MSirmans

This part of the book begins with the 3rd element in obtaining and sustaining the VISION. Ishy tells the group from Good Samaritan that " Find IT and Live IT are critical but without COACHING IT , the vision will not be maintained and will fade. She explains that this part of the recipe for success is important and difficult. In this stage, everyone becomes a coach regardless of age or seniority. It is everyone's duty to keep the vision alive and, it is necessary to commit to listen before deciding whether to accept or reject the coaching. All team members must keep in mind what they are trying to create and support the vision by not being defensive. Giving and accepting coaching exhibits commitment to the vision. Just as Rhonda was beginning to feel better about getting the staff back on track, tragedy struck and the comittment of the staff members to the vision at the hospital carried over into the personal comittment to each other. Everyone had learned to FIND IT, LIVE IT, and now they were maintaining it during the absence of their leader. They devided into three groups on the sixth floor at the hospital of educating themselves further about the vision, sharing what they have learned with others, and inviting others to create vision moments. The group returned to Takara Too to ask Ishy to guide them in sustaining the vision. They were told that their way of sustaining comittment must be created by their own actions and not follow someone else's methods. The needs of the hospital are unique and it was now their challenge to create new ideas and ways to encourage the staff. A Commitment Gate was erected and contests were organized, vision moments were captured in photographs and displayed and coach IT cue cards were printed and distributed. The vision spread from sixth floor to the entire hospital and reportedly is alive and well. This was an inspiring book about teamwork and how much more enjoyable a work experience can be if everyone is on the "same page" with a similar mission and "vision". School is an ideal place to implement these ideas as IT should not be difficult to find for a group of people who love children, who love to learn ,and are expected to make miracles happen everyday. As an educator and an itinerant teacher, I see different visions for different schools depending on the unique characteristics of the institutions makeup. The needs are somewhat different and the methods must vary, but the mission or vision of providing the best education in the most comfortable environment for students is our priority as educators. Our roles are varied, but finding IT is not difficult for me. Living IT and Sustaining IT is much more challenging.

     After Rhonda is inspired by Ishy's suggestion at the shushi restaurant, She begins interviewing her colleagues about the vision for the sixth floor and how they feel that it is being maintained.  Rhonda's mission is to find her personal piece (IT) in the goal and how her IT relates to the other staff members' ideas.  Rhonda realizes that she must find ways to replace the dependency on external energy with the natural energy to maintain the vision.  David's Whyte's poetry inspires her to "begin a new life (energy ) at work and was feeling more confident in her position when a new administrator was employed and wanted to implement changes.  Rhonda seeks more advice from Ishy and forms a team of employees to take to the sushi restaurant for information on keeping the vision alive.  Ishy explains how important it is for each member of the team to find his/her (IT) in the vision through conversations and communication. 

     As a communication disorder teacher, I see my (IT) in East Central's mission to be the best place to learn as a provider of  materials, strategies ,and methods and a supporter to help "reach " the speech/language disordered children in the classroom and bring hope into a sometimes frustrating situation.  My role in our mission is also to help each child feel special and give him/her hope to communicate in an easier way. If we improve communication skills and bridge gaps between children and teachers, teachers and parents, and teachers and teachers, our vision will stay alive. 

          As an educator serving in many different positions for almost 40 years, I have experienced changes in administrations, administrators, methods, strategies, tactics, environments ( physical and intellectual) and have come to the conclusion that it is human nature to resist or become less motivated about change unless the person has an instigating role in the change (or if it happens to be his/her vision). I have been on both sides of these new innovative moves.  Some changes I have embraced with gusto, others resisted, and most have  observed or endured believing that in the not too distant future , the pendulum would swing and everything would return to the status quo.  The messages in these first few pages have made me realize that we are all basically alike and gravitate to the more comfortable , familiar way of doing things even if the new ideas are better.  We have a tendancy to be skeptical of that which is not familiar to us.  It is the difference in personalities and leadership ability that allows "visions" to be tried and to sustain the momentum  of the program.  The varied experiential backgrounds of coworkers and personnel must be carefully considered when implementing a move in which they are not given a chance to help design or feel some "ownership " of the VISION. As an educator, business partner, or coworker, it is much easier to inspire and motivate when the other person has a stake in the plan, but difficult to maintain that energy as the "newness" wears off and those less enthusiastic settle back into the more familiar less energy demanding ways.  I'm looking forward to reading the next assignment to provide concrete examples to help me deal with changes in a more positive way and inspire me to go forward with my "visions" and guide me in implementing and sustaining them both in and out of the classroom setting.