First Thing Your PLC as an Iceberg

Julie Schmidt

SOLUTION TREE:

CEO

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Jeffrey C. Jones

PRESIDENT

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Edmund M. Ackerman

SOLUTION TREE PRESS: PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Douglas M. Rife

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ART DIRECTOR

Rian Anderson

PAGE DESIGNERS

Laura Cox, Abigail Bowen, Kelsey Hergül, Fabiana Cochran, Julie Csizmadia, Rian Anderson

As someone who did not grow up navigating the complexities of social media, it has been both fascinating and, at times, alarming to observe the ever-evolving influence that it has on us and the development of our relationships. Before the days of social media, we all navigated the development of social skills and relationships through in-person interactions. The pathway to establishing friendships and credibility was in person, and it required thoughtfulness and a commitment to developing and consistently demonstrating characteristics that were aligned to the kind of person you wanted to be known as. In other words, it was how you established a reputation over time. You were publicly declaring what you value and what you believe in by engaging in behaviors that were consistent with those values and beliefs.

What has changed over time is one’s ability to create or establish a relationship or reputation without having to demonstrate, in person, behaviors that are consistently aligned with what one hopes their reputation to be. On social media, one can post photos, quotes, and inspirational messages that are only aligned with who they aspire to be without having to do the challenging work of behaving in an aligned way each and every day.

AllThingsPLC (ISSN 2476-2571 [print], 2476-258X [Online]) is published four times a year by Solution Tree Press.

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Have you ever followed someone on social media who appears to be deeply re ective and inspirational but your personal or day-to-day experience with them suggests otherwise? What you are experiencing is someone’s espoused values not matching their day-today behavior.

In Dare to Lead, Brené Brown (2018) asserts that “living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hold important, and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviors align with those beliefs” (p. 186). e continual examination of whether our behaviors are aligned with what we say we believe in is not unique to individuals.

All organizations, including schools and school districts, must also participate in this ongoing re ection. Organizations develop and publicize a mission statement that makes clear to stakeholders the reason for their existence and what the organization prioritizes. Mission and vision statements articulate what an organization believes in. Schools and districts publicly highlight and celebrate those things that are aligned with what they want their stakeholders to know about them. In schools, these things might be high student achievement, performing and visual arts, athletic accomplishments, or students participating in service projects. Oftentimes, the resources dedicated to these things are very visible as well, such as facilities and social media focus.

A professional learning community is built on the four pillars of mission, vision, values, and goals, and the work is driven by three big ideas: a focus on learning in a collaborative culture with a results orientation. Teams in these schools continually work to answer four critical questions: (1) What do we want all students to know and be able to do? (2) How will we know if they have learned it? (3) How will we respond when some students have not learned? and (4) What will we do when they have already learned it? As schools and teams dig in and commit to a cycle of continuous improvement, they must also examine two core beliefs that drive the work in a school culture where all truly means all.

1. We believe that all students can learn to high levels.

2. We take collective responsibility for the learning of all students.

If unexamined, a lack of commitment to these essential beliefs will likely act as a barrier to ongoing improvement for all. And once schools commit to transparently examining these beliefs, they must also commit to the ongoing examination of whether the day-to-day behaviors of those in the organization are consistent with their espoused beliefs.

In 1977, Edward T. Hall described the culture of any given organization as an iceberg consisting of two distinct components. e external or surface component makes up 10 percent of the culture. ese are explicitly learned and conscious components such as traditions and customs and are very publicly celebrated and therefore more easily impacted or changed. One can typically identify these indicators fairly easily on websites, on the walls of a school, or during a public celebration. Ninety percent of an organization’s culture is made up of those things that lie below the surface, or below the waterline. ese are internal and deeply embedded components, such as assumptions, nonverbal behaviors, and perceptions, that are implicitly learned and unconscious, making them much more di cult to impact or change. ese indicators are more challenging to identify and may be more subtle during a sta meeting or in the teachers’ lounge as members of the school community communicate what they are thinking and feeling through nonverbal body language and the use of vocabulary.

When a teacher or sta member is new to a school community, they immediately begin to learn about the most visible components of the culture. ey receive the employee handbook, perhaps scroll through the school’s website, and attend orientation sessions where the school or district communicates what they most want the new members of their community to know, most of which lives above the waterline. en school begins, employees return, parents attend curriculum nights, and students ood the hallways. is is when anyone new to the school begins to listen and observe the behaviors that live below the waterline and thus learn how “things are done around here.”

As Becky DuFour so powerfully pointed out time and time again, if culture re ects “the way we do things around here,” we face the challenge of making conscious that which typically is unconscious. is can only be done through the unrelenting commitment to examining those indicators that live below the waterline on an ongoing basis. We must ensure that they match the values and beliefs we so publicly espouse by in uencing those things that live below the waterline and forcing them to the surface for transparent re ection and discussion.

If your mission statement declares that you will “do whatever it takes to ensure that all students learn to high levels,” are your policies, practices, and behaviors aligned? Are structures and processes in place that would only exist if every person in your organization was deeply committed to your mission? If you are going to publicly declare what you value or what you believe in, work to ensure that you are exhibiting behaviors that align!

District leaders, school leaders, and teacher leaders, take note of the clear warning issued in Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, & Mattos, 2016): nothing will destroy the credibility of a leader faster than an unwillingness to address an obvious violation of what the organization contends is vital. And so, re ect on where the gaps are in your schools and on your social media posts!

References

Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work, tough conversations, whole hearts. New York: Random House. DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T. W., & Mattos, M. (2016). Learning by doing: A handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (3rd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Hall, E. T. (1977). Beyond culture. New York: Anchor Books.