PRussell

Just as Rhonda and the others begin to “live IT,” personal tragedy takes Rhonda temporarily off the team, but surprisingly, Miss Scallpell pitches in and joins the team.  As the others carry on, they also learn from Ishy that they must “coach IT.”  This is a concept of making sure that the “vision moments” continue and keep the vision is kept alive.  It requires commitment from all levels of the administration and staff to challenge and be challenged on attitudes and performance.  They actually reuse some of the previously discarded external symbols to remind them of their IT, use photos to record what they are doing, and finally celebrate their teamwork.

It would be good to work in a genuinely “fishy” environment.  Some of the elements needed for improvement are present, even if our morale is not really Ishy at all. It could be done, and I would be willing to help make our workplace a better place to work and to “be” for the 7½ + hours a day each of us is there.  At the moment, though, I am trying to think of who would be willing to have an “authentic conversation” with me.  We’ll see….

In this second section, Rhonda begins to try some of the Ishy’s suggestions.  She and several of the staff begin to reflect on the vision that is the core of what they want to achieve.  They also have “real conversations” to clarify IT, each person’s personal piece of that vision.  Just then, a new VP of Nursing threatens to destroy all that they have been working for on their floor of the hospital.  Rhonda and the others discuss how they will handle the boss’s demands and yet stay true to the vision.

The scenario described in the book is difficult to accomplish at best.  I cannot help but be reminded that this is what the school improvement movement was supposed to accomplish - originally.  Unfortunately, in most of the places that I worked, those above us could not stand to see real change coming up from us, rather than down from them.  So, I long ago began to set my own professional goals to improve and to stay fresh. However, one of my former schools really did have teamwork that worked.  It was awesome.  Part of my job is to work with other teachers, and I do try.  Most of them also have high standards for themselves and are too overworked to do any more.

 This week’s sentence for me comes from page 49.  It challenged me to turn my focus somewhat away from “all” of my students and to try to “be there” for each one, one at a time.  In our world, even more than the hospital in the book, interruption is the norm; it is easy for me to get distracted.  I am going to work daily to improve in this area.

Fish Sticks!  Pp.1-37

Rhonda, a newly promoted nursing supervisor, is struggling with problem of morale and service quality at work.  It seems that she and her former boss helped start a new initiative to improve the quality of care and employee morale on her floor.  Now that she is the boss, Rhonda sees that support for the new way is eroding, and old habits and attitudes are returning.  Her friend Margo takes her to a sushi restaurant to meet the owner/chef and learn how to sustain the changes.

I am really going to have to wait to see how this book affects my teaching.  It seems that Rhonda and Madeleine saw real problems with the nurses’ performance and morale that needed to be changed, and they set out to change the climate and service.  The sentence at the top of page 24 is quotable.  “Eventually the new way of being will live or die according to the degree an internal source of energy and direction can be established.” (Italics mine) According to my past experience and my observations of my peers this sentence is true, especially if the “new” comes from an external source.  We will sometimes discard the new totally, sometimes keep parts of the new and internalize them, but we will often cast aside changes that do not fit.  Perhaps as we experiment we will create an even newer way. Making those kinds of decisions is the essence of being a professional.