spend at least 15 minutes each day visiting a part of the organisation to observe and interview someone. This kept his finger truly on the pulse of every aspect of Toyota. He authentically did the work of understanding his organisation.
Another pillar of the Toyota Way is the Gemba Walk. Also connected to the idea of visiting the source, a Gemba Walk looks for opportunities for improvement. It takes the pulse and then asks, ‘How might we do this better?’
The management of Toyota knew what people were doing and they listened to people about how to make things better.
I have no doubt that when it came to writing policy or values, Toyota’s management board were not copying + pasting from anyone else.
They simply didn’t need to.
Everything they needed to know about what was happening and where to go next was right there.
When we return to work, how might we authentically do the work? How might we organise our calendars so that we are conducting daily Genchi Genbutsu and Gemba Walks? How can we make sure that listening to people isn’t relegated to those rare moments when we’re ready to create a new plan?
Wait a minute! This was originally published in July 2024 as part of NoTosh’s Provocation newsletter. Subscribe so you don’t miss out on inspiring posts every Monday — you can always stop later.
