Carie Johannsen
Be an Influencer:
6 areas of Influence
1. Personal Motivation: Help them love what they hate
The teachers I work with are amazing and most have more than 5-10 years of teaching experience. They have attended hundreds of hours of professional development and sat in numerous sessions on teaching effectively and how to reach students. Telling these teachers that they need to follow my plan is not going to work. Sharing an idea that they have not tried before may not come across well. However, the teachers I work with desire for their students to have the best chance to be successful possible. Hearing their ideas and raising questions in their mind about past processes will start the conversation as to why we need to make some changes. Teachers will be personally influenced because deep down they know what creates relationships and that this leads to successful students.
2. Personal Ability:
When I’m thinking of personal ability that makes me smile. The teachers I work with are extremely talented and go over and beyond by nature so they have more ability than needed to make the small changes necessary to change the course of this coming year. By giving them a few tools and strategies that they can easily work into their day to day procedures then they be able to have the ability to make change.
3. Social Motivation:
In the video by Cricket Buchler she mentions three strategies to capitalize on social influences. She talks about being a model of the behavior you want to see, getting help from those who have a similar vision and can see the direction clearly, and define what you want people to do who may hinder the behaviors your working towards. These strategies will help me use social motivation to reach my goal.
4. Social ability:
Social ability has to do with providing everyone with the resources they need. In my situation the resources are not the problem. We have a plethora of resources, it is narrowing down the resources so everyone can be on the same page. The toughest obstacles will need to be identified and support will need to be provided. We already have a strong community and a cultivated “safe” zone when it comes to questions or concerns. We will want to continue to cultivate this type of atmosphere.
5. Structural motivation
In our organization motivation is based on numbers. By having “skin in the game” everyone strives to do better. We will want to make sure we use resources like satisfaction surveys and participation numbers to keep the social motivation high. In the book “Influencer: the new science of leading change” it states very clearly that if there is a breakdown in the structural motivation then your influence won’t reach its full potential.
6. Structural ability:
The structure we have makes this piece difficult to achieve due to the fact we are not face to face. Our meetings, class, and communication is all virtual. We will have to be creative in order to create source 6: structural ability. We need there to be enough reminders about the outcome we are all trying to achieve. We don't want anyone hiding from this part of the strategy. Our chances of success are greater with every strategy we are able to implement successfully.
“The desired result I have is for my students, learning coaches, and I to have a collaborative relationship with all of us doing our parts so that the student will see success.”
